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Before My Santa Fe I Drove a ___?
This section is dedicated to listing all the cars you had before - what you loved/hated about them and what lead to getting a Hyundai Santa Fe.... sentimental stuff!!
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'74 Ford Gran Torino - first ride, 351 Cleveland, 8 mpg, would hold lots of teenagers, bought cheap and sold high
'84 Buick Skylark - yes, an X-car, dad's former co. car, had 2.8L HO, was fun surprising 5.0 Camaros of the day in a 4-dr with vinyl roof and wire wheel covers....
'90 Ford Ranger - great, cheap, fun truck but gutless with 4-cyl and 5spd
'91 Ford Ranger SuperCab - more of all the above but same powertrain and even slower, why did I make same mistake?
'88 Acura Integra - got married in '92 and wife had it, glorified Honda but fun car with 5spd
'93 Mazda 626 - traded Integra, first car bought as married couple, had V-6 and 5spd, GREAT car
'95 Chevy Silverado SuperCab - 350 and black, loved this truck, kept 9 years and only 43K, sold to friend who still has it
'97 Pontiac Trans Sport - kid on the way and decided to get the minivan phase of my life over quickly, a transportation appliance, but served its purpose well
'00 Pontiac Trans Am Ram Air - my pride and joy, weekend toy, had wanted one for years and bought once rumors of its demise surfaced, bought used with 6K and has 28K now
'02 Mercury Mountaineer V-8, a first-year nightmare and lemon, wife loved it, I hated it
'05 Chevy Avalanche - loaded LT, hands down best vehicle I've ever owned, was my dream truck but too big for wife's daily use, so made the next move
'06 Suzuki Grand Vitara - bought as extra car for wife so I could get the Av back for myself, cute and lots of value but really short on refinement, no clear coat on a 2006 vehicle???, again wife loved it but I traded at 1 year and 11.5K for SF
'07 Hyundai Santa Fe - the one I should have waited for, level of features, refinement and room is outstanding for the price, so far so good....
Company cars over the years...
'95 Dodge Neon Sport - well, it WAS a free car...
'97 Pontiac Sunfire - a step above the Neon, not a bad small car
'00 Chevy Malibu - actually another decent free car, but only memory of it was that it liked to eat brake rotors every 15K or so
'03 Dodge Intrepid - 86K trouble-free miles, maybe Chrysler is better these days??
'06 Dodge Magnum - "the hearse" except its white, no power with base engine but solid, smooth, quiet and still gets lots of looks/questions
Honorable mentions - talked dad into buying new '87 Toyota Supra and '92 Ford Taurus SHO over the years - we used to "share" and both were great fun
Current stable - Trans Am, Avalanche, Santa Fe, Magnum
2019 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2019 Ford Mustang GT Premium, 2016 Kia Optima SX, 2013 Ford F-150 King Ranch, 2000 Pontiac Trans Am WS6, 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic
next 1990 eagle talon - LOVED IT!!! probably the best condition car i ever had! should have gotten the turbo awd though- got crashed while parked - it was a sad day
1984 jaguar xjs v-12 hse - the most powerful best handling car i ever had - loved it - couldn't afford to keep it when baby #1 arrived - then it paid for my divorce!
1977 porsche 924 - never drove needed an engine - never finished project
1988 amc eagle - still have it - my beloved - got me thru all kinds of weather - project needs to be finished
1987 pontiac fiero - project - never completed - gave to my dad instead of paying rent b4 i moved out - he gave to me little sis - she lent to her friend who promtly got rear ended
1987 bmw 735i - very nice - needed work but still one of the most comfortable rides and also one of the fastest - donated
wife's = 2001 toyota corolla - very nice - goood on gas - nice pep - nice handling after i got my hands on it...
traded in for the '07 Santa Fe Limited AWD - needed the space... for baby #3
who know's what's next but i do need a 2nd car and i'm not ready to wake up the '87 AMC EAGLE...
