Hyundai Tiburon: A head turner?

Thanks! Nifty to see what others say about fchat in their own forums.

 

Ryan,

Thanks, it's enlightening. I think it's a cool car, tell those guys to check the profiles. Quite a few of the guys on the thread are indeed Ferrari owners.

Anyway, nice car, I'm going to keep a look out for one, never seen one up close.

 

yeah in my opinion the great thing is that you DON'T see them everywhere, unlike the honda's and such. thats the thing i like about ferraris too, unique design and low ownership rates. its more impressive of a car if everyone and his dog doesn't own one.

 

Hello to everyone! Primarily, I'd like to say that I'm surprised that my $20k Hyundai is making controversy among high end car owners of a message board such as this. But I'd also like to tell LAfun2, that all of his points regarding the Tiburon are 100% moot and that his level of ignorance is astounding. Its ridiculous to call Hyundais crap at this stage in time. If you bothered to do any research on the car whatsoever, you would know that it IS reliable as any new Honda or Toyota on the road. We currently own three Hyundais: two Tiburons, and one Santa Fe mid-sized SUV. To this day, the problems we have experienced with all of the cars combined total about 1. A bad 02 sensor on one tiburon. The batteries have all been replaced, however, their lifespans were about normal. I have had my Tiburon for nearly two years and for the 40k miles that I have had it, I have experienced no mechanical or electrical problems yet. I had to have one interior piece replaced due to a scratch on my part, but other than that, the car has been top notch all the way. I encourage more people like those of you from this website to believe the Hyundai name to be symbolic of quality. While LAfun2 will most likely continue to have his head 2 feet up his ass for another few years, it won't matter as he will run short of oxygen, factual information, and wit.

Continue to pass the good word, everyone .

 

Can somebody post me a picture of the Hyundai Pony which is supposed to be a Ford Escort ... because that is one that I have never driven (I think).

I'm ofcourse defending my comment:

Because I have seen English Ford Escorts and the Hyundai Excel that I was refering to (guess I should have said that ) ... er, did not look like a Ford Escort, and no Hyundai that was sold in New Zealand OR Australia looked like a Ford.

So while that comment might be amusing to you Hyundai experts ... I don't think NZ or Australia ever got that model ???

Pete

ps: Okay did a little searching and found this link: http://www.outrefranc.com/modeles/hyundai/hyundaipony.htm

Now this is way moderner than the Hyundai I was refering to (which was also called an Excel, but a much earlier version). BTW: This car is called the Hyundai Excel in Australia and I just learnt something ... ie. never realised that this was a Ford.

Again I'd love to see a picture of the Ford Escort ... because the ones in my head look nothing like that!!!!

Still stand by my comment ... the old car I drove was fun, better than a Ford Lazer (Mazda 323) of the same period.

 

Umm it looks like an old escort...here's the Pony:
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PONY (silver)!!! AND ESCORT(burgandy)!!!
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Hmmm ... not the same car ... Anybody have a picture of the Ford Escort because I only know English Ford Escorts ... ???

Pete

 

yup, look above escorts the burgandy one

 

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Owe really ... thus different body but same underneath. Okay I have 100% learnt something today . Very interesting.

New Zealand does not get those Ford's (and yes I was aware of those Escorts but not the Hyundai connection) ... unless you import them. We get the rebadged Mazda 323 ... as a Ford Lazer and they really were garbage ... better now as Mazda has its act together.

Thus I have to conclude that the English division of Ford was still making okay little cars ... like the original Escort.

Pete
ps: I think the model of the Hyundai you guys have shown me as the Pony was called a Lantra over here ... never driven one, but the old Excel was okay.

 

heh well if you look at my post the pony and escort are almost exactly the same on the outside and inside, but i dont know ab out over there. nowadays though the hyundai's are very good cars and really fun to drive (unless you pick up a friday car) yep thats right, cars made on fridays are pretty much the only cars that have problems. handling is a little soft but easily fixed, and the car can easily be boosted with a turbo (i4) or supercharger (V6).

 

Hey Ryan (LA FUN) i have just been over to their site, you have made a big impression with them LOL.

 

I'm from Newtiburon and thought I'd join in also, so please don't flame me. No I don't own a Ferrari although I'd love to own one! Since I can't afford one of those babys for me this comes close enough. My car has been mistaken at times to be a Ferrari, (guess some people out there just don't know their cars) but it does feel good nonetheless. What I love the the most about mine is you don't see a trillion of them on the road and for this most people don't know what it is and it has really turned some heads. My Tib in my opinion is not riced out but Klassy (no wings, stickers, etc) but I have done quite alot of customizations to it.

Please feel free to view my site and I hope it meets your approval!

http://www.cardomain.com/id/kat03tib

 

The ride is amazing. The 03 GTs came stock with a suspention that hyundai out sourced to Porsche to design and is manufactured by the same company that makes the ones for porsche. I dont remember the name but it starts with an S. Having 19" rims with 35 profile tires the ride is rough but I can take a pretty sharp turn at 100mph+ with out much problem. Its a fun car to drive.

