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Comments
including msrp and the protection package which lists pin stripes, tinting, and other little things, anyway i thought the 18,000.00 was a little high compared to what i have heard other people have paid for theres.
I dought that he is stringing you along. What does he have to gain?
Oil Change Log:
Get a regular school compostion book. At the top of the first page put the date on the left side and the mileage on the right. Tape the receipt for the oil on the lower left side of the page and cut one side of the oil filter box (I use Hyundai filters) and tape that to the lower right.
Now you have a record of when it was done , the mileage and proof of purchase of the oil and filter. One page per oil change.
in addition to considering getting a elantra gt iam also considering a golf gls. the golfs standard equipment for the price is very tempting but i have heard about some reliability issues with the golf as well as other vw s also.if anyone can shed some light on this as far as the golf and elantra
are concerned that would be great.but the golf does offer more equipment for the bucks
such as 4-wheel antilock disk breaks as well as a host of other stuff as well.i also checked on the insurance for the golf which was way cheaper to insure than the elantra,which from what i have heard recentley, did not do that well in crash testing,infact they gaveit a poor ofset crash rateing which probably explains the high insurance rate for the elantra gt, the sonata scored even worse although i didnt check the rates for it
I went by a local dealer to have an appointment set-up with the Regional Hyundai Rep about my front bumper paint problem (that was originally inappropriately diagnosed as "debris damage."). I hope being able to show the Rep the paint bubbles in person will help my case to get the paint warranty extended and cover a repaint for the front bumper.
I am keeping my fingers crossed about the outcome as I am not happy about driving a car with big pieces of paint missing from the front bumper. It's getting pretty ugly now!
Other than that, I do love my Elantra!
I'm new here. My husband and I are in the market for a new car (my first car, his first new one in a long time) and we're currently cross shopping the Elantra GT, the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, and the new Echo Hatchback. We have some concerns about Hyundai quality, and about its safety ratings.
When you were looking into the GT, what were some of the things that concerned you most? And what was it about the car that made you finally overlook those initial reservations?
Thanks!
$18,000 for a Hyundai GT is an ABSOLUTE ripoff.
I live near you so if you want to talk send me an e-mail or stop by my blackout.com personal site. I would wait for the 04s if I were you they look much improved and although the price may go up a little I doubt it will be much and carsdirect.com will still get you the best price.
When are these 04 GTs supposed to hit the states? My mouth is watering and I am really ready to let my little Isuzu Pup go to a new owner. She has served me well though. 7 years an no problems.
I get attached to my cars like they are people.
BlackoutDOTcom (michael)
To make the long story short, my final two cars were the Elantra GT and the Mazda Protege5. I had owned 3 Mazdas (including 2 Proteges) previously and had been happy with their reliability. However, the Elantra GT was going to cost me about $3000 less than the Protege5, and the Elantra offered more standard features as well.
My only concern was with Hyundai reliability. I did a lot of research, both here and all over the Internet, and found that Hyundai's reliability had been improving steadily over the past 10 years. After reading comments from some Hyundai owners, I was swayed to buy the Elantra.
I have really only has one issue with the car after 48,500 miles (currently) and that is with the front bumper paint adherence. I seem to be the only one with that issue so I assume my front bumper's paint job was flawed from the start.
Overall, I love the car. While it doesn't handle quite as well as my wife's 1999 Mazda Protege ES, it has a more comfortable ride for long trips and gets better gas mileage.
Take one for a test drive and see what you think!
The fit and finish and overall quality of Hyundai has been great pretty much since 2001. I love both of our GT hatches - still get giddy each time I get in. My wife told me that her friends were impressed with her Saab - and more impressed when they learned the car was a Hyundai!
