I'll be a little more clear to separate myself from those that are flaming the brand and those that are "fanboying" the brand.
In 2009 I thought "Wow, Hyundai has really turned itself around". I loved the car, my 2009 V6 Tech. I was pretty irritated with some of the "attention to detail" pieces I would say, but overall thought that the fact that it was a great value would come out on top. That said, I bought it in Anchorage AK. The dealership there was top notch. I expected some problems with an initial year entry new car, and that dealer did as well.
I was always treated with respect, always promised and loaner vehicle due to it being Hyundai's Flagship at the time, and that dealer always treated me right. I was mildly irritated with the sometimes flighty audio system, even though when it works its the best stock stereo I have ever heard. I was okay with what I determine to be "lack of attention to detail" on the throttle position sensoring which I truly believe is what is causing these cars to lurch from a stop, with drive by wire throttle you could easily deaden the first 5-10% of throttle tip in so you arent peeling away all the time. I got past the lack of a basic thing like bluetooth audio support because I figured, this is the inception year, they will fix it in the future, and this is a great value.
Moved to Augusta GA. Dealership was another gem. Anytime V6 was in for service, they gave me the V8. Yeah, were they trying to sell me an upgrade? Maybe, but I took it mostly for respect. Respect for owning the flagship. So, I brokered a great deal and bought the V8 2011. Here is the rub. Every single problem that plagued the inception year V6 Tech was STILL IN THE V8!
This proved to me that Hyundai learned nothing in three years. THAT IS A PROBLEM. They got to a great turn around, but havent followed through, and all the same problems still exist in current years. It tells me they got complaints, but said "to heck with it, keep churning em out because we offer great value".
Anybody seen what the value of these things is coming out at? My 2011 MSRP was 42k, in 2012 with 24000 miles, it's FAIR MARKET PRIVATE sale value is 34K. CLEAN trade in is 29k and change. When my local dealer offered me 26k on a trade in on a prius, I laughed. I eventually got them to 28 and a quarter, and I started looking online. On ebay, buy it now from dealerships, 2011 with 20k miles, less miles than mine, being offered by dealers for 30k. 30% in one year? Why? Because even with a private party value of 34k, NOBODY is paying that. You can say "economy this" and "economy that" and "gas prices are high", but it's because nobody in the market is willling to pay that kind of price no matter what NADA suggests or KBB suggests. So 28k from a dealer on a trade in is fair, the odds of them making anything off of that is virtually zero. They have a V6 that has been sitting on the lot for 65 days, in other words it's about to go to auction, because there is NO used market on these. So, 42k msrp new, even with a 5 year 60k bumper to bumper warrenty, why is this car now only worth 25k to carmax, 26 to virtually any other dealer on trade in? because the overall state of the Hyundai service network is horrible.
When I moved to Columbia SC (I'm inthe military by the way if you havent figured that out yet), my seat began making crunching noises when backing up, and the seat heater was weak and cooler virtually non existent. Jim Hudson in Columbia was a horrible dealer, no respect, and I damn near had to beg for a loaner and they never fixed my steering
wheel issues or seat issues. They replaced switches and modules but soltions would work for a few days and would come back.
Capitol Hyundai had serious service department issues, so much so that when I diagnosed my seat problem, offered a solution aftter three visits with no resolution, the service manager and I got into a verbal argument, basically he kept asking me what I thought he should do about it, he had already replaced all kinds of parts. I said "I dont care, I want my car fixed or I'll be evaluating Georgia and SC lemon laws".
Dont know what happened but a few months later that entire service department had been replaced, but they still know almost nothing about the TECHNICAL aspects of repairing a Genesis. You can tell the difference if you have dealt with it long enough between a software issue, a firmware issue, a mechanical issue, or a design flaw or hardware issue. Basically, the last two dealerships, if it wasnt SPECIFICALLY ADDRESESSED IN AN OFFICIAL TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN, they had absolutely no idea how to actually go about troubleshooting and finding a problem.
As a former elect tech in Navy, we were taught how to troubleshoot. Halfsplitting problems. Good input/bad output indicates where the bad part is, and that is a simple rule you can use to troubleshoot down to the component level in any electronics, but beyond the grasp of even the "Genesis CERTIFIED" technicians at these dealerships. BLUF-These cars are FAR TOO COMPLEX for the training program Hyundai has established for their techs. Their techs and service writers need to come LIGHT YEARS to catch up to the car, and until that happens, their service is going to be substandard, and it makes it appear as though Big Hyundai corporate, in order to make that happen, has to get serious on how they handle service and training.
Too many of these issues are known by Hyundai, we have seen the seat ventilation fixes, suggested and approved by corporate that involve installing tubing in the seats that should have been there at manufacture to prevent crushing of the ventilation shafts, yet no official service bulletin. Same thing with the steering
wheel switch for tilting and telescoping. Corporate knows how to address the issues, but doesnt release it officially, so every time someone needs it fixed, they have to print the forum posts and argue with the service writer on how to fix their own car.
T
ed Nelson: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I've got spare time.
I love the warrenty. If hyundai ever cleans up their act on the wildly variable dealership service department networks, and they still sell an entry level luxo with a 5/60k, I may buy again. I realized the wife and I were really disliking driving the car, not because of the little problems, but because we realized what the little problems represented - us wasting HOURS across MULTIPLE dealer trips through various crappy loaners only to have the problem fixed with a "reset" for a couple of days. One dealer didnt even have a loaner program, sent us in a shuttle to Enterprise rentals, at which we waited two hours for a subcompact to become available, because the dealer only authorized 15 dollars a day on the rental.
Give me a Yugo, at least I know what to expect because the original dealer I buy from isnt going to try to blow smoke up my ass and make promises it will ultimately back out of. I know I am buying a POS, and they dont insult my intelligence by putting a stamp of GAURENTEED on the box.
