The new Hyundai Elantra looks ace and the sales numbers are proving it - sales up 128.8% from April 2010. First time Hyundai has captured 2 top 10 spots, with Sonata and Elantra. Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: April 2011 - KickingTires
...but, the reason their sales have increased is because of the natural disaster in Japan, not because they make a better car.
I looked at the new elantra. It comes without a spare. Dealers in my area are charging 1 to 3 thousand market adjustment over sticker and extra 300 for a donut spare jack and tire iron. The car also will not hold its value down the road. The prius i bought was msrp came with a spare, jack and tire iron. The interest rate i got was less than the elantra and the prius gets better mpg and better resale value. A friend bought a new elantra only getting 35 mpg on the highway.
So many people are funny, they will do anything to project a good image. I know people that have a visceral negative reaction when shown a picture of Prius or even a 'wagon' looking car. Prius will appeal to people who drive a lot and are into its technology.
I think we made a great choice with the Fiesta as our second daily driver. It has exceeded EPA and from what I have read that is not very common with the "regular" cars.
I don't think the all new Civic will lose much in sales to the Elantra (do not know about earthquake effect). Civic does look very good, I think a little more classy than the Elantra and Civic displays are pretty sharp.
Hyundai is the copy-cat company. Every design they "make" is just pieced together from other cars. As to resale, I did see a commercial saying they will give you a guaranteed trade in value for the current new Hyundai for when you want to buy a future new Hyundai... Seems strange that they can do that, but no details were given in the commercial (obviously). Remember resale is all about public image. The resale of the Prius dropped dramatically during the stupidity of early 2010. Once proven a farce, it shot back up, and now with the supply shortages most people have cars that have risen in value rather than declined. Hyundai makes good cranes, but I am not buying a car from them
Why all the -ve here It a very nice looking car As a 6-1 drive I have a lot of room in the drive seat The trunk is large, and great mileage It is under 20gs, it goes against a Corolla or Yaris Different market then a Prius There was a review were the person got 9 l /100km drive a yaris and it was listed over 19gs If they were to use the the same design has a wagon it would lso be a big sell The present Touring is ugly
I'm from the "Old School" I guess. I am very familiar with the old Hyundai's that would wear out at 60k miles. I remember looking at one in the mid to late '90's that had just over 60k on it, and when I checked the blow-by with the engine running - man, it looked like a freight train. Every one I looked at were junk. KIA too! In Hyundai's defense, I asked my mechanic today what he thought of Hyundai, and he said that they have came a long way and were actually a good car. So I asked his thoughts on KIA, he said...lol, "they're still garbage". No offense to the folks that own a Hyundai or KIA, I wish you the best of luck with your ownership and resell value, but these are two brand names I could never buy for myself. I just do not trust their quality.
Yes, the Elantra and Sonata look great, aesthetically (exterior and interior), and that is likely what is driving sales. However, if you pop the hood on the Elantra (as I did at a dealer last weekend), the engineering that Hyundai has put into the Elantra is not just simply as good as Honda and Ford (I looked at the Civic and Focus just minutes before looking at the Elantra), it's Innovative! They didn't just bring their engineering up to par with Honda and Ford, but they went a step further. Take a look under the hoods and you will observe what I am typing about. (I did not compare to Toyota because Toyota is above all, in a league of it's own. Seriously. Pop the hood on a Toyota and then pop the hood another manufacturer and you will see what I mean) .
Does he not realize that basically every model of Hyundai has a Kia sister model and its reliability should be more or less exactly the same?
My brother and his wife own a Kia Sephia. It's 2 years old and almost 45k miles on it. I don't recall them having any issues (other than driver caused) with their car. I rented a Sonata last year, and it was a very nice vehicle. It was great on fuel for it's size, quiet, loads of power. I know, that say nothing about reliability. I've talked to a few people with Hyundai's and they mostly are all happy with their purchase. Heck, my HCH that I had for just over 2 years had over 5k in warranty repairs done to it.
