I bought a brand-new car - '07 Hyundai Elantra GLS

I was in the market for a new car since my old '92 Buick Skylark died on me. It lasted me 9 months and 10,000+ miles, and I bought it for $850, so I guess I got my money's worth. I didn't look around very much. I wanted a gas-sipper so that left me in the 4-cyl category. I test drove a Saturn Ion, and while it was okay, the interior didn't seem to convey quality. I also looked at Toyota Corolla, but it was boring. Honda Civics were too expensive. Then, I went into a Hyundai dealership and had my expectations set on low. I thnk Hyundai made a lot of improvement on the quality of their vehicles lately, but still the thought of buying one didn't appeal to me.

Anyway, the new '07 Elantras blew me away!

I would be just as comfortable buying a Saturn, especially the new ones that will replace the Ion. It's called the Astra, and on paper it looks like it will be an awesome car. But I need a car NOW. I also wouldn't mind buying a new VW Rabbit, but it's a bit pricey and the warranty is still 3 years/36,000 miles.

I still can't get over that 10 year/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty that Hyundai offers.

My top choice was a used '06 Chevy Malibu or a Pontiac G6 (V6 only). But I decided to go with new for better financing rates.


This car so far has gotten over 30 mpg in the city and about 41-42 mpg on the highway for me. I have an automatic transmission, and I am pretty light on the gas pedal.

Congrats! Hyundai has come a long way since the initial offerings and they continue to improve. They do assemble a nice car for the $$. I have similar feelings for the KIA that I drove for a week long rental. Quite surprising and it was well featured. I'm waiting to see what they will do in the luxo sedan market in the years to come.

I hope your okay with the thought of knowing that in 3 years the cars only going to be worth 4-5k max. You should have gone with a Ford Focus. Ford offers free 100k powertrain warrenty. And Focus' are very well equiped. Atleast mine was, black leather seats and all.

really dissapointed you diddnt buy american.

Hahaha american cars are not precisely the surefire of cars. I'm better off with a Korean car in this case.

orionlion82 said:

really dissapointed you diddnt buy american.

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orionlion82 said:

really dissapointed you diddnt buy american.

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Is that a joke?

Lightwave: I think it was a pretty good choice. Hyundais get better every year, and they make a lot of sense when one doesn't have a lot of money but wants a decent car.
I'm just sorry you USAnians don't yet have decent offerings in the diesel area, those get much better MPG.

orionlion82 said:

really dissapointed you diddnt buy american.

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???

Funny, but true story here. Several years ago, the wife and I wanted to buy a new car. We decided to ask her Dad for a little help(background on the old man; about 78 years old). The old man said, "I'll help you, but I ain't buyin no damn foreign car!". We decided to get what we wanted, without his help, and bought a new Honda Accord. Great decision and even greater car.

Funny thing is, a few months later, her Dad buys himself a new car. He comes driving up in a new Mercury Grand Marquis, which is built in either Canada or Mexico, from probably mostly Japanese parts. Guess he didn't know this, and the fact that Ford/Mercury is owned by Mazda. Ironic thing is, he bought himself a "foreign car".

Bottom line? Not sure there is even such a thing as an American car anymore.

Oh yeah, responding to the original thread starter here. You got yourself a pretty good car. We had one of those as a rental car a few months back, and I could find nothing to fault. Really improved the quality, Hyundai has. About the only negative about Hyundai cars now is the resale value.

I'm convinced there isn't a true American car any more.

I'm considering buying a used Hyundai. When did their quality really improve? Or another way to put it, what is the oldest Hyundai you'd recommend?

My sister has an '03 Elantra and has loved it since they day she drove it home. Her $109 monthly car payment doesn't hurt either, even on her salary.

The one warranty problem she had was a transmission leak... they actually REPLACED the entire transmission. I thought that excessive, but the techs told me they are not allowed to crack open trannies at the dealerships, and the leak was coming from between the trans case halves, so they had to "send it in."

I think that's pretty good considering I've had trouble getting ignition coils replaced on my Audi A4 under warranty without the "auto tech chicken dance."

Some people here might **** and moan about a Hyundai not being an American car. In truth they are alllllmost American cars. Most Hyundais for North American consumption are built in Alabama, the steel is American, and the pressed steel components are pressed here. Chevy, Dodge, Ford, built in Canada and Mexico. (Heck, even my Audi's aluminum components come from Alcoa.)

The new Hyundais look really nice. Hope you enjoy it

Some months back my wife's car got whacked and we needed to rent for almost a month. During that time we had a Dodge Stratus, a Mazda MX6, and a Hyundai Accent. She liked the Hyundai the best, mainly for the seat comfort. I drove it, of course, and except for power it seemed to be buttoned up tighter than the others. For a bottom of the line rental it was quite nice. It even had good old roll down windows.

Geoff

Danbo said:

???

Funny, but true story here. Several years ago, the wife and I wanted to buy a new car. We decided to ask her Dad for a little help(background on the old man; about 78 years old). The old man said, "I'll help you, but I ain't buyin no damn foreign car!". We decided to get what we wanted, without his help, and bought a new Honda Accord. Great decision and even greater car.

