Hyundai Problems

While the CVT is enjoying a bit of a purple patch right now with many car-makers using it for its efficiency benefits, you’re not the only one, Gregg, that doesn’t want to own such a thing. The CVT’s history is littered with failures, although to be perfectly fair, they are a lot better now than they’ve ever been.

But even if you can accept their reliability track record, some owners will just never take to the CVT’s characteristics of allowing the engine to rev up and have the rest of the vehicle catch up. It can feel very alien and it’s hardly a sporty sensation, either.

With all that in mind, you probably should start looking at things like the two-wheel-drive versions of something like, say, the Toyota Kluger or Hyundai Santa Fe. Both are available in two-wheel-drive, both have conventional 8-speed automatic transmissions and both can haul a decent load (2000kg and 2500kg respectively). The Toyota even offers a hybrid driveline, but, sadly for buyers like you, that uses a CVT transmission.

If I had to guess, I'd say the weight of the roof-rack and bicycles has stressed the metal of the roof to the point where it's been flexing enough to crack the sunroof frame. By the way, from what I can gather, all sunroofs fitted to Australian i30s were done at dealership level using an aftermarket sunroof. These are not Hyundai sunroofs, even though they were fitted when the car was brand-new.

Disregard the quote for $18,000, because that's nonsense. You could replace the whole sunroof (in fact, the whole car) for a fraction of that, and that would be the worst-case scenario. As for welding the cracked frame, it's potentially possible, but may not be practical. The frame forms the surface the roof slides on, so any distortion from welding could make the whole unit unworkable. Take it to a sunroof specialist and get an expert opinion, as well as a real-world repair quote.

Premium diesel fuel seems to be one of those things that marketing departments, rather than engineering departments, have invented. It enables the fuel companies to charge you more for a product that is allegedly better, but nobody really knows why Premium diesel is an advantage.

At best, Premium diesel will have a few extra additives to help keep the engine clean inside, so maybe running a tank of Premium every now and then isn’t a bad idea. It won’t hurt. But don’t be fooled into thinking that your car will perform better in any meaningful way by switching exclusively to the more expensive Premium brew.

This is, of course, the opposite of Premium unleaded petrol which, depending on the car, can be a difference between happy motoring and expansive engine damage.

The best guess is that the noise is being generated by the electric motor integrated into the steering column that acts as the power-steering in the Kona. If it’s s faint noise that is heard more often with the windows closed and the stereo off, then it’s the same noise that other Kona owners have noted.

Another possibility is a noisy clock-spring. This is a flexible electrical contact inside the top of the steering column that allows the steering wheel to turn while still maintaining all the electrical contacts that power the air-bags and steering wheel-mounted controls. These clock springs often become noisy just before they fail.

Your car is still under warranty, and since you’ve already logged the fault with your Hyundai dealer, it’s now a pre-existing problem and must be fixed by Hyundai, even if the car itself runs out of warranty in the meantime.

You're right in that Australia has no lemon laws, but we do have Australian Consumer Laws which are aimed at protecting consumers against these sorts of problems. It's frustrating that some car dealers are still using the old ‘oh, they all do that' defence to explain away problems that need to be fixed. Car companies would do well to crack down on any of their dealers who give such glib answers.

So the advice is to go straight over the dealer's head and talk to Hyundai's customer service department. A modern car shouldn't surge at any speed, and since your car is covered by its factory warranty, you need to give Hyundai every chance to put it right. Only after Hyundai has given up without a resolution should you talk to the ACCC on the basis of the car not being fit for purpose.

My experience is that Hyundai has been very diligent in fixing problems like this and looking after its customers, so forget the dealer and go straight to head office.

Cars have a range of what interior designers call touch-points and these include both the controls and the surfaces you touch just by sitting in the car (the seat, the armrest and so on). Modern cars and materials are much better at getting these surfaces to withstand constant use and contact, but even then, sometimes the little icons can fade or wear off altogether.

It's much less common today, of course, but one thing that hasn’t changed is grimy hands (although Covid has led to generally cleaner hands around the world) so cleaning these touch-points is also important for hygiene and clarity. Something to bear in mind is that, unlike a cruise-control or stereo button, you will probably only touch the gear selector twice every journey (once when you start the car and move off, and the second when you set it to Park and switch the engine off).

