whaaa? I've been in a lot of hyundais recently and have been impressed - i.e., the sonata 2.0t

maybe the rental fleet cars are super turd-y versions. even the elantras recently I've been impressed by.

 

to be fair you are talking about a rental fleet spec car here... I had a 2016 Nissan Maxima that all the things you said apply to also, you rarely see a car spec'd so low on a dealer lot. Rental companies order cars as bare bones as they can, the only option they ever check is AC.

 

That doesn't change the quality of materials used, or the amount of sound deadening.

 

idk, if Maxima's are as bad as the one I rented, Nissan is gonna close their doors soon

 

Here the Chevy dealership also has a Hyundai showroom across the street. One foggy drizzly day I was kicking tires in the Chevy lot when I came across a Hyundia Genesis. It was a new year old car marked down to 35 grand. I fetched my wife saying, "Do you want to see the best car deal you will ever see?" She glanced with no interest. Two days later I was ready to buy but the car was gone.

 

I used to have the same exact experiences with Ford.

Now I'm on my second one and have loved both. Times change. My standards haven't.

 

My 2003 Mitsubishi had a **** interior, was noisy, had no ABS, no power windows and no power locks. Bargain basement cars are exactly that.

 

There was no 2003 USDM Evo RS. Unless you are talking about a regular Lancer. If so, you will not find many people that give two shiats about that here.

 

Why do you think I don't post here?

 

Regular Lancer, point being that all manufacturers have their low-tier models. Hyundai is no different.

 

I looked up what car it was last night, was a Sonata. That's not Hyundai's "bargain basement" car.


I've had focus, fusion, and camry rental cars. All were pretty decent. The Hyundai has always stuck out in my head as being a **** box.

 

I take those J.D. Power results with a grain of salt. I vote with my wallet for what I like and want, and could care less what everyone else thinks.

Here's my beefs with Hyundai and Kia:
1) I like performance cars that are easy to make power from, and they don't make any good ones. Their iteration of the 4B11 has much weaker internals, doesn't get anywhere near the results.
2) The interior in the Genesis Coupe is even worse than the Evolution, if that were possible.
*3) They cater to the poor credit crowd. Their dealerships will finance everyone that can't be financed elsewhere. Due to this, their cars have fall-out-of-a-tree depreciation, and most owners are shackled up to them, because they're super upside down for these reasons.
4) They are all over the road like cockroaches (Kia Soul, anyone? Most ironically named car ever.)

Why do I like VW? Because opposite of the Evo, they spent the money on things mid-40s me cares about: Great interior, driving position, modern technology, quality all around, utility, rocking stereos, fast shifting and robust DSG transmission, super easy to modify for straight line performance. My wife's GTI cost the same as my neighbor's 2017 Sonata 2.0T Limited, less than my Evo, and blows them both away as a quality daily driver. And it humiliates the Sonata as a fun to drive car.

 

Apparently you forgot about the Mitsubishi credit debacle in 2003 that almost put them under.

"The wheels began to fall off in 2003, however, as a “0-0-0” finance offer of 0% down, 0% interest, and no payments for 12 months that had previously given a major boost to the company's new vehicle sales began to backfire on the organization. Many customers who purchased vehicles through the program defaulted on their obligations once payments were due and the company was left with thousands of repossessed vehicles in its possession whose market values were considerably less than what was owed. In the years that followed, the legacy of the incentive program contributed to the company's mounting financial obligations and both new vehicle development and market share suffered as a result."

http://www.nada.com/b2b/NADAOutlook/...-survival.aspx

 

I remember it vividly. It was a horrible program, because Mitsu had no brain to think it out logically long term, and people weren't smart enough to use it correctly. My wife bought her first new car under that: a Montero Sport. Including that vehicle, we've just never been underwater or upside down in any Mitsubishi, probably because most of what we've owned were Evos, which hold their value like crazy. I don't really have any brand loyalty toward Mitsubishi, especially not anymore. I just really liked Evos as a cohesive performance car.

Hyundai/Kia will finance clients with super low credit. I'm not knocking it. It's a business model, and clearly works for them. They depreciate horrendously, but probably make great sense as a used car. It just so happens there's nothing in either of their lineups that I would want to own.

 

I figured I'd pop in... I was the driver in the autocross video a few pages back.

I do think the RS is faster than the X, but the X is way easier to extract the performance from the car.

Also, my RS was essentially unprepped and was fast enough to win all of those trophies and even Top Dog at PittRace Match Tour I had holes drilled in the front swaybar to make it adjustable, and 245 BFGs... and an exhaust if you want to count that as prep

The RS definitely rides like poop (part of my reason for selling it) but I didn't have the overheat issues even at VIR last year in 80 degree weather. I had weird electrical issues (cruise control kept shutting off on my drive to Devens, weird static on the speakers from time to time, etc) and I stumbled on a hell of a deal on a GT350. So I'm running A Street now, lol.

Also, I used to own an X (which is why I have an account here) and the RS is better on the street in almost every way RS gets better fuel economy on the same drive, it's got way more bottom end, the interior is about a million times nicer than the X (plastic sandpaper dashboard in the X lol), it's quieter on highway drives (hurray for 6th gear!)... The RS rides worse and the seats aren't as comfortable for long drives because my legs are big. Also, I hated that the RS only really revs to ~6500 RPM.

Oh, and parts are MUCH cheaper on the RS too. New Brembo calipers up front were $124 each after I melted the dust boots off at VIR, that's not a typo...

So while the ten years didn't make the car much faster, it's much nicer to live with on a daily basis if your roads aren't complete crap.



I am driving Prime12's Evo again this Sunday against a nationally competitive RS on JRZs and 245 BFGs (my "old" tires, actually). I'm fully expecting to be competitive in the X...


Oh, and the comment about the RS not having an aftermarket?