2006 Hyundai quality report from J D Powers

3rd place behind Porsche and Lexus. then Toyota jaguar Honda cadillac
see :
http://my.is/forums/showthread.php?p=4253388#post4253388

Quote:Hyundai ranks among the top three nameplates in the study for the
first time in the history of IQS. Highlights include a top ranking for the
Hyundai Tucson in the compact multi-activity vehicle (MAV) segment, and
top-three segment performances for the redesigned Sonata and all-new
Azera, as well as the Elantra and Tiburon.

 

This is good-news to Hyundai customers (will increase value of their car at
trade/sale time) and for me. (Yipes, an evil car salesman who sells the
Hyundai line in the Sacramento, CA area is lurking here! Oh the
horror! )

People are getting 'educated.' They can get the same or better quality from
Hyundai without paying Toyota/Honda prices. That is NOT to imply that
either Toyota or Honda are 'bad' autos. They are excellent. Competition is
good. But there is now a third choice out there for consumers, one that
usually will give more car for their dollar.

A.C.
(Contact me? Put underscores between the words.)

 

While I've been quite pleased with the assembly quality of my Sonata, it
certainly isn't in the same league yet as Toyota. However, I think
Hyundai's bribes are much better than Toyota's. I suspect Hyundai will
be a match for Toyota in a few more years, but I don't believe this
survey is accurate today. I think Hyundai is intentionally skewing the
numbers, but this is nothing new for Koreans. Their sense of ethics
isn't the same as ours or Japan's. That is well known.


Matt

 

can you tell us how you can pronounce these truths ? .........seems to me
the japanese have been far from ethically superior.(rape of Nanking, Korean
comfort girls come to mind) Autowise, how is the sonata leagues inferior to,
say, a camry? I will say time will tell, and initial quality isn't
everything......ps, I like to top post, and am going to stop apologizing for
it!

 

Damn Matt! is this the same as "no good deed goes unpunished"...
enjoy the moment. leave the skeptics to the honda/toyata people!!

 

No, not at all. Hyundai's gains in product quality have been
impressive. I just think that the current rating is too much due to
bribery and not enough due (yet) to underlying product quality. I have
no doubt that Hyundai will get there, but I don't think they are there
yet. I'd place them in the top 10 probably, but they aren't ahead of
Toyota by any stretch of the imagination.


Matt

 

One thing to notice is that this report is on "initial quality" and not "long
term quality". Don't get me wrong, I think Hyundai is making excellent cars and
are a lot more reliable than any domestic cars, but they are not in the same
league as Japanese or German manufactures.

I've had some minor problems with problems on my sister's 99 Elantra (90k miles
) which just shouldn't happen at the time they occurred (spark plug wires at
50k, O2 sensor at 45k, fuel pump connectors needed to be cleaned at 60k). Also
the paint they use doesn't seem to hold up. There are dull marks on sections of
the car and that's with 2 coats of wax per year. My 95 Integra looks almost like
new even today.

Nick

 

I agree, to a point.

All I have to go by is MY initial quality. After 4 months and 4K miles,
only 1 problem. (ka-thunk in the trunk). That represents the best build
quality of any car I've owned, by far. This is my 7th new car. I've owned
VW, Audi, Mazda, and Toyota, and none of them were close to my Sonata in
initial build quality. Of course, each successive car I buy has better build
quality, so I chalk some of it up to general improvement in the industry.

The Sonata owner's I'm talking to also have very few problems. When they
do, they get pretty upset, so I don't think they are holding back on
reporting. The problems I am reading about are mostly niggling problems, and
many aren't even related to build quality. I bet if you took away the
ka-thunk in the trunk, Hyundai would have been even higher in the JD Power
survey. That's because the Sonata made up such a high percentage of Hyundai
sales in 2005.

 

I have been driving a Sonata GLS V6 since December 2005 and am very
satisfied with the initial quality of the vehicle. I am one of the customer
that filled J.D. Power's surveys and sent it in. I don't know about bribery
and all, but I sent in top initial quality rating based on my own
experience.

