Does anyone here own or have owned a Hyundai Elantra or Accent? I’m in the market for a lower-priced car, and so far I’ve heard only good things about the Hyundai brand. If anyone here has any input I would greatly appreciate it.
I bought a new Elantra in 2009.
So far no issues at all, and I drive a lot. In fact I have over 100,000 Kms on it now.
To me the quality and reliability are on par with the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.
I have two minor complaints:
- The factory stereo isn’t very powerful. It’s fine 95% of the time, but every once in a while I wish I could turn it up to 11!
- The stereo display does not dim with the headlights, and I find it distracting.
After 15 moths of driving these are the only two things I can think of.
Just about to sell off my 2006 Elantra, which was double the current price of new when we bought it. (I hope that’s not an indication that quality’s dropped, just that they’re more efficiently built now and we likely overpaid then.)
It’s done fine for us, it even tows up to 2000 lbs which was great for us. We move somewhat often and bought a 4X8 tilt trailer to pull; never a problem.
I have had my Elantra for about 18 months and can’t think of anything to complain about. Very comfortable, nice ride, not a single issue.
I bought a 2005 Hyundai Elantra with 25,000 miles on it. It now has over 166,000 miles on it. The first 6 months, I had problems with the alignment and excessive wear on the tires, but once I started putting better ($80.00) tires on it and got a good alignment, that has not been a problem. No major repairs needed yet (knock on wood).
At the time, I was comparing the Elantra with a Toyota Corolla. Similar mileage, Hyundai was less expensive and had a longer warranty. I was worried about the quality of the Hyundai, but decided to give it a try. I don’t regret it.
I bought a 2010 Elnatra yesterday to replace my fiance’s vehicle. Seems to be a solid, well made little car, reasonably priced. I hope it turns out that way…
I will concur, the ride is a nice quiet one for a small vehicle. I was reminded that less agile people may have trouble getting in and out, it’s a lower vehicle. Not Fiero low but you’re at roughly door handle height to most trucks/SUV’s. The upside is the side airbags that should be standard. Consumer Reports ‘recommends’ the Elantra, I think.
Yes, I have one & like it. However, I found out earlier this week that it does NOT handle well in snow. No, not at all.
We just traded in our 2004 Elantra for a 2011 Tuscon, and it’s our fourth Hyundai overall. We’d put just under 100k miles on it and it still ran like a champ. The last one was a 2000 and it’s probably still on the road too. They’re excellent cars for the money. When I’m done with my current Nissan I’ll likely switch back over to Hyundai myself.
My very first new case was a Hyundai. This was in the mid-1980s. Inspired by my father’s frugal ways, I decided that my first new car should be one of the least expensive ones I could buy, because I was fresh out of school and had almost no money for a down payment. I also decided that since I have no idea to fix anything in a car I should get a new car.
I hated that car and sold it after 4 years. If I was driving at highway speed (65 mph) up a hill in the summer I had to turn off the air-conditioning. The first day I parked it in the hot sun on a trip to Arizona in the summer the glue holding down the floor mats melted. In the first two years I bought it, an engine cooling fan broke, and the needle for engine temperature moved to the red every time the car wasn’t moving. I had gone to get people at LAX (the airport) and was stuck in a traffic jam on the way back, so the needle was in the red about half the time on the drive home. My cousins had many sarcastic “compliments” about my car.
This was 25 years ago though, I hear that they have much improved since then.
I bought a new Elantra in 2005 and now have 111K miles on it with no problems at all. At one point I was racking up 150 miles per day. I’d buy another Hyundai in a heart beat.
I briefly drove a 2005 Elantra and sold it during the gas crisis for almost what I got it for. I hated every single minute of it; it was a cheap car and the ride was shitty compared to a similarly equipped Honda or Toyota.
Every now and then I ride in a 2007 Sonata (future MIL), which is quite nice, though still notably not as nice a ride or finish/feel as a comprable Honda or Toyota. For the price though, it’s fine.
Since 2005 Hyundai has made great strides, but unless money was of utmost concern, I wouldn’t buy a Hyundai made before 2007.
We have a '04 sonata. I think we have put 2500 dollars into getting the AC to work, across two different repair shops, one of which was the dealer’s. I would probably not buy another one.
Oh right, I forgot mine had a recall for the front passenger’s seat not engaging the airbag. As a safety “feature”, some cars will disable the airbag if someone under 90 pounds is in the passenger seat. It would not register for a 125 pound friend, who was by no means anorexic, just a healthy woman. It was completely annoying and a safety hazard. 2005 and I think 2006 Elantras had the problem.
I’ve got a 2000 Elantra. It’s a solid car. I’ve put maybe $1,000 into repairs in the past 6 years. Most of it was from a busted head gasket that was expensive to fix. Everything else has been minor. My family members all drive Hyundais and love them. I don’t think I’ll ever drive something else.
I’ve never had one, but my best friend bought a used Accent in 97, a new Elantra in 2000 and a Tucson in 07, she seems pretty happy with them.
My daughter bought a used 2002 Elantra six months ago. The few times I’ve driven it, it handled well, was reasonably quiet and was a capable car all around. She’s had no repair problems with it.
I had a Hyundai Accent and hated that car. It failed inspection for the first time at three years old and failed every year thereafter. The transmission gave out entirely at 5 years old but had its ffirst problem within the first year. When I went over a speed bump or backed out of a parking spot, there would be a loud clunk. The first year I had it, I got seven flat tires. I finally got them all replaced with a different brand, and I got one flat the rest of the time I owned the car.
Awful car.
We rented an Accent and it was unspeakably small. We were surprised at how different the Elantra, just one size up, was from the Accent.
My wife has a 2010 Sonata and loves it. Her mother had a Sonata a few years older than that (recently replaced with a new Santa Fe) and the difference in styling, ride, and interior features between the two cars was astounding. Hyundai has certainly made leaps and bounds.
The only real problem with the wife’s car in about a year of ownership was a tire pressure monitor light that kept going off. It took a couple of trips to finally get that straightened out. Otherwise, the quality has been really good.
I’ve driven the wife’s car and it really does drive well. Currently I’m in the market to replace my '01 Ford Ranger, and I’m looking at the Tucson and the Santa Fe, based largely on the experiences of my wife and mother-in-law.