Hi. I'm new to this group. I just bought a 2000 Sonata GLS. One of the reasons I purchased this car is that I've owned and worked on a few Korean stereo components, VCRs, and microwave ovens. The products have been good, although there's usually been one strange design blunder in each one that caused its demise. For example, my Samsung microwave oven will probably be tossed due to a paint failure! And it's otherwise a winner, far outlasting the Sharp that it replaced. It's obvious to me, however, that Korean manufacturers are capable of overcoming that "thought defect," and turning out excellent products. I've noted that Korean products usually have had a lot of their design work done by engineers here in the USA. Our designers have often been relatively good about repair access -- perhaps it's due to thoughtfulness that comes with maturity in training engineers. Contrast this with the electronic products designed in Japan; it seems to me that Japanese engineers have led the world in making products that are incredibly costly to repair because the assemblies are severely obstructed -- a great deal of the item must come apart in order to replace the 20 cent resistor; the technician must be a contortionist even then. The Korean items I've been inside have blown away their Japanese counterparts across-the-board in terms of repairability. This disregard for repair is not confined to Japan -- it seems to me that the trend worked its way back across the Pacific Ocean. The Ford Aerostar that I just replaced was an amazing example of corporate disregard for the customer (I almost wrote "contempt"). It's almost impossible to do any work on the engine because it is so severely crammed into a space little larger than the engine itself. Changing the sparkplugs, for example, is a $200 job. Expensive heater core failures have been common across the brand, the costs driven far up by the need to dismantle so much of the dashboard area by the miserable mechanic working on his back, cramped between the seats and the firewall. After the Aerostar, I needed a breath of fresh air. I thought I'd share the thoughts that led me to Hyundai. What do you think of my logic, Hyundaitech? Richard
I think if you bought the V6, you'll be equally aggravated by replacing the plugs and wires. But overall, I'd agree that Korean automobiles are easier to service than American autos.
