Is A 2003 Sonata really that good

[ftank28]

I am currently in the market for buying a new car and the sonata looks great has a great price and a great warranty. But eveyone i talk to says that the fall apart easily and have a lot of problems and the only reason they have the great warranty is because of all the problems. If anyone could clear the air for me on the issue it would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[lowsonoma1999]

Originally Posted by ftank28

I am currently in the market for buying a new car and the sonata looks great has a great price and a great warranty. But eveyone i talk to says that the fall apart easily and have a lot of problems and the only reason they have the great warranty is because of all the problems. If anyone could clear the air for me on the issue it would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Are you buying used? Since you're asking about a 2003, I would assume so, but you say you're in the market for a new car. New to your? Or brand new? I just traded in my wife's 2003 Sonata LX with over 93k miles on it. Mostly highway. Traded it in on a 2006 Envoy SLT. I would have bought another Hyundai, but with my wife wanting kids within a year or so, needed something much bigger for the kid and dog. Hyundai just doesn't have anything big enough right now. Plus, GM 0% for 72 months. Anyways, back on topic. It was a very dependable car. The driving was mostly highway since we live about 50 miles from her work. Had to replace the front inside door handles because of the chrome peeling. Replaced the headlight assemblies cuz the clearcoat was peeling, causing a hazed look. Other than those two minute things, not a single problem. It was maintained very well since I work at the dealership. The dealership I traded it into was very impressed with the condition of it considering the miles. After a good detail, the car looked brand new, inside and out.

As far as what you've heard about Hyundai offering the 100k mile warranty because the cars are crap, is exactly that, a bunch of crap. In the past, Hyundai was not known for their quality. Hyundai's quality started to go up, so Hyundai offered the 10yr/100k mile warranty to get people to buy the cars. In JD Powers most recent initial quality survey, Hyundai was 3rd, only beaten by Porsche and Lexus. I've been working for Hyundai for almost 4 years now, and things have changed a ton in the short time I've been there. 4 years ago, we would do a transmission just about every week or two. Now, it's down to once every month of two. Hyundai's quality is excellent, and I wouldn't listen to your friends that are telling you they aren't. They are still stuck in the dark ages, like a lot of my friends, that are still stuck on Honda or Toyota as the quality leaders, and still believe Hyundai's are junk.

[MXlonerider]

I'd have to agree with Mr. Nance. I have a 2002 Sonata currently, which is the same basic construction with changes made to powerplants I believe. You can see the car on my CarDomain page, and as you'll see it's in great shape. As was stated, I also have the peeling door handles on the inside front, and had the hazing headlights, but those are just little things. Since I bought the car a little over a year ago I've put over 18000 miles on it, and had few problems, the only major one being a tensioner that apparently should have been replaced with regular maintenance but wasn't. They really are great cars, and you can't beat the looks for the price.

[nixilu]

I have a 2003 Sonata with 66k miles on it. I have never had any problems with it at all.