Hyundai Autos -- Pros & Cons

[vbuskirk]

Earlier today, Steven made this statement in the WRUW thread:

The lease on the SAAB Turbo X is ending in July or August, so going to have my 15 year old chauffeur me around today to take a look at some cars. Might actually not get another SAAB this time . Looking to scale back the payments a bit, and you know what has peaked my interest....the 2011 Hyundia Sonata. OK, now that you have stopped laughing, do a search and check out the reviews. Looks pretty darn sharp, and the reviews are very solid.

I like these Hyundai's, and am watching the Koreans' progress with great interest. But, I'm not sure I would take the plunge yet.

For example, I bought a used Sonata for my daughter a couple of years ago. There were a few things wrong with it. Some of these were well known problems that had plagued this car and others like it (e.g. power window motors are crap). Now, I didn't get ripped off. I knew about these quirks before buying the car, and the price I paid for it reflected those issues. What I didn't know was that I wouldn't be able to buy parts for Hyundai's off the secondary market. I could only get parts from the dealer (and salvage yards), and they were damn expensive, as you can imagine. If I'm going to get screwed in this fashion, it better be a BMW. At the end of the day, I gave it to her (and her husband) 'before' getting it fixed up cause I didn't have time to traipse around the country's junk yards looking for what I needed. I told the husband/son-in-law what he needed, if he wanted to get it fixed, but suggested they just use it as trade-in bait for another car. Which he did.

You've got to earn the right to screw me, and Hyundai hasn't really earned their reputation just yet. What do you guys think?

[el presidente]

Earlier today, Steven made this statement in the WRUW thread:

The lease on the SAAB Turbo X is ending in July or August, so going to have my 15 year old chauffeur me around today to take a look at some cars. Might actually not get another SAAB this time . Looking to scale back the payments a bit, and you know what has peaked my interest....the 2011 Hyundia Sonata. OK, now that you have stopped laughing, do a search and check out the reviews. Looks pretty darn sharp, and the reviews are very solid.

I like these Hyundai's, and am watching the Koreans' progress with great interest. But, I'm not sure I would take the plunge yet.

For example, I bought a used Sonata for my daughter a couple of years ago. There were a few things wrong with it. Some of these were well known problems that had plagued this car and others like it (e.g. power window motors are crap). Now, I didn't get ripped off. I knew about these quirks before buying the car, and the price I paid for it reflected those issues. What I didn't know was that I wouldn't be able to buy parts for Hyundai's off the secondary market. I could only get parts from the dealer (and salvage yards), and they were damn expensive, as you can imagine. If I'm going to get screwed in this fashion, it better be a BMW. At the end of the day, I gave it to her (and her husband) 'before' getting it fixed up cause I didn't have time to traipse around the country's junk yards looking for what I needed. I told the husband/son-in-law what he needed, if he wanted to get it fixed, but suggested they just use it as trade-in bait for another car. Which he did.

You've got to earn the right to screw me, and Hyundai hasn't really earned their reputation just yet. What do you guys think?

+1 on the parts issues over here Chris.Seems like this is a trend when buying a car from Korea,japan etc.OEM parts are expensive as hell.My old Nissan Primera has way more expensive parts than any Audi or Bimmer i had

[SCM64]

1. I'm a lease guy, so parts and stuff don't really matter as whatever I get will still be under warranty when I turn it in. This is great info though as i had not considered the parts thing at all, and need to keep that in mind when the time comes to get the kids a used car.

2. I pulled my paperwork, and my lease is not up till Sept. So I had her drive me to the beach to scout some 4th of July condos.

3. Since my lease goes till Sept., maybe the Sonata Turbo version will be out by then. LOVE the feel of a turbo, hence my infatuation with SAAB.

[moishlashen]

My Dad-who knows more about cars than anyone I know loves them.

[ezcheese]

The quality of Hyundai has increased by leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. Their current lineup is very solid. I would consider buying one VS a Honda, and I'm a Honda fanboy.

[userfriendly]

The quality of Hyundai's have increased, but they were very low in the 90's and most of the other manufacturers have increased their quality as well.

Hyundai:
Pros: Good price, high rated build quality, vast improvement overall, good overall reviews.

The things that I like to look at when buying cars is this:

1. Ride/Comfort/Power/Driving
2. Materials Quality (Not how its built, but how good it feels to the touch)
3. Resale Value

Those are very important. IMO Hyundai materials quality, driving, and resale value is simply not up there. Resale value does affect lease cars, so what about the Honda Accord (which they can offer at a great price because they can sell it for a good price when you return it).

I would say the best Midsize sedans are (In this order): Mazda 6 (resale might be bad, but the drive is supposed to be very good), Honda Accord (benchmark), and Ford Fusion (resale is not as good as the Honda, but it looks good and can be had at a lower price). You can check out the Nissan Altima and Chevy Malibu too.

Now for the darkhorse: Subaru Legacy. I would take the GT with 6spd over any of the ones listed above.

[jimyritz]

No true risk if leasing one..worse thing that happens is you don't like it and look to turn it in...

I wouldn't buy one over a Honda especially if I kept my cars > 5 yrs...

The other thing is if you are use to white glove treatment from the service dept forget it
w/Hyundai...

Mike

[hazmatman]

Hyundai now is not the Hyundai of old.

On two occassions I was "forced" to take a Hyundai as a rental car, and I was not happy...until I drove it. A very decent reliable car....not remarkably pretty, but a good drivers car. Get you from A to B without having parts fall off.

USAA got me a Hyundai rental when my Cooper was totaled and I begrudging gave it back when the tranny started acting up. They gave me a Cobalt in it's place...it didn't even have XM radio...OH, THE HUMANITY!!!