Anybody Here Like Hyundais??

[Andre1969]

I sat in a new Accent 2-door at the DC auto show, and was pretty impressed. I usually find little cars to be horribly cramped. Either the steering wheel is in the way, the door panels are too close, the pedals are too close together, seat's too small, doesn't go back far enough, center console's too big, or any combination thereof.

However, this Accent fit my 6'3" frame just fine. For a solo commuter or a 2-seater, this thing has as much room where it counts as any big 1970's mastodon ever did. You're not going to get 3 people across in it, and with me driving, you're certainly not going to have a useable back seat. But the same can also be said of many much bigger cars.

I've been pretty impressed with the new Sonata, too. Honestly, the only thing really cheap I noticed on the inside was that the door handles were just a dull gray plastic instead of a nicer looking chromed plastic. But otherwise, I don't see a big difference between a Sonata's interior materials and an Accord's or Camry's.

[FinanceDude]

DW likes the new Sante Fe. She also likes the Tucson, but might be a little small when we go on a family vacation. Of course, EVERYTHING is small compared to the behemoth Town and Country we have now.

I have to admit, having purchased a Honda Accord a year ago, and being a domestic car owner for 20 YEARS before that, I can easily see why Detroit is getting their arses kicked by the imports. The Honda is quiet, trouble free, and has a lot of features for the price. I have no doubt I can run this car to 300,000 miles if I need to............

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Did you buy one of the new Rav4s Did you go with 4 or 6 cyl?? I have been toying with buying something like that or the CRV... but don't think I will.... but nice to know how they are...

This was a couple of years ago, during which time Hyundai has further improved its quality.

The Rav4 has been an exceptionally good vehicle and I highly recommend it. My dad even went out and bought one. Neither of us has had any problems and just routine maintenance.

The CRV at the time was just about to be redesigned and was a notch below the Rav. I believe that since that time they've come closer to parity. I think that honda has better motors and toyota does a better job with fit/finish/body matters. If I liked them both the same, I'd go with whichever one came up cheaper.

Strong recommendations for CarsDirect.com as well. They gave me a price for my wifes Lexus that I used to beat down our local dealer that doesnt work with CD, and the price they got me on my honda pilot was several thousand below what the local dealers would do.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny This was a couple of years ago, during which time Hyundai has further improved its quality. The Rav4 has been an exceptionally good vehicle and I highly recommend it. My dad even went out and bought one. Neither of us has had any problems and just routine maintenance. The CRV at the time was just about to be redesigned and was a notch below the Rav. I believe that since that time they've come closer to parity. I think that honda has better motors and toyota does a better job with fit/finish/body matters. If I liked them both the same, I'd go with whichever one came up cheaper. Strong recommendations for CarsDirect.com as well. They gave me a price for my wifes Lexus that I used to beat down our local dealer that doesnt work with CD, and the price they got me on my honda pilot was several thousand below what the local dealers would do.

Now, if we could get Toyota body integrity with Honda engine, that would be sweet!!

Maybe Hyundai will do it? I guess I'm waiting to see the 2008 Accord, I heard it is out of this world...........

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Only problem I've had with the honda is the doors not fitting right and needing "manual adjustment".

Only problem I've had with the rav4 is that the sunroof is awful. Dont ever get the rav4 with a sunroof. Its cheap and thin plastic and vibrates like crazy when you have the back windows open and go over 35mph :P

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lets-retire Sell the stuff that's been on the shelves the longest first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUM Sorry Sam. In the computer chip biz its important to sell the old VERSION first.

Thanks. Never heard of that expression before.

[Linney]

My husband and I were diehard Toyota / Honda fans. Yet six years ago we wanted a small SUV and ended up with the Santa Fe after considering many other vehicles including the RAV4 and the Subara Outback. We bought the first year model of the Santa Fe and we had a couple of repairs done in the first 18 months (all under warranty and thus free of charge). Since then, virtually no problems. Its been a hard working vehicle for us and going strong at 120K miles.

Pros: very comfortable, good seats, no problems getting warranty service, respectable gas mileage for that type of vehicle, feature-to-price ratio was great. Cons: not a lot of zip from that year model's engine but we're the type of drivers that are fine with that; less resale value than Toyota/Honda.

15+ years ago I test-drove an early Hyundai and mentally wrote them off. Now I'm one of their fans.

