I just bought a 2004 XG350L Monday and it is FANTASTIC. PLENTY of
power and every option I could possibly need or want!
I did not jump into this purchase on blind faith. I bought my older
daughter the Elantra GLS in '01. It had some flaking of paint on the
hood in dime to quarter sized spots on the hood after a few months.
Dealer repainted, no problems, and gave her a new Elantra for three
days until the work was completed. When the car was about 1.5 years
old, the battery died. Dealer said they had gotten some faulty
batteries...replaced at no charge. After 2.5 years, one wiper
quit...dealer fixed free in 10 minutes by tightening something.
I bought my younger daughter the Elantra 5-door GT in May '03. The
vanity mirror hinge broke after about 3 months. Dealer ordered a
replacement mirror and fixed free w/in about 10 minutes.
I test drove the XG350L last Saturday. Looked at Nissan Maxima,
equally equipped...$32,000. Looked at Toyota Avalon equally
equipped...$34,000. Both have a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. I
bought the XG350L on Monday, with 3 years of free oil changes and free
tire rotations (just part of every sale from our dealer) and the 5
year/60,000 mile & 10 year/100,000 mile warranty, $2500 rebate ($1500
+ $1000)...just can't be beat.
Or, you can spend an extra $10,000 and get the "name brand" vehicles.
I really believe that Hyundai offers the best bang for the buck! Yes,
Hyundai doesn't have the resale value of the "name brand" vehicles if
you trade every 2-3 years, but then you don't pay as much up front.
We keep a vehicle for about 10 years average...so none of our trades
have much resale value! We really need the warranty to outlast the
payments so we don't wind up having payments AND repair bills on top
of the payments. Hyundai takes care of this!
Some people hear "Hyundai" and just won't even consider looking/test
driving. However, Hyundai has come a LONG way with quality the last
few years. They obviously believe in their own products or they
wouldn't have such a long warranty...if they broke down all the time,
Hyundai would go broke fixing them under warranty. Three people at
work own Elantra/Sonata...all love 'em.