Has anyone had a chance to examine any Korean cars recently? I'm wondering if their quality is up to par with the Japanese yet. Seems like at some point they'll have gotten their quality issuses fixed, but their rep will still be in the mud, and for a little while they'll be a pretty good bargain, unlike say, Toyota or Honda, who are way overpriced (for me, anyway).
I had an opportunity a coupole weeks back to spend a good deal of seat time in a Kia Amanti. It was a rental, and it may have been because my expectaions were so low, or maybe because it only had 3500 miles on it, but I was really impressed with the car. It had power everything, leather interior, Infinity 6-disc in dash changer, more airbags then I would have thought possible to stuff into one car, plenty of power, it just had everything. Polar opposite to my Miata, but for cruising halfway across the country with 4 kids in the car with me, it was great. I looked it up online when I got back home, and it seems the Amanti is new for '04, and is considered to be the finest car out of Korea ever, almost on par with the fullsize cars from Ford, Lincoln and Buick.
The car I'm interested in is the Santa Fe from Hyundai. My Outback isn't cutting it for hauling and such, but I have a friend who has a RAV 4, and he favors it for hauling and towing over his Explorer. Since the RAV4 is a Toyota, it's automaticly overpriced, so I wonder if the Santa Fe is any good, since they can be had for a whole lot less.
Tonyrama '93 Crystal White