Motor Trend Azera
 

Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
built, Hyundai will build them"
!!!thought that was kinda cute!

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Deck" <decan9@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:cba361437b42ea94c2cd14ebad601041@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com...
> Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
> Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
> Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
> built, Hyundai will build them"
> !!!thought that was kinda cute!
>

More prophetic than you may think. A new Hyundai model, not yet named,
will be coming out in 2 years, designed to compete with Avalon, Lucerne,
CTS, etc, with prices $29,000 to $38,000.

I was considering a Lucerne CXL and ended up with a Sonata Limited. About
the same features, but $5000 less.

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

MT also said that if you took the H off and put a Buick insignia on it no
one would know that it was not a buick~~!!!

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

Deck wrote:
> Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
> Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
> Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
> built, Hyundai will build them"
> !!!thought that was kinda cute!
>

That sounds like an insult to Hyundai.

Matt

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

Reply to message from "Deck" <decan9@yahoo.com> (Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:13:16)
about "Re: Motor Trend Azera":

D> MT also said that if you took the H off and put a Buick insignia on it
D> no one would know that it was not a buick~~!!!

To my mind that is not a compliment, and if I wanted a Buick I know where
to go to get one.

That said the latter Buicks are an improvement over the ones in the past.
Testament to the impact of Bob Lutz.

If Hyundai needed to copy a marque they could do a heck of a lot better
than Buick.

Best Regards
Wayne Moses <wmoses@houston.rr.com> Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:33:58 -0600

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

Deck wrote:
> Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
> Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
> Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
> built, Hyundai will build them"
> !!!thought that was kinda cute!

The MT award is a joke anyway. It has more to do with how much a company
spends on advertising than it does on the car(s). Basically, it goes to
the highest bidder. Still, I don't doubt that the Azera is a nice rig.

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Wayne Moses" <wmoses@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1173422677@wmoses.houston.rr.com...

> If Hyundai needed to copy a marque they could do a heck of a lot better
> than Buick.


The way I interpreted the comment was that the Azera is what a Buick "should
be".

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Matt Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> wrote in message
news:dG0Ih.3042$Oc.171136@news1.epix.net...
> Deck wrote:
>> Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
>> Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
>> Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
>> built, Hyundai will build them"
>> !!!thought that was kinda cute!
>>
>
> That sounds like an insult to Hyundai.
>
> Matt


Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick

Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
LSE. I loved it.

As equipped, it handled decently, and lots of grunt. Dependable as
taxes....I drove mine for 225k miles. It got about 28 mpg (hiway) to boot.
Solid, rattle free driver.

Lots or options like like my LX plus others like dual climate control and
tire inflation monitor. Excellent stereo. Interior space, head room, and
driver seating comfort were great.

Buick was stupid to drop the Regal. It had an edge to its personality that
seems lacking in current offerings

.......I love my Sonata. If it turns out be as good as the Buick, it will
have been a great car too.

PS I bought my Regal 1 year old w/21k miles for 15000.......no idea how the
new models price out.

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Darby OGill" <bark@woof.net> wrote in message
>
> Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick
>
> Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
> LSE. I loved it.

84 and 91 Regals, 97 and 01 LeSabres. Still have the 01 LeSabre. Olds, 81,
83, 86.

My experience with the 01 LeSabre is why I bought a Hyundai. It rides OK,
it handles OK, the engine is OK ,but the rest of the car is falling apart
and GM is no help.

My biggest complaint was after about 20 months, the heated seat stopped
working. Since it had more that 36,000 miles it was not covered under
warranty and the dealer charged me $75 to tell me it would be $560 to
replace it. A letter to GM got me a few hundred buck off if I bought a new
GM car. Sorry, but aside from the seat, the car was in perfect condition
and the color, style, equipment that I wanted.

I was still considering a Lucerne and test drove one. My plan was to buy one
after getting back from Italy last year. and I knew exactly what I wanted.
Meantime, the transmission went and cost me $2500. Then the wheel bearing
for $350, and other assorted things that brought the total to $850 over
about 5 weeks. (some could be considered routine, I guess)

Did I mention that both rear windows are being propped up by a stick of
wood? I'm not going to bother repairing them. The cruise control is on all
the time because the switch has to be held in the "on" position with a
toothpick. There are a few other assorted little nits that I could pick. A
week after I fixed the second LeSabre window with a stick, one of the Regal
windows broke also. I'm getting good at removing door panels and wedging
them by now.

After 15 years, I still liked driving hte Regal for the most part. Things
were braking, but considering the 15 years and 150,000 miles I'd expect
that. Oil pressure and water temperature gauges did not work, radio was
static prone, AC was repaired twice and would have been very expensive to
repair again, the rear brakes were as source of a few repairs, most
attributable to both the age and miles though. It still had the same
exhaust and no repairs to either engine or trans.

So far, my Hyundai is perfect, but only 6 months and 11,000 miles. I have
no idea what I'll buy in 2011 or so, that depends on how this one hold up.
If you asked me about buying a Hyundai last August, I'd have laughed, but I
bought one in September. They've come a long way.

