[Ivory15Cat]

Wanted to share this with you all just for information. About a month ago I purchased my daughter her first car. She turns 16 in December so my wife and I wanted to get her something that would be easy to drive and reliable. I ended up getting her a 2015 Hyundai Sonata. It only had 105k on the clock and the seller was asking $4k for it. It was in good shape and mechanically was sound. I purchased it for $3500 cash and drive it home. Car ran great in and around town. Got amazing gas mileage for daily driving to and from work. I had a medical appointment that was in Oklahoma City, which is about 2.5 hours away. I chose to drive it to the appointment just to stretch its legs a bit and check it on the highway for a longer drive. Im military and we will be moving next summer, so really wanted to ensure it would make it longer drives. The car did great right up until I got to the outskirts of OKC. As soon as I hit city limits the SES light came on and started blinking. The car went into low power mode and would not go above 60 mph or 1500RPM’s. I was still 15 miles from the doctors office. I limped the car to the office and went to my appointment. Once the spot was over I went out and started looking the car over. I assumed it had a misfire due to a spark plug wire coming off or maybe the O2 sensor coming disconnected. Everything under the hood looked fine. I started the car back up and it still had the code and throttle response was minimal. The closest dealership was 8 miles away. I called the service department ahead of my attempt to make it to them and they told me,”good luck, we know what the problem is and you will probably end up completely broken down on the side of the road. If you do call us back and we will send a tow for you.” I took back road and side streets and ended up making it to the dealership, a service tech walked up to me before I even had it in park and they were giving me the hand signal to cut the engine off. I turned it off and they told me that it had dropped a rod and spun a main bearing. One of the service guys walked over to me and told me that I was one of 9 other cars here with the same engine and same problem. He then gave me the bad news, the engine is smoked and will need a complete replacement. The car isn’t under any warranty and I’m the 3rd owner. He then gave me the good news, I was one of 197k other people with this problem and Hyundai is going to replace the engine for free. Hyundai is warranty’ing this engine to any owner for an extended 15 years. The news got better as he said, “by the way here are the keys to this 2021 Kona, it’s your loaner. You can have it as long as you need it, just please done leave the state. We will call you in a few months once the car is ready and good for you.”
So some manufacturers out there truly back their products. They accept their failure and do what’s right for the customer to make it right. I love my HC, but don’t love the service we get from FCA. To FCA I feel like I’m just a buyer, to Hyundai/Kia I felt like an actual person. This happened a month ago and I still have my loaner. The loaner only has 400 miles on it as of now and the dealership has called me a couple times just to keep me updated on the cars status.
Have a great day y’all.

 

[ScLeCo]

They're making some really great cars these days as well, with some exciting things in the works. I'm especially interested in the upcoming mid engine RM20 N.

 

[Slowpoke387]

Reeeeeeeally. Im a used car dealer with a 2016 that we just sold and the exact same thing just happened. Ran flawlessly and out of the blue - same thing. Never thought to call the dealer because it has over 100k. You may have just saved me over $5k. Will report back…

 

[Rio Lobo]

Glad to see your story is a positive one.

I used to be a vendor to the Hyundai engine plant. I will say that they're commitment to quality is the real deal. You can see it as soon as you walk in to the place. I've been to doctors' offices that were dirtier and less organized.

Regarding their dealer services (Hyundai and Kia), I've seen both sides with helpful dealerships and ones that tried to get every penny out of you while denying things that were a matter of (service) record. Either way it didn't stop me from helping my dad look for and purchase a Hyundai Pallisade.

Don't know that I'm brave enough to buy a used Hyundai/Kia beyond the warranty, but as new you can't beat that 10 yr 100K mile deal.

 

[Slowpoke387]

So the factory warranty was extended by 20,000 miles but no extra time. Still 10 yrs. Yours at 105k still qualifies. Unfortunately the car we sold wouldnt qualify but this is great info going forward. The customer does have an aftermarket extended warranty so hopefully we will get some help there.

 

[BrakeFade]

Hmmm, I’ve been looking for another daily beater. This may be worth looking into..

 

[Catless]

The lawsuit(s) they lost/settled may have something to do how generously they are treating the customers.

 

[BigDaddyEureka]

Certainly a better experience than Ford's Focus dual clutch trans issue...or GM's Ecotec oil burn thing...they could both learn a thing or two here it seems!

 

[FreddyG]

I like to hear stories like this when the Manufacturer steps up and hits it out of the park like they did for you! Thanks for posting your experience too.

I've been looking at a 2022 Kia Stinger GT2 as a daily and they are pretty nice cars and they run good too. Now that I see that they will actually back a 10 year warranty, I might look even harder at one. They are pretty scarce and they also stopped making them for 2023.

 

[Blkout]

I don't think Hyundai is quite as popular as they were a few years ago but Kia is booming. I don't know a single Kia owner that doesn't love their vehicles. My wife just bought two new Kia Soul's for business vehicles.

 

[520kW]

How the hell does a mechanical defect like that get into production stage? Either the engine was rushed into production, or a whole bunch of bad parts made it's way into assembly. Wow.

