[stable rock]

We all know that Japanese cars have better brand value when compared to the Korean brands Hyundai, Daewoo (now Chevy in some countries).Why is it? one factor might be quality but they are definitely charging a premium for it and nowadays Korean cars are also good as their Japanese counterpart.Still people are not ready to accept that.What all are the other reasons?Please share your views on it.

[bigman]

Own a Korean car for a few years and you will get your answer. It will take another 10 years for Korean companies to get quality to the level the Japanese are at now but by then the Japanese car majors would have further improved their quality so the lag will remain.

[ram_hyundai]

Its like the quality difference of the german .But for the good interest of the buisness and growth they are fast improving and lets hope they catch up.
ram

[1100D]

From the perspective of developed markets, the Korean cars are not upto the mark for reliability. Like a Kia Spectra etc have actually some very nasty feedback as to new cars having to return to showrooms, reoccuring problems. The company advertising on warranty and then not acknowledging a couple of few warranty claims.

Many still think, its better to pay more and buy Japanese than be tempted into low-priced value offering from koreans.

Moreover Korean cars do read very good on the spec sheets, but on the real road the reality is quite different.

[gendarmee]

Forget Korean, forget Japanese.
Check out European ones if ur looks for cars.

[sriramv.iyer]

I can vouch for the bad quality of Kia Spectra - When on a business trip to US, I rented a Kia spectra from Hertz since that was the only car available. It was so bad that I returned it the same day and decided to walk till I got another car (paid more for a single day rent too) [That I got a Mustang and drove it around for a month is another story ]

The Santro and i10 cars in India are good to drive - I have not done enough riding on the rest to comment (got roasted in another thread when I posted my experience of driving Verna and based on the inputs from the salesguy ] - I'll rather play it safe here.

My experience with Honda (Civic, Accord), Toyota (Corolla), Infiniti (G35), Suzuki (Swift) have always been great. So I have no gripes against Japanese.

Surprisingly, my experience with US car makes have been great too - I own a Ford Ikon 1.6 and it rocks. I have also driven Ford Taurus (2008) Select, Ford Fusion 2007, Ford Mustang 2007, Chevy Impala (2007) and all these cars ROCK too - I havent had any problem with these and they all have been a delight to drive.

I have not driven German cars much except for a single drive in BMW 3 series.

I'd rate (in terms of driving)
US > Japanese > Korean > Tata > Ambassador (this one had great driving position, but too tough to drive and too much NVH)

I am yet to drive some Swedish stuff (Saab and Volvo)

[doomsday]

The only way Korean companies can sell their vehicles in Europe is by pricing it dirt cheap and offering unheard of warranty periods to assure the customer that they are going to take care if something goes wrong(which invariably will). Enough said, seeing the TG video below will give you a good idea why Koreans are pathetically lagging behind Japanese and rest of the world when it comes to manufacturing automobiles.

YouTube - Top Gear Pacific Rim Review Part 1

YouTube - Top Gear Pacific Rim Review Part 2

[GTO]

Look at it this way....Korean cars give you 90% of the Japanese quality for 75 - 80% of the price. They certainly dont boast the outright quality, but instead offer an *acceptable* level which helps their value proposition. In another 10 years, Hyundai will almost certainly bridge the fast-decreasing gap to Honda / Toyota.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by GTO

Look at it this way....Korean cars give you 90% of the Japanese quality for 75 - 80% of the price.

I think its true in developed markers, but not in India. Maruti is cheaper compared to Hyundai.

[tsk1979]

In India Hyundai quality is at par, if not better, than Maruti. Maruti is owned by suzuki, but I doubt you can call Maruti a Japanese company. Maruti is an Indian company, and the best one at that when it comes to quality.
In UK, hyundai has been ranked among the best in quality, and they offer 5-10 year powertrain warranties to their customers. That speaks a lot about the brand.

[headers]

The Korean car I own is an ACCENT CRDi. 54K on the ODO no rattles. Only regular 10K interval services done apart from front left lower arm replacement, and current 3rd sets of tyres! My accent eats tyres!

The Japanese Cars I've owned - M800, Zen, currently MG413W - All cars rattle every 5K kms and need to be attended to. Lower ams changed many times in the zen and e-zen. Gypsy a good off roader, but ..

Have owned the M800 - 1,20,000 Kms, Zen - 65K kms, E-Zen - 25K kms, MG413W - 25K kms and still running.

This should help decide whether Korean or Japanese Rock!

[gt_mustang]

man bad experiance with korean cars too
have a 02 santa fe and man what engine sound in the cabin
plus too many naggin issues that do not wish to be solved

would prefer a japanese any day and now my new ideal is becoming German

[sujaylahiri]

In North America, people look at Korean cars (Kia, Hyundai, Daewoo) as being uncool. If you own one of these, then you are looked down upon. Japanese cars are highly desirable and moderately cool; although German and American muscle cars are the coolest.

So if the Koreans have anything to do, it is to improve their brand image. At their current level (of quality and price), they are ready to challenge the Japanese. All they need to do is make some interesting cars. The Hyundai Genesis is a start. Let's see how that works out for them.

[Bigzero]

Owning a Korean car - Santro - for 5 years ( touching 50k kms). No complaints at all on quality. The car still behaves as new, no rattles, interiors retain a certain level of freshness, no pieces of plastic falling off, no rust, engine is smooth as ever, havent had any breakdown at all.

In the last five years, I have taken her to at least 3 long trips of around 1000 km one way, and 15-20 drives of 200 odd kms one way. Didnt miss a beat at all.

Have abused the car on fairly bad roads ( mostly in and around Kerala & Nilgiris ), overloaded her ( 5 people with lots of luggage ), and have occasionally been quite heavy on the pedal ( not always - I am usually a sedate driver in city conditions ).

The car has scratches & dents here and there, and thats entirely due to my fault. I will be doing my first touch-up/denting job soon.

The point is that, at a time when I am starting to sell her off and purchase a new car, I am beginning to get worried if any other car will give me such trouble-free service!!

Bottomline - Korean cars, good enough for me. Oh, and I did get the usual advice that Korean cars were crap and one shouldnt go for them..

Having said all this, I keep hearing that Hyundai's quality levels have fallen in the last 3-4 years or so - Dont have any experience to corroborate this.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In India Hyundai quality is at par, if not better, than Maruti.

True. Hyundai quality betters Maruti in many areas. Consider the Santro vs Wagon R or the Getz vs Swift.