Have Hyundai & Kia succeeded in the reliability arena?

[Pints]

Hyundai, and more recently Kia, became serious contenders in the automotive scene when they began offering 5 and 7 year warranties.
The general consensus seemed to be that it was a good thing and reliability issues would be put to bed for them.

Now, several years on from that very bold marketing move (or was it much more than that?), I've been wondering how they're stacking up against the reliability (perceived or otherwise) of the big names in the German, Japanese, etc. motor industry.

Have they won us over and are they going to be taking the crown from VW/Toyota/[insert your reliable brand of choice here] any time soon?

Any stories from owners would be especially useful.

[sjg]

TUV reports are here: http://www.anusedcar.com/

2011 figures for cars 2-3 years old here: http://www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-report-year...

Kia Ceed is 24th, very similar to the Golf, behind the Prius, Auris, Mazda3, A3. Better than Astra, Civic, Focus, BMW 1. Worth noting that it's only a few percent in defect rate that separates all of them though.

The oft-quoted ones over here tend to be done by the third-party warranty providers, and if you have a car with a 5 or 7 year warranty you're not likely to be using them.

[the_scorpion]

Wife bought an ex demo Santa Fe back in 2004 with 1100 miles on the clock. It now has about 76,500 miles on it and nothing has ever gone wrong with it so I would say they are pretty reliable.

[AmitG]

Some folks on my road bought a Kia Sorento brand new about 6 years ago. The bloke says that in all that time nothing has gone wrong and the only replacement parts have been consumables. He's the sort of fellow who keeps every single document filed away, drives carefully and takes maintenance seriously. Someone some day is going to get the used car bargain of a lifetime.

It's a pretty nice car too, both inside and out. It's not going to win any design awards but it has an honest, unpretentious appearance and seems to be built solidly. If I was in the market I would seriously consider one.

I hear generally good things about Hyundai/Kia. They have really raised their game IMHO. The latest i40 and Sorento look really good; visually more interesting than the stuff the Germans are coming out with, which to me sometimes looks as though they are trying too hard.

They have made no secret of wanting to build a luxury car. Potentially, they could disrupt the Mercedes/BMW/Jaguar axis just as Toyota did when they brought out the Lexus LS400 in 1989.

They will stumble if they try to go upmarket too quickly. The new Kia Sorento is nice, but a fully specced version is £33K. The cheapest version (2WD, manual gearbox, 5 seats) is something like £23K. Are people ready to pay that for a Kia? Not sure.

I can't help feeling that Toyota and Honda are resting on their laurels a bit.

[A9XXC]

My wife has a July 2005 Hyundai Coupe SE 2.0, bought at 18 months old and 16K now has around 50K I think, the only problems, handbrake pivot seized and a holed aircon condenser.
Very impressed and wife likes it (most important!) and it drives ok too!

[A9XXC]

My wife has a July 2005 Hyundai Coupe SE 2.0, bought at 18 months old and 16K now has around 50K I think, the only problems, handbrake pivot seized and a holed aircon condenser.
Very impressed and wife likes it (most important!) and it drives ok too!

[EDLT]

sjg said:

TUV reports are here: http://www.anusedcar.com/

2011 figures for cars 2-3 years old here: http://www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-report-year...

There is something odd about these reliability reports, those results are completely different to ones that are made by an American company (and no, the Americans don't put American cars at the top).

[Pints]

I've spent the evening comparing various offerings from Kia and Hyundai to those of VW and Ford, and the comparable value for money is astounding.

Auto Express certainly sing their praises, and I've been in a few colleagues' Kias recently and have been very impressed.

If their reliability really is as good as it seems, they're going to be serious contenders when I need a new daily. The materials used look and feel the part, and they're not terrible places to be. (Certainly better than my Focus was.)

[Chrisgr31]

the_scorpion said:

Wife bought an ex demo Santa Fe back in 2004 with 1100 miles on the clock. It now has about 76,500 miles on it and nothing has ever gone wrong with it so I would say they are pretty reliable.

I bought a new Sante Fe in 2005, mainly because at the time I was doing 25,000 miles and I thought a car hich the maker warranties with 125,000 miles on the clock must be reliable. Actually changed by job so not doing the mileage

Its only let me down once which was in the very cold weather just before Christmas last year. It wouldnt start. Failed glow plugs were diagnosed and fixed free of charge even though it was 2 weeks outside the warranty period and 70,000 on the clock.

When in for a service the garage has occasionally said "We noticed this needed replacing, its a warranty item so no charge!

Therefore I have n complaints.