How I bought a used V6 sedan for Rs 1.09 lakh: Getting it back in shape

I was driving it back home when suddenly the transmission jerked and the car just died.

BHPian ads295 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello all,

I purchased a 2005 Hyundai Sonata 2.7L V6 on 28/11/2023. This has been a momentous occasion for me because I've been wanting to get a big-engined saloon for the longest time. I'm an avid fan of the TV show Wheeler Dealers and I'd often fantasized about having my own car that would need a little TLC and look like a million bucks after it was tidied up...

Background

I was yearning for a saloon with a large engine for the past many years but never acted on it because I was preparing myself financially. The cheapest options were the Honda Accord or the Hyundai Sonata, while my ideal cars would be the W140 S-Class (V8 only), or the Lexus LS400/LS430. The Accord was a bit too large for me and I felt that the weight of the car consumed most of the power. I never really considered it seriously.

My checklist for a buy was as below:

• Must be utterly reliable. I wanted to be able to take a cross-country drive with the same confidence I get with our 2017 S-Cross 1.6. I did not want to have to do anything beyond the regular service once I'd gotten the car up to spec.
• At least mid-size. There are no sedans in our household and it's my favourite car type.
• Cheap as chips. I assumed that every rupee spent on this vehicle would be of zero use to me and that the car would irreparably fail at any given point in time. Thus my budget was low - not ₹5-7L, not even ₹3L after I gave it some thought. There would be hefty spending on getting it restored anyway.
• There should be nothing majorly wrong with the car. Yeah, some nicks and scratches and a few broken bulbs would be OK, but I didn't want engine rebuilds, rotten body bits, or a chewed-through wiring harness on my hands. This is the sort of stuff that can be a disaster for your wallet.

Finding the car on OLX:

Around April 2022 I came across a listing on OLX (my favourite place to hang out, except my home) for a 2005 Hyundai Sonata V6. The car was on its first owner and had done 93k km - not bad for an 18-year-old car. I started to do some serious research on the general reliability of the Sonata, which was difficult because very few were sold here and even abroad.

After a LOT of scouring the internet, I came to the conclusion that the car was rock solid if it was taken care of, and the engine and gearbox were pretty much bulletproof for 2-3L km at least. I was excited now, and the car seemed to be in pretty good condition. However, I was a little scared about owning such a high-end yet old machine. I took the number of the dealer on OLX but never called them.

A month later the listing was taken down and my heart sank - the car had found a new owner, it seemed. I called the dealership and enquired - the car was not sold, just that the ad had expired on OLX. I still didn't do anything.

Fast forward a few months - end of September I decided to at least check out the car. I didn't have the ₹2L required to buy it (listing price) but I thought no harm in checking since it had been sitting for at least a year now. I called the dealer 15 days in advance and showed up there on 27th September as I had confirmed with them. The car was not there. No staff available to show me. We returned home that day feeling frustrated (the dealer was in Ahmedabad, 240km from my city). We hadn't made the trip ad-hoc to see the Sonata so it wasn't too bad.

Next month I tried again as I was in town. Saw the car for the first time. It was definitely in poorer condition than the pictures, which seemed to have been taken quite a while ago. There were minor dents on the body, the seats had tears in them, a piece of the factory-fit rear spoiler had broken off, and one door handle was broken (none of this was visible on the OLX ad pictures).

I'd assumed it was due to the car sitting in a garage with people working around it and under the hot sun. The car was now reading 94k km so it was obvious it wasn't being driven around. It also had that old-car musty smell that gets around when mice live in the vehicle and there's no ventilation. The engine was whisper quiet though, oil condition wasn't great but it was up to level, and the car drove OK albeit with a slight transmission jerk - expected because it may have never had a trans oil swap in its life!

I heard the V6 growl at 5-6000RPM and I started taking the car seriously. Everything worked - the AC, radio, all dials, electric driver's seat controls - heck even the cigarette lighter was working. There wasn't a single warning light showing on the dash during the drive except for an occasional TCS light. The paperwork was clear. I told the dealer I'd think about the car and call them back.

Here are some pics of the car as it was shown in the OLX ad.

Here are the pics as it stands now.

Cracked intake hose. This caused issues with the engine running in that it died when I went full throttle.

Note the chunk of the spoiler that's missing, along with the minor dents scattered throughout the body.

Investigation, conflicts, and closing the deal

I decided to do some research after seeing the car. The dealer had shown me the RC of the car and I mentally noted the name and address of the owner. With some of my research skills I was able to trace down the phone number of the owner himself. This was important to me because I wanted to get to know the service history of the vehicle, which is something the dealer did not have details on (nor was he bothered to follow through with it).

Things didn’t go as planned. The owner said that he’d handed the car over to his garage mechanic 3-4 years ago and hadn’t heard about it since. The garage guy had promised to get the car registered to his own name – this didn’t happen. The owner was quite taken aback to learn that the car was still in his name! I realised that there was no point asking about service history then as he was quite old and didn’t remember even how many kilometres it had when he parted with it.

The next day after that I got a call from the dealer – the owner must have contacted his garage guy who must’ve contacted the dealer. There were quite a few heated exchanges where the dealer repeatedly asked me why I’d contacted the owner directly even when he had “satisfactorily replied” to all of my questions. I pointed out that the car’s ambiguous ownership for the past 3-4 years would never have come to light without my personal involvement. He became silent and hung up the phone saying he didn’t want to sell the car.

