Originally Posted by
myltwon
outside the normal wear and tear replacement on a 14 year old/136k mile car I have no problems
my girlfriend who has a 3 year old kia has a passanger door that won't open, my co-worker has a hyundai a few years older and half the door handles are broken off and the passanger side window won't go down and the driverside window won't go up
You can compare a handful of any brand "testimonials" to a handful of any other brand "testimonials" to make whatever brand you like more look better.
My father has a 2001 Ranger that is falling apart, he drives it like a grandma, but the brakes in the rear are obliterated (both drums are so gone that so much brake fluid mixed with brake dust that its filled with tar), the engine constantly needs new sensors/fuses/relays, CEL's for the same thing even after you replace the part, and the ABS randomly wont let the car stop it just pulses until you slam the Parking brake (not fail-safe). Not to mention when it isn't broke it gets unexplained piss poor gas mileage
My cousin has a 2000 Mustang that blew injectors and fuel pump at <50k, randomly stalls/wont start, radiator hoses tend to explode (2x), overheats even with new radiator, thermostat, waterpump, and 2 radiator hoses lol.
I have a 2001 Tiburon that I've turbocharged, i beat the piss out of it on stock internals and upgraded clutch and it hasn't had one hiccup besides a bad battery.
Does this mean Fords are crap and Hyundai's are better? No, because 3 cars isn't a proper sample size in any experiment.
Whatever car company there is, there's always people who have extreme stories of longevity and reliability and people who have experienced the polar opposite.
You have to look at the stats, as these aren't biased by a persons predisposition toward one brand or another. IQS are a great study of quality, where Hyundai has been ranking in the top five consistently.
Here's a blurb from the 2006 jdpower IQS:
Averaging just 91 problems per 100 (PP100) vehicles, Porsche tops the overall nameplate rankings. Porsche’s success can be partly attributed to the all-new Cayman, which tops the compact premium sporty car segment. Porsche is followed in the rankings by Lexus, Hyundai, Toyota and Jaguar, respectively.
Hyundai ranks among the top three nameplates in the study for the first time in the history of IQS. Highlights include a top ranking for the
Hyundai Tucson in the compact multi-activity vehicle (MAV) segment, and top-three segment performances for the redesigned
Sonata and all-new
Azera, as well as the
Elantra and
Tiburon.