 

[Ivory15Cat]

It was a clearance issues that caused it. Almost all failures happen between 90k and 120k on the mileage.

 

[Confuzed2]

The lawsuit(s) they lost/settled may have something to do how generously they are treating the customers.

Probably right. A lot of KIA's and Hyundai's were having engine failures:
Settlement Reached With Hyundai, Kia in Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Engine Damage, Fires

Glad to see the OP's dealer seems to be treating them right though.

My '15 Kia Sportage is on the list. Bought it new and has 60K miles on it now. Been a decent vehicle, but had a rear end replaced under warranty a couple years ago. BTW, if you buy a KIA, you're pretty much buying a Hyundai too since they share the same engine on a lot of models. Although the engine seems OK, it does clack a lot for the first 5 seconds of a cold start but then gets quiet. I doubt I'll keep it much longer.

 

[why2kmax]

guy I work with has 2 hyundai SUVs engines are smoked on both of them. Dealer in MD no help, engine replacement on his dime, no warranty no help from the mfr. I think one was an 09 with 190k, the other a few years newer with 100+k He finally dumped them both and bought a bronco and something else. Another guy had an 18 or 19 Tuscon. Transmission problems plagued that one. Almost got him T-boned at an intersection because it nearly stopped and couldnt find a gear, he had it in the shop 5x and finally lemon law'd it.

 

[OKSS]

Big fan of Kia here. Have a 2010 Forte w/ 173k on it and have only had to replace the battery twice, one injector, and an a/c compressor. Car still gets 35-37 mpg on the highway.

A Telluride will be my wife's next vehicle as soon as there are decent rebates.

 

[Mattm400]

I tried to get my wife to look at a Telluride, I like them alot, plus they rate the highest of any suv. She settled on a Lexus, but I'm good with it, we got a HUGE discount.

 

[NeverEnough]

Hyundai interior is still lol bad IMO. Couple years ago sat in/drove some new models. I was the opposite of impressed.

Also, I bought a Genesis Coupe new when they came out in 2010 (3.8 Track model) & that was the biggest POS I have ever had.

 

[Unavowed]

Hyundai interior is still lol bad IMO. Couple years ago sat in/drove some new models. I was the opposite of impressed.

 

[Himmelkat]

So, you're saying,

Wanted to share this with you all just for information.

About a month ago I purchased my daughter her first car. She turns 16 in December so my wife and I wanted to get her something that would be easy to drive and reliable.

I ended up getting her a 2015 Hyundai Sonata. It only had 105k on the clock and the seller was asking $4k for it. It was in good shape and mechanically was sound. I purchased it for $3500 cash and drive it home.

Car ran great in and around town. Got amazing gas mileage for daily driving to and from work. I had a medical appointment that was in Oklahoma City, which is about 2.5 hours away. I chose to drive it to the appointment just to stretch its legs a bit and check it on the highway for a longer drive.

I'm military and we will be moving next summer, so really wanted to ensure it would make it longer drives. The car did great right up until I got to the outskirts of OKC. As soon as I hit city limits the SES light came on and started blinking.

The car went into low power mode and would not go above 60 mph or 1500RPM’s. I was still 15 miles from the doctors office. I limped the car to the office and went to my appointment. Once the spot was over I went out and started looking the car over. I assumed it had a misfire due to a spark plug wire coming off or maybe the O2 sensor coming disconnected.

Everything under the hood looked fine. I started the car back up and it still had the code and throttle response was minimal. The closest dealership was 8 miles away. I called the service department ahead of my attempt to make it to them and they told me,”good luck, we know what the problem is and you will probably end up completely broken down on the side of the road. If you do call us back and we will send a tow for you.”

I took back road and side streets and ended up making it to the dealership, a service tech walked up to me before I even had it in park and they were giving me the hand signal to cut the engine off. I turned it off and they told me that it had dropped a rod and spun a main bearing.

One of the service guys walked over to me and told me that I was one of 9 other cars here with the same engine and same problem. He then gave me the bad news, the engine is smoked and will need a complete replacement. The car isn’t under any warranty and I’m the 3rd owner. He then gave me the good news, I was one of 197k other people with this problem and Hyundai is going to replace the engine for free.

Hyundai is warranting this engine to any owner for an extended 15 years. The news got better as he said, “By the way here are the keys to this 2021 Kona, it’s your loaner. You can have it as long as you need it, just please done leave the state. We will call you in a few months once the car is ready and good for you.”

So some manufacturers out there truly back their products. They accept their failure and do what’s right for the customer to make it right. I love my HC, but don’t love the service we get from FCA. To FCA I feel like I’m just a buyer, to Hyundai/Kia I felt like an actual person. This happened a month ago and I still have my loaner. The loaner only has 400 miles on it as of now and the dealership has called me a couple times just to keep me updated on the cars status.

Have a great day y’all.

 

[Himmelkat]

I would laugh if Hyundai produced a "musclecar."

It's not like it's rocket science. Make a sexy shape, slap in a big, blown V8, preferably an SOHC, and you're in the money. Lots of Asian guys would buy a Hyundai over a Dodge any day, especially the ones who have experienced their customer service.