this isn't your father's hyundai

[banacek]

So after owning nothing but N.American cars (other than my toy Fiat Spider I bought when I hit a nice triactor), I am looking foreign. I have had too much stress from Chryslers and GMs. My Caravan is unbelieveably bad once it is 4 or 5 years old and as I talk with other Caravan owners I get the same thing from them.

I am looking at a Hyundai SUV ( Tuscon ). It seems so much different from what I remember from the crappy Hyundais in the 80s and most of the ratings seem to bear that out. Also maybe a Toyota RAV4. We only have 1 car we drive regularly so I need reliability and enough room for 4 or 5 comfortably.

Anybody have any opinions on these or know of any North American SUVs that they have had good experience with (the Saturn Vue looks ok to me, but the ratings seem awful)

Thanks

[46zilzal]

(the Saturn Vue looks ok to me, but the ratings seem awful)


My wife and I traded both our cars for a Vue and it is reliable and comfortable. Mileage is NOT great but one would expect that. They are coming out with a hybrid soon and we are looking at that UPGRADE.

[Tom]

Is your Hyundai built in N America?

Don't think that Japanese cars are all imports - many are built here, by Amercian/Canadian workers feed back intot he local economies, unlike GM/Ford crap that is built cheap outside the US and brought back here to sell at a huge profits.

I used to supply the Hyundai plant in Bromont, Quebec and they had a team in place who was committed to quality - they were moving in the right directin, and were not afraid to shut down the entire assembly line for a quality issue. It was night and day going into the Hyundai plant and any GM plant - home of the Usless Auto Workers, aka trees!

I have had a couple of H's for rental cars - very nice, indeed - in fact, when they were available, I would always take any Hyundai over any GM car.

[banacek]

Is your Hyundai built in N America?



Great point. That is something I will check out. I'd prefer the plant to be N.A. , if possible. I know a lot of the Toyotas are made in Canada and the U.S. Some of the plants seem better than others from what I have read so far. But I am not sure of the Hyundai.

[46zilzal]

one thing for sure:YOU CAN'T KILL a Toyota...they run forever

[PaceAdvantage]

I know someone who has a Santa Fe....loves it...no problems so far....mileage isn't all that great though...maybe the Tuscon would be better mileage-wise.

Hyundais have certainly come a long way from what I have read. It's similar to the Toyota story early on.....

[highnote]

I would highly recommend reading Consumer Reports Magazines ratings on cars.

I did some work for CR recently. Our crew had lunch with several of the CR people, one of whom was a test driver. After talking to him and hearing his stories plus the stories from others at the magazine, I will give a lot of consideration to their opinions about cars.

The privately buy a lot of cars every year and drive them day in and day out. They really get to know the cars.

Just my two cents.

[schweitz]

one thing for sure:YOU CAN'T KILL a Toyota...they run forever

I'm on my third Camry ( 4 cylinder)----first two went 300,000 miles plus :)

[Tom]

I'm on my third Camry ( 4 cylinder)----first two went 300,000 miles plus :)

True story - I rented a Camry once in Detroit. you know how the steering wheels have two or three setttings for comfort - you just pull a lever and move it to where you want it? I was crusing down 94W back to the airport and decided to change the position. It wouldn't lock and was just floating around wherever I moved my arms! But I never lost ocntrol of the damn thing! Even with a floating steering wheel, the damn thing was drivable enough to get to the next exit and pull over to get it locked in place. Now that's quality!