Long gevity

HI there... We have 240k on our 2001 SF. Still love the truck. It has had one fender bender that took out the driver front bumper plastic with no structural damage as far a the chassis. One major repair mechanically though, the rear differential went sour on us. This repair was, IMHO, the fault of the dealership in that they had only

3 months earlier replaced the seals on the part. They of course set blame on the oil change place i used in that their claim was that the fill plug was not seated correctly allowing the fluid to leak out. As far as the truck itself....love it to death. It's been from Ontario to Florida, does 500k every week and purrs like a kitten. One word of advice....get the garage to change your plugs....they are a biatch to get to. On that note...our plugs lasted 230 k before they had to be changed.

let me get out my crytstal ball and tell you...=) Honestely no one can predict how long a vehicle will last. basically itll last as long as you care for it well and drive with caution... just expect wear items to need replacing, breaks,struts,tie rods etc... the engine i think will go on a verry long time. our '99 accent has 137 000 kms on it and runs and drives just as well when it had 25, 000 kms and uses zero oil. ive never topped cho's oil up once yet.. knock on wood...

I just rolled 85.5k miles in my 01 V6 GLS, well maintained but not 'babied' in any way. Rural, lots of improved dirt/gravel roads. Handles these situations beautifully, doesn't rattle, and still drives great.

Replaced the shocks at 55k with KYB GR-3's which aren't the cheapest thing around but they seem to hold up well - they were rock stiff when I got them, they 'broke into' comfort after about 2500 miles. Rode the same since.

Our 03 2.7L LX w/ 50k is not quite as 'tight' but has been very solid. They did something awful to the rear suspention - its quieter, but definetly not as much fun to drive.

The 03 has noticably more midrange torque. It also averages about 2-3 mpg lower than the 01 when I drive it.

I'm personally wanting to do a 2-fer trade-in on a Tucson (I'd look at the sportage but its only a couple hundred cheaper and no factory sunroof available) and an Elantra GT (for myself) or maybe a year old Sonata. Either way, I'm overall quite pleased with the Hyundai brand so far.

JS

PS - ever looked behind the dash? Its so... CLEAN! I sure wish my american cars were like that, especially my 1st gen Explorer.