A Hyundai??

I'da never thunk it. My long-term search for a daily commuter appliance ended 12/31 when I signed on the line for a new Sonata. First new car for us in 11 years, we traded the only other new car we've ever bought. I walked in with what I considered to be a lowball offer, they made it work. It's quiet, comfy, good radio, and will be under warranty for 20 years or 200k miles- which I plan on trying for.

Sporty? Depends on your frame of reference. Feels like a spaceship compared to the car we traded in- cars have come a LONG way in the last 10 years.

Grassroots? Nah. But this frees me up to think about ways to find old junk to work on, instead of constantly having to repair what I need to get back and forth to work, and/or wait for it to leave me stranded somewhere.

TL/DR: Witness my Korean Buick, which I am oddly excited about:

I said the same thing as I signed the paperwork on my wife's brand new 2010 Santa Fe. I swore I'd never buy a brand new car, only idiots buy brand new cars, and here I was plunking down cash on a new car. But in retrospect we bought at the exact perfect time and it has served our needs perfectly. Zero regrets. Three years of family duty and it is holding up great.

I love the new Sonata. Congrats and enjoy not worrying about fixing stuff for ten years.

The wife's been pretty happy with the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Limited 2.0T. Only issue has been recurrent transmission problems covered under warranty. The DI Turbo 4 is impressive. 274 HP and 35 mpg. Very comfortable, and at a price nobody else can touch.

In reply to slefain: I told my oldest son, who's 7, that this would probably be his car one day- he looked around and said "cool!"

There was definitely some cognitive dissonance going on, but I figured it was worth it. I can't be GRM ALL the time.

I have heard really good things from recent-vintage Hyundai owners, too, but I also brought up the old "yeah, but it's a Hyundai..." line for the dealer- mostly for entertainment purposes. You can tell they hear it a lot- they were pretty darn smooth in rebutting that argument.

In reply to 1988RedT2: Can you elaborate? I am curious to see how the whiz bang flappy paddle 6speed automatic in my non-turbo model holds up. The long powertrain warranty made me feel OK about it overall, but I still don't really trust all these new-school transmission flavors- just one more thing to break, IMHO...

Yep... The Koreans are doing things right. The right car, at the right price that people want. It's why I'm on my 3rd Korean car in almost 11 years.

A flappy paddle auto is only different from a traditional auto in the electronics. It has different programming and a couple extra switches, that's all. With your ability to intelligently manage revs it should extend the life of the engine.

Hyundai is not the punch line to too many jokes anymore. They keep up the pace and good work and a lot of companies should be very very scared

In reply to Jake:

First thing I noticed on the very first oil change was that the trans was leaking fluid. Since there is no way to check the level, I asked my wife to take it in. They pulled the case apart and "re-sealed" it.

Next oil change, it's still leaking. Took it back again, and they agreed. Apparently seeping through porosity in the cast aluminum housing.

The fix this time was a different transmission, apparently a factory rebuilt one.

Not too long after that, my wife is driving to work. Maybe five minutes into the drive on a slight grade, the transmission downshifts like three gears instantaneously with a vicious "CLUNK!" and will not upshift. Wife limps it home, takes my Mazda, and leaves me to wait for the dealer to come get it.

Fix this time was to replace a solenoid and a wiring harness. Took a few days to get the parts.

All was fine for a few thousand miles, then WHAM! The sudden downshift thing again. Same symptom, this time different fix. A software upgrade/reprogram. This job was done in a day.

My wife has experienced some flakiness of the transmission since then, but nothing as severe as the prior incidents. Yet another trip to the dealership, and they could not find an issue.

Other than that (!) the car has been fine. Oh yeah, one interior issue around the A-pillar interior trim over the airbag. The panel doesn't fit right, but the dealer "fixed" it once. Still fits poorly with a big gap, but for a cheap car, the interior really is pretty nice.

Thanks for that. Hopefully I won't have to use that drivetrain warranty, but I'm comforted by it being there anyway. Good luck on getting your car's issue ironed out, too.

That brings me to another good question- how is the warranty service? Since they are leaning on that long warranty as a sales point, how are they doing so far on standing behind the product for you? That might vary dealer to dealer, though...

