[2013ElantraFairNotGreat]

My 2013 Elantra GLS gets a "Fair, not Great" verdict based upon the below quality problems over 9 years. What's been your experience? I have doubt if I'd buy another one after having these issues:

1) Paint: lots of peeling painting on door handles, bumpers, mirrors
2) terrible sound insulation from road noise
3) interior overhead light console defect
4) overhead visors breaking repeatedly
5) marginal headlight illumination, especially bad on cornering

On the good side: no engine problems yet (car has 80K miles with very good care)

 

[Scott91370]

I've only had mine about 6 months, 3 or 4th owner and everything excpt th TPMS worked when I got it.
I've put almost 5k miles on it and here is my take on these cars.
Th engines are OK at best. The piston slap issue is annoying and I knew nothing of it when I bought the but after having it in the cold weather I can hear it. But with just about 180k and being several owners oldI'm sure Hyundai will say it's my problem. Totally understand since I can't prove any maintenance and the 1st owner was a rental car company.
And on the not being able to prove maintenance and knowing how bad of a driver the last owner was, I can't blame the bad tie rod end on Hyundai. When I say bad driver I mean several curbs, the rear bumper cover had been drug behind the car for who knows how far and had a hold in it (I replaced that), the seats looked like they had been at the bottom of a lake (washing machine and steam cleaner made them look brand new), the bottom of the door sill area had dents and they had to buy a replacement set of wheels, which are also in bad shape. These are the big things.

I will say it does have a lot of rock chips on the hood to go with your paint complain.
Road noise is a lot (it is a cheap car though).
And yes, the headlights are just ok. I don't drive it at night so I don't worry about it.

I will say for the abuse it probably took as a rental and the abuse it did take from the last owner it is a pretty though machine.

Would I buy another? Yes - IF I could get t for the low price I paid for this one. All in after tax/title/license/bumper/ball joint - $1200
Only reason I bought it was to use as my daily to work and back. Every 1000 miles I put on it for work versus my truck I save $100. It'll never pay for itself because of insurance but after 2 years I cold sell it for a couple thousand and make some money.

 

[DocDoug]

I have a 2013. The car is what it is…. Having said that, I have slight piston slap at 60,000 miles and other little issues. Looking back, I should spent the additional 3k and bought the Corolla. No more Hyundai’s for me. Hyundai showed their ass with the warranty. At 36,000 miles or so, they replaced a bad strut. Not two but one. When I called and spoke with the service manager, blindly, I asked by chance if I had a bad strut would they replace just one??? The manager said “NEVER”… it’s not safe and will cause the car to handle out of sync. When I asked why they were replacing only one of my two, he was shocked that it was my car in for warranty. He blamed Hyundai, stating they would only replace one. Interesting that Hyundai would only replace one under warranty but if I brought the car in outside of warranty they would not replace just one. At that moment, I knew that I was done with Hyundai. Safe only when the customer foots the bill.., not when Hyundai pays the bill. GO TOYOTA!

 

[Chrisinarizona]

My 2013 Elantra GLS gets a "Fair, not Great" verdict based upon the below quality problems over 9 years. What's been your experience? I have doubt if I'd buy another one after having these issues:

1) Paint: lots of peeling painting on door handles, bumpers, mirrors
2) terrible sound insulation from road noise
3) interior overhead light console defect
4) overhead visors breaking repeatedly
5) marginal headlight illumination, especially bad on cornering

On the good side: no engine problems yet (car has 80K miles with very good care)

 

[Chrisinarizona]

Bought my 2014 limited sedan with less than 10k miles on it. All and all I rate it as average or lower. Gas mileage is the main reason I purchased. But the car itself is far from quality.

my leather interior has to be the cheapest leather I've ever felt. I have my doubts if it's real leather or not. Both sun visors have needed to be replaced and the glovebox has never closed properly. My fuel pump failed at 95k. A replacement was almost $400 and I did the installation myself. Airbag clockspring went out at 105k. Luckily hyundai is forced to pay for it. I have a recurring problem with both low beam headlamps. I've had install new pigtails on both sides multiple times. Finally solved the issue by using LED bulbs. My car has 150k now and I'm dealing with transmission issues. Also shiftronic stopped working at about 103k. I have constant issues with alignment on this car. Never seems to hold alignment so I just stopped paying to have it aligned. Motor mounts have been replaced 2x now. Rear shocks went out at 41k(leaking) Replaced front struts at 90k which is not completely unreasonable. Air conditioner never seemed strong enough to keep up with hot summers here. Currently has a leak in system. The paint is very poor. I have clearcoat damage in several areas which seems premature on a car which is 8 years old. This car also eats batteries faster than any car I've owned. Some lasted under 12 months. Alternator was replaced a month ago and they are unbelievably expensive for the part. I really expected higher quality from this car and I'm doubtful ill ever buy another one. It's far from the worst car I've ever owned. I did regular maintenance on the car but feel it's had a fair share of issues which aren't maintenance related.

 

[Scott91370]

I have my doubts if it's real leather or not.

My F150 Lariat doesn't even have real leather so I would bet the bank the Elantra does not.