2003 Hyundai Tiburon Reviews

Cracked wheel bearing 3 times!

E-brake cable 2 times!

All brake lines.

Rear rotors.

Rear calipers.

Rear pads.

Alternator.

Clutch 2 times (39000KM and 90000KM)!

Flywheel 2 times (39000KM and 90000KM)!

Tie rods twice each front.

When everything is running well with the Tiburon, it is a genuinely nice chick's car. Unfortunately when I bought the Tiburon, I knew jack about cars, and thought it looked cool and it had a V6, so it was fast! Well it's not fast; basically anything with a 2.5L 4-banger will eat the Tiburon for breakfast. The handling is very nice, although there is a bit of understeer, a tiny bit of torque steer, and it is very nose heavy thanks to the V6. It is awesome in snow though, with good snow tires.

The cabin is a nice place to be, for the driver; at 5'10", I fit just right. If you're 6 foot, your hair would be touching the sunroof. The driver's seat is nicely bolstered, and I've always found it comfortable to drive. The 5 speed stick is buttery smooth, although the OEM clutch uptake is really, really late in the pedal travel.

That's all the nice things to say. Everything else about this car is garbage. The OEM clutch is a piece of garbage, and the sooner you can pull it out and put in an aftermarket clutch, the better.

My repair list might make me seem like a boy racer, but I'm honestly not. The OEM clutch just destroys itself, just take a look at any automotive forum about the Tib. Everything under the car pretty much rusts to pieces if you live in an area where they salt the road. Stuff that should just work (E-brake, calipers, wheel bearings) will just fail on you. Door panels, fuel cap, trunk keyhole all rust to pieces. If you hit a decent size pothole, you'll probably crack a wheel bearing.

I was planning on trying to get 200,000KMs out of this car (got more than that with my Accent with about 1/10th the problems), but I doubt it will happen. I will never buy another Hyundai, and I recommend you don't either.

The car really looks good with a sporty look. However, the performance doesn't fit with the look. The i4 version isn't very fast, but it is still a pleasure to drive. If you're looking for a faster car (or less slow, in this case), don't get this one.

I found this car to be an awesome deal for the price. Reliable car. Comfortable for the class. It's all about the looks.

Three words: PIECE OF JUNK.

I bought this car, a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT, in September of 2009 after owning a 2000 Toyota Celica prior to that. Here are some comparisons for you: When I bought the Celica in 2003, it had 49,000 miles on it, and I drove it until 2009. When I sold the car (the Celica) it had almost 200,000 miles on it, and the ONLY thing I EVER had to replace on it was a windshield wiper motor. Total cost of repair was around $100.

The Tiburon? Ha Ha. I have had to replace/repair more things on this car than I have ever had to repair on the other FOUR cars I have owned in my lifetime. Total repair bill at $4,800 for a car I bought for $6,700, and still rising due to things I have chosen to live with rather than fix.

The car had 78,000 miles on it when I bought it, and I am the second owner. In November of 2009, roughly six weeks after purchasing it, the infamous left blinker started coming on and staying on, and twice I was at college and the "alarm" on the car started going off on its own if I put the key in the door to open it. The word alarm is in quotations because the car DOES NOT have an alarm button on the key fab. Just the lock/unlock button. When this would happen, the car would lock up and not start for at least an hour. I was stranded on campus twice over this. Took it to the repair shop and was told the BCM was going out, and would need to be replaced. Total cost for that was $1,800.

Next, the air bag sensor light would come on, took it to get looked at and was told it was a sensor. Didn't have the money to fix, so dealt with that.

Next thing to happen was air in the gas tank, another notorious Tiburon issue. Apparently the hoses are made in such a way to easily trap air in the fuel line, making it impossible to pump gas without it either being sprayed back at you or taking 30 minutes at the pump. This was another issue that I left alone, it didn't affect the performance of the car, so I decided to just deal with it.

Back panel on the driver's side leaks right above the speaker, clock will not stay set on the dash, paint chipping around gas cap, and cannot open or close the sunroof access.

The finale came when I listed the car for sale four weeks prior to going into the Army. The very next day I took it out to get it cleaned up and ready for people to view it, and the reverse transmission goes out in the car. This is the day before I have ten people slated to come look at it. Take it to repair shop, estimated fix around the $3,000 range. Apparently these issues are widely known about the 2003 Tiburon.

What a disappointing car. Now I can't sell it, and will be paying almost as much money as it is worth to fix it, and I have only owned it for a year and a half!!! From what I have read, these cars don't do so hot after 100,000 miles. Mine has 123,300 on it.

I will never, ever buy another Hyundai made car again, and it is sad because I really like the later models of the Tiburon.

The bottom line is if you are looking for a slick car, that will spend half its life in the repair shop and emptying your wallet, by all means by a Tiburon. What is sad is that the people I had interested in buying my car were all young people, who sure can't afford the repair costs that this car likes to throw at its owner.

I should have NEVER sold my Celica for this piece of crap.