[RX135]

Dear All,

No. Intention of this thread is not to create any flame war or "my car is better than yours" arguments. Reason for creating this thread is different.

Hyundai is known for good quality cars. Quality as in Production Quality and not as in design/styling. Like typical Korean company, they pack in lot of features in the their cars (which is good), maintain quality standards and provide good service backup. They are supposed to be hassle-free cars. In US, Hyundai is probably the first company to offer 7 (or 10?) years warranty on their cars, but that is out of context.

Then why this thread? Because I came across 2 recent examples of Hyundai cars, one being Accent and other being Santro. Accent is 5 year old and Santro is 4+. Both the owners are tired of maintenance costs. Accent owner spent 60K last year, mainly around suspension and mostly parts subject to wear and tear. Santro is different. It rattles everywhere and perpetuate a sad feeling. Both the owners think that Hyundais are good cars to own for first 4-5 years but not after that.

I would request Hyundai owners to share their views on long-term ownership of the cars. Please refrain from making statements based on hear-say or generic degrading statements such as "it's anyway Korean".

[sajo]

My cousin brother has a Santro Zip (bought end 2001) and its been running great. Last I heard about it, it had 80,000 kms on the Odo (It must have certainly crossed the 85K mark by now) and he says the maintainance expense is comparable to the several Marutis he has had in the past. I have driven it a few months ago, and the engine, though a tad noisy, looks good for another 80,000kms, if not more.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

My friend has a santro... The pre Xing model... Its a quite a good car, but there are serious rusting problems with the silencer assemble... Its rusts and develops holes, and has to be replaced, in less than a year.... Also, the belt (ac belt or fan belt, am not sure) makes lots of noises after rains... also the plastics looks very much faded out...

However, i must add, the rest of the car is otherwise doing fine... And he is not disappointed with it...

Guess there are cases like these for all companies... Like there is a thread on a santro wheich needed ovrhauling after 40k, expense of around 30k... And another person too, asked to get his engine overhauled past same mileage...

see threads..
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...n-40k-kms.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ndai-crdi.html

[RX135]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

My friend has a santro... The pre Xing model... Its a quite a good car, but there are serious rusting problems with the silencer assemble... Its rusts and develops holes, and has to be replaced, in less than a year....

Agreed on silencer part. He has already replaced it twice. And you know what, it actually sounds sporty when it rusts

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by RX135

Agreed on silencer part. He has already replaced it twice. And you know what, it actually sounds sporty when it rusts

I had silencer rust on my Accent - the only part I replaced. And yes it did seem to sound slightly 'sporty' when it had rust holes

[Desert fox]

My finding on the subject is on the little hyundai-Santro that is....i was around 2003-04 was hiring car's from hertz Rent-a-car(self driven).

There were about 5-6 such cars which had run between 65-80k kms,when i say self-driven cars i need not explain how the car's would have been driven!!

They were all battered(bald tyre's etc) but were mechanically sound and confidence inspiring,i was informed that it is the most preferred vehicle(for both fleet operateror's and customer's)in self-driven taxi segment.

I guess that makes 1 reference point toward's the question of it's long-term reliablity.

[iraghava]

Well my Santro ran pretty well for 1.05L kms before I sold it but by then the suspension had gone bust which is expected in cars of this mileage on our roads. My mother's current Santro has run about 77k without needing any extra work on her & is still in its original clutch too! Both cars had spares which were reasonably priced & had nothing much which went wrong with them, even the electrics were faultless.

Service from HMP was exemplary & warranty replacements were also no issues ( I had 9 sets of brake discs replaced on my car under warranty) infact they even gave me part replacements under Goodwill warranty twice! Actually now that I think about it my Honda's had more maintenance done on her then the Santro's.

So in summary the cars are reliable & of decent build quality. They might not be as well built as Opels/Skoda's but they don't feel tinny either & best of all they are good VFM & do the job they were designed for very well. No complaints there with Hyundai.

[sreenivass]

Have you considered the possibility of these two cars being lemons (bad pieces) ? I am neither a Hyundai lover nor detractor, just trying to think. I keep hearing great A.S.S and reliability of Hyundai, at least santro.