I truly felt (and still feel) that I got a much better car (feature-wise)
for much lower price compared to Camry or Accord. I am yet to find any
significant problem or annoyance.

I ride in my friend's new Camry to work (in the passenger seat). It is 2006
model bought in 2005. I don't see any difference between Sonata and Camry. I
know for a fact that long-term quality of Camry is great because I used to
own a Camry. Time will tell how Sonata will perform long-term.

Before November 2006, we didn't even consider Hyundai. We are currently
contemplating replacing our 1999 Sienna with a Hyundai or Kia.

 

Just another useless JD Powers report

 

I agree. Hyundai (and the rest of the world for that matter, except
maybe Italy) is well ahead of the Germans, but still not up with the
Japanese, at least not the best of the Japanese.


Matt

 

Yes, we trust our own experience the most!

I've found the Sonata pretty good, but only equivalent to my 86 Jeep
Comanche and 84 Honda Accord, but not as good as my 94 Chevy pickup or
my 89 Plymouth Acclaim, the latter being the best car I've ever owned
both from initial quality as well as long-term durability. The Chevy
pickup really only had two problems, one a design problem that couldn't
be corrected (stumbling at partial throttle) and one major problem
(pushrod failure), or it would have been the equal of the Acclaim.

My Sonata has had no real assembly defects, but has several design
defects that we'd discussed before here.


Matt

 

sour grapes?

 

I think there is probably a correlation between build quality and long term
reliability. Certainly not 1:1, but usually cars that little stuff falls off
of when new have big stuff fall off later.

 

Bob Adkins said: "I think there is probably a correlation between build
quality and long term reliability. Certainly not 1:1, but usually cars that
little stuff falls off of when new have big stuff fall off later. "......


Hmm.

Don't get me wrong, Bob, because I am a pro-Hyundai guy. But exhibit A
arguing against your point of view is General Motors.

Since the J.D. Powers initial quality survey has begun, GM has had some cars
rate very highly, and some of their brands do awfully well. And indeed,
GM's initial build quality seems to have improved dramatically.

But the effects are yet to be seen long-term. I stopped buying GM's
because, although I was a GM guy, their vehicles would always have issues,
things I even invented a word to describe them - "GM-isms." The improvement
on initial quality seemed to just put those inevitable problems back a
little ways.

In defense of your position, even when brands like Hyundai and Kia weren't
working their way up the totem pole, I have NEVER had problems with any of
them like I did with every GM, Ford and Chrysler I ever owned, no matter
what J.D. Powers said.

Tom Wenndt

 

Actually, I've had just the opposite experience. I've found that cars
with little problems tend to not have big problems and vice versa.

I think design has more to do with long-term durability and assembly
more to do with initial quality perception.


Matt

 

Interestingly I was just watching part of a story on the Hyundai plant
in the US on the History channel. Two things came through loud and
clear.

Increasing quality on parts allowed increasing automation that
provided lower cost to fund increasing quality on parts to fund more
automation etc. Only use people where machines can't do the work. Its
a nice circle compared to a lot of cost acutting I've seen.

Second - focus on the major problems. As they put it - small things
annoy people but they can ignore them until they can get them fixed as
long as when they put the key in the car starts and goes somewhere.

That seems to be my experience and what I keep seeing here. Ford an
Chevy are worrying about transmissions or engines, Hyundai owners
complain about thumps in the trunk. I'll take the thump.

;-)

 

My experience has been much the opposite. I've found American designed
and assembled cars to be well designed, but often not well assembled.
I've found my Sonata to be well assembled, but not as well designed in
several areas. Personally, I'd like a well designed AND well assembled
car, as I think we all would. However, if I have to give on one, I'd
rather give on assembly quality before giving on design quality. Either
the dealer can correct the assembly issues or I can often correct them
myself. It is almost impossible to correct a design problem in the field.


Matt

 

Any chance you recall the name of the show? I'd like to see that
story.

 

Matt, why did I know you would think the opposite?