I am in the market for a new car. I drove a Kia Spectra and a Hyundai whatchamacallit. I liked them both and they were well within my price range. But people tell me that they are not good quality cars, despite their warranties. But the people who tell me this do not own Kias or Hyundais.
If you own either of these makes, what are your experiences? Are you happy with the car?
I do not own a Kia or a Hyundai, but I have been in the car business for about 15 years. Before you buy either of those cars I recommend that you check on their safety and reliability.
crashtest.com will inform you as to how both these cars are death traps, and Consumer Reports will tell you how miserable they are to drive, and how unreliable they are. Their resell values are terrible also. My advice is to look for a used Honda or Toyota. They will be much more reliable, and the driving experince will be much better. I know the Hyundai and Kia have impressive warranties, but who cares about warranties when the cars are constantly giving you trouble.
Just last September we were in the market for a new car. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money for 2 reasons, 1. We couldn’t afford it. 2. My husband put a lot of miles on the car. On My dad’s recomendation, who owns a Kia Sportage, we bought a Kia Rio. It’s a great car. We have no problems at all. My husband love the car, it has good gas milage and a good warranty. I would recomend it.
We also had a Hyundai once, it was also a very good car.
I don’t know about the safty tests, but the Kias do have airbags. A Volvo’s probably a safer car, but if you can’t afford it, it dosen’t do you any good. And the new Kia is certainly safer the the 1985 Honda Civic we had before.
I haven’t looked into it, but the Kias probably don’t have a high resale value, but I never bought a car for the resale value, I bought it to get around in.
Just my opinion. Good luck.
Hyundai owner here.
Actually, when I looked at consumer reports, the more recent models of Hyundais seemed to get reasonable marks. Not as good as many Toyotas or Hondas, but that’s why they’re cheaper.
I’ve been very happy with my car, a 1998 Elantra. I bought it last summer, and have put about 20,000 miles on it (for a total of about 50,000). It runs great, has a great amount of pickup, and is pretty roomy (although I’ve heard from some people that the back seat isn’t the most comfortable). I’ll buy another one when this one goes. Similar used Toyotas would have cost me about twice as much as this car did, and there’s a lot of value in that for me.
I just bought a Hyundai Elantra. I’ll let you know how it works out in the long run.
Despite its reputation, the new Hyundais are pretty decent cars. There is a pretty substantial difference between a '91 Pony and any Hyundai sold today. I extensively researched the Elantra against both the Civic and the Corolla, and they could not compare. I WANTED to buy a Corolla but I just couldn’t justify it. The Corolla was too pricey and the Civic wasn’t nearly as comfortable (although I am a big man, so if you’re small the Civic might be fine.) The evidence would suggest that a 2001 or 2002 Elantra will be generally as reliable as a Civic or a Corolla, and you get wayyyyy more options.
Elantra safety ratings are generally good, though not as good as the Civic. Elantras have standard side-impact airbags and reinforced doors, which is unusual in a car that size. Civics fare better in front-impact crash tests. Small cars are inherently less safe that equivalently designed large cars, so don’t get T-boned by an Excursion no matter what you’re driving.
simple homer is right, however, in that the Hyundais presently do not have the same resale value.
I bought a 2001 Hyundai Elantra GT. I love it.
It got a very good crash rating, and as others have said, the options available and the warranty are fantastic. I have several friends/relatives who have bought Hyundais in the past year or two, and each one loves them. I don’t know what bad reputation people are talking about: they have a great reputation from what I’ve seen.
Oh, another friend from work bought one of the new Tiburons yesterday, which got a really good write-up recently in Car and Driver.
9Fe
I have a 2000 Hyundai Elantra and I love it! It’s 4 door, power windows and locks and A/C and was only $12K. Can’t beat that. I have never been in an accident, so I don’t know how it does in a crash. I do live in Denver, though, and it has been fabulous in the snow. I feel very safe.
Very reliable, good gas mileage and doesn’t look half bad. I wanted a VW Jetta but couldn’t justify the price difference since my hubby was still in school when I bought it.
By no means has my Hyundai been “constantly giving [me] trouble” as simple homer claims. I have never had any trouble with my Hyundai, so, never having owned (nor presumably driven) a Hyundai, perhaps simple homer does not know of what he speaks.
Bought a 2001 Rio (w/ manual trans.) last June, got away with it for about $9990 including tax & license. About 11K miles on it now, very happy with it - no problems. Just had it in for an oil change and had them check the clutch (no real reason, other than I can be hard on the ol’ stick-shift sometimes) and nothing was wrong.
I don’t think I’d want my car in an automatic-transmission, mainly because I’d feel underpowered. Better power transfer than my VW Jetta had, however.
It also has a range of manual adjustment for the driver’s seat I found unavailable on many other ‘budget’ cars.
I’d buy the Spectra in a heartbeat - I like hatchbacks for the utility aspect, and it almost doesn’t even look like it’s a hatchback. They didn’t have any Spectras in stock when I bought my Rio 
-AmbushBug
When Hyundai started selling cars in North America (the “Pony”) back in the late 80s, they earned a well-deserved reputation for being unreliable and buggy. They were of much shoddier construction than today’s models. It’s that reputation that drives down their resale value even though the quality has improved. Which is fair; they need a longer track record of good cars.
