1997 Hyundai Sonata GLS from Norway - Comments

I almost don't know where to start:

-Radiator and water pump

-Temperature switch used by the fuel injection for cold starting

-Air filter housing was cracked, caused uneven running, was simply glued since new part cost a fortune

-Front dampers

-Front coil springs

-Rear dampers

-Brake rotors

-Overhauled calipers due to leakage and corrosion

-Brake pads

-Brake lines and brake hoses

-Brake master pump

-Tie rod end

-Several bushings in front and rear suspension

-Petrol tank

-Petrol pump, lines, hoses

-Engine mounts

-Coil, spark wires, control module, ++ (I don't know which one was faulty the dealer just changed part until the car worked)

-Window wiper rod fell off

-Drivers window stuck, really unpractical when in parking houses

-Changed both front lights and wires

-Wiring problems that neither I or the dealer figured out

-Contact problems in the ignition switch

-Various electrical things and the car was burning fuses all the time

-etc etc, this is just what I remember.

And when I sold it for pocket change several things needed to be replaced:

-Brakes again!!!

-Steering (probably rack and pinion that was gone)

-Wheel bearings

-Transmission gone? Difficult to get into reverse and 1. gear.

And it was starting to get serious rust problems. Sills, doors, around the wheel areas, front area.

I bought this car second hand knowing that there was some issues that needed attention and hence I got it cheap. I do my own maintenance and many repairs and I thought this car would bring me cheap and comfortable transportation. I could not have been more wrong.

This car was a disaster and even I have made many of my own repairs it has been a financial nightmare since dealer has done some of the repairs and the parts costs a lot of money. And Hyundai dealer seems to be clueless too many of the problems that can happen to this type of car.

Beware if you consider a second hand Sonata. Even if I had gotten this for free it would not have made any financial sense. But when you start repairing you always assumes that this is the last repair in a while, but on this car the repairs never stopped.

That's really not that bad for having that much mileage on the car. All of those little issues are bound to happen. Even the transmission needing work at that point in a car's life shouldn't bother you that much. Besides, do you know how it was cared for before you owned it?

I'm the (frustrated) reviewer commenting: Mind, the distance is in km. 193.000 km is about 120.000 miles. My previous car was a Opel Vectra 1.8 that did about 270K km before the engine went. And all I did was brake and a suspension overhaul over the 5 years that I had this car. My car before that was a 'banger' as well, with few problems. I originally thought the Sonata would do the job, but no. A real piece of shoddy engineering and no quality control.

And by the way the Sonata had a service record until 110.000 km.

Summing it up: A horrible car with an immense amount of problems.

It's funny because I drove my Sonata for 250,000!