Cost of a 2006 Sonata?

Has anyone every bought a car from Fritzgerald Auto Mall? You can buy
a 2006 Sonata GLS for $16,762 (see fitzmall.com). No dealer in my city
will come close the that price.

 

Assuming a GLS V6 with standard options, that's unbeatable. My local dealer
quoted me $500 over invoice for that car, which was around $19,500.

 

Actually got two, 02 Elantra GLS, and 03 Santa Fe LX, best prices, not
hassle or high pressure sales. LOVE IT !!!!
Service dept. is OK, fast and reliable, but a little bit in the high $$$,
guess you get what you paid for.

 

WHOOPS! I was wrong.

When pressed, my local dealer matched it to the penny. I was so stunned, we
cut the deal even though I wasn't even ready. My new Deepwater Blue GLS
should be ready by mid-week.

 

Victor: The Hyundai dealer says my 2003 Elantra GLS engine has a cracked
piston, and they are rebuilding the engine. We had regular Hyundai service
and only 36,000 miles on the car which had run great until this engine
failure occurred. Now I don't know whether to trust another Hyundai product
or not. I had been thinking of trading the Elantra in on the new 2006 Sonata
that has the V6 engine with timing chain rather than timing belt design. The
only negative comments I've seen on the new Sonata so far is that the V6 gas
mileage isn't as good as hoped, and that the throttle has a hesitation
response when first starting up from idle. The gas mileage is understandable
if the engine really gets a true 230 HP as claimed. The sluggish throttle
response will probably be fixed eventually by a modification of some kind
since the car has just been redesigned and needs to work out some bugs.

You say Hyundai service has been ok, but have you had any warranty work done,
or just routine maintenance? The jury is still out for me on my engine
warranty work, and it will depend a lot on the particular dealer's technician
skills since they are completely rebuilding the engine in the shop rather
than putting a new engine in the car. Also, even though there is no evidence
of improper maintenance, I'm waiting to see if they'll stand behind the power
train warranty or not.

Any comments from the forum would be appreciated. Thanks!, Bobweb

 

Actually Bob, I think it's better to wait and hear your comments after the
repair. Anything anyone else could offer at this time would be anecdotal,
or perhaps cautionary, or maybe even irrelevant. The proof is in the
pudding and we're waiting to see how your pudding tastes.

 

I wouldn't lose faith in Hyundai of something like a cracked piston. It
is likely that Hyundai doesn't even make their own pistons, but buys
them from a supplier. If they stand behind the repair, I wouldn't hold
something like this against them.

Since my Sonata has only 2,000 miles on it, I haven't had occasion to
test Hyundai's service skills or warranty support. I'm curious about
this also.

Matt

 

The Santy never had a problem, was there only one time for the first service
(free).
The Elantra had one problem (engine hesitation) and two recalls, took it for
the problem and one recall first time, done in 4 hrs. total cost $0.00
Second time took it there for a 30,000 service and the second recall, plus
some other extra work, they only charged me for the extra work and the parts
and fluids for the 30K service, about $400.00
I'll say the cost will had been about $250.00, if done at a local shop, then
again, they did it right and fast, the first time.

 

Although I'm sure piston manufacture is outsourced, it's also the case that
Hyundai specifies what they want. While I too am not very concerned about
this particular issue, as this is the only case I've ever heard about a
cracked piston, Hyundai does not necessarily remain blameless on this
particular owner's piston issue.

If you want to go back about ten years, Hyundai parts weren't very
stellar. Why are they better now? Hyundai doesn't shop for parts by
price only any more. Quality is now a large factor. Hyundai has come to
understand that they'll never have a large share of the American market
unless their product is perceived as quality.

 

True, if this was an issue with the piston design specifications that
Hyundai gave to the piston supplier. However, design issues tend to
affect a lot of parts, not just one in several thousand. If this was an
isolate problem, then it typically is a manufacturing defect rather than
a design error. Manufacturing defects are the responsibility of the
manufacturer of the piston.


Matt

 

Not when it (as a subassembly) goes into a final assembly. The final
assembly is what is warranted. In this case it's Hyundai's problem if their
supplier supplied a defective part. If they want to go back after the
supplier, that's between them and the supplier, but the customer need only
look to Hyundai.

 

You are missing the original point entirely. The OP was concerned about
whether he should ever buy a Hyundai again because of a cracked piston.
My point was that the cracked piston wasn't Hyundai's fault. Sure,
they are the one's that have to make it right, which it sounds like
there were, but the point is that since pistons are made by a piston
supplier, this could equally likely happen to ANY car maker, not just
Hyundai. So deciding not to buy a Hyundai again because of this sort of
failure, would simply not be logical.


Matt

 

Sorry Matt - I had been following this thread but I got thrown by your
closing sentence "Manufacturing defects are the responsibility of the
manufacturer of the piston".

 

It's Hyundai's fault for choosing that manufacturer for their pistons.

All seriousness aside, that's understandable if Hyundai takes swift
corrective action. If they give the customer a hassle and let the
manufacturer get away with shoddy parts, shame on them.

 

Matt, Mike and Bob- Thanks for the discussion on what we should expect from a
car manufacturer to deserve our continued business with them. I agree that
you really can't expect internal engine parts not to fail prematurely with
some small probability, and all the manufacturers must have pistons fail
occasionally. Actually, I purchased a Hyundai because they gave me more car
for the money compared to Toyota for example. To some extent I'm willing to
have a higher failure rate with Hyundai than with Toyota, because a similarly
equipped Toyota costs more, in general. So you may be a consumer who's
willing to take a chance on having a few more things go wrong with the car as
long as the manufacturer upholds the warranty etc.

An update from my dealer is positive in that they decided to replace both the
engine block and heads as a complete "long block" unit instead of building
the engine up in the shop as originally planned. So on the one hand I get
basically a new engine, but on the other hand I've lost use of the car for at
least a month. Many people can't afford to be without a car for a month while
still paying for the insurance and depreciation etc costs of owning a car.
They did not provide me with a rental or loaner car which is not provided
under the normal warranty. We'll see how the reassembled car performs!

Bobweb

 

All sounds good *except* for that one month part. What are they doing,
rowing an engine over from Korea?

 

The last time I spoke with someone at length about pistons, it was
indicated to me that one company in Michigan makes nearly all the pistons
in the world. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the statement, but if
true, it would hardly be Hyundai's fault for choosing that particular
manufacturer.

 

I meant "cause" in the sense of who created the defect, not necessarily
who was responsible to the car owner to get it fixed. No argument from
me that Hyundai owns the problem, but I wouldn't say they were the root
cause of the problem.

Matt

 

That may be the case, but I wouldn't make that call unless a significant
number of pistons fail.


Matt

 

I wouldn't accept any lower quality than Toyota and knowing the Koreans
they won't either.

I'd say they've done as right by you as they possibly could.

Matt