Re: Buying an Elantra GT
 

The Newsgroups are a good place to get information about problems. If you
want some affirmation of your decision to buy a Hundai, read Consumer
Reports, Automobile Magazine, Car & Driver and so on. The Hundai gets high
marks.
jor
>
"Lyntoy1" <lyntoy1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030809110814.09115.00000267@mb-m05.aol.com...
> The time has come for me to go pick out the Elantra GT that I asked about
in an
> earlier post. Buying a Hyundai is making me pretty nervous, but monitoring
this
> group it seems like most of you like your cars. Are there any last words
of
> wisdom? Any problems to watch for? I intend to drive the heck out of this
car,
> putting 30-40K a year on it. Thanks! Mike

Re: Buying an Elantra GT
 

"jor" <jor@jor.com> wrote in message news:<roKdnbJs_r2bDKuiU-KYgw@giganews.com>...
> The Newsgroups are a good place to get information about problems. If you
> want some affirmation of your decision to buy a Hundai, read Consumer
> Reports,

You can find CR at most US public libraries and
www.consumerreports.org. You may need a membership to see everything
at the web site.

>Automobile Magazine, Car & Driver and so on.

I'd trust CR more than any of the regular auto magazines. For one
thing, CR collects reliability info from their readers. YMMV.

>The Hundai gets high
> marks.

CR last tested the Elantra in 2001 and found it much improved over
previous versions. However, they still weren't too crazy about it.

I'm not a Hyundai owner, but the prices are attractive. So far, the
fact that Hyundai continues to undercut the prices of competing
Japanese makes/models seems to be the strongest attraction for
Hyundai, IMHO. If Hyundai leveled the playing field by charging the
same prices as their Japanese competitors--which is what I assume the
company would like to do, so they don't compete based so much on
price--it would be interesting to see the results.

Of course, as a consumer, I'm all for low prices and am glad to see a
company undercut others in price and create that pressure on other
makers.

I could imagine buying a Hyundai or Kia eventually; however, where I
live, those dealers are on the other side of the city and/or in nearby
small towns there. I'd be more likely to buy another make from from my
many nearby dealers. The last time we bought, we didn't consider
Hyundai, because of the distant dealer locations, which would make
getting the car serviced more of a hassle.

> jor
> >
> "Lyntoy1" <lyntoy1@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20030809110814.09115.00000267@mb-m05.aol.com...
> > The time has come for me to go pick out the Elantra GT that I asked about
> in an
> > earlier post. Buying a Hyundai is making me pretty nervous, but monitoring
> this
> > group it seems like most of you like your cars. Are there any last words
> of
> > wisdom? Any problems to watch for? I intend to drive the heck out of this
> car,
> > putting 30-40K a year on it. Thanks! Mike

Re: Buying an Elantra GT
 

On 13 Aug 2003 12:17:45 -0700, neilkoomen@hotmail.com (Neil) wrote:

>"jor" <jor@jor.com> wrote in message news:<roKdnbJs_r2bDKuiU-KYgw@giganews.com>...
>> The Newsgroups are a good place to get information about problems. If you
>> want some affirmation of your decision to buy a Hundai, read Consumer
>> Reports,
>
>You can find CR at most US public libraries and
>www.consumerreports.org. You may need a membership to see everything
>at the web site.
>
>>Automobile Magazine, Car & Driver and so on.
>
>I'd trust CR more than any of the regular auto magazines. For one
>thing, CR collects reliability info from their readers. YMMV.
>
>>The Hundai gets high
>> marks.
>
>CR last tested the Elantra in 2001 and found it much improved over
>previous versions. However, they still weren't too crazy about it.
>
In this year's auto issue, CR rated the Elantra as one of their
recommended cars. They also rated Hyundai in general tied with Toyota
for second in reliability behind Honda.

Re: Buying an Elantra GT
 

Mitchell Kaufman <mkaufman@ameritech.net> wrote in message news:<gpsljvkunjn489aisg2n33m61n2g2q60ht@4ax.com>. ..
> On 13 Aug 2003 12:17:45 -0700, neilkoomen@hotmail.com (Neil) wrote:
>
> >"jor" <jor@jor.com> wrote in message news:<roKdnbJs_r2bDKuiU-KYgw@giganews.com>...
> >> The Newsgroups are a good place to get information about problems. If you
> >> want some affirmation of your decision to buy a Hundai, read Consumer
> >> Reports,
> >
> >You can find CR at most US public libraries and
> >www.consumerreports.org. You may need a membership to see everything
> >at the web site.
> >
> >>Automobile Magazine, Car & Driver and so on.
> >
> >I'd trust CR more than any of the regular auto magazines. For one
> >thing, CR collects reliability info from their readers. YMMV.
> >
> >>The Hundai gets high
> >> marks.
> >
> >CR last tested the Elantra in 2001 and found it much improved over
> >previous versions. However, they still weren't too crazy about it.
> >
> In this year's auto issue, CR rated the Elantra as one of their
> recommended cars. They also rated Hyundai in general tied with Toyota
> for second in reliability behind Honda.

To add a little more info, here's the following is the CR web site's
rankings for small sedans, based on CR's test scores, as of 3/2003. I
assume the following is probably the same as what appears in the April
auto issue, but I don't have that issue now. In the US, probably most
public libraries would have that, or anyone could look at the CR web
site. The web site requires a monthly fee to see everything.

I've added a * beside CR's recommended small sedans. you can find the
following list by going to the main page, logging in, selecting the
Auto tab, then selecting Rating the New Models:

Ford Focus ZTS
*Honda Civic EX
*Honda Civic Hybrid
Volkswagen Jetta TDI GLS
*Toyota Prius
*Toyota Corolla LE
Hyundai Elantra GLS
*Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
*Mazda Protege LX
*Nissan Sentra GXE
Suzuki Aerio GS
Mitsubishi Lancer LS
Hyundai Accent GL
Saturn Ion 3
Dodge Neon SXT
Chevrolet Cavalier LS

(Some of you are probably wondering why the Ford Focus, which has a
high test score, isn't recommended. I can tell you in one word:
Reliability. Same goes for the VW Jetta. Too bad; I had a Focus as a
rental a few years ago and really liked it, and Ford has the closest
dealership to me also. But the reliability issue knocks the Focus out
of contention when I'd really like a US car to be more competitive.
The VW is very stylish and I like the looks, but there are reliability
problems there too.)

As for the Hyundai Elantra, CR's readers rated overall reliability
fair (an open circle) and owner satisfaction poor (bottom half of the
circle filled in). The Ford Focus and the VW Jetta did worse, BTW,
especially in reliability.

As for safety, the Elantra ranked next-to-last among all cars tested,
due to poor scores in crash protection. CR's comments: "Poor
offset-crash result. A car with ABS brakes can be hard to find."
However, the Elantra did OK in accident avoidance.

Anyway, I'd suggest that anybody considering buying any car look at
CR, either back issues or at:

www.consumerreports.org

I've never owned a Hyundai. If I were in the market for a new car, and
the Hyundai dealer wasn't so far away and inconvenient for me, which
would make getting service a nuisance, I'd consider a Hyundai. The
price of the Elantra is attractive.