Odometer: 2260 miles Average MPG: 24.6 Average speed: 24mph
So far I've had to bring my car in to zap a computer program that was giving faulty speedometer/odometer readings (actually I felt my car didn't have this problem, but I did it anyway) and I had to replace a cracked "dead pedal".
Last week I found out my hood release was not working, so I brought it in today to have it looked at. It seems the cable had slipped off the lever. To be fair, this is not a defect. It seemed when they fixed the dead pedal, they needed to move the hood release lever out of the way. It seems that the mechanic did not install the hood release back properly.
They fixed it while I waited. Took about 15 minutes and I was free to go. Of course there was no charge. There wasn't even any paperwork.
The 2008 Consumer Reports car issue is out on the newstands. I did a quick skim at the Safeway. According to them the Elantra has shown above average reliability for the first year of a new model iteration. Good to know.
In CR's October 2007 issue, it outscored the Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Sentra, and Scion xB in testing of a group of four small sedans and wagons for the October issue. The Elantra now ranks sixth overall among the 14 small cars that CR has tested recently. The Elantra got 27 mpg in CR’s own fuel economy tests better than what I'm currently getting...dagnabit.
CR reports, "The redesigned Hyundai Elantra is well-rounded, roomier, and more fuel efficient, and has a more pleasant interior than many more expensive cars.
Upon doing more Googling on the net, I’ve found out that some of what I speculated in my Oct. 7 post regarding Hyundai’s brand dilemma was actually already reported in a Stuart Elliot article in the New York Times way back in September when Hyundai launched its “Think About It” ad campaign.
The article notes that the campaign which challenges consumers by asking them to reconsider long-held beliefs about cars, minivans and sport utilities through frank statements like “Shouldn’t you drive a car that inflates your intelligence and not your ego.” and “A five-year warranty says a lot about the car. A 10-year warranty says a lot about the car company.”It also asks provocative questions,like “When a car company charges for roadside assistance, aren’t they just helping themselves?”
There is no talk of Hyundai cars being better deals than other cars, as they did with the “Smart Move” ads with Kelsey Grammer doing VO where they pitted their Azera against more expensive and popular luxury vehicles. The article states “The aim is to rid Hyundai of the image it has had since its arrival on American shores as a value brand, sold primarily on the basis of lower sticker prices.”
When approaching ad firms to pitch a new campaign, the guys at Hyundai America seemed to understand their dilemma pretty well. “Hyundai doesn’t have product issues; Hyundai has brand issues,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president for marketing at Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, Calif. They found out that when many American car shoppers are presented hard data that Hyundai’s reliability is up there with the other top guys, the people sort of put a wall. They think it’s just marketing hype.
So when Hyundai tried a direct argument and car-to-car comparisons, the consumers kind of cover their ears. Hyundai is up against some great brands. Though the Azera might be a nice car in its own right, you cannot fool people into not wanting a BMW. They were fun ads and I think it appealed to those like me who like to do a lot of research and dig below the ad hype. But it probably didn’t sway many of those who were brought up to think BMW and Landrover are lustworthy and Hyundai is joke-worthy. Thus Hyundai is trying a less direct approach and instead of pushing a model, they are pushing the company. The earlier 15-second ads of the campaign (ones without Jeff Bridges' voiceover) almost have an activists’ tone as if they are promoting a cause not a car company. Basically Hyundai is pleading with America to exercise some wisdom and open-mindedness to objectively evaluate a car company on what it is doing now instead of what it couldn’t do 7 or 20 years ago.
“What do you think about our new commitment to putting six air bags in all our cars?” “What do you think of us not withdrawing our crazy long warranties even though we know our cars are good enough to be attractive without it.” “Don’t you know we make 300,000 cars right here in the USA.” “You owe it to yourself to look over the facts before making up your mind about who we are”
This is a daunting task for even the best ad firms. Data from the 2007 Brand Keys Loyalty Index survey ranks Hyundai 10th among the 13 automotive brands tracked. The survey found loyalty for Hyundai ahead of only Ford, General Motors and Kia. That's not very good.