Hyundai’s SUV - I can’t remember what it’s called - had some engine problems as recently as last year that caused the engine to seize and destroy itself, often when it was still quite new. That’s a different engine than any other model.
A friend of mine has a Hyundai something or other… maybe two years old. He has had problems with the paint - such that he can’t take it through high-pressure car washes without it damaging it. Living in the mountains outside of Denver, the car needs a good washing fairly often, so he’s kind of stuck. Not sure if this is a fluke, or if one of the reasons the car is less expensive is because of cheaper materials. Buyer beware, I suppose.
Regarding the above remarks all I can say is go to
www.crashtest.com and you can see for yourself that the overall
safety rating for most Hyundais is “marginal” , and the death rates are listed as “poor”- the worst possible rating. Not what I would call very good or even okay. Accidents do happen, and I always recommend that people protect themselves as well as possible.
A Hyundai or Kia with 80,000 to 100,000 miles on it typically is worth nothing, and has many problems. But a Toyota, or Honda, typically has nothing wrong with it, and is worth thousands more.
I look at a car as an investment, and I want my car to be worth as much as possible when I sell it.
Hey its just my opinion, but I deal with hundreds of cars every year. And I want the safest possible car for me and my family.
Regarding the above remarks all I can say is go to
www.crashtest.com and you can see for yourself that the overall
safety rating for most Hyundais is “marginal” , and the death rates are listed as “poor”- the worst possible rating. Not what I would call very good or even okay. Accidents do happen, and I always recommend that people protect themselves as well as possible.
A Hyundai or Kia with 80,000 to 100,000 miles on it typically is worth nothing, and has many problems. But a Toyota, or Honda, typically has nothing wrong with it, and is worth thousands more.
I look at a car as an investment, and I want my car to be worth as much as possible when I sell it.
Hey its just my opinion, but I deal with hundreds of cars every year. And I want the safest possible car for me and my family.
I have a 2002 Hyundai Sonata and I love it. My dad got it for me for college (my previous car wouldn’t have made it out of my town much less to college) and researched cars extensively before he decided the Sonata was the best choice for me.
I haven’t had any problems with it but I’ve only had it for 'bout five months so of course that doesn’t tell much.
I wish you well on your car hunt!
I have a Santa Fe and I love it more than any other car I’ve ever had. The thing has never given me the slightest problem. It handles extremely well for an SUV, and the suspension is great. I can’t speak for Hyundai customer service since I haven’t had to bring it in for anything yet.
I bought a '01 Accent hatcback for aobut $10,000 a week before 9/11 (d’oh!). I wanted a civic, which was my last car, but the price of $17,000 was too much. $7,000 in my pocket was nice.
The car is fine, doesn’t get the mileage the Honda would. Only problem is the wind is louder thru the window in driver side, but I can live with it. It’s not a Honda, but I only drive about 6,000 miles/yr anyway. No big deal.
Used Honda around here were going for $7,000-$9,000 with 60,000 miles or more on them. I figured a new car for just a few thousand more was better than a used Honda.
What’s that joke acronym for Hyundai? All I can remember is “Hope You Understand”.
I haven’t been in the car business as long as simple homer and I don’t own (or have even driven) a Kia or Hyundai, but I’d advise against them. Especially Kia. There’s an obnoxious series of radio commercials playing locally: “If YOU have a job! If YOU have $199! YOU can drive away in a BRAND-NEW KIA! GOOD credit, BAD credit, NO credit, EVEN BANKRUPTCY!”
[Dr. Evil] Riiiight. [/Dr. Evil] As with Mitsubishi, there’s a reason they’re “practically giving them away”. After you pay it off you’d be lucky to sell it for $199. They’ve got good warranties, but that doesn’t mean they’re reliable. Consider the safety ratings, which would be the biggest disadvantage IMO. And don’t put too much faith in the opinions of people who own one (no offense to anyone here who does). As with any car purchase, it’s easy to recommend a car that hasn’t fallen apart in a year. But five years from now…
If money or credit aren’t major problems, you can easily find an off-lease car from the Big Three (Honda, Nissan, Toyota :)) with under 50K miles, for maybe $1-3000 more than a new Kia. Warranty will be lower (or non-existent) but you’ll be much better off in the long-run.
“Hope You Understand Nothing’s Drivable And Inexpensive”.
Hyundais used to be utter crap - my father owned a Sonata in the early 90’s. What a worthless piece of plastic that was. However, the models from more recent years have greatly improved. Better styling, better driving characteristics, and apparently they’re more reliable, too. A friend of mine has a Santa Fe, and he loves it.
KIA is a brand that still has to make a name for itself. I don’t know anything about them, other than the fact that I think they’re kinda ugly. But then, I think most modern cars are kinda ugly.
Daewoo is another oddball Korean car, and one that I am puzzled about. IT is made by a giant Korean conglomerate (whose main business was/is textiles). Anyway, the founder decided to get into the car business. There is a dealer near where I live-he has BRAND NEW MY 2000 cars on his lot! So they are not selling too well-does anybody know what ois going to happen to this odd little car company? Is buying one a good idea?