Ticked over 94K in the 2011 Elantra today, still nothing to report, it hasn't had a single failure.

BTW mine is manual

Jake said: ...and will be under warranty for 20 years or 200k miles

Has there been a change? I thought they had a 10/100 warranty?

I read somewhere (here?) that Hyundai makes a better Toyota than Toyota does now.

I haven't had an issue with customer service. They are responsive, timely, courteous.

JohnRW1621 wrote:

Jake said: ...and will be under warranty for 20 years or 200k miles

Has there been a change? I thought they had a 10/100 warranty?

Mine has the same warranty. Some deal that Rick Case Hyundai was running for a while. Factory warranty is 10/100 and the dealer tacks on another 10/100. Seemed like a gimmick but it does cover some things (can't remember specifics).

akamcfly wrote: I read somewhere (here?) that Hyundai makes a better Toyota than Toyota does now.

That depends.... are we talking about pre-soulless Toyota or the newer soulless -yota?

1988RedT2 wrote: I haven't had an issue with customer service. They are responsive, timely, courteous.

The free Hyundai Roadside Assistance has helped my wife out twice now with flat tires. They show up, change the flat, and she's on the way. No fuss, no muss. She could probably change the tire, but with a toddler and an infant in the car it is easier to just pick up the phone.

JohnRW1621 wrote:

Jake said: ...and will be under warranty for 20 years or 200k miles

Has there been a change? I thought they had a 10/100 warranty?

10/100 is factory, the NEXT 10/100 is this dealer's tack-on, though apparently it's valid nationally. The mere fact that they'd even mention something like that tells me they are at least planning on it not breaking much. Yeah, I have to keep records, but I do that anyway. Didn't seem like a big deal to me- though I imagine if I was to go in campaigning for a new engine at 195k miles I'd have to have my i's dotted and t's crossed. Again, one of those things I'm hoping to not have to use.

I'm happy. I wrote a glowing buyer review for Edmunds.com while I was slow at work today.

On a thread here not too long ago it was mentioned that Hyundai seemed to be very particular about the brand of oil filter being used. As I do my own oil changes I recently went and picked up three filters from the dealer for the wifes 12' Elantra. Something to be aware of.

Bobzilla wrote: Yep... The Koreans are doing things right. The right car, at the right price that people want. It's why I'm on my 3rd Korean car in almost 11 years.

Not for nothing, but keeping a car for an average of just under 4 years isn't all that impressive. I'm a "keep it for 10 years" kinda guy for a new purchase. My beaters have been 10+ year-old Civics that go to 200k miles.

We'll see how current Hyundais are holding up at the 10 year mark.

I think Bob still has all of them , he had 2 running with over 300K IIRC.

Bobzilla wrote:

akamcfly wrote: I read somewhere (here?) that Hyundai makes a better Toyota than Toyota does now.

That depends.... are we talking about pre-soulless Toyota or the newer soulless -yota?

From my experience with soulless yota's and newer Hyundai's, I'd say it is likely somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the pre-soulless.

nicksta43 wrote: On a thread here not too long ago it was mentioned that Hyundai seemed to be very particular about the brand of oil filter being used. As I do my own oil changes I recently went and picked up three filters from the dealer for the wifes 12' Elantra. Something to be aware of.

I must have read that somewhere. I just finished up a case of 10 filters. I need to go to the dealership for another case.

I use K&N or Mobil 1 filters for oil, just stay away from paper/cardboard

I also have partaken of the Korean Kool Aid. 2011 Elantra Touring SE with 5 speed manual. Bought tags today. I figgered if a Scotch drinker from Oz with a tour bus and a Rover has 2 of them they can't be all that bad.

Those guys are pretty damned determined to be one of the top car companies in the world. I visited a couple of their plants in Korea, it was pretty impressive. Their R&D centre is enormous and they've gone from buying other manufacturer's technology to engineering their own in-house, all in the last decade. They now roll their own steel - their manufacturing facility is the largest in the world... guess that's why rusty Ponies are now a thing of the past.