1997 Hyundai Lantra LSi Estate review from UK and Ireland

One H.T. lead started to break down quite early on.

Fuel pump expired at about 80,000 miles.

Both of these items were fixed under warranty.

The gearbox was getting a little whiney in the lower gears just before it left my tenure, but then it had done 130,000 miles & I had ran it hard for most of that time.

Apart from that the car was utterly reliable for the two years & 130,000 miles that I ran it as a company car.

For the list price of £11,500 (in 1997) this was excellent value for money.

The engine was quite powerful for a 1.6, although it needed revving to get the best out of it.

The seats were quite clever in that they had a sort of pre-moulded shape that turned out to be quite comfortable.

It had a gearbox with a sweet action.

The interior wasn't bad at all for what could be fairly described as a car in the lower budget category. Electric windows in the front, a reasonable quality radio-cassettte & clever use of contrasting shades of plastic for the fascia & trim to give the interior a more upmarket feel than other cars at the same price.

From memory I can't recall any peculiar handling traits so it must have been O.K. in that department.

No complaints about the dealers, they were most helpful when it came to service time, I even got a free courtesy car (Hyundai Accent -Ugh!).

The interior was very hard-wearing; there was no appreciable evidence of the high mileage apart from the usual wear on the pedal rubbers, steering wheel & gear lever knob. The seats were unmarked.