I was dejected, not only because of the sketchy history of the car but also because the car itself was potentially deteriorating in condition every passing day – it was lying in a garage! I felt sad but didn’t want to get emotional on this. I stopped thinking about the car for the next few days to let things cool off. A fortnight later, I called up the dealer and calmly assured him that I wasn’t going to deal with the owner directly.

I did some research on the repairs it would probably need. Oil filter for the engine and transmission, timing belt, timing belt pulleys, a new water pump, a new door handle, new tyres… And a complete flush of just about any fluid in the car – coolant, engine and A/T oils, power steering pump fluid, brake fluid, brake booster pump fluid. All the parts are available on Boodmo to my pleasant surprise!

Now was the time for a decision. I had all the data in my hands – vague service history, what seemed like a mechanically sound car with very low running (5k km per year averaged), and a generally reliable reputation. I called up the dealer and sent some feelers in for the price. The ad had been listed at ₹2L nearly six months ago. The car wasn’t in the condition the pictures suggested. He straightaway came down to ₹1.5L even without my trying. I said that was still too high. He asked me to name my price. I used the classic negotiation technique of lowballing – I offered him ₹80-85k for the car. He said that was just not possible. I told him to think about it and hung up. And waited. No calls for a week. 10 days passed. I realised that the price was too low, and also that negotiating on call is nearly worthless, for the seller has no idea whether you’re serious. I decided to play hardball just like Mike Brewer from Wheeler Dealers – show up there with the money and be prepared to walk away. Internally I swore not to pay over ₹1.1L for the car.

3 weeks after the last call, on 24th November 2023, I called the dealer again and asked him what he’d thought about my price. He said it was too low. I told him I’d come by on the 28th of November. I’d come with cash – if we came to an agreement on the price, I’d pay him then and there and leave with the car. I took his bank account details so that I could add him as beneficiary. I think that’s when he started taking me seriously.

Come 28th November, I stood outside his door for the second time. He was out on some work so I waited outside for half an hour. I was steeling myself to play hardball – I was totally prepared to walk away. I didn’t need him – he needed me! No one was going to buy this car, it had been sitting as is for over a year anyway. I almost frowned at him when he came (for being so late) and didn’t smile once. Refused tea and coffee even though he kept offering the same. The car was brought around and I took a second test drive. Asked the accompanying driver to keep it parked nearby and not take it back – if the deal is done I’m taking it home.

I went back inside and named my final price. ₹1.05L was my final offer. He could either take it or leave it. He called up the “owner” who promptly said he was willing to part with it for ₹1.25L. No dice. I wasn’t budging. Then the guy on the phone said to meet halfway at ₹1.15L. The dealer hung up and asked me to take this offer. I kept my cool and said I’m paying ₹1.05L only. I’d already gone ₹20k above my previous offer and that is all I was prepared to pay. The dealer asked me to wait. He waited 3 minutes then called the guy again. “The buyer has left the office with a final offer of ₹1.05L. If you want I can call him back and give him the car.” The other guy caved. The Sonata was mine!

The final outlay was as thus.

₹1.05L for the car. ₹4k as brokerage. ₹10k for third party insurance. ₹4k for RTO charges. I was done with everything for ₹1.23L. It was all surreal to actually experience that moment when he said “Take it.”

Getting her home

I’d come prepared to take the car home. We got the PUC done then and there. Signed all the paperwork. I drove away in the car. She was mine! Had a quick lunch, and left for Rajkot at around 4PM.

During the test drive itself I’d observed that the engine shut down if I suddenly went 100% pedal-to-the-metal and floored the throttle. Upon observing the engine bay I saw that the intake hose had a severe crack (downstream of the Mass Air Flow sensor) and attributed that problem to it. The car ran fine otherwise – or so it seemed. About a hour and a half into the drive the car simply shut down while driving on the highway. I pulled to the side and thought calmly. I was doing 80-90kmph, no issues so far, and suddenly the transmission jerked and the car just died. What could have happened? There were no error codes, no overheating on the temp gauge, nothing. The car still started but refused to move beyond first gear.

I called my friend who also owns a V6 Sonata (tBHP member 1self, who has written extensively here on turbocharging a Sonata). He suggested that the trans oil level could be low and this was the problem. Now I remember checking the A/T oil level and it was OK but I knew it wouldn’t have ever been changed. So I decided to coast along slowly with the goal being to reach home without problems. The car ran but at only part throttle and at a max of 45kmph. I resumed my journey. The problem became worse as time wore on and eventually I was travelling at 30kmph on the highway in 2nd gear (this dipped to below 20kmph when climbing bridges). I left my warning lights on and slowly trundled along the side of the highway, looking at tractors, rickshaws and bikes pass me by. Any more throttle and the car would simply start jerking, give up, and shut down. A bad puncture also consumed an hour of the already-long journey.

All said and done, a journey that takes 4 hours (240km) in any normal vehicle took me 9.5 to 10 hours. I reached home at 1:30AM. But I was elated. I had bought a V6 sedan! I’m sure the transmission problem is due to the old oil, because these old-school torque converters were pretty robust and didn’t give up easily. What’s more, the car started shifting normally the next day! I’m sure it will be solved with an oil flush and filter change.

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