Opinions of used Hyundais

PubBurgers wrote: I picked up an 02 1.5l 5 speed accent last year. Been putting 300 miles a week on it ever since. It's currently sitting at about 135k miles. No issues to speak of and it obviously lived a rough life prior to my ownership. I average 36 mpg, my best tank was 40 mpg. It looks pretty easy to work on should the need arise. It reminds me a heck of a lot of the late 80's era Civics.

If it hasn't been done, change the timing belt. It's about $40 at the dealer and takes about 2 hours to change the first time in your garage on the floor with a siezed on crank pulley. It'll save bent valves later down the road. Hyundai recommends every 5yr or 60k, they can last longer but for the amount of cash saved it's not worth it.

My experience comes from running repair shops, not owning one but...

Somewhere around 2000 they started really kicking butt in a good way. I still recommend Hyundai/Kia as a new car purchase because they have made such huge leaps forward but skeptical buyers keep prices low.

When I work on a car, I get a real feel for parts cost and ease of repair. Hyundai/Kia are top notch in my book. DSMs, you're never sure if your timing belt will fly off as soon as you hit the key. VWs, you curse the day you decided to open the hood. Older Mazdas, do NOT touch any vacuum solenoid or it will turn to $180 of powder. Kias and Hyundais? Confident repairs, good cheap parts, thumbs up.

I'm going on memory here (which is kinda cloudy) but I recall that 2000-up was good stuff. 98 and earlier was still good, but no need to go that far back unless you need a $500 car. Don't overtighten timing belts or they whine. That's it.

In fact, if I were in the market for an econo-commuter, I would have a hard time choosing between Toyota and Hyundai for reliability, but the Hyundai would probably win on price per amenities/miles. I describe Hyundais as having Toyota-level reliability with Mazda-level ergonomics. Of course, they have the sex appeal of an AMC Gremlin, but oh well.

In reply to curtis73:

I can't disagree with any of that. 2001 is the general change over for most of the lineup, but the Accent started sooner(2000MY), the Sonata after(2002MY).

I had fun with my 98

In reply to skierd:

I can see why!

I enjoyed mine too:

Yes that last one is 4 deep, in a 90hp car with ~160k miles on it at the time.

So to follow up on my above post... I mostly know Accents. The black 98 above I autocrossed pretty extensively in 2004-2005 in the DC area, even went to Topeka with it. Should have kept it, but I as stupid.

The 1.5L Accents were the most efficient mpg wise of all of the pre 2005 cars. I regularly got 35+ combined mpg out of both my 1998 (the black car above) and the 1997 beater I had before it. 90hp of fury means get a stick shift and learn to plan out passing, these are momentum cars. The 1.5L DOHC was available in the 97-98 "GT" model, but it's rare as hens teeth. The 1.6L DOHC in the 2001-2005 GS hatches and GL sedans is a much stronger motor than the 1.5L SOHC and it's power is needed in the heavier 2000+ cars, but is a lot less fuel efficient (25-30mpg in mixed driving).

The 1995/6-99 accents are lighter, by about 200 pounds, than the 2000-05 cars. They have nearly the same suspension (springs and struts interchange at the very least). Early (95-99) cars have horrible "captive" brake rotors up front, where the rotor is bolted to the hub and requires a press to swap out correctly and 4x114.3 wheels. You should just replace the wheel bearings while you're in there, so it's about a $300 job at a shop. 2000+ cars use a standard floating rotor and have a 4x100 bolt pattern, and the brake/hub assemblies swap between them. I think you can do the whole a-arm swap if memory serves.

1995 cars are weird compared the later models. 96-97 parts are somewhat different underneath than the 98+ cars too, but can be updated to 98+ parts easily. 2000+ cars are MUCH nicer inside for a commuter, and the 1.6L DOHC became available in 2001.

These cars can be made to handle, using the same formulas as other small cars. Big sticky tires (I was using 225/45/13 Hoosiers on 13x7 Rota wheels in the above picture), big rear sway bar (whiteline) and better than I had shocks (Koni's are/were available) and springs (early cars, use drop springs from the later cars for stiffer spring rates). Camber plates are/were available. RPW in Australia used to make headers for the 1.5L cars, regrinded cams, cam gear, and even ITB's for it. There are fun parts out there...

skierd wrote: I had fun with my 98

your car was awesome. Wasn't it also turbo'd

You can swap a 2.7 into an old accent fairly easily. I'll let you guys fill in the rest.