I had one too - with the turbo! Agree totally with your assessment.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
1980 Honda Prelude-drove it for about 2 years. It was the old style early model however it was still a pretty neat car, the AC worked, had a power sunroof that still worked too. Wrecked it during a fender bender (car in front of me had brake lights that didn’t work) managed to straighten out the front and drove it till it lost oil pressure coming off a freeway overpass one day and dropped a cylinder ring.
1979 Toyota Celica-drove this car until it died too. Only paid about 400.00 for it. These model Celicas are really reliable cars. If you have the money to fix one up they are worth it, they will last forever if properly maintained. Mine was a piece of junk when I got it..but it still lasted me for a few months.
1994 Ford Escort- My first brand new car. I bought it from Worthington Ford (Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal!) If you are from southern California you will know what that means! It was a true base model, it did not have a radio or air conditioning. Drove it for 5 years and I never had a mechanical issue.
1999 Mercury Cougar- I really miss this car
2005 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab - :lemon: A huge mistake only drove it 3 days before taking it back to Carmax. It originally seemed like a great deal! 2005 with only 12,000 miles! V8, 4 doors, spray in bedliner, cargo box in the bed, Alloy Wheels 4WD! The Kelly Blue Book price was $27,000 and Carmax was offering it for $19,999! However the gas mileage was terrible (it was barely getting 14mpg hwy and it was supposed to get 15 city and 20 HWY!). This began a rollercoaster car trade in scenario that would last a year.(I am so glad I got rid of truck I would have never bought it if I would have read Edmunds forums .I was going of Edmund’s four door truck comparison test where it compared favorably to the Toyota Tacoma.) (This was also the first automatic transmission vehicle I ever purchased. I was approaching Forty and I was tired of shifting gears in city traffic. All subsequent vehicles are automatics)
2003 Ford Explorer-Best truck on the Carmax lot, in my price range I still wanted a “Truck” . (For some reason I wanted the capacity to tow) drove it about three months before trading it back at Carmax for the still lousy gas mileage (However, it did get the 15 city, 20 HWY mileage it claimed!). (Also glad I got rid of this vehicle the transmission was beginning to show some of the infamous signs that plague the Ford Explorers :lemon: however I did not realize it until after I got rid of it).
2003 Ford Focus ZX5 -The little car was loaded, leather seats, sunroof, power everything. It got great ratings from Edmunds, Consumer Reports, and Consumer Guide. I also like how it actually had a pretty high seating position, almost like an SUV. My wife hated it. I took it back to Carmax within the free trade in period and I let my wife pick up the first thing she liked.
2005 Scion XB-Drove the car for about 6 months too. Loved it initially, but the lack of features like cruise control (which the ZX5 had!!!), and the total lack of luxury (hard plastic everywhere), began to wear on me. I was nearly Forty and wanted a comfortable car to drive with some luxury features. However it had great gas mileage, an amazing amount of room for it’s size, and a bumping factory radio. However, in addition to the lack of luxury the insurance institute’s safety test really concerned me, this was meant to be a second family car, and it was not a safe vehicle.
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe SE- The car I never knew I wanted
So this is my story it is really embarrassing, between April of 2006 and April of 2007 I owned five different cars :confuse: , even though I only possessed two of them for a few days. I wish I would have followed my first mind and brought the Mercury with me to Northern Virginia and traded it in then. Oh well, that’s what happens when you get impatient and don’t listen to what you believe the Holy Spirit is telling you you make stupid mistakes and wind up wasting a few thousand dollars!!!
The craze for the Gremlin when "Wayne's World" came out was just a short lived fad.
Garth's car in Wayne's World was a Pacer, not a Gremlin.
1984 Honda Nighthawk 650cc... Loved every minute riding that thing. It developed a very loud valve train tick. The dealer fixed it under warranty. Some time later, the same prob occurred so I got rid of it.
1986 Mustang GT... First year of F.I. Straight line/Go fast car. Had it only 6 days. A couple of trees got in my way. :mad:
When I met my wife in '89, she had an '88 Mustang LX and her ex-b/f had an '89 Ford Escort GT with 1.9L H.O. that he sold to me. The Escort was an awesome car. It developed a stalling prob that the dealer couldn't fix. So... bye bye Escort...
