Has Hyundai "figured it out"?

Ugh... remind me why we can't have 3-door hatches that don't come stock with VW badges?

In reply to Bobzilla:

i believe the v6 lost weight, but i'm sure it has more power and better mileage figures now though.

I took a chance on Hyundai in 2002, buying a new Sonata in anticipation of doing a lot of traveling and needing something comfortable and reliable. That Sonata did the trick, carrying me 160,000 miles over four years. So we followed that Sonata with a 04 Santa Fe, 04 Tiburon GTV6, and later 06 Sonata and 07 Santa Fe. They're great cars, and I think out of those five cars we had maybe five total unscheduled repairs.

But the boringness got to me. After I found Miatas I realized I wasn't driving the Tiburon anymore and sold that. The Sonata was putting me to sleep and I wanted something a little sportier, so that got traded in this past spring on a 6-speed Mazda 3 hatch. We still have the Santa Fe and expect to hang on to that for quite some time.

I'd like to think I did my part to encourage building semi-sporty mostly-practical manual-equipped cars when I opted for the 3 over the new Sonata. The wife was pretty high on the Sonata but aside from swoopy new looks and a lot of new doodads on the dash, it still drove like a 1983 Buick Century. Normally I defer to her when it comes to choosing our more pedestrian transportation but I didn't want another slushbox.

This is not saying that there should be manual transmissions in Sonatas. If Hyundai did that, they'd sell about six of them, and kill the option after the first year.

I like Hyundai, but for their appliances rather than anything with sporting pretensions. Luckily we have Mazda willing to put some sort of enthusiastic mindset behind its stuff, and we voted with dollars to encourage them to continue that despite spending a little more and settling for a significantly shorter warranty. Hopefully time will prove that we made the right choice. If it turns out we didn't, the wife will remind me on a daily basis till the world ends.

I think they are well on their way. I drove a Genesys 2.0T with the Track pack a few months ago. It felt alright to me. Its brakes felt almost as good as those on my RX-7. I hated the push button start. The turbo seemed to come on pretty fast. I only drove it for about 10 minutes and didn't have a chance to hoon on it. However, it really did seem like it could be a fun car to drive. Not the best* car for handling or top speed or whatever, but overall just fun and not terribly expensive at all. That counts for a lot, in my opinion. This car could very well be the gateway car for a lot of enthusiasts in a few years.

I'm reminded of the discussion there was about the Sport Compact scene a little while ago. Cars like this are what killed the scene. I think with the proper marketing, they could do a lot more with the platform than they are doing now.

*I bet most of the people who get into that car will complain about how harsh the ride is.

What really woke me up to Huyndai being worthy was seeing a car I hadn't seen before and being shocked to see it was a Hyundai Genesis. It was a very good looking car, very European; I honestly expected it to be either British or Italian.

I recently got a up close look at a Hyundai Equus 460 they have tucked way back behind the engine plant, It was jaw dropping luxo cruiser. Its shocking to me how far they have come

My parents just picked up a 2010 Sonata (middle trim) with the regular 4cyl. So far they seem to love it - and these are people who have ALWAYS bought American whenever they could, aside from the odd Volvo wagon when we lived overseas a few times.

They test-drove alot of cars and narrowed it down to the Fusion and Sonata, and eventually the Sonata won out due to fuel economy (and they've been getting about 3mpg BETTER than the EPA estimates!)

I'm going down there this weekend and will have to take it out to see how it is "at the limit"

alfadriver wrote: BTW, for those of you complaining about the lack of manuals, can you please go out and buy new cars? If you don't, the current make up will continue to evolve and eliminate manuals. Or do I need to remind you that OEM's will always ignore the buyer of used cars. Always.

THIS. Why I bought an 09 WRX (new). They ONLY were available in manual!

Therfore, I will complain about the lack of manuals ;)

alfadriver wrote: BTW, for those of you complaining about the lack of manuals, can you please go out and buy new cars? If you don't, the current make up will continue to evolve and eliminate manuals. Or do I need to remind you that OEM's will always ignore the buyer of used cars. Always.

If it makes you feel better, I've been doing my part. Out of the four new cars I've purchased, all of them have been manuals, and two have been domestic brands.

RoosterSauce wrote:

alfadriver wrote: BTW, for those of you complaining about the lack of manuals, can you please go out and buy new cars? If you don't, the current make up will continue to evolve and eliminate manuals. Or do I need to remind you that OEM's will always ignore the buyer of used cars. Always.

If it makes you feel better, I've been doing my part. Out of the four new cars I've purchased, all of them have been manuals, and two have been domestic brands.

It's really neither here nor there to me- I just want to lay a layer of reality to this manual discussion. Even in Europe, the trend is toward more autos being bought....

(OTOH, the domestic part makes me warm and fuzzy... )

I just wanted to bring this up again to you Kia Hyundai fans.

http://www.hatci.com/

they are hiring for technical positions.

Seriously- it's on the first page of the website. If you want to do what I do, there's a job opening! (I'm happy where I am right now, thank you very much)

Just sayin.

Eric

alfadriver wrote: I just wanted to bring this up again to you Kia Hyundai fans. http://www.hatci.com/ they are hiring for technical positions. Seriously- it's on the first page of the website. If you want to do what I do, there's a job opening! (I'm happy where I am right now, thank you very much) Just sayin. Eric

Nice, thanks for the link. Exactly the jobs I'll be looking at in the next year or so. If I'm lucky, I'll get an internship this summer.

RoosterSauce wrote:

alfadriver wrote: I just wanted to bring this up again to you Kia Hyundai fans. http://www.hatci.com/ they are hiring for technical positions. Seriously- it's on the first page of the website. If you want to do what I do, there's a job opening! (I'm happy where I am right now, thank you very much) Just sayin. Eric

Nice, thanks for the link. Exactly the jobs I'll be looking at in the next year or so. If I'm lucky, I'll get an internship this summer.

If you are in the market- then apply everywhere. All projections shows expansion in technical positions in most of the SE MI auto industry....

Sorry about the tangent.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Claff wrote: This is not saying that there should be manual transmissions in Sonatas. If Hyundai did that, they'd sell about six of them, and kill the option after the first year.

There have always been manual transmission Sonatas. They must sell enough since the 2011's still have that option.

The problem with the last gen sonata being that the manual was only offered on the lowly base model and nothing else. You could not get the 5 speed with the higher trim levels, or the V6.

I think its the same situation now. The SE sport model gets the gimmicky flappy paddles and thats your only choice if you want to shift it yourself.

to address the topic at hand.... I have had my 2009 Accent SE 5 speed for 25k miles now and its a good little car. I autocross it, and yes there are things I wish were better about it, but I like it enough that I would definitely consider another Hyundai after it.....Genesis coupe being the obvious next step up.