2002 Hyundai XG350 review from North America

Nothing out of the ordinary: replaced both front wheel bearings (wear items)

MIL has been illuminated because of not tightening the gas cap.

Rear struts are showing their age with bumpy upstate NY roads (again, wear items)

I recently worked for a Ford/Mercury/Hyundai dealership as a service technician. When it came time to upgrade my wife's Chrysler to something newer with less miles I didn't even bother looking at the Fords (I'm Ford certified in several areas). Doing the dealership's used car check on this XG350 trade-in I was immediately impressed by the ride and performance of this little entry level luxo-ride. The ride is a little soft at times, but a switch to KYB's GR2s will take care of that.

My wife wanted the amenities while I wanted cost and reliability and ease of maintenance considering I'd be working on it. Working next to the shop's only Gold Certified Hyundai tech and talking the purchase over with him, finding out from him the the little car really doesn't experience a lot of major problems convinced me of it.

I like the 6-speed auto-shift to help with braking, also having run the old Watkins Glen Street course using the auto-shift like a manual to pull tight curves and tipping into the throttle on exit. I'm sure with the switch to decent struts on this car would help pull some of the twists with about a five-to-ten miles an hour drive-though (this already doing 90 mph through the esses). The drive-by-wire did take a little getting used to, having owned linkage and cable operated cars all my life. Most of all, for me, being the owner of several musclecars, I love the look on people's faces when I pull the headlights out of their Caddys, Lincolns, overpriced Hondas called Acuras, etc, with a HYUNDAI. It's been a good car with 14,000 miles put on it in a little over six months.