Cost of a 2006 Sonata?

[bobweb via CarKB.com]

Here's the final mid February 06 update on my 2003 Hyundai Elantra engine
failure at 36K miles. The Baltimore area dealer has done a great job in
replacing the engine in a reasonable amount of time (3 weeks). I went over
the engine installation looking for signs of hasty reassembly etc and found
none, although when I checked the antifreeze protection level, it showed +10
degrees on my ethylene glycol compatible gauge. I had just backflushed the
cooling system and installed a 50% antifreeze concentration (1/2 full
strength ethylene glycol and 1/2 distilled water) before the engine failure,
so I'm sure that when they refilled the coolant system with the new engine,
they did not restore the antifreeze to the proper 50%/50% concentration
specified in the owner's manual. The car is running great. They even washed
it and shined the tires up before returning it to me. I have no problem with
Hyundai's warranty or the dealer's service, which was no charge under the
warranty. I would now buy a new Sonata and my sister is looking at a new
Tucson. A little good service goes a long way in maintaining a company's
reputation, and both dealer and manufacturer came through for me this time.

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
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]

corrective action. If they give the customer a hassle and let the
manufacturer get away with shoddy parts, shame on them.