2008 Hyundai Elantra - Affordable and reliable car
During all these years, I had minimal issues with the car. I did not need to spend much for the maintenance, so I think Elantra is quite reliable. All these years, I mostly did regular oil change, and tire rotation, and of course change of tires when they wear out. It gives you a good ride. My car also supports XM Radio that I love, and I am still using. It gives you a good ride.
During all these years, I had minimal issues with the car. I did not need to spend much for the maintenance, so I think Elantra is quite reliable. All these years, I mostly did regular oil change, and tire rotation, and of course change of tires when they wear out. It gives you a good ride. My car also supports XM Radio that I love, and I am still using. It gives you a good ride.
I took my wife to a nice road trip to southern California, and we had a lot of fun in particular in Monterey and Lover's Point. Driving to Solvang also was really fun. It was such a hot day, and the day that we visited Solvang, there was an antique auto show in the city. When I was looking at those cars, I was wondering do these cars even drive? You know, some of them were really old, but very... (more)
I took my wife to a nice road trip to southern California, and we had a lot of fun in particular in Monterey and Lover's Point. Driving to Solvang also was really fun. It was such a hot day, and the day that we visited Solvang, there was an antique auto show in the city. When I was looking at those cars, I was wondering do these cars even drive? You know, some of them were really old, but very well kept. Coincidently, on the highway, we saw one of the owners actually driving one of those antique cars! That was a memorable moment. So, I guess that is the good point about this car, it is really reliable, and you can drive everywhere with it, and it will create memorable moments for you.
1) The fuel economy is quite good for a car of its age: 24/32 MPG.
2) It is very reliable, and it needs minimum maintenance.
3) Comfortable interior, and well thought out design.
1) The fuel economy is quite good for a car of its age: 24/32 MPG.
2) It is very reliable, and it needs minimum maintenance.
3) Comfortable interior, and well thought out design.
1) The acceleration is not that great, and in particular in steep uphills the engine may make some noise. That does not bother me much personally.
2) You can never totally turn off the fan. Essentially based on the temperature that you set, it will blow cool or hot air all the time. In another word, the fan settings are 1, 2, 3, and 4, there is no off.
1) The acceleration is not that great, and in particular in steep uphills the engine may make some noise. That does not bother me much personally.
2) You can never totally turn off the fan. Essentially based on the temperature that you set, it will blow cool or hot air all the time. In another word, the fan settings are 1, 2, 3, and 4, there is no off.
2003 Hyundai Elantra - Reliable work horse of a car
My first grown-up car that I purchased myself was a slightly used Hyundai Elantra from a rental car company. The Elantra is a pretty standard compact car - not a lot of bells and whistles - but I really liked the color (blue-green) and it had everything I needed at the time. It was roomy, comfortable, and had a plush interior (at the time). I was able to transport a lot of things that I wouldn't have thought possible. It made more than one serious trip to Ikea and I was easily able to flip down the back seat to accommodate even the largest items. I drive it on the freeway about ten hours a week during the Fall and Spring semesters for nearly 10 years. It held up pretty well for the most part, and was good with longer trips from SF to LA, as well. It wasn't necessarily sporty, but relia... (more)
My first grown-up car that I purchased myself was a slightly used Hyundai Elantra from a rental car company. The Elantra is a pretty standard compact car - not a lot of bells and whistles - but I really liked the color (blue-green) and it had everything I needed at the time. It was roomy, comfortable, and had a plush interior (at the time). I was able to transport a lot of things that I wouldn't have thought possible. It made more than one serious trip to Ikea and I was easily able to flip down the back seat to accommodate even the largest items. I drive it on the freeway about ten hours a week during the Fall and Spring semesters for nearly 10 years. It held up pretty well for the most part, and was good with longer trips from SF to LA, as well. It wasn't necessarily sporty, but reliable and I felt that it looked just different enough from the other cars on the road. I could always find it in the parking lot whereas my new car, a silver Corolla, looks like every other car in the world. The Elantra was just a little sleeker, but not showy. It was an automatic with electric windows (which I miss) and was the perfect first car.
The color was outstanding: blue-green jewel tone. Kind of my favorite color. The lines of the car were nice and clean. The electric windows made life easy because not only could you control your own window from the driver's seat, but you could also control all the other windows in the car. This especially helped driving for hours on a hot day when I needed to regulate the heat. It had air conditioning which I used sparingly; living in Northern California doesn't call for it much. But when we needed air conditioning, it was wonderful. There was a little sunglasses compartment in the ceiling... (more)
The color was outstanding: blue-green jewel tone. Kind of my favorite color. The lines of the car were nice and clean. The electric windows made life easy because not only could you control your own window from the driver's seat, but you could also control all the other windows in the car. This especially helped driving for hours on a hot day when I needed to regulate the heat. It had air conditioning which I used sparingly; living in Northern California doesn't call for it much. But when we needed air conditioning, it was wonderful. There was a little sunglasses compartment in the ceiling that I found quite handy, and the cup holders were the perfect size for both wide and narrow cups (my cup holder now doesn't hold my larger mugs). I loved how easy it was to flip down the back seat to fit larger items in through the trunk. I moved houses a few times with this car and the stuff it could carry in one trip was quite impressive, although I did have to Tetris in a few items with some effort, we always made it work. I have no complaints about the way it handled on the road, and I always felt like it was a reliable car for both commuting and longer road trips. It got about 30 miles to the gallon, which seems decent to me.
I had some trouble with the "check engine" light coming on repeatedly over the years. When I brought it in to the shop the first time they were able to fix it, but thirty minutes out of the garage it would go on again. They finally decided that it was an issue that the dealership needed to address, so when I brought it there it turned out that there had been a recall sent out to fix the issue in question (something with an air filter, if I remember correctly) and that I had just missed the cut-off date for getting it fixed on them. Instead it ended up costing me. A lot. I wish that Hyundai... (more)
I had some trouble with the "check engine" light coming on repeatedly over the years. When I brought it in to the shop the first time they were able to fix it, but thirty minutes out of the garage it would go on again. They finally decided that it was an issue that the dealership needed to address, so when I brought it there it turned out that there had been a recall sent out to fix the issue in question (something with an air filter, if I remember correctly) and that I had just missed the cut-off date for getting it fixed on them. Instead it ended up costing me. A lot. I wish that Hyundai had somehow let me know about the issue and the recall but I never received anything. I have a Toyota now and although it's secondhand, I still get alerts about recalls. I would have happily ignored the "check engine' light since it wasn't a serious issue according to my garage (and because I like to live in denial), but when it came time to get it smogged it couldn't pass the test with an "check engine" light on. D'oh! That was the first big investment. It started having issues again in 2013, but this time the problem was the car just suddenly cutting out on me. It happened the first time in March, luckily close to my garage, so I had AAA tow it over where my guys fixed it, got it back out on the road, where it promptly died again a week later. Same deal with AAA, garage, etc. The third time was it. My guys told me it needed a new timing belt that cost something like $2000. I have no idea how this works, but long story short, the old gal got donated as a tax write off. We had some good years and at least she was picked up for more than the $500 minimum, so I got to write off a little more on my taxes.
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