Funny thing is, a few months later, her Dad buys himself a new car. He comes driving up in a new Mercury Grand Marquis, which is built in either Canada or Mexico, from probably mostly Japanese parts. Guess he didn't know this, and the fact that Ford/Mercury is owned by Mazda. Ironic thing is, he bought himself a "foreign car".

Bottom line? Not sure there is even such a thing as an American car anymore.

Oh yeah, responding to the original thread starter here. You got yourself a pretty good car. We had one of those as a rental car a few months back, and I could find nothing to fault. Really improved the quality, Hyundai has. About the only negative about Hyundai cars now is the resale value.

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Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated in June 16, 1903. Ford now encompasses many global brands, including Lincoln and Mercury of the US, Jaguar and Land Rover of the UK, and Volvo of Sweden. Ford also owns a one-third controlling interest in Mazda.


Overall the Ford Motor Company controls the following operational car marques: Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, and Volvo; Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo are currently part of the Premier Automotive Group.



I guess your dad just bought himself an American Car.

+1 Come a LONG way
They are nice cars now

Some additional WRT Hyundai:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=121894#2
http://www.thecarconnection.com/Aut...ai_Tops_Strategic_Vision_TQI.S173.A12424.html

I'm not fond of their advertisement dept but they are getting noticed.

The ultimate in badging:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/05/cruel-sick-joke-bentley-continental-badged-as-a-hyundai/

ddgarcia05 said:

I hope your okay with the thought of knowing that in 3 years the cars only going to be worth 4-5k max. You should have gone with a Ford Focus. Ford offers free 100k powertrain warrenty. And Focus' are very well equiped. Atleast mine was, black leather seats and all.

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Fords have notoriously low resale values, too. Plus, Fords are really horrible, as far as reliability. No way, would I recommend a ford to anybody.

Danbo said:

Fords have notoriously low resale values, too. Plus, Fords are really horrible, as far as reliability. No way, would I recommend a ford to anybody.

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Agreed, I've had horrible experiences with ford, i'll never own another as long as i live

Fix Or Repair Daily
Found On Road Dead
(Backwards) Driver Returns On Foot

one of my college freinds has an Elantra ('04 or '05 i think), he's had no problems with it, Hyundai has come a long way from the Excel

ddgarcia05 said:

I hope your okay with the thought of knowing that in 3 years the cars only going to be worth 4-5k max.

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KBB says a 2004 Ford Focus LX has a trade in value of about $4800. Edmunds puts that car at about $5700. :thinking:

Yeah I wasn't quite sure how Mazda managed to control Ford...

but the last Ford we owned, it was assembled in Canada. The two Camries we own now are built in Kentucky. The Ford was suprisingly well built and ran for 150,000 miles before one of our family member crashed it due to, um, momentary slip of attention.

Needless to say though we were a little ticked to have French instruction in a Ford sold in California but hey, what do we know, we are just consumers...

ddgarcia05 said:

Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated in June 16, 1903. Ford now encompasses many global brands, including Lincoln and Mercury of the US, Jaguar and Land Rover of the UK, and Volvo of Sweden. Ford also owns a one-third controlling interest in Mazda.


Overall the Ford Motor Company controls the following operational car marques: Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, and Volvo; Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo are currently part of the Premier Automotive Group.



I guess your dad just bought himself an American Car.

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Had a 1976 Maverick with the old straight six cylinder.
Bought it used with 30K and put 100K on it. Dead solid reliable street transpo car. Two of my friends- 1968 mustang-302 and another friend with Boss 302. Raced them for many. many years. Lots of fun! I raced 440 Mopar. The Ford guys I knew had their own machine shop and did super quality work. We did mostly bracket racing. Never broke a motor. I knew all the motor heads and machine shop guys in town. If you balance and blueprint a motor and build it to spec-you won't have many problems. One also has connecting rods magnafluxed, beams polished and then shot peened. Or there are many quality after market rods available. You usually freshen or rebulid a motor after a full season of bracket racing anyway.

Mazda does not own Ford. They have some kind of strategic partnership but Mazda most definitely does not own Ford.

As far as where cars are built. I believe the last car that was actually 100% American was the Plymouth Sundance America.

As far as Hyundai. Wow they have come a long way and seem to be building both attractive and reasonably well built vehicles. Hell they are developing a rear wheel drive V8 platform and that gets points in my book any day.

As for American cars. General Motors has come a LONG way in the past say 10 years. Their current truck offerings are very good, as are many of their cars. They need to jazz up/build demand but GM does seem to be back on track WRT to their offerings. If I needed to buy a new truck right now it would likely be a Silverado or the GMC sibling. The upcoming Pontiac G8 and Impala SS offerings could sway me as well.

Cars in general should be reasonably reliable if you take care of them. Yes there are some stinkers but as a whole there are some decent offerings out their across the board.

Current owner of a Toyota, Lexus(Toyota In a Slinky Dress and Diamonds ) and a Mazda. Tundra, RX350 and MX5.

Chris