[laurence]

The sonata looks really nice, but as their quality has gone up, so has the price. It seems like you are going to pay close to $20k for a Hyundai when it's said and done. Of course the flip side of poor resale value is buy a 2 year old Hyundai for 9k and drive it into the ground, yeah baby, LBYM all the way!

Hey Linney, can we get a larger version of your avatar pic?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Someone tried that maneuver already...

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence The sonata looks really nice, but as their quality has gone up, so has the price. It seems like you are going to pay close to $20k for a Hyundai when it's said and done. Of course the flip side of poor resale value is buy a 2 year old Hyundai for 9k and drive it into the ground, yeah baby, LBYM all the way! Hey Linney, can we get a larger version of your avatar pic?

I paid 17k for my 2006 fully loaded Sonata.

[Jay_Gatsby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence The sonata looks really nice, but as their quality has gone up, so has the price. It seems like you are going to pay close to $20k for a Hyundai when it's said and done. Of course the flip side of poor resale value is buy a 2 year old Hyundai for 9k and drive it into the ground, yeah baby, LBYM all the way! Hey Linney, can we get a larger version of your avatar pic?

I agree with the idea of buying a used Hyundai since they depreciate so quickly. As for quality, I recently drove a rented Hyundai sedan and it drove pretty much as well as my old 1994 Honda Accord. The interior, however, wasn't as nicely appointed (i.e. cheap fabric on the seats, less-ergonomics, etc...)

[laurence]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corporateburnout I paid 17k for my 2006 fully loaded Sonata.

So that's not bad for what you are getting, definitely. I picked up my slightly used Volvo for 19.9k, but after taxes obviouly pushed it north of 21k. Was that 17k out the door? VW has jettas for around that, and they are nice, too. But I think compared to Volvo, VW, and all the rest, Hyundai really wins out on cost of upkeep. I bet tune ups and the like are significantly cheaper.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence So that's not bad for what you are getting, definitely. I picked up my slightly used Volvo for 19.9k, but after taxes obviouly pushed it north of 21k. Was that 17k out the door? VW has jettas for around that, and they are nice, too. But I think compared to Volvo, VW, and all the rest, Hyundai really wins out on cost of upkeep. I bet tune ups and the like are significantly cheaper.

Just got my April 2007 Consumer Reports car issue. For those of you who think there is validity to their ratings, in descending order of reliability:

After 3 years:
Toyota, Honda
Hyundai
Ford
GM, Chrysler
VW
Nissan

After 5 years:
Toyota
Honda
Nissan
Ford
Chrysler, GM, Hyundai
VW

After 8 years:
Toyota
Honda
Nissan
Ford
Chrysler
GM
Hyundai
VW

(Laurence: sorry, Volvo wasn't included in the comparison)

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence So that's not bad for what you are getting, definitely. I picked up my slightly used Volvo for 19.9k, but after taxes obviouly pushed it north of 21k. Was that 17k out the door? VW has jettas for around that, and they are nice, too. But I think compared to Volvo, VW, and all the rest, Hyundai really wins out on cost of upkeep. I bet tune ups and the like are significantly cheaper.

sales tax was additional

[Texas Proud]

REWahoo...

That is what the people have been saying... that they have improved their quality over the last few years.... so, an 8 YO one is more 'crap' and a 3 YO one is better.. but will it hold up in that spot at the 8 year mark Still to see and I don't want to be the guinea pig...

BTW... I would not buy another Ford again... they screwed me in the '80s with a Cougar.. knew the problem and never told anyone for over a decade... so even though they are up in the chart... they lost me as a customer.... now, my GM has been pretty good to me... but not as good as a Honda or Toyota would have been..

[BigMoneyJim]

Nissans get more reliable with age? Or the newer ones are going downhill?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigMoneyJim Nissans get more reliable with age? Or the newer ones are going downhill?

The stats show their reliability went into the toilet about 4 years ago.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The problems were grouped within the year bands...some cars experienced a lot of problems up front and then nothing bad after that...says to me that the component and design quality is ok, but the quality control and assembly are suspect. Some cars had few problems until they got older.

Nissan, mercedes, bmw, audi, vw and a few others all went sharply south about 4-5 years ago.

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigMoneyJim Nissans get more reliable with age? Or the newer ones are going downhill?

I can tell you that my 95 and 97 Maximas as just as reliable today as they were 12 or 10 years ago.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Those old maximas are really, really good. Dang near bought one around 1990 but I got a Pathfinder instead. That was a mistake. Nissan accidentally installed a volume control pedal rather than an acceleration pedal.