Previous owner repaired gouge between block and head with silicon which had since given way causing it to ooze oil. Still ran fine though, no coolant leakage thankfully.
Unreliable starting at best.
Dead Exhaust Gas Reheat valve causes chugging which is reduced by bypassing the Exhaust Gas Reheat valve and blocking off the tubes with golf tees reduced chugging which can be further feathered out with the manual choke. Because there is no repair manual for the pony (Neither Chilton nor Hayes) you have to be very confident or pay a mechanic to deal with it.
Not engineered for tall people! I'm 5'10" and putting it in third gear is almost beyond my reach sitting there with the seat far enough back for a real persons legs and I don't have short arms. Biggest downside: There is no consumer level repair manual for this car because it was made solely for the Canadian market (and the consumer level manuals for North American cars are produced in the US). So, fixing it yourself requires either access to expensive professional manuals or a lot of confidence. It is however a very basic engine design, I think they probably took it right out of a high school textbook.
Further to the availability of Repair Manuals:
Both Chilton and Haynes have manuals available for the
Hyundai Pony. May require a bit of searching for the Haynes
but the Chilton is currently (05/06/03) available at
Amazon. Hope this is helpful.
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