Hyundai

[JCE]

I've known couple of people who drove Focuses regularly. They swear that Mazda 3's a better car....... Mazda 3 do share a platform with the Focus, right? Or does it share it with the new Focus, which North America doesn't have yet....

The current US-spec Focus is still a MKI original Focus generation. The European Focus is a MKII based on the Mazda3. And the new Euro-spec Focus is so much better looking than MKI...can'tt wait until we get it.

 

[a6m5]

The current US-spec Focus is still a MKI original Focus generation. The European Focus is a MKII based on the Mazda3. And the new Euro-spec Focus is so much better looking than MKI...can'tt wait until we get it.

That explains it. Thank you for that. As usual, North American Ford is taking their sweet sweet time.

 

[JCE]

That explains it. Thank you for that. As usual, North American Ford is taking their sweet sweet time.

Problem is, when the US finally does get the MKII Focus the MKIII will be out and probably be lightyears better. I can't STAND US car companies laziness when bringing over THEIR OWN MODELS from one region to the other. Especially when it's the same model, how hard WOULD it be to bring the new Focus over...I bet not hard at all. Hell, I'd pay an extra $2k to get one that's been built and assembled in the UK vs in North America.

 

[YSSMAN]

...Ummm, Ford doesnt have any plans whatsoever to import the C1-based Focus to the US, as it simply is "too expensive" and "too upmarket" for US consumers. There are plans to modify the MKI Chassis once again like they did a few years back, a minor restyle and an updated interior, a few new bits and pieces under the hood, and they have the new Focus.

It really is dissapointing the C1 Focus won't be here any time soon, as I have read it is quite the car over in Europe.

Maybe they should just import the Fiesta here and call it a day...?

 

[Danny]

I agree that Hyundai have made leaps and bounds, but one thing still bothers me.

Why oh why do car manufacturers including (but not limited to) Hyundai insist on changing the names of cars for a different market? Like the Tiburon/Coupe/Tuscani. It really isn't necessary. Puh-lease!

[edit by mod]: Size 7 = icky

 

[Joey D]

Was that needed? The big letters and all?

But the reason the do it is because would the name Fairlady go over well in the US? Probably not, but 350Z sounds cooler. It's marketing.

 

[Flerbizky]

Was that needed? The big letters and all?

But the reason the do it is because would the name Fairlady go over well in the US? Probably not, but 350Z sounds cooler. It's marketing.

Agreed !.....

 

[Flerbizky]

I just hope that Huyndai gives us the cheap RWD Coupé they promised at some point... I love their current Coupé - I think it looks awesome (close to beautiful even), but FWD doesn't really float my boat...

 

[a6m5]

...Ummm, Ford doesnt have any plans whatsoever to import the C1-based Focus to the US, as it simply is "too expensive" and "too upmarket" for US consumers. There are plans to modify the MKI Chassis once again like they did a few years back, a minor restyle and an updated interior, a few new bits and pieces under the hood, and they have the new Focus.

It really is dissapointing the C1 Focus won't be here any time soon, as I have read it is quite the car over in Europe.

That is very dissapointing to hear.

Maybe they should just import the Fiesta here and call it a day...?

Fiesta sounds pretty small. Is it something comparable to Fit by any chance? That would be cool.

 

[GT4_Rule]

They won't call MR2 a MR2 in France because, try saying out the individual letters, like "em-arrr-tooo" and in French it sounds like you are saying "****" so they call it a MR-S there. Language is involved as well. I wouldn't want to call Altima and Maxima Gloria or Cedric either.....

 

[Joey D]

We had the Fiesta in the states...it sucked, no one bought it, hence why Ford deep sixed it.

 

[Sniffs]

BC boy...you did it again. it's MR-S everywhere BUT the US apparently. (that needs confirmed). it's what I call it no matter what, to distinguish it from the old pop-up job

PS: fiesta WAS a Hundai, as was festiva, and Le Mans

 

[GT4_Rule]

BC boy...you did it again. it's MR-S everywhere BUT the US apparently. (that needs confirmed). it's what I call it no matter what, to distinguish it from the old pop-up job

PS: fiesta WAS a Hundai, as was festiva, and Le Mans

Why do you bash me and put sarcasm if you even dont know whether if thats the case? "that needs confirmed", eh. BC boy? Are you trying to pick a fight over here? You haven't contributed a single bit to this thread yet, you know that right...

 

[a6m5]

We had the Fiesta in the states...it sucked, no one bought it, hence why Ford deep sixed it.

I know a guy who still drives one(in mint condition, of course). Maybe Ford does suck at building compacts. Focus is cool, but fuel economy is still no where near that of Honda or Toyota, which is kinda the point of compacts. They should bring a compact Japanese Mazda car into the lineup. I'm sure Mazda got something that competes with Yaris and Fit in the Japanese market. Wishful thinking, I know.