I was just T-boned in my auto GT and it is currently having both right side doors and right quarter replaced. I'm fine, and the car seems solid enough. Whats more, I felt confident enough driving the GT to do some tricky avoidance manouvers before I actually did get hit. The sort of thing that might not have been possible in the taller Matrix or on the skinny wheels of the Echo.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
-mrvan
About the reliability of Hyundai. It is on par with Honda and Toyota. If you look back to the posts, you will see an article about the comparison of Hyundai and Honda. Hyundai is reliable because of its warranty. It would not offer such a great warranty if the product sucks. If a poor quality product has warranty, the manufacturer has to pay out big time for the warranty. Hyundai would not put out a big warranty unless it believes it to be superior product.
The more you do research, the more you will like the GT. ITs a great car! My friends hated Hyundai and swore never to buy one. Now that they have experienced the great quiet ride, the wonderful surround sound stereo, the constant "new car smell" (even though i have had it for 6 months and took it through a college road trip), the cool blue lights on the dash, the smooth ride, the huge trunk space, the list just goes on and on.
GT is the best in its class as far as I am concerned. The protege and matrix cannot come close in the trunk space, the leg room and leather seats! Where can you get leather seats for that class of car? Come on...hands down, its the GT!
I really love my car. What more would I add to it? All of the great additional features you'll get with your GT. I still consider trading for a GT, but I promised myself I'd keep this to see it across the 200K mile mark.
1. I went through several H7 head lamps. After replacing several I found that these are covered under warranty. Apparently the dealer's lamps are long life and I've had no problems on their replacements. Apparently the lamps have been corrected as most complaints on this are on the '01's.
2. My 5 speed had a failed neutral safety switch. The dealer was able to wire around it, but it took about a week to get in stock. The dealer had never seen one of these fail, and maybe the delay in receiving the part was the dealer's fault or a fluke. No big deal because the car was drivable, but I would hate to have a critical part on back order for that long. That's the only failure of any kind other than headlamps. This is the most reliable car I've owned, and I've owned close to thirty including Toyotas.
3. The Michelin Energy tires are over priced OEM units that wore out at 40,000 miles of easy driving. I believe Hyundai went this route because Hondas and other high value cars have these tires. Frankly, some Hankooks or Kumhos would have been just as good. I'm sure manufacturers pay $10 a tire for these and Michelin supplies them on the hope that you'll rip one to shreads or be stupid enough to replace a set with the same tires and give them $500. I bought a set of 4 Uniroyal Tiger Paw H's at Wal-Mart (special order) for less than half that and the Uniroyals (I know, same company as Michelin) are far superior in both grip, hopefully wear--so far so good, and noise.
Other than those three small disappointments the Elantra is flawless.
I think we're going to wait on the 2004 - I liked the 2003, but thought it lacked the "Oomph" to make it really stand out. If the prices aren't too high when the '04 comes out, I might be the proud new owner of a GT sometime in the spring.
Thanks again everyone!
Steve, I suggest going to carsdirect.com to look for a car. Going to dealerships is a waste of time unless you need to test drive it and get a feel for it. Once you know that you and the GT are definitely compatible, go to carsdirect and they will point you to a dealer that will be willing to sell you at the rock bottom price usually below invoice. Dont even bother with their posted price. Why spend an hour haggling when you can just email their internet dept. $18,000 for GT is just for the chumps out there who do not know what is going on. They are hoping to capture that $2-3K profit from uneducated buyers.
Anyhow, unless Canada is getting an HP increase.... Elantra's are not, until 05, from what I have read,so far.
My spouse drives a 01 Tibby(same engine as the GT has), no problems. Automtic and 0-60 in under 9 seconds.
9 seconds if it is raining or snowy out.
If you are having 2nd thoughts now, you may not want an 03 or 04 GT, if you feel it is not fast enough for you, or safe enough?
I drive the car and do floor it, I will admit, to get it going, but once it hits 45mph, no problem. Most people drive rather shabbily no matter if you go 0-60 in2 seconds, someone will "ride your bumper", or "cut you off", or drive slow in front of you, etc...
I feel safe in the car, unless I am next to an H2, perhaps.
I feel nervous in our 99 Sonata, due to crazy driving habits of people these past few years.
