2012 Hyundai Elantra

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You haven't mentioned an important thing here. Are you keeping cars way past 4 years or are you lease type of a guy who never owns it. The two groups usually end up worrying about different things and ultimately that steers them certain direction.
 
Not a statistical sample but I am driving the wife's old 2001 accent:

Currently have 305,000 km.
I change the oil very infrequently (sometimes 20,000+ on dinosaur-oil)
It sees nothing but abuse

Repairs:
Had to replace the clutch throw bearing at 280,000 km (so I did the clutch then to).
We had some sensors fail (MAP/MAF, throttle position) at ~200,000 km
We had one of the wiper pivots fail at ~150,000 km.

Timing belts done at 100,000 and 200,000, will not do it again...

We had the cat and alternator fail (around 290,000 km), both were not normal wear but abuse issues...

Body is rusting up pretty good (we never took care of it).
 
all i can say to all of the people who put down hyundai/kia and continue to consider them second rate:

keep it up. tell everyone you know that honda and toyota are still miles better than korean products.

. . .that's the best way of ensuring that when i have to buy my next car (most likely a hyundai/kia product) that they will still be priced very aggressively, with fabulous warranties, tonnes more equipment, and overly generous financing.

i thank you all in advance.
 
mxs said:
You haven't mentioned an important thing here. Are you keeping cars way past 4 years or are you lease type of a guy who never owns it. The two groups usually end up worrying about different things and ultimately that steers them certain direction.
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My family have never owned a new car
 
i own Two Hyundai's, great cars, cheap to fix, they have come a long way from the old Pony days.....
 
I've owner 3 Hyundai's and all were perfect vehicles... Currently driving a 2008 Accent and only change the oil. At 85,000 and purrs like a kitten. The cargo you can fit into these little cars are amazing! I put my 6hp outboard, inflatable 10ft zodiac and all my camping gear for two people in the hatch. South Korea is the new Japan...IMHO
 
I would look at the Cruze cost of ownership tends to be lower on American cars, parts are less expensive to buy. I have had a few GM cars I have own go well over 400,000k with no major repairs just wear parts. GM drive trains tend to be pretty bulletproof.
 
Brian P said:
VW ... personal bias here, I have a 2006 Jetta TDI which has been good (and has 361,000 km on it). But I won't buy the 2009+ TDI. They've been having major problems with the high-pressure fuel pump, and certain cold-weather conditions have been causing intercoolers to freeze up. The Passat TDI fixes the intercooler-freezing situation by using an air-to-water intercooler. I don't like the bland styling of the current (2011+) Jetta and Passat, nor the de-contenting and cheapening that came along with it. There's a new VW Golf coming next year, with new engines, and I know already that they'll be using an air-to-water intercooler, so that issue will be fixed - and VW has already stated that the Golf won't be cheapened.
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Funny you say that, we had a 2006 TDI and really liked it. About the only thing we didn't like it was the manual tranny do we ended up trading it in. In retrospect it was an awesome car. In the 90something k's we had it for, it was almost perfect. There was something with the clutch but they replaced the entire thing under warranty, otherwise it was just routine maintenance.

The 2009 was a polar opposite with about a 45 day stay in the shop because they didn't have parts. For 45 days!!! Not impressed at all with it. And I agree, the new models do nothing for me in terms of looks.
 
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afong56 said:
all i can say to all of the people who put down hyundai/kia and continue to consider them second rate:

keep it up. tell everyone you know that honda and toyota are still miles better than korean products.

. . .that's the best way of ensuring that when i have to buy my next car (most likely a hyundai/kia product) that they will still be priced very aggressively, with fabulous warranties, tonnes more equipment, and overly generous financing.

i thank you all in advance.
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I know exactly how you feel!

all i can say to all of the people who put down RIM/Blackberry and continue to consider them second rate:

keep it up. tell everyone you know that Apple and iProducts are still miles better than other products.

. . .that's the best way of ensuring that when i have to buy my next smart phone (most likely a RIM/Blackberry 10 product) that they will still be priced very aggressively. Thanks to all the negative publicity with RIM and Blackberry......... I got 2 excellent playbook tablets for the fire sale price of $200 each, a load of free apps from RIM because of that outage, and sweet deal on my last BB Bold phone cause apparently unless you own an Apple product, nothing else matters!


i thank you all in advance



.
 
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ZX600 said:
and my 2002 has only had oil changes and a timing belt change at 200.000km
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My 02 Honda just had the motor replaced with "just" 240k on the clock. I've owned Honda's since the early 80's all had far more k's than this one.....it's left a bad taste in my mouth. I think I'll give Toyota a shot.
In another 10 years maybe a Hyundai...just not quite yet
 
Audiometric said:
My 02 Honda just had the motor replaced with "just" 240k on the clock. I've owned Honda's since the early 80's all had far more k's than this one.....it's left a bad taste in my mouth. I think I'll give Toyota a shot.
In another 10 years maybe a Hyundai...just not quite yet
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That sucks man. My engine is still like it was when I bought it. The shocks in the other hand has been gone for a while but that is normal at 260k

I have always used synthetic oil and done oil changes at 10k, about to move to high mileage
 
Audiometric said:
My 02 Honda just had the motor replaced with "just" 240k on the clock. I've owned Honda's since the early 80's all had far more k's than this one.....it's left a bad taste in my mouth.
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Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. You buy Honda and you expect perfection. It just ain't so anymore. I really believe the new ones just aren't as good as the pre 2000 models.. Cracked engine block? Like, really??
 