 

Ryan.. this is not meant as a shot or anything... but I just had to comment on the irony here... here we are on a site dedicated to a tempermental exotic marque we all love, and we hold the cheap rides up to a much higher standard than our F-cars.. 150-200k miles without significant problems? how many of us have run one tenth of that without having the engine out a few times..
Same goes for depreciation... How much does an owner of a 456 lose trying to sell 2-3 years after buying one new? Good thing these cars are toys for most of us..
The tiberon doesn't look bad, it's kinda sporty, and it has a place in the car world.. heck at least it's not another SUV I can't see around
there is a black stock one here at the hospital one of the nurses owns and I looked at it thinking it would be a fun option for a winter car..
Chelle

 

Best looking new car for under 30K, in my opinion!

Luke.

 

My wife's twin has one. It is a POS!! She has had nothing but problems with it. She wants to get rid of it but she can't until she moves out of her parents home. I liked them before, but not for anymore. She says its no wonder they come with a 10 yr/100k warranty.

 

Sorry, but whoever said the Excel/Pony is a Ford was dreadfully wrong.

The 86-94 Excel (the only Excel the US got) was a rebadged Mitsubishi Precis. They cars are IDENTICAL looking. Every Excel built used a Mitsubishi transmission and engine. In fact, Hyundai used Mitsu engines and trannies in the Elantra up until 1995, in the Sonata up until 1998 and in the S-Coupe up until 1991.

The Accent (called the Excel in Ozland) existed in the U.S. from 1995-present and has always had a Hyundai engine and tranny. In fact, this was the first engine Hyundai manufactured. A small, 1.5L economy engine that has had very few problems during it's existence. The Hyundai-built engine appeared in the 1996 Elantra as a 1.8L and in the 1997 Tiburon as a 2.0L. This is the Beta engine, which is what the 4-cylinder Tiburons still use today. Hyundai has several other engines (Delta, Epsilon, Sigma) that I won't get into, but they also have very few problems.

As you can see, Hyundai's problems have in fact been Mitsubishi's problems. Hyundai apparently learned from it's faults and is building VERY well-built cars now. Hell, I've raced my car for hours on end (open track events) and never had a problem overheating the engine. Whoever said that is very ignorant.

Sadly, Mitsubishi never learned from their problems and still build low-quality cars (the Evo being the exception). Toyota and Honda also seem to be slipping a bit (my Tiburon is much more well-built than my wife's 2001 Rav4). Honda uses mostly cheap plastics in their interiors now that you won't even find in a Hyundai except for the $10,000 entry-level Accent.

Anyways, enough rambling from me. I just wanted to set a few facts about Hyundai's history straight. I've been in the Hyundai "scene" for about 5 years now and sadly enough, this isn't the first time I've seen a ton of misinformation thrown around and it won't be the last .

 

My brother wanted to get a tiburon Tuscany (in canada) and I did a little research on them before we drove one. I liked how it looked and I loved the wheels. The interior looks good. Not too cheap and it was finished pretty well.

Then I drove it. What a dissapointment. The thing has NO POWER at all. I thought a 170 HP V6 would actually feel like it is moving. And the clutch was so light it. It was not nice at all to drive. My 00 Civic Si was WAY more fun to drive.

Needless to say, he did not buy it.

 

Netviper, that why I favor a last gen prelude.... can beat the tib in a straight, and in the turns. With OEM NSX brakes added they can out brake the tib by a long shot too.

I should know, I used to have one and put the hurt on a few tibs neons and civics in my time.

Sorry guys, just my experiance.

 

I just traded my Acura Legend in on a Tiburon. It's fun to drive, gets decent mileage even with the V6, looks like it costs a lot more than it does, and couldn't touch the deal with anything else. A few months ago I got my wife a Sonata. Three years ago I wouldn't have looked twice at anything from this company. But if you drive one, they are really nice cars ESPECIALLY given where their price tags fall.

 

Anyone have any evidence that it was designed by Pininfarina? The only thing I've ever found that they did for Hyundai was the Matrix and an Elantra concept. Does it say anything about PF in the owners manual or something???

-R

 

Ryan,
just reiterating - I wasn't flaming ya.... I just was commenting on the irony that it's okay for the engine in our lambo to have been out 3 times in 19k miles.. and similar regular upkeep on the ferrari's I have had yet we all (myself included) hold the cheap stuff to higher standards
I'm sure some might have sent you nasty comments... however I was simply amused at the irony and felt compelled to note it.. personally I can't comment on Hundai quality as I don't own one... I just think it isn't a bad looking car
I can't remember who said this but I like this quote "If two people always agree on everything, then one of them isn't necessary"