opinions on Tiburon?

I'm considering purchasing a 1998
Hyundai Tiburon with 77,000 miles.
Consumer Reports has very little
information on them.

Any opinions? If I purchase it
should I be watching out for
anything in particular?

 

Have done some repairs on one of a similar age, so far had the
following happen after it was purchased with 58,000 on the clock (has
75,536 now).

Crankshaft sensor died, causes the car to start fine from cold, but
will not start from hot until the car cooled down.
Very annoying problem for short journeys & if you stall in traffic =
nightmare.

Passanger side electric window winder cord de-railed itself, jammed the
window open. Managed to fix it up by greasing the guides + wire, but it
really needs to be replaced.

Driver side electric window winder cord snapped, had to replace the
whole winder mechanism (not motor).

I hear the power steering pump bearings starting to wear badly, they'll
need fixing soon, probably a new pump.

Have noticed an increase in oil consumption & water consumption, hope
the head gasket is allright.

Clock (time) has erratic display, numbers flash on/off. Sometimes it's
fine. It's a loose connection, but it's a mega job to take it out to
fix or replace, so I'm leaving it until something else needs doing.
Fitted a replacement radio that has time anyway.

I believe the crankshaft sensor + window winders are very common
problems (seen here quite a lot), so look out for these.

 

I have a 97' Tiburon with a 1.8L and 5 speed and have no complaints.
Have really only done scheduled maintainance and a couple of
alternators. The alternators were expensive. The car is still on its
original clutch and has 190,000+ on the odometer. Not nearly as much
power as when it was bought but still has enough power to get me
anywhere I have a mind to go.

...Ron

 

You can compare it to the 1996-2000 Elantra, and you can include 1997-2001
Tiburons in your search. They're very similar vehicles. The differences
with the Elantra are pretty much stiffness of suspension, and body and
trim.

 

Strike that, I just lost the clutch master cylinder on the car last
night. Go figure. The original clutch still seems OK though. 2 dats
to get a replacement from a local Hyundai dealer though, pathetic.

...Ron