[esteem_lover]

On comparison with a few other cars, yes, the hyundais dont last that long. look around for a 1999 santro & a 1999 zen & you will know what i mean.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by RX135

Agreed on silencer part. He has already replaced it twice. And you know what, it actually sounds sporty when it rusts

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I had silencer rust on my Accent - the only part I replaced. And yes it did seem to sound slightly 'sporty' when it had rust holes

In fact, he used to enjoy driving his car like that...

Overtaking was so easy, just step on the accelerator, and the vehicle in front gives way thinking some sports cars came from behind...

[rks]

I owned a Maruti 800 for about 6 years (1995-2000) and then a Santro (1-lit engine) for another 6 years. No serious problems with either car, both equally good. For the last year and a half, I am flogging the Santro really hard (Pune-Mumbai-Pune every week, about 2000 kms per month). The car's performance has been exceptional, I feel like I can really count on this car not to let me down in the middle of nowhere. Rugged, reliable, easily one of the best handlers for the narrow, crowded city streets/highways in India. My Santro has gotten me out of trouble countless number of times on the highway because of the precise handling at speed.

Except for a fallen silencer/tail pipe, there was no problem whatsoever with my Santro in 6 years (42000 kms). Even with the silencer, there was plenty of advance warning months ahead, via noise from the exhaust, which I ignored to my cost -- had to drive about 3 kms in heavy rain at night with the tail pipe dragging along the ground in order to reach a workshop.

There are a few rattles in the car (as there was in the Maruti), but that may be due to the fact that I go to a local garage rather than an authorized dealer. I have hit a few potholes and on one occasion a large stone was thrust into the road by a dumper as I was passing it -- hit it at about 40 kmph with a sickening thud from the front right wheel. The Santro has taken all this beating with absolute nonchalance-- no detectable damage, except that a couple of my rims had slight bends at the fringes, which were easily straightened out. Even the tubeless tyres (S322) fitted to the 6-year old steel rims are holding air perfectly so far in the last 4 months -- did about 7500 kms in that period.

In the city I often return late at night (up to 2-00 PM) from work on fairly desolate roads, and the sight of my Santro in the parking lot really comforts me -- she'll take me home safely.

[tsk1979]

Our old santro (4 years 30K) just had silencer rust problem, apart from that its running just fine.
Another very old santro (2000 model one of the first santros to be sold) is running fine with minor issues which are expected of a 1L done almost 7 year old car

[manaa45]

i feel hyundai cars work quite well for the first 4 to 5 years. my accent has clocked 85 k + now and the only problme i had was with the suspension (thks to mumbai roads) and some problem with the steering rack , there was a major noise coming out but the problem was rectified.

if it would have been replaced it would have set me back by a cool 10 to 15 k but as of now no problem. i intend to use this car for another year or so before going in for a new one.

but even after driving the accent for these many years ( aug 2001 till date) i havent faced any major issues and the maximum i would have spent on the car till now would be around 25 to 30 k.

i have seen santros too which have been properly maintained and run smoothly without any noise. so i feel the quality is worth mentioning.

Mansi

[GTO]

I know someone who bought an Accent around the same time that I bought my Vtec. Its been three years since and about 50000 kms on either of the cars.

1. In terms of parts failure, both the cars have had no major replacements.

2. The Accent has aged a LOT better externally. My Vtec (due to extremely thin sheet metal) has all sorts of dings around it. Too many to count. There was this instance where a fairly huge personality leaned against the side, and caused a deep dent!! Compare that to the Accent which has probably 25% the body damage.

3. The Accent does rattle a lot less. I cant figure out why but Hyundais avoid rattles just like the Europeans.

4. The Accent was more expensive to maintain than my Vtec (in terms of scheduled maintainence costs).

I know that Drifters CRDi is driven mad (speed and mileage) but appears to have held on very well. Ditto for a cousins Santro which has clocked 75000 but was still nice to drive.

[hiphopdoc]

i seriously think hyundai builds cars to last. i have owned 3 santros and one accent till date from the hyundai stable and have not had a single complaint as on date. these guys mean some real stable business.