Sorry to digress:
I just think that Maybe you are a little bit nervous about buying a Hyundai, perhaps? I dunno. Just sounds like you may be trying to talk yourself out of buying one? We were nervous. I won't lie. Glad we got one(now two, and if all else holds up, a GT for ourselves in 2-3 years. Hope they still sell the hatchback version in USA in 06-07).
You may have another 16 -18 months wait if you want the slightly larger(maybe 5-10 HP tops) GT engine.
I have read either 140HP-155 HP, to everything in between these numbers.
I have found out the only way to know, is when they are on the dealer's lot, or on the autoshow floors.
I like Hyundai. My sonata is 4 years old and has 102,000 miles. the tibby is 26 months old and has over 70,000 miles, and it is doing better than the Sonata GLSV6!
I do not know if this helps, but I have owned 2 Nissans, 2 Chevies, 2 Hyundais, and as a group, the 2 Hyundais are best.
All of the cars I have owned have had problems,too, minus the Tiburon.
I know a gentleman who has a Accord and at 105,000 miles needed a new water pump(so, far, none of the cars I ever owned neeed this item to be replaced).
They all have problems, just some people report them , some don't(say on surveys,for instance).
Go look around the other boards here,too,they all have problems, and crash test ratings, in same size catagory, similar to Elantra.
Also, do like I did(well, you may not be able to now, but when I looked and they had the "old fashined odometers" and not the LCD ones like now, that turn off when car is not on...) I would see a Hyudnai and check mileage, and I saw a lot of 70-80K Acctnes and Elantras, and found one Elantra with 119,000 miles and looked good.
And I even spoke to some owners if I saw them in a parking lot, or listened to their cars when starting them up, to hear engine noise or not. SOunds odd, but it worked.
Anyhow.... for Safety:
Just driving, we all take a chance, in any vehicle, of getting hit and possibly getting maimed, or worse(unfortunately). Not being nasty, just saying no matter what type of vehicle you dirve or safety rating, if you get into an accident involving you in a compact vs a Expedition, for example,the compact is going to lose, no matter if it has 5 stars for the compact.
Hope you know what I mean here. ok?
Buy what you like.
Let us know your final decision, if it is now, or next year.
Take Care, do your research again, if need be, and do another test drive, perhaps "back-to-back", or in same day, at least(Matrix, then drive GT, both, again. This may also help)>
Good Luck.PS:
If you can, get a Matrix for a 24 hour test drive, and then get a GT Elantra for a 24 hr test drive.
Get them for when you are off of work,and you do daily errands, or whatever. A 20-30 minutes test drive is nice, but a 24 hour, run-your-errands,etc, drive is better. Will give you a really good idea of each vehicle.Sorry for the extremely long rant and any misspellings!
They will be 04 models.
Now, will the Elantras that get this be made in calendar year 04(as 05 models) or, made this year as 04's?
I know the next generations of Santa Fe and Sonata's both will roll out of the Alabama factory starting in Jan 05, according to WardsAutomotive news.
They will have new engines, also. Where it gets confusing is that there are 2 stories out; one is elantras still being made in S Korea, the other, made in USA, with the above mentioned 2 vehicles.
I have also read that the HP increase is only 10 hp(seems our sources agree on this).
What I heard was Elantra may get140 hp, 145hp, or 150 hp, and GT Elantra's to get 5 hp more than "regularElantras.
(155 hp?).
I read these reports in AutoWeek, Wardsauto.com,
Reuters news agency,etc..and they can't even agree 100%. I take a wait and see. I know the news "smaller than Santa FE" suv is coming out.
Runors had it appearing in CHicago this past Feb, which it did not.
In the past, I evenhad 2 dealerships tell me Hyundai was bringing out the Equus. They even agreed that Dec 2001 was the date! I read this news in above mags and internet sites!! They are usually really reliable.
So,until it is at the shows...I will wait-n-see.