Personally before researching a Hyundai, I thought like the majority of Americans. I didn’t know many Hyundai owners actually “love their Hyundais” like people “love their Chevy’s”. I always thought people bought Hyundais, because they couldn’t afford anything better. My mind was changed, but it wasn’t because of any commercial.
While I think this "Think About It" campaign will resonate with some types of people, they might not resonate with car enthusiasts. To reach the car enthusiasts, Hyundai needs exciting cars, cars that demand their attention. They need a car with looks that make your temperature rise and an engine growl that makes the lunch in your gut dance. I am positive this is not lost on Hyundai, since they just unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show their Genesis Concept Coupe, a bright orange statement that Hyundai has come to play. Rear wheel drive. Up to 300hp. And "deliberate" enough in its design not to be mistaken as a tuner kid's car. They want adults going through a mid-life crisis to consider this car. The production model has a refined upscale look to it. The Genesis coupe is to the Tiburon what the Toyota Supra was to the Celica. Car snobs will have to work a little harder to snub Hyundai in 2009. With the Accent and Elantra appealing to our smart and practical side and the Genesis Sedan and Coupe working on our thrill-seeking, ego-stroking, emotional side, hopefully Hyundai will transform into a more desirable brand.
I am going to wash my car for the first time soon. Maybe the weekend. I have bird poop on it. And it's looked pretty dusty the past 3 weeks.
Gas mileage is still not up to snuff. I wonder if this is because of the SULEV(super low emission vehicle) engine. I read on different web forums of Elantras getting wonderful gas mileage from the get go. (Liars?) Here is a video of Hyundai's Vice President of Product Development and Strategic Planning, John Krafcik, speaking to the auto press in Santa Monica. In it he mentions all the little tweaks (at the 15:00 mark) to the Beta engine, steering design, and transmission to eek out impressive fuel economy. It's an indepth (maybe too indepth for the avg. Joe) insider's looks at what Hyundai was trying to accomplish with the 2007 Elantra. They go into equipment and price comparisons with other compacts, anticipated demographics, and differences between the Korean version and the USA version. Kind of interesting, the frankness he expresses in this press conference...he openly praises the Honda Civic's exterior.
While my strategy for paying for my car of course will not be appropriate for everyone, what harm is there to share it. I am fortunate to be in a position where if I chose, I could gather enough funds from bank accounts and mutual funds that I could have paid for my Elantra all in cash and not worry about pressing expenses. I could have just strut into the dealership wearing my velour track suit and designer shades and plop the benjamins on the finance guy's table.
Paying for a car all in cash, though it sounds cool to be able to say it, isn't a very wise decision. When you do that, you are taking out money that is making interest somewhere (hopefully you are not just putting your cash in a lame checking account) and putting it in something that loses value everyday. The plan I had was to pay for this car and not do two things: 1. Not lose too much money by paying interest on a car loan 2. Not lose too much money by taking money out of an account that's making a good return or interest.
"Minimize loss. Maximize gain." as some business-types would put it.
Usually the percentage of interest one pays on a car loan is much higher than what you can earn in a savings account. (In my case it was 8% versus 4.25%) So it doesn't make sense to leave money in a savings account, when the car finance guy is charging you higher than what your savings account is paying. So that was the basic concept I was trying to apply. >>>Please note I am not great with money.<<< style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"> This is how I am paying for it.
1. I paid the dealership $3000 using my credit card that gives me a rebate. (Gotta get those rewards) I pay my whole balance at the end of the month, because the killer interest on that card would wipe out my rewards and more if I let the balance ride.
2. I paid the dealership $4,500 on a convenience check from another credit card. Usually this might be risky, but a credit card was offering 0% for over a year. They ding you $140 ahead of time for this service. Figures to be 3% of the loan.
