97 Sonata hit 100,000

I am a satisfied owner of a 1997 Sonata v6, and it hit 100,000 miles
the other day. Overall the car has been very good. Everything has
been running perfectly, besides what's listed below. Although the 2
problems I had aren't small, I got over them, and the car has been
holding up very well. It's still tight on the road. Not squeaks or
noises. And most importantly, no constant 'little issues' nickle and
diming me. Everything just works.

Problems:
1) Transmission failure at 92,000 miles. This is obviously major, but
it at least was a single problem that got fixed. I had a warranty, so
I 'only' paid $1,000 to have it completely overhauled. (warranty
covered $1,800 of the cost) Runs well now.

2) Mechanic saw rack & pinion steering leaking at 99,200 miles. Since
I had the warranty, and it was about to run out, I had it replaced for
free. I do believe that if I left this, it would have been fine for
years, but I didn't want to take the chance.

My biggest complaint about the car is it doesn't get very great gas
mileage. I drive over 50% highway, and I still average around 23 MPG.
If I drive 100% highway, like on a trip, I get 27-28, not too bad,
but around town, it's a little low. However at this point reliability
is way more important than mileage.

Otherwise the car runs perfect. -Everything- else is original. I
plan on keeping it to the 10 year mark, meaning I'll hopefully get
140,000 or more out of it. We'll see... but it's really proven itself
so far.

While I don't own a Sonata, my little Elantra hit the 140,000 mile mark last
week. Problems have been minimal. Here's what I've done to the car since I
had bought it with 56,000 on it.

tires, they all need them from time to time:)
brake pads
front left wheel bearing
timing belt, normal maintenance
water pump, should have had it done when I had the timing belt done!!!!!
alternator, just recently replaced.
normal oil changes.

The car uses less than a quart of oil between 3000 mile oil changes. Still
gets the 30-32 miles to a gallon of gasoline. Overall I've been pretty
pleased with the Hyunda. I do have a problem right now that to me is a
little out of the ordinary. The exhaust manifold has cracked around one of
the welds. Checked with a local muffler shop and they said they could weld
it, but it would probably break again in a few months. A new manifold at the
local dealer was quoted to me for $398.00!!!!!!. If anybody has any ideas
where I might be able buy one at a less expensive price let me know. My
Elantra sure isn't a hotrod, but I might have to look into some high
performance type headers.

Thanks,
Rick





"Wes" wrote in message

 > I am a satisfied owner of a 1997 Sonata v6, and it hit 100,000 miles
 > the other day. Overall the car has been very good. Everything has
 > been running perfectly, besides what's listed below. Although the 2
 > problems I had aren't small, I got over them, and the car has been
 > holding up very well. It's still tight on the road. Not squeaks or
 > noises. And most importantly, no constant 'little issues' nickle and
 > diming me. Everything just works.
 >
 > Problems:
 > 1) Transmission failure at 92,000 miles. This is obviously major, but
 > it at least was a single problem that got fixed. I had a warranty, so
 > I 'only' paid $1,000 to have it completely overhauled. (warranty
 > covered $1,800 of the cost) Runs well now.
 >
 > 2) Mechanic saw rack & pinion steering leaking at 99,200 miles. Since
 > I had the warranty, and it was about to run out, I had it replaced for
 > free. I do believe that if I left this, it would have been fine for
 > years, but I didn't want to take the chance.
 >
 > My biggest complaint about the car is it doesn't get very great gas
 > mileage. I drive over 50% highway, and I still average around 23 MPG.
 > If I drive 100% highway, like on a trip, I get 27-28, not too bad,
 > but around town, it's a little low. However at this point reliability
 > is way more important than mileage.
 >
 > Otherwise the car runs perfect. -Everything- else is original. I
 > plan on keeping it to the 10 year mark, meaning I'll hopefully get
 > 140,000 or more out of it. We'll see... but it's really proven itself
 > so far.