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I know that years ago Hyundai/Kia had a reputation for making cheap low quality vehicles similar to the old Geo brand, but what seems to be the general opinion these days? I only know one person who drives a Hyundai and it’s a 2011 Elantra. It belongs to my brother-in-law’s nephew and he currently has about 120,000 miles on it and has never had a single issue. He told me the check engine light hasn’t even been on once, but that doesn’t mean that every vehicle under the Hyundai/Kia umbrella is just as reliable.
I’m basically asking this because the hatchback version of the Hyundai Accent has caught my eye and I’m looking to finally drive something for once that gets more than just 19-22 mpg. I’m just reminded of the few times I drove a Geo Metro Hatchback and feeling like the car was literally gonna fall apart at 25 MPH thanks to how cheap it felt. The Accent can’t be THAT bad, right?
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My mom’s car is a hyundai eltrantra 2000 she bought it used for like a 6 hundred bucks & had it for three years so far. It’s need a lot of tlc. It’s good on gas. It’s has a lot of plastic pieces that are a pain to replace. I’ve had to change all the hose, ingine coil, spark plugs, raditor & fans, water pump, belts,over heating issues ect. It’s not hard to work on. hope this helps.
Hyundai and Kia ( think of Kia as a sub brand like Pontiac is to GM ) have both realized that they needed to up the quality of their vehicles in the US market, especially when they were losing so much value once they left the lot in the 80’s.
I personally just bought a 2005 Santa Fe after doing a lot of research. We’ve been pleased with it so far. I’ve gone over it pretty thoroughly and scoured the Hyundai message boards for problems with the Santa Fe’s in general. For the most part they were pretty petty problems, and there was some outlining of certain maintenance tasks such as the timing belt that helped me decide if I wanted to take the plunge over the other vehicles we were considering.
While we were out, I had the opportunity to drive a newer Santa Fe ( 07 ) and sit in a few of the brand new ones ( the Elantra, Sonota and Veloster ). Each impressed me with build quality, fit and finish and pricing. I drove a 2011 Sonota as a rental car and really liked it. I was averaging 32mpg and felt the ride was comfortable. This experience is what led me to the Santa Fe as a replacement for our aging Ford Explorer. We looked at the Honda Element as an option and while I really liked the vehicle, it just wasn’t the perfect fit for us.
On the plus side, at least for the Santa Fe, it had excellent crash test ratings and reviewers that wrote about them that had been in accidents with them relayed as much. My insurance went up 20 bucks a year from full coverage on the 96 Explorer to the 2005 Santa Fe with the same coverage.
I work on a lot of Hyundais and Kias. Both are throw away cars but In my experience a Hyundai is much better than Kia. They both rust prematurely and if the engines are not maintained they fail early.
If I was in the market and could buy an affordable car I would buy a Hyundai Elantra or Sonata.
After the Hyundai Sonata I worked on today I think I changed my mind. :angry:
As a european I am not really fond of either of the 2. When I was originally laid off in April I had to turn in my VW Passat Stc with a 2.0 TurboDiesel and DSG automatic. I then had to drive a Hyundai i40 Automatic back to my home town to a colleague. Man that car sucked majorly. I mean I can’t really knock its automatic gear, but the car just felt slow and down on power generally and the engine screamed when I wanted to get something out of it :/.
Personally I would rather spend my money on an older used xxx brand car rather then springing for a newer/new Kia or Hyundai. But as a budget car they sure are getting popular around here, but I would rather want something I would feel good about driving and that I look forward to driving, rather than dreading it.
In our family we have 3 Hyundai’s. 2009 elantra (55K), 2008 sonata (75k) & 2010 sonata (59K). They are great cars and we have never had a problem with any of them. The new versions not only look great but they are great quality. Hyundai’s quality greatly improved after 2008 and they are grabbing market share in the US.
I have a 2010 Accent and cant complain about it at all… Altho Im doing the timing belt this weekend on it. I avg 28-30 mpg and out on the hwy loaded with 3 people and couple suitcases will get 34-36 mpg. Has nice power for a 1/8th of a motor. I say go for it!
they are better than they use to be, but just remember the rule of commerce. If its a cheap price its a cheap product. You’re better off getting a corolla
Unreliable pieces of junk, as if the fact they are cheaply made and have terrible build quality wasn’t bad enough they like breaking in every way possible, not to mention fuel economy is never as good as they say it is.
Wife’s aunt just bought one. Went over it here at the shop before she did. Noticed the build quality is much higher than it used to be. Basic engine design, for a modern engine Hyundais are very simple so it is an easier engine to maintain and repair.
Did not see anything that would stand out a cheap or poorly made. Interior is basic and quite nice, reminded me a bit of an older Toyota Corolla. Its a basic designed car that gets very good mileage, has more than enough power as a daily driver and is not to difficult to repair. They also seem to do well in crash tests so I would say it would make a good car. The downside is that like Bill said Hyundais need to be properly taken care of, maintenance is something you cant afford to skimp on or be lax about. Their engines will easily do 300,000 miles and still run great, but only if they well cared for.
worked on once, i am not a fan of some things about thre Kias but i think in some cases some people get over zellous and biased about it and say they are junk beacuse of a opinion they have made rather than seeing one for themselves…
the quality is not bad at all, i mean its not great but its not bad… reliability i could not tell you, power is ok the one i drove had a 5 speed stick so it was fun too drive…
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