1997 Hyundai Excel Sprint from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

In 138000km my Excel Sprint has needed one new battery at 125000km. Nothing else has ever gone wrong with this car. It has never been in to a dealer for warranty repairs. It has only received routine maintenance such as oil and filter changes and new rubber. it is still on original brakes, suspension and exhaust. These items have shown relatively little wear to date. There is not even one rattle or squeak to be heard in the entire car.

My car cost $13990 Australian dollars drive away no more to pay in September 1997. Thus it has no power steering or air conditioning. It was bought as a second car so the lack of these creature comforts has never been a bother. It performs extremely well and with the 5 speed manual gearbox is very economical to run. I regularly achieve 600km from each tank of petrol.

Do you have a stock standard petrol tank or any modifications? In my Excel I'm usually getting about 400Km around town and the very most I've ever got out of it was 550Km straight highway driving at a constant 100Km an hour. This was from running premium unleaded and using a 5 speed manual. A reliable and reasonably quick car.

I also own a 1997 Excel Sprint and have found that 600K can easily be achieved on one tank. I can regularly get over 700K per tank when driving on the highway. This is with the standard 45 litre fuel tank running on Regular Unleaded fuel.

I know that the later Excels' which had 4 valves per cylinder are slightly thirstier than the earlier 3 valve per cylinder types.

Hi, i´m from Venezuela and have a little money, but I cann afford an '97 excel. Whadaya think?. Should I buy it?, is it a good car?. The guy who is selling it says that the engine has been reacently repaired and working as good as new.

I don´t need it for travelling, i´m just an university student.

Thank you very much, if you wat to aswer me: sarraga99@yahoo.com.

I bought a 98 twincam brand new, its covered 98,000klms and has had 1 battery and a set of plug leads. I change the oil & filter every 10,000 klms. nothing else has been touched. I can highly recommend this cheap little car.

Well! My Excel also gives roughly 400 KM with the full tank running around suburbs. I fill about 40 litres when I make it full tank. This is 97 Excel, 5 speed manual. NO power steering, but has A/C. So you would think this is the one with 4 valves per cylinder??

I have recently bought my Excel Sprint for $4300. So far I am happy with it as it is quieter and more efficient than my previous VN Commodore. Just as a quick note for people in Australia thinking of buying and excel, I have recently discovered that many insurance companies won't cover you unless you have an Immobiliser installed. I discovered this when I went to get comprehensive insurance and was told they would not offer it to me until I had one installed. Apparently it is in the top 14% of stolen cars, especially the sprint models. insurance is not necessarily expensive if you have an immobiliser so, if you can, try to buy a car that already has one.

I own a SOHC 1997 Hyundai Excel, I paid $5000 for it second hand and I came with A/C and P/S. I have modified it performance and style wise and apart from routine services it has never needed any attention. I would highly recommend this car to anyone who is looking for a cheap, but powerful enough car. The best bet would be going for a DOHC which is the Twin Cam model which delivers more power and better response.

(i fill up with Shell Vortex (Premium) around 45L and I get a good 600km out of it, given I also have a after-market air filter and Cold Air intake)

In 1998 I bought a 1997 Excel GX when I didn't have a lot of money to spare. I have owned several cars in my time, but would have to say that the Excel is by far the most reliable. Apart from routine servicing and a battery at 120,000km I've never had to do anything to it and it's never let me down. It's a basic car and has a couple of rattles now, but if your expectations match the price, you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for an economical, cheap and reliable car I could highly recommend one.

I was the third owner of a 1997 Excel Sprint. When I bought it in 2001 I paid $7000 and it had 90 000klms on the clock. It had a few added extras that did not come with it standard. It has been the best car I have ever owned. We just upgraded to a slightly larger car (Toyota Corolla) because the family got larger, but I would have been happy to drive my Hyundai around forever.

It's very economical on fuel and has never had a thing wrong with it mechanically. It's now done 165000 and aside from regular servicing it's only had a new muffler and new tyres. Also one new battery since I've owned it. It has never, ever let me down mechanically. The door handles have broken off and I've had them fixed (very inexpensive) and apparently this is a fairly common problem with them. Someone stole my passenger side door mirror once while I was in a shopping centre. I went to a few wreckers to see if I could pick up another and they all told me they never see these cars because they don't die! They just keep going and going.

We have now sold mine to a friend at a very cheap price, but it will continue to go and go and go for a long time yet according to my mechanic.

I LOVE THIS CAR!!!

It was my baby and served me well throughout my Uni days- it was probably the saddest day of my life to sell it because I was moving overseas. I never had any problems whatsoever, even though I drove it like a manual F1 racing car and mounted a few curbs, roundabouts, through a shallow river, took it off-roading (basically to hell and back) - NO PROBLEMS EVER!

ONE PROBLEM however.: NO CUP HOLDERS!!! Drove me crazy.

This was the greatest car I have ever owned.