24th Nov 2008, 19:14

16:57 The '08 3 door Accent I just bought does very well in the snow. I'm thoroughly impressed. My driveway is short, steep, and blacktopped; you have to pull in slowly when you turn in. This is my little 'test' when I drive a new car; whether or not it spins, or I slide back down with the wheels still moving forward, which has happened. The Accent has gone up every time without losing traction yet. No doubt the fact that Hyundai put good tires on it, and they have only 9000 miles on them, but the car is the best front wheel drive vehicle in the snow that I've had yet.

26th Nov 2008, 13:36

No, Hyundai is NOT "light years" ahead of Ford or GM, Toyota maybe, as Toyota has slipped drastically in reliability and is now far below modern domestics in overall build quality. The new Hyundais are great cars, and probably on a par with GM and Ford. At least they have the confidence in their product to match the warranties of modern domestics, which Toyota and Honda don't.

The new V-8 Hyundai Genesis is faster than a Porsche Boxster and BMW 750I, and out handles almost all the German and Japanese luxury sedans, as well as Lexus and Infinity. It also has braking performance that tops most cars costing $20,000-$30,000 more. It should be a worthy competitor to everything in the high-end market.

I work for very wealthy clients, most of whom could care less about car brands but look toward the best dollar value. Several of them now drive Hyundai Sante Fes. One of them plans to buy the new V-8 Genesis as soon as it goes on sale here in January.

27th Nov 2008, 18:10

But it's the Hyundai badge that always has and always will hold Hyundai back...

28th Nov 2008, 11:42

"But it's the Hyundai badge that always has and always will hold Hyundai back..."

That's a very odd statement, considering that Hyundai has successfully taken on both the domestic and Japanese competition and come out equal or on top in nearly every case. The Hyundai Sonata is a far better vehicle than the Camry or Accord, and on a par with the Fusion and Malibu. Several Hyundai models have been on the "world's best cars" list for a couple of years now. Hyundai was the first manufacturer with the confidence in their cars to provide a 100,000 mile warranty (only lately matched by the domestics, and STILL not matched by any Japanese maker).

The new Hyundai Genesis is aimed squarely at the top-end luxury market. With 375 horsepower it out-accelerates the Porsche Boxster and BMW 750I (as well as most other cars costing twice as much). It out handles Mercedes, Lexus and Infinity, and out-brakes them as well. With a 100,000 warranty, just what could possibly be the justification for NOT buying a Genesis and saving $30,000?? If the ONLY consideration is the name, that's a perfect example of very flawed (and very EXPENSIVE) reasoning.

I refuse to drive ANY car not made by a U.S. auto maker, but as a car enthusiast and mechanic I give credit where credit is due. While Toyota has gone down the tubes and Honda has joined the "Transmission of the Month Club", Hyundai has gotten its act together and built some of the best cars in the world. They stand next to Ford and GM as examples of superior quality, value and automotive excellence.

28th Nov 2008, 22:27

Ironically, after reading comments about how expensive cars are so much better than cheaper ones, I picked up a copy of USA Today and found a test report on the new Mercedes ML-320 diesel. It was rated far worse than the Dodge Durango, Ford Edge, Ford Flex, Hyundai Vera Cruze and a number of other much less expensive cars. It had worse fuel mileage than many gasoline powered SUV's, was reported to have little power, a "herky-jerky" transmission, a very rough ride, and seats that were as hard as concrete, with trim pieces actually FALLING OFF!! (sounds like a Toyota I test drove!!). And this from what many (uninformed) people regard as the "benchmark" of quality in cars. Hyundai has far more higher rated cars than Mercedes does. Mercedes has several that are rated "MUCH worse than average". No, you DON'T always get what you pay for!!

1st Dec 2008, 20:35

Again, this is my review, and I'm thrilled with my Accent, but I don't know where you guys are getting this stuff about Hyundai being rated higher than Japanese cars, because it isn't out there. Everything I've read, all major publications still have Toyota and Honda on top overall, by far. There are a few exceptions of course, but overall, Japanese cars still take the lead by far. I did read (forget which magazine, a big one) that my Accent was rated as the best subcompact on the market; best buy at least. And can we stop talking about Ford and Chevy? Those are junk and belong in another discussion among people who drive that crap.

On another note, I just got back from a roughly 1500 mile, 5 day round trip, and ran this little car at between 4 and 5000 rpms all day (80 to 90 mph) on the major highways running with traffic. No issues. That little engine just sang the whole time. I have only one complaint so far about this car... anyone at Hyundai reading??

THIS CAR NEEDS ANOTHER GEAR. BADLY. I have no doubt that the engine is sound and can handle it, but they should take a cue from the Nissan Versa and put six speeds in it. If for no other reason than it makes a LONG trip when you have to hear the engine buzzing over the radio for 12 hours straight. This is the manual shift of course. The automatic runs at a different range.

Very happy with the car, it just needs another gear, not only for noise, but in fact this car gets worse highway mileage than it does in the city due to the high rpms. If you drive at 75 or 80 mph that is. I suppose if I'd wanted to take all day to get there and gone 60 mph it would have done better. I usually get 36 to 38 mixed city/highway driving, and got about 30 on this trip.

2nd Dec 2008, 20:01

Ford and Chevy (and Dodge) fans will continue to reply to ANY comments referring to domestic vehicles as "crap" with no evidence whatsoever to support such statements. There is not a shred of verifiable, solid data (such as frequency of repair records) to indicate that there is the slightest bit of proof that ANY domestic is any more unreliable than ANY import. We've asked for evidence many times and have gotten only "because I say so". That is your opinion, based on a bad experience with a 20-year-old domestic with 200,000 hard miles on it that gave you some minor problems.

I'm a mechanic, and I can assure you NO new Toyota has the reliability or build quality of a new Ford or GM. Dozens of web sites and other reliable sources have been posted on these sites describing the many, many VERY SERIOUS issues that Toyotas have. My family has owned both Toyota and Honda. Neither was as reliable or well built as ANY domestic we have owned. I've worked on Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans and German made vehicles. There is very little difference except that Japanese manufacturers use cheaper, and less reliable components in their engines and transaxles. That is the reason Honda, Toyota and Nissan are afraid to match domestic warranties. They can't afford to.