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

Darby OGill wrote:
> "Matt Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> wrote in message
> news:dG0Ih.3042$Oc.171136@news1.epix.net...
>> Deck wrote:
>>> Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
>>> Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
>>> Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
>>> built, Hyundai will build them"
>>> !!!thought that was kinda cute!
>>>
>> That sounds like an insult to Hyundai.
>>
>> Matt
>
>
> Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick
>
> Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
> LSE. I loved it.

Yes, my mother-in-law is on her second Buick, I believe both were/are
Centuries. It drives like a boat. It wallows and wobbles and the
steering is as vague as a politician running for office. It has been
reasonably reliable, but it isn't a pleasure to drive. It does have a
very good HVAC system, unlike my Sonata.

I drove a Park Avenue rental a few years ago from Elmira to Boston and
back. It was quite comfortable, but again the handling just wasn't my
cup of tea. It did get amazing mileage for a car that size. I averaged
30 MPG traveling at 65-70 MPH which I thought was amazing. However,
it had a persistent slight miss at cruise speed which I suspect was a
"lean" miss like some of the early "lean burn" Chrysler's had.

Matt

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> "Darby OGill" <bark@woof.net> wrote in message
>> Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick
>>
>> Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
>> LSE. I loved it.
>
> 84 and 91 Regals, 97 and 01 LeSabres. Still have the 01 LeSabre. Olds, 81,
> 83, 86.
>
> My experience with the 01 LeSabre is why I bought a Hyundai. It rides OK,
> it handles OK, the engine is OK ,but the rest of the car is falling apart
> and GM is no help.
>
> My biggest complaint was after about 20 months, the heated seat stopped
> working. Since it had more that 36,000 miles it was not covered under
> warranty and the dealer charged me $75 to tell me it would be $560 to
> replace it. A letter to GM got me a few hundred buck off if I bought a new
> GM car. Sorry, but aside from the seat, the car was in perfect condition
> and the color, style, equipment that I wanted.
>
> I was still considering a Lucerne and test drove one. My plan was to buy one
> after getting back from Italy last year. and I knew exactly what I wanted.
> Meantime, the transmission went and cost me $2500. Then the wheel bearing
> for $350, and other assorted things that brought the total to $850 over
> about 5 weeks. (some could be considered routine, I guess)
>
> Did I mention that both rear windows are being propped up by a stick of
> wood? I'm not going to bother repairing them. The cruise control is on all
> the time because the switch has to be held in the "on" position with a
> toothpick. There are a few other assorted little nits that I could pick. A
> week after I fixed the second LeSabre window with a stick, one of the Regal
> windows broke also. I'm getting good at removing door panels and wedging
> them by now.
>
> After 15 years, I still liked driving hte Regal for the most part. Things
> were braking, but considering the 15 years and 150,000 miles I'd expect
> that. Oil pressure and water temperature gauges did not work, radio was
> static prone, AC was repaired twice and would have been very expensive to
> repair again, the rear brakes were as source of a few repairs, most
> attributable to both the age and miles though. It still had the same
> exhaust and no repairs to either engine or trans.
>
> So far, my Hyundai is perfect, but only 6 months and 11,000 miles. I have
> no idea what I'll buy in 2011 or so, that depends on how this one hold up.
> If you asked me about buying a Hyundai last August, I'd have laughed, but I
> bought one in September. They've come a long way.

Yes, I'm really interested to see how the Sonata holds up. Mine just
rolled over 19,000 and so far, so good. I've had no assembly problems
or failures as yet. The only problems are the design problems that
we've hashed over in the past here.


Matt

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

>
> My biggest complaint was after about 20 months, the heated seat stopped
> working. Since it had more that 36,000 miles it was not covered under
> warranty and the dealer charged me $75 to tell me it would be $560 to
> replace it. A letter to GM got me a few hundred buck off if I bought a
> new GM car. Sorry, but aside from the seat, the car was in perfect
> condition and the color, style, equipment that I wanted.
>
> I was still considering a Lucerne and test drove one. My plan was to buy
> one after getting back from Italy last year. and I knew exactly what I
> wanted. Meantime, the transmission went and cost me $2500. Then the wheel
> bearing for $350, and other assorted things that brought the total to
> $850 over about 5 weeks. (some could be considered routine, I guess)
>
> Did I mention that both rear windows are being propped up by a stick of
> wood? I'm not going to bother repairing them. The cruise control is on
> all the time because the switch has to be held in the "on" position with a
> toothpick. There are a few other assorted little nits that I could pick.
> A week after I fixed the second LeSabre window with a stick, one of the
> Regal windows broke also. I'm getting good at removing door panels and
> wedging them by now.
>
> After 15 years, I still liked driving hte Regal for the most part. Things
> were braking, but considering the 15 years and 150,000 miles I'd expect
> that. Oil pressure and water temperature gauges did not work, radio was
> static prone, AC was repaired twice and would have been very expensive to
> repair again, the rear brakes were as source of a few repairs, most
> attributable to both the age and miles though. It still had the same
> exhaust and no repairs to either engine or trans.
>
> So far, my Hyundai is perfect, but only 6 months and 11,000 miles. I have
> no idea what I'll buy in 2011 or so, that depends on how this one hold up.
> If you asked me about buying a Hyundai last August, I'd have laughed, but
> I bought one in September. They've come a long way.
>Well, I can were you are coming from, given these troubles. My Regal wasn't
>perfect, but no major trouble outside abs sensor failure. The power
>steering pump /lines developed a leak at 200k miles..........My
>engine/tranny were flawless. The transmission was the smoothest shifting
>one I've ever had. No window ,radio, electronics failures at all. To the
>fellow who posted below about the handling of the century, I'm sure it is
>as you say. My Regal had the same suspension as the supercharged GS model.
>It was a great blend of competence and comfort. I drive hiway speeds + for
>many miles a year, and needed that blend of abilities....ps, tire choice
>makes a huge difference. The stock goodyear Eagle LS are not very good
>except in wear considerations.

