Huyndai has improved & excellent warranty

I can't believe it. Hyundai used to be a joke.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-10-03-car-value_x.htm

10 Year/100,000 Mile Powertrain Protection,
5 Year/60,000 Mile Bumper-to-Bumper,
5 Year/Unlimited Miles 24-hour
Roadside Assistance

 

thats great. glad to see some good competition. south korea is a country on
the rise. especially if the global economy takes its course. i read
somewhere that they will eventually manufacture their cars in china. they
already have a few plants in china and plan expansion. imagine how
inexpensive the car will be if made in china? noone will be able to
compete with them. UAW workers better start looking for others jobs.

 

Still are.

Kia is their ghetto level brand now, though.

Most cars hae 1 or 2 problems that show up, with Kias, EVERYTHING breaks
on them.

As I've often said the friends, the only thing that will make Korean
cars look good is Chinese cars being sold in the US. I'm conviced that
due to whatever, the Koreans simply do not understand the US market for
ANYTHING. And they've STILL got a long way to go for quality, as anyone
with a recent Zenith (LG) TV set can attest to.

I don't understand their approach to cars. Bizzare model names,
luckluster performance, 'me too' styling....

Daewoo came and went, Kia has cornered the poor urban area market (This
is the poliically correct way of stating it), Hyundai is for all intents
and purposes a chick car. The big selling point is price and warranty,
but who the heck wants to hang onto a 2nd rate car for 100,000 miles
anyway?

 

On "Spike TV" (USA), Car & Driver has a weekly show. A few months ago they
had an interview with the President of Hyundai autos. They were discussing
their new plant they just opened in Alabama, anyway they were commenting on
their prices as they are mostly automated which will improve quality, keep
the costs down and keep prices lower.

He also stated (paraphrase here) that the companies goals are to be in top 3
companies in units sold by 2006 and to be the number one company by 2010.
Lofty goals, but they seem to have new models each year.

Would I own one? mmm.... probably not yet, but just a few years ago some no
name companies started with cheap and cheaply made cars... Honda, Toyota and
Nissan.

 

Lets not forget a no-name start-up company back in '92 called Saturn.

My 2 cents on this as a Saturn consultant:

Back in '92 Saturn was a break-off of GM employees who were tired of all the
bullsh*t of the Corporate mentality that ran things then, which ultimately
was one main reason why foreign companies such as Nissan and Honda were
kicking their butts.

To compete with these successful companies, Saturn offered "A Different Kind
of Company, A Different Kind of Car", with "No Hassle, No Haggle" relaxed
dealerships, quality cars and low competitive pricing.

Forward to 2004. Per today's article, most customers feel that GM cars are
way overpriced, under quality and the current incentives only serve to lower
the price down to where it should have been in the first place. My customers
complain about just this to me on a daily basis.

In retrospect of the old Saturn of days gone, Saturn has inadvertently
become the very monster that it hated, bureaucratic and just as f*cked up as
their competitors.

IMHO, Saturns have potential to be great cars, but the corporate and local
dealership BS stand in the way, hurting it's public image. Thank God for
positive word of mouth and the loyal owner who still know that Saturn is a
good car (despite dealers who wont honor warranties, ignored service
bulletins or customer neglect). But with Hyundai and others who have taken
notice of what made Saturn so successful and now have adopted those traits,
Saturn is no longer "A Different Kind of Company, A Different Kind of Car"
and is being dragged down by the unfortunate "Garden Variety A**holes" that
one can find in any corporate management position anywhere.

And no, I am in no way endorsing such idiots as Mr.Fag, but rather speaking
out as an insider who wishes Saturn to go the better path.

marx404

 

When the first Japanese cars started coming in, circa 1968ish, it did not
take long for people to discover that they ran well, and were very
dependable. At that time, an American car that had 85,000 miles was
considered dead. It was very uncommon to see cars go over 100,000 miles.
This, combined with the energy crisis of January 1974 helped the Japanese
cars get a strong toehold.

Huyndai has been imported into the USA for over 10 years at this point.
There is no way I would consider one. Our current family fleet consists of
a Saturn, 2 Volvos, an Acura Integra and a Ford F-150.

-David

 

I grew up in New York State, which is tough on vehicles. We never got
less than 120,000 miles out of our vehicles. 1962 Chevy II wagon -
156,000, sold - 1971; 1967 Ford Fairlane Wagon 134,000, d. 1976; 1962
Corvair 124,00, d. 1974; 1964 Pontiac Tempest 128,000 sold- 1974. We
never replaced an engine, transmission or rear end. Maybe because we
never bought Chryslers I never thought 100,000 meant anything but a nice
new set of zeroes. All but the Ford got 18 - 22 mpg. We took the Chevy
on a six day drive at 135,000 miles and got 21 mpg. The two '62s
replaced a '50 and a '53 chevy. I do not recall how many miles they had.

I suspect that price may have been motivating force. I recall a new
Mercury full size wagon went for over $5,000 US in 1974, which is why we
didn't get one.