The '88 Mustang started doing strange things (I swear it was possessed!) and again, the dealer, couldn't rectify the probs. So, bye bye Mustang.
1995 Chev Cavalier (Wife's)... Great car for the money. Very few problems, very dependable.
1998 Pontiac Sunfire (Mine)... Okay car but a tad on the small side for my liking. I'm a 6 footer. Traded the Sunfire in for a...
2001 Camaro SS Convertible. Awesome car... Personal amusement park ride! :shades: Too much work though. Either you own a car, or a car owns you! And the SS owned me... Had a few moving violations, insurance premiums went way up so... bye bye SS
2004 Chev Cavalier... When the wife and I were shopping for a new car in '04, I wanted an SUV, but I promised that she could choose the car. So, we ended up with an '04 Cavalier. Was not impressed with the fact that it needed a new fuel pump at 20,000 Km. It was difficult to get into first gear (5spd). The pwr window motors were intermittent also. I had enough of GM's poor quality and decided to switch camps... Hello Hyundai!
Last winter while we were at the Granddaughter's hockey game, there was an '07 SF on display at the arena. I instantly took a liking to it. During my '07 summer holidays, I was window shopping for a vehicle as our lease on the '04 Cavalier was soon to expire. My first stop was at Attrell Hyundai in Brampton, Ont. I test drove an '07 (the one which we bought) 3.3L AWD. I instantly knew that this was the vehicle for me. Later that same day, my wife took it out for a drive and she loved it.
As the SF was a demo with 12,000 Km on the clock, I asked for a discount equal to the remaining value on the Cavalier lease. Roughly $3000. The sales manager said he couldn't make the deal. So I said bye bye...
Two days later Attrell called and they said come on in, let's work something out. The wife and I went back to the dealer and got the $3000 discount on the demo.
Sorry for rambling... anyways, that's my story...
Bambew
'81 Honda Accord LX. A little puke green hatchback. The first car I bought all by myself -- for $800. It was ugly but reliable and got me through college.
'94 Chevy S-10 ext cab. The first new car I ever owned.
'66 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon. My favorite car. I bought it out of a barn where it had sat for 10 years. Paid $1200 for it, and put another 2 grand into getting it roadworthy. It was a city block long and seated 9 people comfortably. The 389 HO V8 rumbled! It was stolen just a year later and has never been recovered.
'96 Mercury Sable. I'd gotten married and needed a reliable "family man" car. It was boring, but it was a good car.
'95 Mazda Miata. My wife bought it, but then got pregnant and couldn't drive it (too small and shifting bothered her), so it became my car. It was the most fun car I've ever owned. Sold it when our kid was born because I needed a back seat.
'00 Volvo V70. A good solid family wagon. Great ride and sharp looking, but lots of reliability problems. Stuff kept breaking. :lemon: Dumped it for...
'02 GMC Yukon XL Denali. A sweeeeeeeeet ride. Loved it, but sucked gas (13-14 mpg) and was hard to park. Later became my wife's car.
'03 Pontiac Vibe. Bought it new and commuted in it for four years until buying my current car....
'07 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD. Love it!
Right before I left for college my parents thought it would be best to upgrade a little, and along came "blue", a 1980 VW Rabbit, that we got from a mechanic friend of my Pop who had rebuilt the engine. --wonderful, reliable car. started in the coldest of winters, good on gas, easy to handle and felt sort of sporty to me then.
After college, I spent the next 10 or so years without need for a car. Blue was donated to the same charity as Old Yeller before her and I was 30 and completely clueless when I bought the next car, which I still regret to this day.
It was a 2000 Ford Focus. :lemon: After the first $1000 of about $7.5K in repairs in 3 years, it was named "the (something else that begins with F)us" Because I truly felt that was what Ford did to all of us that bought this first US model of this car. My entire braking system (not just the pads)had to be replaced within the first 9 months and that was just the beginning.
Last summer, I got my gently used 03 SF. I'd wanted a Rav4, but the dealer wouldn't work with the price and we'd planned on having whatever car we chose just for this tour and we'd get rid of it when we move next, and we only really one day to look for a car for me and the SantaFe was a really good deal. and now I love it. We have a new baby now and we need a 3rd row so the next car will be an 07 or 08.
