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Comments
Our GLS V6 is now getting 25city/30hwy and we just had our first oil change at 3500 miles. Love this car!!!
Interesting. The car is rated for 20mpg in the city, but you're getting 25mpg.
John
Are you sure the Service Manager didn't say "Serpentine belt"? If he did indeed say "Timing belt", are you certain he did not really mean "serpentine belt"? Don't know about you, but I've called a spoon a fork a few times in my life. Your Service Manager may be servicing other makes that do use a timing belt, and simply made a verbal blunder.
I simply can't justify impuning the integrity of a car dealer (and car maker by association) for something you overheard.
Why don't you personally ask the Service Manager to give you a summary of maintenance and see what he tells you.
John
John
John, we live in a small city in New Mexico (`50,000 people), so our city driving is very different than big city "stop&swear" type driving, I'd guess our city mileage would be in the 22-23MPG if we were back in California.
I believe 60,000 miles is a long time (life) for a serpentine belt life.
John
Much to my suprise the car is pretty fast! Passing was an ease and those tailgaters sure got a eye full when I left them far behind me.
Overall the car is great, I don't have any complaints other than the gas mileage is less than I expected.
Glad I made the purchase!
The Timing Belt/Chain is INSIDE the engine, and you can't see it from the outside. The chain does not need to be replaced. But the belt is made of rubber, and it wears out, and must be replaced around 60,000 miles, and in some cars later (or after 6-7-8 years), 'cause if that belt breaks, in some car models (like several Honda models) it will RUIN the engine, in other cars (Toyota) it will simply stop the car from running.
A car has a Timing belt (rubber) or a Timing chain (steel) but not both (located inside engine...); not visible from outside.
A Serpentine Belt is the long and winding belt one sees going around small wheels to activate A/C- Power steering- alternator and water pump.
It replaces what used to be 3-4 belts 10-15 yrs ago!
Mileage. Disappointing. Averaging about 18 in the city, and 25 on the highway. I drive midly 'spirited', but am certainly not a lead-foot. I was expecting a bit more, but the mileage never improved after engine break-in.
Noise. Prominent. I hear LOTS of deep annoying bass on every bump. I don't 'feel' them, though, ride is nice and smooth. But the low end isolation is horrible for bumps. At highway speeds, the car is fairly quiet. But some serious mechanic noise is transmitted into the cabin on bumps. This is pretty well known at this point. It's still annoying.
Other problems:
Sunroof is loose, rattles as car flexes at all.
Passenger headrest sounds like it as a pack of coins in it. Jingles quite often.
Automatic air quality thing is malfunctioning. If I engage it, it cycles between exterior and recirculating air about every 10 seconds. Could be a filter that's already clogged, but since it started doing this at 5000 miles, I doubt it.
At 2000 to 2200 rpms or so, I hear a 'buzzing' metal rattle, it sounds like maybe the heat shield on the muffler is lose. I also feel a vibration through the shifter at that same area, and even in the steering wheel a bit.
I have also noticed the noted lull in acceleration, both from a dead stop (the dead spot before car moves) and the slow shifting from 1st to 2nd.
I'm taking the car in next week to address as many of these things as I can. I'll report back.
The Sonata's V6 engine gas-mileage is rated lower than several comparable MODERN cars.
...Oh well, nobody (and no car) is perfect...
...As to break-in period: Several posters here and elsewhere have been claiming that their gas mileage has been improving steadily as they accumulated miles on their cars. Which makes sense. A new car (especially its engine) needs running for a few thousand miles to get "settled" and reach its optimum performance.
As far as break in, we just didn't use cruise the first 1200 miles and tried to keep the RPMs under 2500, also varying the RPMs ever few minutes on long drives. We didn't adhere to the 55MPH or less, just impossible when going to Vegas, lol.
As I expected, the MPG on my '05 6cyl dropped about 10% once the temps stayed in the 50's and another 10% since the end of Nov when colder temps became the norm.