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invictus43 said:
Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. You buy Honda and you expect perfection. It just ain't so anymore. I really believe the new ones just are as good as the pre 2000 models.. Cracked engine block? Like, really??
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And V6 automatic transmissions, and hybrid batteries. Every manufacturer has their share of stuff that they've bungled.

I am just about to get the brakes done at all four corners on my '06 Jetta, only the second time it has needed brakes. The car runs the same as it always has and it still looks good, and the interior is better than on the new ones, and I'll trust my "pumpe-duse" TDI engine at 362,000 km more than I'll trust the new common-rail engines from brand new! No plans to trade in.

If VW doesn't botch up the new Golf (and it looks promising from here), and they either fix that Bosch CP3 injection pump or replace it with a different design, I might look at those a year or two after they come out. Haven't found anything else that matches VW's ride and handling and steering, I just don't like the cheapening that they did with both Jetta and Passat.
 
Brian P said:
I am just about to get the brakes done at all four corners on my '06 Jetta, only the second time it has needed brakes. The car runs the same as it always has and it still looks good, and the interior is better than on the new ones, and I'll trust my "pumpe-duse" TDI engine at 362,000 km more than
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Haven't done bearings yet???
 
Oh yes, it's had wheel bearings at all 4 corners already. That's the only expensive repair that it has needed that wasn't scheduled maintenance or regular wear parts.
 
Well, I will knock on wood I guess with my 09 TDI. I don't drive to US and I stick to V-Power diesel up here, so hopefully the pump likes it .. . :-) As far as handling, it's hard to not like the car. The steering feedback even with the stock tires is really good. I bet BMW, Audi is probably similar, but that's more than I'd be ever willing to pay for a new car. Sure there's the famous VW reliability as far as electrical stuff (radio head unit replaced at 50K ... LOL), but I expected that and was willing to trade that off for the handling, drivability, torque and mpg. So far so good.

I will disagree that the interior looks better on the MK5's. No way, man .. .LOL The quality of leather (first time they offered high end leather on Golf diesel), the sporty seats, dashboard finish, common ... :-)
 
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RockerGuy said:
My family have never owned a new car
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OK, I guess you really have to be careful what you choose here then. No warranty, so it's all on your dime the moment you sign.

After few experiences, I swore I will never buy used in Ontario again. Unless I personally know the person, which is almost never.
 
I have an '01 Accord. It's in great shape, little rust yet, 161k kms, hope to keep it a few years.

Have done a clutch, had some transmission bearings replaced (prob my fault, didn't follow trans oil change interval), ball joints, front shocks, brakes, tires (100k kms and 5 years out of the OEM Michelins!), and an airbag computer. Not perfect, but not bad. The AC still works without a recharge. It's smaller than the current model and it's actually fun to drive with decent power and a good chassis, and it doesn't stick out to cops. Most importantly, it's paid for.

I'd probably go look at Nissans. They seem to undercut other Japanese manufacturers on price, and I think one of the Versa models is at the end of its' design cycle. My folks are also very happy with their CVT Altima 2.5S, it gets terrific fuel mileage.

My grandparents are thrilled with their 4-cyl 6sp auto '08 Malibu. It feels good to drive and gets great mileage.

I bought a Toyota Corolla last year for my fiancee to find out it's an oil burner! An '02 model with 168k kms! Faaack. Apparently '98-02 Corollas are known to burn oil as the miles get up there. With the help of Lucas Oil Stabilizer, it's using about 1 qt every 4000 kms. And it's the dullest thing on 4 wheels.

Point being, every car has its' quirks. I'd avoid buying a first year model of ANY car, and check your Consumer Reports scores. Note that on a few cars I've looked up, there's a real noticeable improvement (esp on N. American cars) as the car goes through its' production cycle.

I can't wait to buy my first new car in a few years. I'd probably avoid a Hyundai because I like to keep my cars a while. Have heard that parts are hard to get independently, and I think there's a reason for all their cost savings.
 
mxs said:
I will disagree that the interior looks better on the MK5's. No way, man .. .LOL The quality of leather (first time they offered high end leather on Golf diesel), the sporty seats, dashboard finish, common ... :-)
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Mk6 Golf is a world of difference from Mk6 Jetta! The Jetta is the one that got cheapened. The Golf (like yours) got all the goodies. My dad has a 2011 Mk6 Golf TDI also, he loves it, I've forewarned him about the HPFP and the intercooler-freezing issues and what to look for.
 
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