So my sister inlaw found a 2009 Elantra she wants. 15k miles, auto, sunroof. $9,000. I know nothing about these, and car is out of state so I won't be able to see it. My brother knows nothing of Hynduais either. Hell, I can't even spell it! She likes because it's cheap, has a sunroof and is a "pretty color". Car will be a 10k a year DD, nothing sporting at all. Will it hold together or nickel and dime them to death? Will it make it to 125K?
should be pretty bulletproof. I would argue even in 2009 Hyundai was already comparable to Honda or Toyota levels of reliability.
I have 55k on my 2009 Accent and all I have had to do so far is change the oil, and put on a new set of tires. Around 60k ill be changing the timing belt and all fluids.
My sister has a 5spd one. She hasn't had a problem with it besides the fact that she keeps hitting cars and fences with it. The body panels are not dent proof.
Should be bullet proof, as stated. My family has had a 2000 Elantra, 04 Tiburon GT and currently have a 2010 Sonata and 2011 Tucson. The only Korean car my Korean wife will drive.
Doesn't the warranty go to 100k miles on those?
Powertrain only, and for the first owner. You can transfer the warranty but then its 5 years 60k for the 2nd owner.
If its a CPO, it might be a different story. Worth checking with the dealership or Hyundai.
My wife had a 2007, which should pretty much be the same car. We had a lot of problems with it over the 2 years she had it. Two major things happened that put the nail in the coffin for us, both at around 50k miles: The airbag computer (I think it was actually the BCM) and the harness that goes to it fried itself, and the rear suspension began to clunk pretty bad.
The airbag stuff was caused by having a cup with condensation in the center console. On these cars, the BCM and the wiring harness are right under the cupholders in the center console, which is probably the dumbest place to put something inside the car that can't get wet. There's really nothing to protect it from getting wet, and the cupholders have holes in them on the sides, so of course water is going to get in there.
There was a recall on the module itself and the harness for this reason, and all they do is put a little piece of tape over part of the harness, which really doesn't fix the problem. After weeks of fighting with the dealer and Hyundai North America, Hyundai didn't want to fix her already-broken car under the warranty and wanted to charge her $2300+tax. 
On top of that, the entire Hyundai car line seems to be plagued with clunky rear shocks from about 2007-10. It had something to do with the shocks being too short or too long, I forget. I'm not sure if they came out with a revised shock design, but we didn't care to find out. 
I also noticed that some things, like the rear brakes, were a PITA to deal with when you work on it. To pull the rotors, you have to partially remove the rear control arms.
Other than all that, it seemed nice when she first bought it. I remember it being a lot nicer than the contemporary Corollas. YMMV, I guess.
^ good to know
Thanks for the input everyone.
Honestly, I think I'd spend equivalent money on the Elantra over the Corolla, at this point. Very much proven drivetrain in that one, change fluids and timing belt on time and there's no reason it shouldn't do over 200k.
Where the heck is Bobzilla
I have had a couple of hyundais. Both of them lasted to 140,000+ miles with only one major repair to both of them.
My 88 excel had the transmission go at 130,000.. but very few of those cars get to that kind of miliage. That was back when Hyundai was pretty much the same as junk in most people's minds.
my 99 Tiburon (that I traded the excel in on) had it's trans go at 30,000 miles. It was a 5 speed that had something let go inside and it machined itself from the inside out. Hyundai was so concerned and curious, they sent the trans back to korea to disassemble it. (or so I was told)
Overall.. I would probably still be driving the Tib if I had not totalled it trying to avoid a clueless mom in a minivan. Ditches hurt
The only issues I ever had with Hyundai's were dealer associated. When the local dealer first opened here they didn't really have the facilities for any work. But they moved to a larger place and now have garage facilities so that problem went away. Had an issue with the 04 Tib GT my daughter bought, the dealer didn't have the facilities to do an alignment so they told her to go someplace and they'll reimburse up to a certain amount. Well, that place so a young girl with a new car and told her the car needed major strut work. I complained to the dealer since it was a new car and if there were those issues with the front suspension then it happened during transport. The said bring it someplace else for a second opinion. That's when I found out the first place was trying to gouge my daughter as they didn't find anything wrong during the alignment. The same dealer treats us very well when I bring the wifes Sonata in.
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