My youngest has a 2005 3dr. Base model 5spd with manual everything. Simple to work on. Timing belt takes less than an hour. Seems pretty much bullet proof so far.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

skierd wrote: I had fun with my 98

your car was awesome. Wasn't it also turbo'd

No but I think my friend Paul's silver 99 ended up boosted.

I always figured the 2.7 v6 but never saw one myself. The 2.0 beta from the same vintage tiburon and Elantra basically bolts in, can even use the same transmission.

I had an '03 Elantra always took a beating and asked for more. I almost hit a cow in the snow and it got itself out of a ditch.

captdownshift wrote: more accents need to be rallyx-ed

Agreed. Buy it cheap, strip her down, cage it and wring that turd out. HARD When it inevitably tanks or gets balled up, sell it for scrap money and buy beer. as you sip, recall memories of recycling Korean steel.

hey.. I put my 99 into a ditch to avoid centre punching a minivan in the rain. Said driver never of van never noticed that she and her kids almost got into a world of hurt as they drove off leaving me to extract myself.

I was able to back the car out of the ditch and drive it 30 miles home.. with the bottom of the radiator ripped out and a small pinhole in the oilpan. I would accelerate to 60mph, shut her down, coast to 40, clutch, put back into gear, and drump the clutch to restart, accelerate to 60, and repeat.. the Hyundai beta is one tough little engine.

G_Body_Man wrote: You can swap a 2.7 into an old accent fairly easily. I'll let you guys fill in the rest.

Why? It was a heavy, crappy engine. Terrible torque curve, mediocre power curve and just overall terrible. The good engine swap is the 2.0L Beta. Bolts to the stock trans (or you can swap the trans and make hybrid axles), harness plugs directly in with the ECU. On the early cars you swap the MAF plug with the MAP plug and roll. Very similar weight (within 20lbs), makes 45hp more and 35ftlbs right off the bat. Add turbo for hilarity.

MrChaos wrote: doesnt a user on here have a 2011 elantra with like 200k on it?

I think it's Aussie_mg

In reply to Bobzilla:

Well that sounds fantastic. Back to craigslist I go.

I just googled the phrase "Hyundai performance forum" and I kind of hated myself a little, before I even hit enter. Does that ever happen to any of you guys? I mean, I have a 65 mustang sitting in the garage that needs finished. It has a 351 and a four speed. And I'm daydreaming about building a hot rod hyundai. Is something wrong with me? Seriously.

I used to be a moderator in hyundaiperformance.com, don't know if it still exists, or the archives anyway since the original site was sold a few years ago. Hyundaiaftermarket.org was the only one I know of that's active maybe the site dedicated to the then new tiburon (2003+ v6 fwd cars) is still around too.

Unfortunately there's not much out there for active forums. Most of the "Good info" is now archives because the sites have all been flooded with the hella-flush and stance crowds and less of the "I'm actually going to do something with the car" crowd.

An old girlfriend of mine drove an early oughts Accent. I always found it reasonably enjoyable. As others have said, it has a really cheap interior, but is mechanically sound (though, it did experience a strange intermittent syncro issue between the 4-5 shift that I could never figure out.). Not hard to work on. Cheap parts from NAPA/Autozone. Not sure about their performance potential, but with a 5 speed it never had an issue keeping up with traffic. With as cheap as they are now, I'd say buy one, drive it til the wheels fall off, sell it for scrap.

skierd wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

skierd wrote: I had fun with my 98

your car was awesome. Wasn't it also turbo'd

No but I think my friend Paul's silver 99 ended up boosted. I always figured the 2.7 v6 but never saw one myself. The 2.0 beta from the same vintage tiburon and Elantra basically bolts in, can even use the same transmission.

yes the silver one had the boost..

An 05 accent came in to the shop last weekend on the hook. It was in remarkably good condition. 130k miles on the clock. The bad was it lost the timing belt and these are interference motors. It looked to be the original or timing belt. Mfgrs recommended service is every 40K. I Was impressed. Not sure what is going to happen to it. If I did not have another appliance in the driveway I would consider fixing it if I could get it for free.

All Hyundai's do 5yr/60k timing belt intervals. They can handle 80k if need be. But as easy as they are to change, and as cheap as they are.... just change the damn thing at 60 and be done.

the best part of a used Hyundai? Dirt is more expensive. Most people still think of the Excel and how bad they were and would not touch a used Korean car.. so they have zero resale value. none. Most of them wind up in the JY even though they are perfectly good for a another 100 thousand miles