The "mild" New England weather has brought flucuations of 2+ MPG as we have had some weeks of 40* highs, some of 30* highs and some weeks mixed from 20* to 40* highs.
My best MPG (95% local, under 5 miles per trip) 19.2, my worst (same driving) 16.3.
Some people never check their MPG, some always do and some have only done so since getting a trip computer in their new car. My '91 car was my first experience with a trip computer and the results were shocking at first, until analyzing the variances observed. Anyone who wants a true picture of averages must keep track of data for several months. Heck, keep track of warm weather data and cold weather data.
How many accident caused by racing in a real life? Using cell phone, drunk driving, and fall a sleep while driving are major cause. Don't tell me you do not do one of those three :P. HA HA HA.
Shortly after purchasing my 2006 Sonata LX with option package 3 on October 15, 2005, I was approached no less than 3 times by the salesman to be sure to mark all survey questions with a score of 10. The salesman went to to state that values less than 10 are not acceptable to HyundaiUSA. He went on to say that values other than 10 are considered by the California Office undesirable.
Since having the car serviced at the dealership for 1,000 mile and 3,000 mile inspections, I've also been approached by the service department that scores less than perfect (10) would not look look good to corporate offices in California.
Has anyone else had the experience of being badgered about assigning survey questions with grades of less than 10??
I'm scheduled for repair service on 2/24/06 to replace a faulty ambient temperature sensor that's been acting up for quite some time.
I'm just about ready to let people at the dealership know that the next time I get approached about survey score values, that I'll be contacting this forum and headquarters back in California of such practices.
While I wouldn't hesitate to give perfect (10) scores to individual questions that deserve a 10, I don't like it at all when approached by dealership employees and being solicited for scores of 10. :sick:
Any experiences about this subject would be greatly appreciated!
Quite a few actually. Speed and aggressive driving is just as dangerous as those things you mentioned.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
They need to lay out a standard course and DRIVE the doggoned vehicle. There would still be a wide range, but probably 95% of vehicles would fall within the range. If a vehicle weren't within the range, the probability would be fairly high that something was wrong with the vehicle, not the test.
In fact,,, the EPA should drop testing and let the manufacturers post their own estimates. :P All the current testing does is kill the manufacturer's incentive to improve mileage. If your vehicle came in below the advertized low, then the owner would have recourse. We would then see a real effort to optimize mileage, and the estimates would be much more realistic.
Get used to the Accord and TL in front of you in every gear.
The Sonata is far less expensive than the Accord when you add in all the rebates. The initial 1,000. then 1,000 for financing with HMFC (you can pay off immediately or refi right away and still get rebate) 1,000 owner loyalty all you need for this one is to buy an old crappy Hyudai of any kind and push it onto the lot. I wish I thought to do that. I also got the 500 military rebate.
My car is a GLS 4 cyl and was built in Asan Korea. I do not have all the bumps that people complain of. Maybe the Alabama built cars have more issues I don't know. I do hear the gas sloshing around when the tank is full.
I too wanted to buy an Accord but I am happy I bought the Sonata. When I compared the two it didn't make sense to me to buy the Accord. I already own a Honda Pilot. Its not perfect several recalls and a problem with the horn so don't "drink the Honda Kool-aid" and think they ae perfect.
Hyundai has road side assistance, better warranty, better safety features, gets stolen alot less, plus I think the Hyundai "H" symbol is far classier than the Honda "H".
I would buy the Sonata but of course I am a bit biased.
In my experience with Hyundai, I believe you'll be very pleasantly surprised with its reliability, but one current aspect of the Honda/Hyundai comparison is Honda's superior resale value. This, of course, may change over time, but at the present Honda is superior in this area. On the other hand, you stated that you plan to keep the vehcile for many years, and then, depreciation becomes somewhat moot and relative.
In monitoring the forums here, it sounds like the Accord has as many problems as the Sonata, perhaps even more, or else Accord owners are more vocal.
My suggestion: drive them both the same day within a short amount of time as possible to ensure a good A-B comparision, and then make your decision.