What’s your image when you think about Hyundai or Kia car?

42 comments

1. Standard vehicle brand, from Korea, pretty reliable and safe.

   Drove an 03 Accent with the airbag light on. Ignored it for months. Got into a nasty head on collision but the airbag ended up deploying thankfully.

2. I think of their sedans. Nice cars, but they have a high theft rate because they had some fairly recent models without electronic immobilizers. Their warranties have really helped their reputation for reliability.

   The ones I looked at last time I was car shopping had more of a soft/detached ride than I prefer, but I’m sure there are many who find that more comfortable.

3. We have a Hyundai with the paint chipping off of it even though its supposed to be “self healing”. So I think of that.

4. Cheap but generally reliable commuter cars. I had two. My first car was an 04 Elantra. That thing was terrible. Later I had an 08 Elantra. Sold it a couple years ago and it’s still trucking around, I see it from time to time. Good little car, overall, cheap and easy to work on. Ran through headlight bulbs like crazy though. Never seen anything like it.

5. Unremarkable lower end consumer vehicles. Perfectly functional but not a leading or innovative brand. All cars sold here are at least “pretty good “. Reliability may vary.

6. I think of a brand that has improved a lot since the 90s, but has made some major missteps as of late. The immense amount of recalls, defective engines and theft debacle has done a lot to tarnish their image for me. And I say this as someone who really liked Hyundai in the past. My dad owned an Azera that was extremely reliable and my brother owns a Tucson that has been absolutely abused over its life, but is still plugging along.

7. A fairly generic sedan. Good warranty reputation.

8. I came close to buying one, but the driver’s seat was horrendously uncomfortable. Great on paper, though. I think it was when they still had 10 yr warranties. My image of an owner is an unpretentious reasonable person.

9. Our Kia Sorento looks surprisingly similar to my dad’s BMW SUV. He’s never said anything but I can tell he isn’t amused by that.

10. I have a Kia Forte and I like it a lot, it’s everything I look for in a vehicle. It’s a basic little car, and it’s given me no trouble for the 5 years and 80,000 miles I’ve had it. Quality is good for the price, I think.

11. I really liked my Hyundai and they did me a solid by honoring a significant warranty claim, even though the car was 10k miles out of warranty.

    The 1.6 Turbo AWD Tuscan was a beast in the snow.

12. Having your catalytic converter stolen one night, then the car itself stolen the next night

13. I used to drive a Hyundai, nice car

14. Remember the original commercial for the Kia Soul with the, like, gangsta hamsters?

15. Based on my experience with a rented Kia Forte, I regard them with skepticism. It was a 2018 or 2019 with low miles. Lots of unpleasant engine noise, lots of vibration, lots of road noise…just a general feeling of crudeness in manufacturing. My older VW Golf is luxurious by comparison.

16. My family has had a couple of Kia cars. They were not fancy but pretty reliable.

17. Supposedly there’s a security flaw in them that allows them to be stolen more easily than other cars.

18. Car jacking by Tik Tok and safe cars

19. I think of them as former inferior but now very solid brands that rival the Japanese companies. In some ways their styling is better as well.

    On a negative note they are getting a lot of press because they are getting stolen at a crazy high rate due to some flaw that makes them easy to hotwire or something.

20. Hyundai: decent quality
    Kia: declining quality

21. I drive a Kia Sportage. I like it a lot. It holds up to my image of Kias before I bought one, inexpensive but reliable.

22. cheap cars with nothing particularly great about them driven mostly by women and old people

23. Have driven a KIA product for the best part of 20 years. I have no objection to them.

24. Slick, high tech, hated by the elderly lol

    Edit: for Hyundai. Kia… Hamsters

25. I mean, I own a Kia Niro, so I think of my car.

26. My wife’s car was hit and we ended up getting a Kia Soul for a few weeks as a rental car. It was by far the strangest car I’ve ever driven. It seemed like it would have a lot of storage space because it was a hatchback. But that’s not the case. It felt like everything was oversized for the car. Things like the cup holder felt like they were an afterthought and just stuck them wherever. The handling was pretty awful. I’m actually really surprised how common they seem to be. I don’t remember a single thing I felt it did well.

27. I have a 2020 Venue. Not bad. Good price, great efficiency, perfect size for the city. Would recommend.

28. Hyundai is the Sanyo Katana to the Motorola Razr

29. I drive a Hyundai. Great car. Drives smooth, great fuel efficiency, and I love the smart cruise control/steering assist.

30. I had a 06 Elantra for a while. Good car, never broke down on me, got me reliably from point A to point B for about 5 years until I sold it.

    I’ve heard bad things about them lately, but since I’m not in the market I haven’t bothered following up.

31. 1988 Excel. Ex had one and it rusted into two pieces in the salty north east.

32. I’m old enough to remember the first Hyundais hitting the United States decades ago, and they were cheap piles of garbage that seemed to break down if you looked at them cross-eyed.

    I know that’s not fair; Hyundai makes a fantastic product. I’ve driven several as rentals and they are usually in excellent shape and are extremely well made cars.

    But I can’t shake the image of the crappy little car my friend drove in college that was perpetually struggling to not fall apart.

33. Fairly reliable inexpensive vehicles.

34. Not as high quality as the Japanese brands (Honda, Toyota, Nissan)

35. Cheap

36. I have a Kia and I considered buying a Hyundai. I bought the Kia because it was more affordable and I liked the colors better.

    I think both make nice, safe cars which is all you really need. I mostly see older folks driving Kias which means they are easy to drive.

37. An empty spot where the car used to sit until it was stolen.

38. In my mind, they are a store brand equivalent car.

    Like when you really want a Honda, but the best you can do is a Kia.

    I’d never buy one.

    Those Stingers are nice though.

39. Nicer cars now though i think Hyundai is slightly sleeker. But they’re tarnished in my mind for cutting security corners that allow criminals to steal them with ease.

40. Owned a Sephia from 1998-2004. It certainly ran like it had hamsters under the hood. But one thing I won’t forget about it was how unergonomic the design was; the cup holder in the center console, for example, was right under my elbow, so it was not a good spot to put a drink in.

    But, it was the first car my broke ass was able to pay for (practically new; it was a ‘97 that was traded in a month or so after its initial purchase), so I liked it overall.

    I think in general, Hyundais and Kias here are seen as inexpensive cars, without the reliability or performance of other imports. In the past couple of decades or so, thanks to 10-year warranties, their reputations have somewhat improved.

41. Will not buy a kia again. Wife had one under warranty and the mounting bracket on the transmission broke and as a result there was a pinhole leak letting out small amounts of transmission fluid. Kia said it was my wife’s fault and wouldn’t do anything to replace it.

42. They’re pretty great value for what you get. Last a good while too!