Hyundai vs Honda

[RngFndr]

We paid off the 1994 Saturn in 3 years. Note that is subsequently 15 years of no car payment. It provided reliable transportation. That was a great deal.

 

Hear that loud and clear!
My regular work driver is a 90 Toyota 4 runner, still in
great shape because of no chemicals on our roads here..

Toy kept the same basic design for a decade, there are
umpteen millions of them still rollin..

I have 3 spare 4runners under tarps on the back 40 for parts..
Just can't get rid of it.. Who knows how long it will last..

That's gettin your money's worth!

[Rob52240]

I suggest 2 wheel transportation.   This little beauty is under 6K and will get you anywhere you need to go.



Sorry Debrody, Skoda isn't sold in the US.

[Grayeagle]

You have to test drive them .. buyin one on statistics alone would be a mistake.
Sometimes a car will just not feel right ..too hard steering, too much or too little road feel ..etc.

I have owned two life test unit Honda's (driven till they expired).
An '87 CRX followed by an '88 Civic hatchback.
Honda's invariably have a smaller motor, get better mileage, and do not get a lot of maintenance gigs over their lifespan.
They also handle like slot cars and can be quite a bit of fun to drive.

Toyota's to me felt like I was driving a truck.
Nissan just did not 'fit right' ..felt like I was shoe-horned in and everything was stiff.
Honda was just right, well balanced, fun to get sideways in the dirt with even.
(spent more than one afternoon out on Mojave dry lake just playin)

-Frank aka GE

[AAJagerX]

Test drive a couple of domestic cars before you make your final choice.  I'm a fan of the Chevy Cruze myself.  Nice car, well equipped, fun to drive, and looks pretty good as well.

[Babalonian]

Im a Honda = Good guy.  Test drive both if you haven't, espeialy if you haven't had expereince driving one before.  As others have said, top of my list of "best handling" cars is Honda and Fords, and it can be a very noticable difference to many drivers.

Most notable thing is if this Honda is less than ~6-years old, is maintenance on it will be reasonable, and I find these newer Hondas have finally listened to us American's who have complained for 20+ years about not being able to get a hand and wrench into the engine compartment so you can change the oil or tinker with it yourself.  I would definetley glance under each of these car's hood for a comparison and I'm betting the Honda will seem more attractive if you like the idea of being able to change the oil yourself occasionaly.

[Chewie]

Check the VIN number on any car if it starts with a "j" made in Japan, "k" Korea.  I buy suzuki cars because they are about 1000, to 1500 cheaper then Toyota/Honda but SAME quality. 

[CAP1]

Check the VIN number on any car if it starts with a "j" made in Japan, "k" Korea.  I buy suzuki cars because they are about 1000, to 1500 cheaper then Toyota/Honda but SAME quality. 

 if you google it, you'll find that often there could be numbers in place of those letters.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Identification_Number

[RTHolmes]

havent run a hyundai but had one honda, 12yr old 95k civic 1.4 great engineering and great build - everything still worked well and nothing squeaked or rattled. economical and surprisingly fun to drive, cost me £250 and I redlined it for 2yrs with no problems. my mates father inlaw was looking for a car so I gave it to him (hes an ex tyrell and maclaren F1 engineer and he liked it too)

[CAP1]

havent run a hyundai but had one honda, 12yr old 95k civic 1.4 great engineering and great build - everything still worked well and nothing squeaked or rattled. economical and surprisingly fun to drive, cost me £250 and I redlined it for 2yrs with no problems. my mates father inlaw was looking for a car so I gave it to him (hes an ex tyrell and maclaren F1 engineer and he liked it too)

 a friend of mine, who also happens to be a customer, bought a 94 civic from another customer of mine, who also happens to be a friend. it's in good shape, runs well, a/c works, etc. it was given to marie by her grandmother, and she had it for years. kali's had it for about 2 years now, and it has performed flawlessly. till she went 100mph for awhile on the pa turnpike.

 she said that the CEL came on, it started overheating, and started making a funny whining noise. she drove it like that for 25 miles to the nearest rest stop, and as she pulled in, it shut itself off, and started smoking heavily from under the hood.
 i went to her other mechanics shop(in her neighborhood), and picked it up, and towed it to my shop. the thing starts up perfectly. the scary/whining noise she heard was the back side of the plastic timing cover melted, and fell against the inside of the cam drive gear. the smoke was from the radiator that kind of self destructed. the engine runs smoothly still. it honestly looks like all i have to do, is remove the cam gear, fix/modify/remove/replace that timing cover back, toss in a new waterpump and timing belt, since i'll already be there, put in a new radiator, change the oil, and i think she's gonna be ok.

 i can't believe she was going that dam fast in one of those things though.........

