1994 Hyundai Excel X2 Sprint 1.5 petrol
Summary:
Mid performance, mid handling for damn cheap :)
Faults:
Head gasket blew as soon as I bought the car (84500km)
Piston drive train disintegrated (according to the mechanic) about 3 months later (86000km)
Engine needed complete recondition after 6mths of continual thrashing, new rings, pistons and was re-bored out to 1700cc (89000km)
Head gasket again. Mechanics fault, he didn't think he had to retension the head (89450)
General Comments:
Its not designed as a race-car, so I can handle that it doesn't hit 100km in 5secs, but it hit 9secs once (going down a hill).
Seats aren't bucket seats, but hold incredibly well.
I go through tyres extremely fast, especially on the outside front (roundabout's, etc) I was told that it has an after-market Limited Slip Dif, not sure how that works, I'm not a mechanic.
No air-con, prevents engine from overheating, well, that's my excuse.
HEAPS of boot space, and since I'm still young and stupid, its good for the sound system.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 29th March, 2002
5th Jun 2003, 03:31
The X2 is a top little car. I've had mine since new (1994) and have driven it hard, probably too hard, since then. Using this as a guide, I wore out the gearbox at about 95,000km.
The fuel consumption is alright. The best I've pulled is coming back from Perisher Valley to Sydney. 640km on the tank! Apart from that expect to get about 450km per tank.
There is plenty of space in my 3 door. I've managed to squeeze in 2 bass drums, a large guitar amp, effects racks, and a few guitar bags, and still fit in myself.
Stereo-wise, I wish Hyundai allowed more space for larger replacement speakers, as the existing rear's are terrible!!!
4th Oct 2002, 20:30
Sounds like you had the exact same problems as me, except around 10,000km earlier on all the problems. my mechanic also didn't think he had to retension the head and caused the gasket to blow.
As for your 9second 0-100 time, my car takes 14.6sec, its been tested on the strip :oD.