3. To get my Hyundai rebates I was forced to finance $10k. 8% interest is what I qualified for. Now to pay $10k over 3 years I am looking at giving Hyundai Motor Finance $1500 interest, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I negotiated 17,500. I don't want to pay $19,000, right? I could gamble a little and say I can invest that $10K and hope to make over 8%, but so far I haven't been that consistent in my investments. So I planned to pay it all off by November/December using funds that I know aren't make over 8%. The dealership said I needed to keep the loan for at least 3 months.
4. I make a huge first payment – $7k – to knock out most of the principal of the loan. To do this though, I wrote another convenience check – $5k this time – and deposited it into my checking account. They dinged me $150 this time.
5. Wrote a $2000 check for the second payment. Now my balance with interest added up to 12-01-07 is only $1100. Just $100 interest on a 10,000 loan. Add in the dings for the convenience check and I am only paying $390 in interest and fees over the price of the car.
6. I still have the convenience checks to pay off to the credit card co.(at about $300 a month to start). I cannot be late with ANY of these payments or they will revoke my 0% interest. If I am late with a payment, the interest skyrockets to 34%!!! That's what they hope I will do. Unlike my other credit cards, this one won't let me schedule online payments.
The plan is to make minimum payments for the life of the 0% rate and pay the balance in lump sum right before the rate expires. I may need to dip into a mutual fund or CD to do this, but that's OK. Why? Because for the 12 months before I have to do that, I get to keep my real $9500 working for me in a high-yield CD or mutual fund.
Finally had some time to look at what they changed and added to the 2008 Elantra.
They got rid of the Limited model altogether so there is only the GLS and the SE. The list price for the SE SULEV automatic is now $17,225. That is $330 more than last year. That is not bad at all considering they added electronic stability control with traction control (a safety feature that is touted to significantly reduce single vehicle accidents) and a tire pressure monitoring system. I think they intended to make ESC standard on the GLS as well, but I guess they changed their mind. As far as I can tell, they did not take any 2007 features away. So it seems the Elantra SE is even a better buy this year.
Took a night drive on gentle rolling hills of Highway 280 to put the Elantra's 28 / 36 mpg fuel economy rating to the test. I've been pretty purturbed at the poor city driving MPG: today on an errand to the city with highway miles and a lot of slow city driving I went down to 23.6 mpg at times. One of my requirements for my new car was that it would get better gas mileage than the Geo I was getting rid of. Some folk think they should upgrade/graduate to bigger more expensive cars. I want to graduate to more responsible cars. The Elantra does pollute less, but it is using more gas than the Geo.
This night test took place between 380 and Farm Hill Blvd exit. Going south I set the cruise control to about 62mph and cruised down. Or I could say 'up' since I think I was gaining elevation most of the time. It was 18 miles down to Farm Hill Blvd. The maximum MPG I got was 33.6.
On the return trip I decided not to use cruise control, my speed varied from 70 to 54 mph, but mostly averaging about 64 mph. On the trip back during a downhill grade I was averaging 36.3mpg. That was the max. When I finally exited on Millbrae Ave, it was back down to 35.7mpg. I cut the return trip just short instead of running all the way back to 380, since it had already show it could hit above 36mpg on this route.
Even though I kept a steadier and slower pace on the first trip(which should help optimize gas mileage), it seems the elevation gain made the engine work harder so the gas mileage was not as good as it was on the return trip.
Millbrae Ave is steep downhill for a mile or two and you can cruise down hardly any gas at all. There are several stop signs along the way, but by the time I got to El Camino Real the reading on the trip meter was an all time high 38.1mpg. Hills have a strong effect on gas mileage whether going up or down.
Conclusion: The Elantra's real world fuel economy can match its claimed 36 mpg on the highway.For the claimed possible 28mpg in the city, I really see no way to do it in a city like SF. We have too many lights, stop signs, hills, and cars. Maybe its possible in Irvine where the streets are long and posted speed limits can go up to 50mph.
(Added 11-3-07: Went up the hill to take a bike ride along Skyline and Sawyer Camp today...as we are continued to be blessed with unusually warm weather over 75° into November. Going up the Millbrae Ave hill I averaged 15.6mpg. Going down the hill I averaged 55.6mpg)