1st car ever was a brand new 1973 Pontiac Grand Am. I bought it off the showroom floor and loved it. It had a 455 V8, dual exhaust, genuine "African Crossfire Mahogany" wood trim, full instrumentation with real numbers on the gauges, A/C, AM/FM stereo. I was fresh out of college making the big bucks ($150/week). Life was grand.
Traded the Grand Am for the worst car I've ever owned, a new 1975 Mustang II Mach 1. I had the first Mustang II V8 in Wisconsin. To this day, buying it was the biggest automotive-related mistake I've ever made.
1977 Pontiac Grand Prix LJ. Nice car; had the Firethorn Red velour bucket seats. Pretty snazzy at the time.
1979 Pontiac Bonneville coupe. It was a barge but I loved it. It was 2-tone metallic red/claret.
1984 Pontiac Trans Am. It was the first car I ever ordered from the factory. I waited 2 months for it but it was worth it. It was black with literally every option offered that year except for automatic transmission, white letter tires, and the goofy shade and wiper for the rear window. It was a fun car but it was poorly built.
2007 Dodge Omni hatchback. Bought it as a low-cost commuter car for work. Oddly enough, it was one of the best cars I've ever owned. It had every available option, was very comfortable, and surprisingly fun to drive.
1989 Volvo 740 GL. My first import and a darned nice car.
1992 Volvo 940 Turbo. Another great car. I drove it 245,000 miles without a major repair and sold it in immaculate condition for $5000. AFAIK it's still going strong.
2000 Audi A6 2.8 quattro. One of the 2 finest cars I've ever owned, period. The car just reeked of quality and refinement. I special-ordered it from Germany and waited over 4 months for it but it was worth the wait.
2003 Audi A6 4.2 quattro. Just like the previous one but with Audi's 300 hp 40V V8. Absolutely beautiful machine.
2005 Chevy Corvette coupe. Another factory-ordered car. I decided that since I was single with no kids and with a company car it was time to get a real American sports car. I only drive it for pleasure and it doesn't disappoint. I still have it, still really enjoy it (even though I'm married now!).
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD w/ Premium Package. I bought it to replace a company car (2007 Volvo XC90 AWD) that I had to give back when I left the company earlier this year. The Volvo was a great SUV but I enjoy my Santa Fe just as much.
1973 Mercury Montego MX – 351W (my first car and a real screamer the 120mph speedometer was insufficient, to say the least)
1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia – 302 (I built the motor on this one another sleeper)
1979 Ford Thunderbird – 302 (the car I courted my wife in memories for a whole ‘nuther blog)
1975 Ford LTD – 400M
1980 Dodge Colt
1986 Nissan 200SX
1991 Ford F150 XLT Supercab
1992 Ford Explorer XLT
1994 Ford F150 Nite
1994 Ford Explorer
1995 Ford Winstar
1996 Ford Thunderbird
1997 Ford Explorer
1976 Ford F-150
1999 Mercury Cougar GT
2000 Chrysler 300M
2000 Ford F150 Off-Road 4x4 Supercab
2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder
2002 Mitsubishi Diamante VRX
2003 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
1991 Nissan Pickup
2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
1974 MG Midget current
1976 Ford Gran Torino - Starsky & Hutch Limited Edition current (the kids are grown and out of the house so a 429 play-toy)
2004 Ford F150 FX4 Supercab current
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD current
not counting the 76 Yamaha 450, the 83 Honda 750 Shadow, and the 02 Harley FXDWG current. OK maybe I do have a problem
so i guess - you are a FORD man!
I grew up in the 70s and I used to watch Starsky and Hutch...
I can still remember riding in the back seat with my cousins (I was probably around 6 or 8 years old) past a car dealership that had one of those Starsky and Hutch models on display...we couldn't stop looking at it.
Maybe I will own one of my dream cars from the seventies or eighties someday. One dream car I wouldn't mind owning would be a Buick Regal Grand National GNX or maybe a Ford Mustang SVO.
