Have driven many vehicles and owned a few since I got my licence in 1950 in a Fordson. Had Chryslers, Chevs, Ford, Peugeot, Holdens, Suzuki, Toyota, Morris and a few others. Now drive a 2002, 2.7 litre Santa Fe. The 1987 Holden VL Calais was a beautiful car till nearly 500 000ks. When it expired. The Santa Fe has to be the best vehicle I've had the pleasure to pilot. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. The 1975Peugeot 504 wasn't the worst ! but it was close!
shorebee,
Dec 19, 2:24pm
ford says 5.3/100.im doing slightly better after the first 5000ks though am mostly country highway driving, city driving is early 6s but only a 50 litre tank and get 900ks, i know mondeos getover 1000 in deisel but with a 70 litre tank.
db.price,
Dec 19, 9:19pm
Sheep dont go over cliffs - just thought I would point that out.Perhaps you are thinking of lemmings!Which also dont go over cliffs either.
I will agree that these days Hyundai cars are expensive or certainly not good value like they were a few years back.I have not driven many but my sister owns a Sonata Elite, she drives and Elantra for work and her husband has a Elantra as a run about (the last one about 7-8 years old now).They cant speak more highly about how they run, how cheap they are to service how good they are to drive.
We have friends who have a Getz Diesel and they love it.Cheapest car they have ever owned both in the cost to buy, cost to repair (which is not often) and cost to run.
We dont own a Hyundai - however we do own a Kia Picanto which for the price - $20K new - has just run beautifully for the last year.Ave fuel consumption is around 6L/100km which is mainly round town running.Good room for 2 adults and 2 kids and a dog plus a full loan of groceries.it has a 5 star ANCAP rating making it the safest sub $20K car on the market.
As for the comments about the Swift - I LOVE the Swift Sport and when I took one for a test drive couldnt stop smiling!The way you could throw it into the corners and the acceleration was outstanding.If we had the $27K we would have got a Sport.
wizid,
Dec 20, 12:58am
i drove a 06 sonata whilein welling 2weeks ago . a very nice car to drive all the bells and whistle .cheap to run
splinter67,
Dec 20, 4:47am
Thats great economy
shorebee,
Dec 20, 5:24am
yup 30% better than the equivalent sized sonata and more fun, Im not afraid to go anywhere. industry dealers though gave me good trade at close to 15k for my 07 sonata diesel done 120k,s and a new focus diesel 2012 for 32k, hard to pass up.
franc123,
Dec 20, 5:31am
Its more a case of the sheep buy Hyundai, the smart buy Kia. In many cases you are getting the same or a similar vehicle from the same company made with the same quality parts for a lower price so you may as well have that. Hyundais have improved no question about that, well they had to really, but when you go to trade in a few years the salesman is still going to look at you and snigger before giving you a change over price, they are still not really desirable property in the used market. I understand that Hyundai withdrew from the Jap market a few years back after only about 10 years because they only sold a miniscule amount of vehicles there. In largely Jap import free Aussie they sell in big numbers though.
bmwnz,
Dec 20, 12:23pm
I recently traded in my Tiburon which I'd had for 3 years and got almost what I'd paid for it. My Euro cars never matched that - they all devalued faster than Novopay.
freedomaira320,
Dec 20, 1:42pm
You can bitch all you like about them, but as a brand Hyundai is a phenomenal success. Contrary to what others have said, trade in prices are strong for recent models. They really are in the same position Toyota was a few decades ago, and will probably overtake them in size soon. Yes, there are plenty of cars that will come out a bit better in various road tests, but the difference isn't significant enough to put a dent in the ambitions ofa carmaker that has exceptional build quality and very organised marketing.
freedomaira320,
Dec 20, 1:45pm
Nothing to do with the cars and all to do with history. Hyundai have never sold many cars in Japan and Japan has never sold many cars in Korea. There's not a lot of love lost between those two countries. It's kind of weird watching a busy street in Seoul and not seeing a single Toyota or Nissan. Most Koreans have never seen one.
amberjandal,
Dec 20, 5:34pm
Id agree trade in prices are strong on SUV product (in a market where any SUV even a Kia is worth good money) , but cars are a different story , try and trade an I30 or I45 .hard work there. they devalue at alarming rates .
franc123,
Dec 21, 12:07am
It would be mostly to do with the cars I'd say, the Japs probably consider them to be Lada like quality from an inferior nation that, well at least when Hyundai tried to make their own product, was based on old Mitsi technology.
db.price,
Dec 21, 12:59pm
Yes the original Sonata was based on the Galant and had a Mitsi engine.
However now Hyundai design and build their own bases and engines.The reality is the Korean brands have come into their own.
These days it is nothing for people to own a Hyundai, Ssong Yang or a Kia.Daewoo on the other hand - well like when they were originally released GM had to brand it something else so they could sell them.
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