Electronics not ageing gracefully is a whole other subject and one that continues to confound some manufacturers. And even though this technology improves with every new generation, the move to electronic control for basic functions often seems like a backward step. Show the owner of a new four-wheel-drive, with a rotary dial to select the driveline settings, an older off-roader with a simple, foolproof mechanical lever to shift between two and four-wheel-drive and you’ll leave them wishing for the good old days.

These engines definitely did have a reputation for piston slap and ticking noises and this could easily have led to the cylinder scoring you’re complaining of. But you haven’t told me how many kilometres the engine has covered. If it’s a lot, then Hyundai’s stance is a bit easier to understand, since the engine may have been suffering normal wear and tear (which can include the same symptoms).

Carsguide’s normal advice would be to contact Hyundai’s customer service department, followed by the ACCC. But since you appear to have tried this, I’m not sure where to go next. Certainly, a $9000 repair bill is likely to be as much, or more, than the car is worth, so maybe a second-hand, tested engine from a parts recycler will be a cheaper option than rebuilding what you have.

I don't think anybody these days considers less than seven years and just over 100,000km to be the lifespan of a modern engine. Certainly not in a car serviced properly. And since this is a known problem with these engines, I think you have a very good case for Hyundai to at least help out with the repairs on a pro-rata basis.

Our experience lately has been that some Hyundai dealerships have been ignoring cases like these and not giving them the consideration they perhaps should be. In any case, any decision to help out with repairs must come from head office, so I'd forget about the dealership for now and go straight to the top. Hyundai Australia has a customer service division and that's who you need to be talking to. Approaching the ACCC should be your last resort, but at least give Hyundai the chance to do the right thing by a loyal customer.

The extra purchase price of a diesel engine over a petrol one is only the start of the cost comparison. Generally speaking, diesels will cost a bit more to service (it depends on the make and model) and that’s if you don’t have problems with the diesel particulate filter (DPF) or soot build-up in the engine’s intake system that needs to be manually cleaned out.

You also need to consider your driving habits to decide whether a diesel is right for you. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t go for a decent drive at highway speeds for about an hour or so at least once or twice a month, then a diesel is not for you. Using a diesel engine exclusively for short trips at suburban speed can often see the DPF requiring more attention than it should, and that equals cost.

Also, modern petrol engines have really closed the fuel-economy gap that the diesel once enjoyed. The fuel consumption difference between the diesel Tucson and the petrol version is likely to be about a litre per 100km (based on the official combined figure for each). That means that even at $2 per litre (and based on the $6000 difference in price you’ve quoted) you’d need to drive 300,000km before the diesel began to pay for itself in terms of fuel saved. I’m not sure there’s a full $6000 separating the two versions of the Tucson, but even so, you get the idea.

The popular MG3 is the model you’re referring to and you’re right; it hasn’t been locally crash-tested. But it does lack some important safety gear. Enough, we reckon, to knock it off your short-list. The MG lacks, for instance, important driver aids such as autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assistance, nor can these features be had by spending more on a fancier version.

Which leaves us with your other two choices, the Hyundai i30 and Kia Rio. Even then, you’ll need to option up beyond the base-model to get (some of) those safety features, but these are not expensive cars to begin with, so the jump might not be as bad as you think.

The other car to consider would be the SP Pure version of the Mazda 2. At $23,690, it’s not over-priced but it does have low-speed (up to 30km/h) autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warning as well as rear cross-traffic alert.

And a manual transmission? The MG 3 no longer offers one, both the Hyundai i30 and the Kia Rio are available with a six-speed manual option. The Mazda 2 Pure SP is automatic only, but you can get a six-speed manual on the base-model Mazda 2.

I agree that youngsters taught to drive a manual car tend to be better drivers, but that’s not a universally held view these days. And the fact is that most young drivers will never be presented with a clutch pedal in the future, raising the question of why learn in the first place? The reality is that learning to drive a manual car gives you extra mechanical awareness and extra ability to multi-task behind the wheel.