Hyundai 2.0 i4

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What do you guys think of the early to mid 2000s Hyundai 2.0 i4? I'm looking at an elantra to abuse with about 140k miles and the price is right. Apart from the typical Hyundai timing belt interference engine design what else would I really need to watch?
 
What's your budget?

Last cheap car I bought was a 2004 Mercedes C240 wagon for $3000. Sedans can be had for $2000. A solid car, I made 4 trips from Northeast to Florida in comfort and safety, and it drove great. I put a serp belt and brakes on it, both hand tool jobs. M112 engine and the 5A trans are bulletproof.

So, compared to the same year Hyundai....umm, no. Not much to be gained with the Hyundai, in my view.

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It's currently sitting in storage in FL
 
Its $700 from a good friend of mine who has taken a good care of it by way of fluids. I'm not particularly in the market for a car but It enables me to treat my Tiburon like the pos it is.
 
Had an '02 Elantra. Trouble free for 100K and gave it to my daughter who totaled it. Last car I purchased with a manual transmission. Kind of nostalgic for that decade when we didn't have to deal with DI engines.

Four Kias and a Hyundai. All of 'em gave trouble free service.
 
Originally Posted by csandste
Had an '02 Elantra. Trouble free for 100K and gave it to my daughter who totaled it. Last car I purchased with a manual transmission. Kind of nostalgic for that decade when we didn't have to deal with DI engines.

Four Kias and a Hyundai. All of 'em gave trouble free service.

That's great to hear, I have had great experiences with the 4 I've had and the ones my friends own.
 
For a number of years I've had a 2005 Elantra hatchback that I use as a winter beater and summer car on occasion. It's almost to 140k trouble free miles. With the good maintenance history, your buy should be fine-good luck..
 
$700 is hard to beat, but do you drive on highways? I'm not super comfortable in small cars in that instance. I-95 to Florida is dicey.

In that price range, I'd look for an old Volvo.
 
I used to have an '05 Elantra. Was a good little car I zipped around in during my downtown commute. The engine never consumed any oil and was surprisingly peppy. Only wonky thing was the steering system. The original pump took a dump around 65k and even with a new pump, the steering would randomly bind up during low speed turns. Mechanic said the rack was likely shot, so I nursed it along to around 80k and then sold it.
 
One of the cars I was given at the rental place this summer, when the BMW got flooded, was a Hyundai Elantra. It was surprisingly peppy, had a sport mode and, I think, an economy mode, and the A/C was very good. Two friends of mine each have a new or nearly new Sonata, and when I've ridden in them I've been pleasantly surprised. Hyundai/Kia have come a LONG way since the crappy little rolling boxes they used to offer in the '90s.
 
I pay pretty close attention to my friends cars, some of them get pretty annoyed at it, I am always bugging them to get their oil or atf changed. This car hasn't had any major issues in the past 70k and I fairly consistently ride around in it.
 
Originally Posted by HyundaiAbuser
I pay pretty close attention to my friends cars, some of them get pretty annoyed at it, I am always bugging them to get their oil or atf changed. This car hasn't had any major issues in the past 70k and I fairly consistently ride around in it.

If you don't buy it for$700, I'll offer him $701 and have it shipped!...‚
 
The Hyundai Beta II was a very good engine. I was recently looking for a 'parts car' to fix my daughters crashed 2008 and I saw many with 230, 240, 250K....I saw one with 330K that was still on the road. It may not be super high tech but it's durable and not fussy about oil....the manual mentions that 5w20, 5w30, and 10w30 are permissible....
 
My folks had a 2000 Elantra wagon with that engine and a manual. Ran 16 years and 160K before rust claimed it. Was bulletproof and like pbm said it's not super high tech but it will last and not picky.
 
I had an '04 Elantra for 10 years/130,000 + miles. Only issue I had in that time was a transmission shift solenoid that was covered under warranty @ 99,800 miles.
Only reason I got rid of it was I was given a truck, and I wanted a truck more.
 
Originally Posted by pbm
The Hyundai Beta II was a very good engine. I was recently looking for a 'parts car' to fix my daughters crashed 2008 and I saw many with 230, 240, 250K....I saw one with 330K that was still on the road. It may not be super high tech but it's durable and not fussy about oil....the manual mentions that 5w20, 5w30, and 10w30 are permissible....



I should have also added that the 2008 Elantra's owners manual also permits SJ, SL, SM oil.....not picky at all....
 
I had an 02 and drove it from 108k to 198k with only two breakdowns the entire time I owned it. It wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was efficient and more reliable than I expected it to be.
 
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