Had a Santa Fe as a rental recently. Was not impressed. Didn't accelerate well (for merging onto interstates). Not particularly comfortable.

We have two Santa Fe’s, a 2009 and 2010. We have spent exactly $0 on repairs not including routine maintenance. Huge relief after costly repairs to Nissans and Toyota’s. Nice rides. Good pickup. Would definitely buy another or a Hyundai sedan next.

Honda CRV handles well, low cost to maintain and durable/dependable. Would never buy anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyundai’s are shit

+1.

Yes, especially when compared to Hondas + Toyotas.
Ask any mechanic.

Plus they do not hold their resale value.

Yes, ask a technician!

Oh wait, that's me! ASE Master Tech since 1997.


I've worked on thousands of cars/trucks/power equipment from at least two dozen manufacturers over my career, and that includes lots of Hyundai vehicles.

I can tell you two things I'm absolutely sure of regarding them-

1) they (and Kia) have both made enormous gains in design and QA levels, starting about 9-10 years ago when they began making cars in the US. Earlier Korean manufactured vehicles in the 80's-thru-90's were somewhat lacking. I attribute that to building a "world market" for the US market. We're more discriminating here, as well as more neglectful of routine maintenance than car owners in much of the rest of the world, where cars are a luxury item rather than a staple as they are here. As such, they are maintained better in other places where they are more appreciated. But the current level of engineering and build quality in the Korean brands is absolutely, positvely equal to anything else out there. I'd bet anyone on this website $1,000 that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Hyundai cylinder head and a Audi cylinder head sitting next to each other on a table. Hyundai is as good or better, in some cases, as anything else being made today.

2) Hyundais, for a variety of reasons, are frequently owned by people who really, really suck at maintaining vehicles. When I say suck, I mean things like never getting oil changes - EVER. Or checking basic stuff like belts and fluid levels. Or they are from a demographic that typically subjects cars to a lot of abuse, either hard driving, excessive wear and tear, etc. No car holds up well with owners like that, and those types of people seem to own disproportionately greater numbers of Hyundais.


If I liked or drove new cars, I wouldn't balk at a Hyundai if it was the best deal for the features I wanted. But I don't drive new cars, because I don't like them. I drive stuff I like, older cars. My daily driver is a 1982 K5 Blazer, my Saturday car is a 1966 Riviera, and my wife drives either her 99 Suburban or a 93 VW Cabriolet.

Anonymous wrote:Hyundai’s are shit

+1.

Yes, especially when compared to Hondas + Toyotas.
Ask any mechanic.

Plus they do not hold their resale value.

Anonymous wrote:I recently had a rental Santa Fe and thought it was very nice. I owned an Elantra years ago and thought it was a great car with a great warranty.

The Santa Fe warranty is particularly attractive. 10 years.

I recently had a rental Santa Fe and thought it was very nice. I owned an Elantra years ago and thought it was a great car with a great warranty.

We have a 2015 Santa Fe. It drives like a luxuary vehicle and we’ve love it.
They completely overhauled that car in 2014... it think it was.
So people’s experiences with older models won’t really be relevant.

Hyundai’s are shit

We have a Sonata and like it a lot. 50k miles and so far, so good.

Santa Fe was on our short list but there have been recent recalls...

So probably going with Ford or Honda

We have a 2009 Santa Fe and it's been great. We also have two Subarus, both of which have been money pits because of problems with the axles or whatever. And the transmission on one went out. We're definitely gettting either another Santa Fe or a Kona

We had a 2005 SANTA Fe and a 2003 Camry. This year we needed a car that seated 6+, and both our cars had 150k + miles so we bought a new one.

We sold the Hyundai (worth about $500) and kept the candy. The Hyundai we hated: chintzy feel, not as reliable, loud, etc. even though it was newer and had fewer miles. I still love the 03 Camry and we still have it.

Test drive them all, but I will never buy another Hyundai.

What are the current thoughts on Hyundai? How do they compare to Honda and Toyota on quality, tech, and reliability? Do the current models have any major problems? We are looking at the Santa Fe Sport to XL model with the extra 3rd row which would only be used a few times a year.