Two pieces of unique American Muscle that were created during a time when American made performance cars were just beginning to make a comback.
But as far as my car purchasing history goes...
1964 Pontiac Bonneville convertible- Wish I still had this car. Great for surfers on the east coast.
1970- Ford Maverick. POS but never stranded me.
1978 Chevy Monza- First brand new car
1980 Honda Civic- Sank it in deep water
1981 Honda Civic(4d)- Nice car
1983 (?) Izusu Impulse- First sort of sporty car
1984 VW Jetta GLI Best car I have ever owned
1986 VW Jetta Decent car, should have keep the GLI
1986 VW GTI Second best car I have ever owned.
1987 Pontiac Grand Am (16v) Decent car
1988 Dodge Raider 4x4- Decent SUV, my first. (mitisubushi montero clone)
1989 Pontiac Grand Am- Should have keep the dodge.
1991 Isuzu Trooper- 2nd SUV 4x4
1994 Hyundai Sonata- Fair decent for an earlier model hyundai
1995 Nissan Maxima- Another great car I should have kept.
1996 Isuzu Rodeo 4x4 Decent SUV
1998 Isuzu Trooper 4x4 POS worse SUV I have ever owned. A lemon for sure.
2001 Isuzu Rodeo 4x4- Good SUV, wish I still had it.
2004 Isuzu Ascender 4x4- traded it for the 2007 Sonata SE V6. Great SUV, but too top heavy and softly sprung.
2006 Hyundai Sonata V6- good car-should have keep it
2005 Ford Freestyle AWD mixed feelings, good rid of it and traded it in on a 2007 Hyundai Santa FE SE AWD
So now I have the 2007 Sonata SE and Santa Fe SE AWD. Time to stop buying cars. LOL
72? Ford F150 (bought in 1986)
81 Datsun Truck (Bought in 1987) (bed rusted out, built a wooden bed)
85 Isuzu Trooper (bought in 1989)
95 Mazda Truck - first new vehicle
93 Ford Escort- for my wife
98 Dodge Grand Caravan (bought in 2000)
01 Dodge Grand Caravan (bought in 2004)
98 Dodge Caravan (Bought in 2005) which made us a 2 caravan family. And the last Caravan we will own.
07 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD
1983 Mazda GLC
1990 Honda Accord LX
All of these cars were bought new. I drove that Accord up until last week, when I got my SF Limited in Dark Cherry Red.
We have bought a variety of Mazdas, Toyotas and Hondas for years. The last two vehicles we bought were an 03 Pilot and an 05 Pilot. We liked both Pilots, but were kind of "Pilot-ed out" on the design. A little boxy. Truth is if the new Pilot looked like the Santa Fe, we might have gone back to it. Our main goal was to keep the price at or below the current Pilot. The choices came down to the CX9, CX7, Acura RDX, Pilot, and CRV.
CX9 - Loved it, but $33K with leather, heated seats more than we wanted to spend
CX7 - Liked the look, but several reports of harsh ride, wife not interested. Also the price seemed to have a lot of money into the 4 cyl turbo engine, something wife not interested in.
RDX - Liked the car's amenities, but $32K was again more than we wanted to spend.
Pilot - Reliable, and heavily discounted right now. About $29K with leather/heated seats. Design was dated, wife felt it sat up a little high
CRV - Great car, but dealers not discounting EX-L. This meant at least $27K for a CRV. 4 cylinder, 166hp, clearly a smaller car than the Pilot. For $2K more, you could get a Pilot, much more vehicle in my opinion.
Santa Fe - Great styling, great reviews. Never drove it until the day we picked it up. Great pricing, $26K without rebate. That was at least $1K less than the CRV, and $3-7K less than all other models we looked at. Then the real capper was the 1.9% financing. It allowed us to get out of the lease loop, and BUY a car with an affordable monthly payment.
I had heard about Hyundai's quality rebound, and the Hyundai safety rating was important to my wife.
I feel this car is head and shoulders the best value around. It's like a secret that other people don't know about yet.
We intend to sell this car to one of our teenage daughters down the road 3-4 years.
Does that answer your question?
Thanks!