[RTHolmes]

she said that the CEL came on, it started overheating, and started making a funny whining noise ... she drove it like that for 25 miles

 

[CAP1]

 yea i know.......she got lucky though.

 i had an 04 thunderturd a couple weeks ago. ever seen one of THOSE wrecks? a car that should never have been built with an engine that is so embarrassing, it's embarrassing to call it just embarrassing. all aluminum 3.9 liter v8. overheated. drove till it shut off. cracked the plastic thermostat adapter. needed that and a water pump. came back in a week overheating again. thanks to the warped head, or blown head gasket. and that lady's trying to tell me that 'cause it only has 39k miles, that it's impossible for it to have blown a head gasket. i tried explaining that when you heat aluminum that much......nothing's impossible.

[APDrone]

I drove Grand Cherokees for 14 years.  When they removed 1.4" of headroom from the driver's side in 2005, thus making it impossible for me to fit in them, I abandoned Jeep and bought a Honda Pilot that had 43K miles on it.

OMG.. what a difference..  it's up to 111K miles and, I swear, it's like it's just gotten to be broken in.   I absolutely love that beast.    When my Grand Cherokees hit 100k miles, I was beset with $1000 oil changes.  You know.. take it in,, change the oil, fix the window lift motor, replace the drivers side mirror.. any number of stupidly expensive stuff. ( $600 for a mirror????  you gotta be kidding! )

With the Pilot, I have the confidence to load it up and head across the country without worry it's gonna self destruct.

Today, I bought my daughter her first car.. a 1998 Honda Accord with 109k miles on it.. it, too, is now just barely broken in.  They've already replaced the timing belt, and, aside from a couple body dents and hail dimples.. it's in awesome shape..  And, my GOD , that A/C blows some seriously cold air..

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I meant a car to own for 15 years.

Oh, ok then

[Ardy123]

I drove Grand Cherokees for 14 years.  When they removed 1.4" of headroom from the driver's side in 2005, thus making it impossible for me to fit in them, I abandoned Jeep and bought a Honda Pilot that had 43K miles on it.

OMG.. what a difference..  it's up to 111K miles and, I swear, it's like it's just gotten to be broken in.   I absolutely love that beast.    When my Grand Cherokees hit 100k miles, I was beset with $1000 oil changes.  You know.. take it in,, change the oil, fix the window lift motor, replace the drivers side mirror.. any number of stupidly expensive stuff. ( $600 for a mirror????  you gotta be kidding! )

With the Pilot, I have the confidence to load it up and head across the country without worry it's gonna self destruct.

Today, I bought my daughter her first car.. a 1998 Honda Accord with 109k miles on it.. it, too, is now just barely broken in.  They've already replaced the timing belt, and, aside from a couple body dents and hail dimples.. it's in awesome shape..  And, my GOD , that A/C blows some seriously cold air..

Up until in 1999 I drove a '86 Honda accord until it had 272,000 miles on it!! At which point the transmission needed to be rebuilt and it wasn't worth it (it was an automatic). Not to many automatic cars out there that do that... I will say, I believe the reliability issues with American cars have been worked out and they are much better than they were in the mid-90s... Cap would be a better person to provide info on that though.

[icepac]

The only issues I've seen with hondas were the early to mid 1990s cars having rear control arm bushings that evaporated into nothingness and some later models pushing out the cam seals from blow-by........which was caused by lack of maintenance.

As far as nissans, I wear pants with 38 inch leg length and no problems fitting any nissan from a 1967 510 to a 240z.....up until the 350z (which I don't fit well) though some sunroof cars have a roof 4 inches thick which takes away some of the headroom.

I have a terrible time fitting the 3000GT VR4, the starion, and most other mitsubishi.

It seems all toyotas fit me okay.

I do have trouble fitting into some hondas.

I can't let the clutch fully up in a dodge viper and the corvette.