Hyundai? [J.D. POWER SURVEY]: Hyundai leapfrogs Toyota in quality

Kam, Faos... whatever.

 

A few months ago there was a thread that showed several of the cars China was coming out with. I swear just about every last one of them looked like a theft of some other car manufacturer's existing design.

 

Hyundai ain't no fluke.

I worked for edmunds.com for several years and when it came time to replace my dead Camaro, I had lond talks with the editors about cars, and what to look for. I also read alot of reviews and in 2000 I bought a Tiburon.

It costed me something like 17k new, with leather and all the extras. I had that car for 5 years, drove it daily in LA traffic, got hit from behind by a Cadillac Escalade going 40 mph while I was parked at a stoplight, and it always ran strong.

Build quality was excellent, everything in it was way more solid than all the GM cars I had owned before it. It was the best car I ever owned and when I moved overseas I sold it for a decent amount.

Also...10 year warranty. The cost of ownership was incredibly low. Any problems with it were fixed for free, even burnt out lights.

It was a cherry of a car. I'd buy another one again. I suspect that as the reputation grows they will get more expensive like Honda did.

 

The Tiburon was the first Hyundai I thought looked like a nice car ~ the next gen Tiburon looks pretty tough...

 

What do you guys think of the new Saturn Sky?

 

Looks good, but they run with Chevy engines so that's always a concern. Basically it's just a Pontiac Solstice. I read they were finally getting rid of the plastic doors [the whole dent resistant campaign] -- something they should have done long ago.

Speaking of Chevy -- the new Impalas i've been in have had some of the best GM quality [fit and finish] i've seen in years.

 

GM cars aren't crap anymore, they actually make some terrific vehicles nowadays in terms of quality AND reliability, especially their trucks and SUVs.

I am salivating over the new Tahoe, what a freakin' beauty! It's a terrific vehicle.

 

I love Tahoes -- perfect style/ size, but they are so freaking expensive.

 

I work in leasing to companies, all we lease are ford and chevy trucks.

 

Not with the crazy incentives you can get on those cars these days, they are setting on the lots and are not being moved at the pace GM expected, and I know someone who got a brand new Tahoe with leather for $34k, which is incredibly cheap.

Don't bother with the sticker price, you can get virtually ANY large SUV these days for thousands and thousands below sticker price. Just make an offer, and I promise you will be surprised.

 

One of my best friends has a black Impala, which I've riden in several times, and it's a damn fine car. I've been very impressed. (and back in the day I was a Ford guy) The ride isn't what I'm used to from Honda and Toyota, but it doesn't have a bad ride at all. Gets decent gas mileage, for an American sedan, comes pretty loaded, with numerous options.

 

Chevy in the past couple of years was practically trying to give them away. I had a co-worker that bought a nearly fully-loaded one for around $30k about 2 or 3 years ago. That's one way to sell 'em...

 

I'm sure everyone has seen those chevy silverado supersports. have you guys seen the tahoe, and trailblazer supersports?

 

I am not crazy about a supersport SUV, I think SUVs are dangerous as is, there is no need to try and make them Corvette beaters...I never quiet understood that approach, I mean who the heck wants a supercharged Tahoe/Suburban drag racing a heavily moded Eclipse/Civic SI?

Want a sports car? please spare our lives and get yourself a Corvette or an M3, that way at least when you lose control of your vehicle you won't hurt/kill as many people versus an out-of-control Excursion.

 

Without a doubt I love the looks of the Tahoe, but the experience my Dad had with his Chevy Truck would keep me away from any GM products. My dad bought a loaded Z71 and just had one major/minor problem with it right after another. The AC went out twice in under 100,000 miles, window seals leaked, windshield wiper motors went out, interior bobbles breaking, etc., etc. He keeps his vehicles in beyond immaculate condition so everything was on GM -- no misuse of the owner caused the plethora of problem he experienced. Dealing with the service center was headache after headache for him as well. He's sworn off GM products for good - which is saying a lot from a man who purchased nothing but Chevys or Fords for decades (he's always hated Chrysler products).

 

Bells 'n Whistles are going to give more problems than a Plain Jane automobile. What qualifies as a "problem"? I'll bet that BMW will never be in the top in this category since they have so many small issues that picky customers will always whine about.

 

If that were always true, Lexus would never rank high.

 

True. If Hyundai went luxury, I think the rating would suffer.

 

One of the articles I read about this specific survey mentioned that it included design flaws this time rather than simply production flaws. So, BMW's notorious iDrive could bring down their rating even if it works exactly like it's supposed to.

 

If you guys want a much better JD Power indicator of reliability, wait for their Vehicle Dependability Study. That will take 3 years (?) worth of data. The only problem is that, for example, this year's VDS covers cars from 3 years ago. The IQS is nice and all, but hardly tells you how reliable a car will be in the long run. The thing only covers the first 90 days of ownership.