14th May 2008, 18:02

I own a 2000 Tiburon and a 1998 Elantra and have been happy with them both. The Tibby has about 110,000 miles on her now, and the Elantra has 226,000. Both are reliable, and get reasonable gas mileage (30 ish on the freeway).

My Tiburon does seem to eat wearable components rather quickly -- rear brakes being the most notable, though front brakes and wheel bearings also seem to wear quickly. Hyundai clutches are garbage, at least in my experience, so be prepared for a replacement sooner that you'd expect -- at say 100k miles for an experienced, reasonable driver. A friend of mine had to replace the clutch in his Sonata at about 60k miles -- he is not an abusive driver, though the car was purchased used.

Though not unexpected in this price class, both of these vehicles seem to have been made with rather crack-prone plastics for certain interior elements, such as the visor mounts/clips, door handles and dashboard components, so be careful with them.

To the person looking at the Tibby with 138k miles on it:

The price seems a bit high, at least from my Southern California perspective. In good condition the RD-2s (2000-2001) sell for about $5000 with about that mileage.

Be certain that the timing belt has been replaced according to schedule -- Every 60,000 miles. As with any interference engine, a timing belt failure is catastrophic -- you might even be able to get the dealership to replace it if you ask nicely.

8th Jul 2008, 15:10

Hello,

Just like most here I am having issues with my 2000 Tibby.

I bought mine a year and a half ago. In the last 5 months it's been in the shop 5 times.

Most recently it's doing a weird stalling thing. It began gradually, and now, sometimes it won't start for nearly 15 minutes. Then I realized I had a loose battery cable and fixed it. It was fine for a week, but is now doing it again.

I took it to a shop and tested my battery; they said the battery was fine. He said he's about 90 percent sure it's a fuel problem, but when the car was in the shop in Feb. they ruled out my gas pump being a problem. It was some other thing, like some of the wires were corroded.

I don't know but this is all getting very costly and confusing. And it sounds like this stalling thing is normal for this vehicle. Does anyone have any input or know what it might be?

19th Nov 2008, 17:41

I bought a 2000 Tib for $3300 with only 77000 on it, it had some minor cosmetic issues but other than that it seemed in good condition.

I've had it for a month and already had to replace a throttle positioning sensor and a wheel bearing on front passenger side, still have to replace some things that were bad when I purchased it like the window regulator on driver side window, rear rotors and pads, and have to balance the wheels.

I love the car, it's fun to drive and handles great, but it scares me that I might not be able to afford fixing it if it breaks that often.

17th Jan 2009, 09:56

I have a 2000 Tib and it has been a good car... but now when I try to put gas in the tank, it keeps clicking off like the tank is full??? I was checking on a recall for this problem and can't find anything..

Also just replaced drivers side window reg that cost a fortune and the switch is possessed; sometimes the windows go up, sometimes they don't...

Now I am hearing a funny noise on the passenger side wheels.. my mechanic says I need brakes... but how do I know it isn't the wheel bearings?? Oh and I have to replace my brake light bulbs once a month!!! Anyone else having these issues?

8th Jun 2009, 22:12

Do you think a 2000 Tiburon for 2,700 is a good deal if it has 200,000 kms on it, and how long will it run for?

10th Jun 2009, 16:15

Is that 2,700.00 dollars, as in U.S. dollars?? Um not so much. I wouldn't pay over 1000 dollars for a 2000 Tiburon with that amount of mileage regardless of the condition. The 2.0 is a good motor but they don't last forever, and if the motor doesn't go the transmission WILL GO SOON!! Trust me, I am a Hyundai trained technician... Go get a newer car (mileage wise at least) for that amount of money.

6th Jul 2009, 00:53

I own a 2001 Tiburon with 155,000 miles on it. I love the car. It has had its issues basically due to the previous owners neglect. Properly maintained it is a fun car to own and drive.

The 2.0 beta engine is very reliable and durable, not to mention easy to work on.

The surging/stalling issue some people are experiencing is probably the mass air flow sensor. It can also cause miss firing and hesitation. The sensor may be dirty or it is faulty. First try cleaning it with a MAF sensor cleaner; follow the directions on the can. Or with the vehicle running, try tapping the MAF sensor and see if the idle changes; if it does the sensor is bad and is in need of replacement.

Good luck, driveability issues are a nightmare.

9th Jul 2009, 02:12

I have a 2000 Tiburon, that I got about 3 years ago. Everything on that car worked, and worked really good. NO PROBLEMS at ALL!!

But now... not so much...

I was driving at about 70 one day, and then my radiator just exploded... I'm serious. The whole front part of it were the top hose is, just split, and my temp gauge read nothing prior to that to let me know.

So I bought a new radiator, which cost me about $140 bucks. And a new cap, which doesn't come with it. Which is stupid.

Anyway, after that incident, turns out my thermostat had gone out and caused my radiator to build up too much pressure. It has over heated all the time since then.

Soo I changed the thermostat, well that part didn't even work. FAULTY... it wouldn't open to let the fluid circulate. So I tried like 2 more thermostats... none worked.

I eventually just started driving the car without one at all. Didn't over heat anymore. Until recently. Then my car started the whole stalling thing.. I'm some what mechanically inclined. So I checked my spark plugs, thinking that they could be fouled. They were.

So I changed those, my spark leads, and my coil pack. But that didn't stop it. So I thought that I was definitely a fuel problem... so I changed the fuel filter... it was full of rust.... I put a new one in and got my fuel system clean, and that stopped the stalling. Hasn't done it ever again.

But it still over heats...

And now today, which is Thursday July 9th 2009, while driving, my radiator cap had come off, it pretty much boiled all of my water out of my car, with no visible steam to warn me. I noticed a burning smell coming through my A/C, so I pulled over, and there was some oil burning off the down pipe from my exhaust manifold. Not much, but enough to worry me.

I let it cool and put more coolant in it, and got to work which was not even a block away. But when I started up the car to get there, my car was making a loud knocking sound, which sounded like it was coming from my clutch, and my engine sounded like it was knocking or mis firing.

And the overflow box always has a boiling sound when I shut off the car... like the radiator has air in it and it's going in that box..

But after I had let it sit and it got cold, I turned it back on to make sure I hadn't cracked a block or anything like that, but it didn't make the noise anymore.

???

But now when I push my clutch pedal in, it makes a sound as if my belts were slipping, but stops when I let it out. And it feels like it lost a lot of power behind it.

So far I have spent $1,404.97 to fix my car.

Does anyone know why my car continues to over heat (why the thermostats aren't working), and why my car is making that noise when I push my clutch in?

I'm at my wits end with this car... She was a good car, but now I'm seriously thinking about never buying another Hyundai car again..

I need to know how to make it stop over heating for sure...

Please help.