Fumuto oil drain valve-
I just recently installed this as well. If I had checked before I ordered, I might have save myself that 10% as well. My handle points mostly down. I could try to tighten it more (1/8 to 1/4 turn more) so that it would be at least to the side. But I was going to make it so tight that I would strip the oil pan!! Which was one of the main reasons I got the valve, so I don't strip the pan! But they claim it will not open with normal driving. 500 miles with it and no problems yet.
18000 sticker price-
Make sure you only consider the manufacturer sticker when considering price. Any dealer installed option will be on ANOTHER sticker and you can tell them to shove........nm! Use an online service or contact their internet department. You should aim for invoice price +/- say $500. Then add rebates, TTL, fees etc.
HP increase-
As I understand, the VVT engine is ALREADY available on some US cars. Specifically the ones in the California emission states. And that these will be available to the rest in the '04 model. I don't think the GT version will get any extra ponies (over the GLS) this time around.
The car in the test rated poorly, for sure, because of two specific and severe failures:
1) The airbag deployed late, causing significant trauma risk to the occupant.
2) The seat railing failed, causing the entire seat to slip forward.
These two events caused the crash-test dummy to have a very bad trip, for sure. But Hyundai has been unable to reproduce either of the failures in their own testing, and I believe they closely examined both issues and have since made some adjustments to the seat railing.
It is VERY possible that the single Elantra that was purchased off the lot for the testing was not the most diligently constructed example available. Not saying sabotage, but saying that a bolt was perhaps not correctly seated in the rail, or that the relay in the airbag got a little dirty before they snapped it shut and sent it off.
The odds seem low, but Hyundai has asked for a re-test and has now seemingly resigned themselves to await the testing of the '04 model instead.
All other crash tests performed have given acceptable results, so I wouldn't go running off to another car because of the off-set test results. It amounts to a bit of yellow journalism and overstating the problem, IMO.
Re getting a bad car off the lot... well, actually it was 2 of 3 bad cars off the lot. On one car that was crashed, the airbag deployed fine. On two other cars it did not.
Re the seat rails: last I heard, the new rails had been implemented only in the Korean market. I asked an HMA representative about this and he said nothing about the new rails being used in the U.S. In fact, he knew nothing about the change.
It will be interesting to see how the Elantra fares in the new side impact tests that the IIHS is doing. It did well in the NHTSA side impact tests, and the IIHS tests favor vehicles that have standard side airbags, as the Elantra does. Also the frontal offset tests on the '04 model should be interesting. If it gets a Good score, that will wipe away the only major black mark from the Elantra and allow CR to recommend it, helping sales and probably also resale values.
Bad news! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just issued a recall notification on your vehicle. Here's the info:
Vehicle: 2002 Hyundai Elantra
Manufacturer: HYUNDAI AMERICA TECHNICAL CENT
Campaign Number: 03V257000
Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FI
Summary:
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, THE REAR BRAKE TUBES PASS BEHIND THE FRONT SUSPENSION CROSSMEMBER. TWO STEERING GEARBOX MOUNTING BRACKETS ARE WELDED TO THE CROSSMEMBER. ON VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH AN ANTILOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS), THE REAR BRAKE TUBES COULD CONTACT BOTH STEERING GEARBOX MOUNTING BRACKETS. ON VEHICLES THAT ARE NOT EQUIPPED WITH ABS, THE REAR BRAKE TUBES MAY CONTACT ONLY THE LEFT MOUNTING BRACKET. CONTACT BETWEEN THE REAR BRAKE TUBES AND THE STEERING BRACKETS COULD CAUSE WEAR AND CORROSION THAT COULD RESULT IN BRAKE FLUID LEAKAGE.
FLUID LEAKAGE COULD RESULT IN REDUCED BRAKING CAPABILITY INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
DEALERS WILL REPOSITION THE REAR BRAKE TUBES SO THEY DO NOT CONTACT THE MOUNTING BRACKETS, INSTALL BRAKE TUBE CLIPS TO CONTROL THE LOCATION OF THE REAR BRAKE TUBES, AND APPLY ANTI-CORROSION MATERIAL TO THE TUBES IN THE AREAS WHERE CONTACT WITH THE MOUNTING BRACKETS MAY HAVE OCCURRED. OWNER NOTIFICATION IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2003. OWNERS SHOULD CONTACT HYUNDAI AT 1-800-633-5151.
