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Inherited the car - Should I just turn it in for a different car ?

3.5K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  nuckollsr  
#1 ·
As the title says.
The car currently has a little over 63k on the speedometer. I change the oil often and check other common breaking pieces a lot.

Any recommendations since my parents own the car and not me and I'm currently in college..?
 
#2 ·
That's not something anyone here can reliably answer with the little info provided, and sight unseen (not even photos).

If the service history is impeccable, and general condition is good, then it should be reliable for another 63K + miles.
 
#6 ·
Consider this

you have a great experience with a car. Who knows about it?

you get a total lemon, now how many people know about it?

people like to piss and moan. You’ll hear far more bad than good on just about ANYTHING you can think of. If the car is in solid working order, keep it! You said you were in college?Be smart about this, save yourself some serious money and keep the car already. It’s a no brainer.
 
#7 ·
Kia/Hyundai had hundreds of thousands of vehicles for recalls. many instances of engines catching on fire, engines seizing up, engines losing power, metal shavings in the engine, crankshaft wear, etc.

you're close to the "engine failure" of 80-100k miles. mine has regular maintenance, had an oil catch can, expensive racing quality spark plugs, full synthetic oil every 5K miles, and drove prefectly fine, until 2weeks ago at around 87k miles then suddenly without warning engine loses power on the highway. luckily it didn't seize. my regular autoshop was a few miles away. they ran the ODB code and said it was the 3rd Kia that week that threw a manufacturer specific engine replacement code. i was able to get to the dealership a few miles away. still waiting on the replacement engine to ship from S.Korea. Kia is paying for some of the rental car, but still costing me $30/day going on 2 weeks now.

this is my 1st and will be my last Kia/Hyundai. my co-worker had a Hyundai with around 80K miles, his mechanic friend that works at a Hyundai dealership warned him he was getting close to the engine failure mileage. he traded it in for a Toyota.
 
#10 ·
Used car prices are up substantially in the US in the last six months. You'll likely get as much for the car as you ever will by selling now; but of course you'll also pay a premium on most new and used cars right now. Tough call.

I'd say if you have $10K to add to the deal to get you into a lower mileage Kia or Hyundai with less than 5 years and 60,000 miles, you'd at least have the balance of the warranty available to you.
 
#11 ·
I hasten to point out, the failure stories you hear in this forum are not the majority of owner's experiences. A vast majority of owners of a particular brand or model don't have their engine blow up, or that car company would quickly be out of business! Just because a couple of people here have had issues with the engine in that model hardly portends what your experience will be. The car is running fine, and the odds are that it will continue to do so.
 
#13 ·
most Kia/Hyundai owners aren't on the forums either.

to my knowledge, i wasn't part of the 3.9 million plaintiffs in the lawsuits.
"Representing 3.9 million owners of Hyundai Sonata, Santa Fe, and Tuscon vehicles, and Kia Optima, Rio Sorento, Soul and Sportage vehicles, roughly in the 2011 to 2019 model years, the plaintiffs charged that the Theta II GDI was prone to catastrophic failures and non-collision fires, which exposed vehicle owners to safety hazards and economic losses."

and the problem was severe enough for the NHTSA to give them the largest fine ever.
"NHTSA announced a whopper of a civil settlement with Hyundai Kia – $210 million – the agency’s largest penalty ever. It stands out because it’s been a minute since NHTSA has imposed any meaningful penalties on manufacturers uninterested in following safety regulations."
Hyundai-Kia’s Billion Dollar Engine Problem that Broke the NHTSA Civil Penalty Barrier - Safety Research & Strategies, Inc.

i can't find any numbers on actual engine failures and replacements, but just googling engine fires, engine seizing, engine stall, its a whole lot more than just "a couple." and when a Hyundai mechanic is telling his friends and family to trade in their Hyundais and get something else, you know its more than just "a couple." and when i pulled into my local autoshop when i lost engine power, the first thing the guy said is "might need an engine replacement" you know they've seen more than "a couple" of Kia/Hyundai vehicles that needed an engine replacement.
 
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#14 ·
I'm on my third Kia Sedona in about 13 years. Sold first two with 200K miles on them with EVERYTHING working . . I'm about to roll over 100K on my third car. Bought them all used at 50 to 80K miles. Never had to do anything beyond the expected wear/tear maintenance. Can't speak to your situation but hey, you have $0 invested in it, you like the car, drive it till it has a problem you're not willing to fix then scrap it. If 'trading up' now will cost you some cash, then start a little fund in the cookie jar and stash that cash so it will soften the pain when and if the unhappy day comes but in the mean time, study hard and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.