I have 42000 miles on my Sonata LX. I have none of the little nagging
problems others have reported on their models. No clunk from rear, no slosh
of tank. My defroster works great. I do think the seat base is too short for
large people, and my forehead "feels" close to the roof./windhield.
Performance is great, mpg is average at best. Very nice car to drive
overall.

I've two warranty repairs; my rh front seat track adjuster broke, and the
ambient air sensor fluxuated wildly(seemed to affect climate control
functionality). Dealer fixed both.

To conclude, my Buick was a car I'll always remember fondly. I was never
afaid to jump in, and drive it anywhere in any weather, even with high miles
on the odometer. Take your friends and luggage too........ Everyone in my
family loves the sonata, and pick it over our volvo to
drive.........different strengths for each car I guess

.. PS If you put the Volvo seats, and the Buick headroom/seating position in
the Sonata, I'd never look back......maybe thats where the Azera come in.

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Darby OGill" <bark@woof.net> wrote in message
news:0wgIh.25529$tf.2783@trndny06...

>
> Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick

A man after my own heart.

>
> Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
> LSE. I loved it.

Mine was a '98...

>
> As equipped, it handled decently, and lots of grunt. Dependable as
> taxes....I drove mine for 225k miles. It got about 28 mpg (hiway) to boot.
> Solid, rattle free driver.

I loved the handling of mine, and the performance. Quite snotty.

>
> Lots or options like like my LX plus others like dual climate control and
> tire inflation monitor. Excellent stereo. Interior space, head room, and
> driver seating comfort were great.

I didn't have the tire inflation monitor, but I had a very nice leather
interior, dual climate control and a great BOSE factory stereo system.

>
> Buick was stupid to drop the Regal. It had an edge to its personality that
> seems lacking in current offerings
>

Preach it brother!


> ......I love my Sonata. If it turns out be as good as the Buick, it will
> have been a great car too.
>

I feel the same way about my wife's Sonata. I have often referred to the
interior of it as being very Buick-esq. Same sort of feel, trim type,
atmosphere. That, I consider to be a strong plus.


> PS I bought my Regal 1 year old w/21k miles for 15000.......no idea how
the
> new models price out.
>

Bought mine at almost 2 years old, with 30K on it. Would still be driving
it today if number 3 daughter had not been pinched off the interstate by an
absent minded tow truck driver.

--

-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE@alltel.net

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Darby OGill" <bark@woof.net> wrote in message
news:jGlIh.93$vb.16@trndny04...

>
> To conclude, my Buick was a car I'll always remember fondly. I was never
> afaid to jump in, and drive it anywhere in any weather, even with high
miles
> on the odometer. Take your friends and luggage too........ Everyone in my
> family loves the sonata, and pick it over our volvo to
> drive.........different strengths for each car I guess
>

Geeze man - I can't believe you said the "V" word...

--

-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE@alltel.net

Re: Motor Trend Azera
 

"Matt Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> wrote in message
news:kJjIh.3060$Oc.171291@news1.epix.net...

>
> Yes, my mother-in-law is on her second Buick, I believe both were/are
> Centuries. It drives like a boat. It wallows and wobbles and the
> steering is as vague as a politician running for office. It has been
> reasonably reliable, but it isn't a pleasure to drive. It does have a
> very good HVAC system, unlike my Sonata.

That's surprising Matt. What year is the Century? The Century is
essentially a Regal with a case of the wimps, but as far as handling goes,
they are normally quite firm and committed. I've never heard of one
referred to as wallowing and wobbly. Never experienced such in one either.
They are 4 wheel McPhearson strut suspensions, and as such are normally
quite solid on the road. Does she have decent rubber on the car?

>
> I drove a Park Avenue rental a few years ago from Elmira to Boston and
> back. It was quite comfortable, but again the handling just wasn't my
> cup of tea. It did get amazing mileage for a car that size. I averaged
> 30 MPG traveling at 65-70 MPH which I thought was amazing. However,
> it had a persistent slight miss at cruise speed which I suspect was a
> "lean" miss like some of the early "lean burn" Chrysler's had.
>

Yeah - that Park Ave was really some kinda car. Mine never experienced the
miss you mention, but I did consistently get the mileage you saw. Quite a
pleasure that was - a nice, comfortable car, *and* great mileage.

--

-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE@alltel.net