Please Note: A VIN check against the recall campaign should always be performed before repairs take place. Contact your dealer for more information.
Good news! Recalls do not always affect all vehicles to which they apply. You'll need to check the vehicle identification number (also called the VIN number) against the recall campaign to see if repairs need to take place. You can find the VIN number engraved on a metal plate, on the top of your car's dashboard or on the engine.
Because NHTSA recalls are often directly related to your safety, we urge you to call your local dealer promptly. If you need to find a dealer in your area, you can find one right here.
Good luck!
Another thing I need looked as is the TSB for the shift flare between 2nd and 3rd. I think my car was built after a reprogram was available, so I don't know if I didn't get it at the factory, or what, but I do have the flare occasionally. It looks like they have a new TSB for shift flare, (03-40-015).
I had the clock replaced at 2 months under warranty and other that these things, it's been a wonderful car so far.
In case anyone doesn't have the address for Hyundai WebTech, it's http://www.hmaservice.com/webtech/default.asp
I bought a pewter GT with automatic in June, 2001. It is used mostly for suburban commuting with four or five long highway trips per year. Currently I have just under 46,000 miles on the odometer. Here is a list of the problems I have encountered since then:
1. LF headlamp bulb replaced in June, 2002. Cost: $15.
2. LR headlamp bulb replaced June, 2003. Cost: $15.
3. Rear brake rotors replaced due to warping in August, 2003. Cost $114. I have a pending warranty claim with HMA for the cost of replacement.
4. Dashboard clock sometimes "disappears" for no reason and then comes back on. No action taken yet - I consider this a minor annoyance at best.
Those are my only repair costs outside of normal maintenance. As you can see the list is very short. The GT still returns approx 26 mpg around town and about 31.5 mpg on the highway (I installed a Thule roof rack which shaves about 0.5 mpg off the highway number). The car still looks great and runs like a top. It has never failed to start and it is driven nearly every day.
My wife and I were so impressed by our GT that we just purchased a second Elantra GT on Friday. We bought a 2003 carbon blue automatic with the standard package for $15,300 out the door ($13,939 before tax, title, registration and dealer fees). We went to Ciasulli/Giant Hyundai in Little Falls, NJ; also where we bought out first GT. We've had two good buying experiences there.
Since we're now a "2 GT" family I will try to update the board during the break-in period for the 2003 GT and give continuing updates on the 2001.
Happy motoring to all.
mygor - you beat my deal by $500 so you did very well, especially if you live in the Northeast. The anxiety goes away after a couple of days.
If you are anxious going in, it may be hard to ever fully lose it.
How are you gonna feel when/if something happens to your car under warranty that creates an inconvenience? Will you kick the tires and begin a tirade about how crappy Hyundais are?
I think you made a very smart decision to buy the Elantra GT. It is a good looking car with a lot to offer at a very small price. Nothing else in the market comes close to the whole package, especially if you throw on ABS and a Sunroof. Relax, enjoy your GT. They are very nicely put together cars. But be realistic. It is an economy car with a lot of bells and whistles. If something does fail, get it fixed. It it fails again, get it fixed. If it fails again...call a lawyer.
BTW, just hit 3k miles on my car...the taping problems have shown up in the driver's side window sill and I had some tape expose itself under the spoiler after a wash. Otherwise, the car is solid, if not spectacular. Wish for 20 more horses and a little more sports tuning in the tranny. Also wish my car could average over 23mpg. I have to blame it on my short distance trips for work and the hot temps in AZ forcing me to run my A/C all day, every day.
Looking at 109 for the high today.
Anyone have a good solution for car seat covers? I am almost at the point where I am gonna run out and buy material and make my own.