 

[JCE]

I know a guy who still drives one(in mint condition, of course). Maybe Ford does suck at building compacts. Focus is cool, but fuel economy is still no where near that of Honda or Toyota, which is kinda the point of compacts. They should bring a compact Japanese Mazda car into the lineup. I'm sure Mazda got something that competes with Yaris and Fit in the Japanese market. Wishful thinking, I know.

My '05 ZX5 gets 35+MPG if I drive it slowly and keep it below 3k RPMs. 👍

 

[YSSMAN]

...On the name game for a moment, the Buick LaCrosse is still called the Century in French-Canadia (thats right, Canadia you damn Frenchies!!!). Apparently the word "LaCrosse" has some sort of masturbation reference or something?

After looking through some of the next-gen Hyundai lineup earlier today, I'm begining to wonder why they are modeling their cars after fish...

The Accent:

..If you could paint it orange with white and black stripes, you would have Nemo from Finding Nemo!!!

The Elantra:

...Sticking with the Finding Nemo refrence, if this one was blue, yellow, and black, we might be looking at a Dory clone!

 

[niky]

As for the Fiesta, is that still based off of the old 121-Festiva platform? Hyundai-Kia licensed that car for sales overseas, too. The old 121 wasn't the most refined car, but it's a tough little bugger (except for the 80's style car's eternal bugbear... rust).

I wonder if that makes the Fiesta cousin (distant cousin, maybe) to the new Kia Picanto and Hyundai Getz?

The Fiesta is a neat little car, I've heard... but it's pretty old school compared to the Fit (but then, the Yaris is old-school compared to the Fit, too).

The new Focus is miles better than the old one, but for those of you who don't get it (North American market), don't fret... the Mazda3 is more of a driver's car, and actually probably a bit closer in ethos to the MkI than the MkII is.

The MkII Focus = Mazda3+sound insulation+extra kit+supple suspension-quick steering (except in the ST model, I guess).

As for fuel efficiency, I've just heard from a new Civic 1.8 owner. Driven conservatively but not very slowly (mixed city-highway traffic, tropical conditions), his car is getting 39mpg. Nowhere close to the 45+ mpg 1.3 Fit owners are getting, but jaw-dropping for a 1.8 in this heat.

I can't wait till they update the Fit VTEC with this technology.

Errh... connection to Hyundai? The only other car this quick that can get 40mpg here (in real world driving) is a Hyundai diesel.

 

[a6m5]

This is kind of weird. They are far from ugly, but I despise the looks of those two cars so much, I think I'd rather drive an ugly car.

Also, I don't care for their emblem. I really think those ugly emblems bring down the looks of Hyundai cars. I wish they'd redesign it.

Edit: I wasn't completely sure about the Elantra design, so I did a google search on a pic from another angle.

Yeah, I really don't like it. I guess it's not too bad until the c-pillar. If it was a straight-down wagon rearend, I probably would have liked it.

Another Edit:

As for the Fiesta, is that still based off of the old 121-Festiva platform?

Oh my god. I completely forgot about that Fiesta, though I used to know a guy who drove that one too. Fiesta I was talking about was this one:

Even same color!

 

[GT4_Rule]

LaCrosse means masterbation in French, so we call it the Allure in Canada. No, Century is dead.

 

[niky]

About the Accent... drove it. Small, but big inside (comparable to a 90's Corolla or Civic). Interior is just like a 90's Japanese car (which isn't a very bad thing), and the clutch takes some getting used to for some poeple (I found it okay, but then my car has a remarkably finicky clutch).

Not the best steering, the suspension is stiff-ish like the Yaris, and the car isn't an awe-inspiring piece of bodywork (though the blue color is quite nice in sunlight).

Of course, the engine is one of those "whoa momma" things, and it's the first turbodiesel I've ever bounced off the rev limiter (revs a bit too fast, with just too little rev range)... I like it, but the price premium for the diesel is a bridge too far.

 

[Sniffs]

GT4_Rule: lemmie put things like this. at every forum I'm on, there's someone who automatically gets up my wig. your turning into it. let's leave it at that.

all I know is that small has a bad rep here...which is why even hyundai is swelling it's sizes up for here.

Niky: i've never heard platforms and their assigned numbers untill recently. the concept was introdced to MY mind by the original GT. occasionally, I'd hear letters being used (as in A body, B body, F-body...etc), but that's all.

 

[YSSMAN]

About the Accent... drove it. Small, but big inside (comparable to a 90's Corolla or Civic). Interior is just like a 90's Japanese car (which isn't a very bad thing), and the clutch takes some getting used to for some poeple (I found it okay, but then my car has a remarkably finicky clutch).

What year Accent was it? When Car and Driver did their last test of the car, they didn't think it was too bad, still an improvement over the previous model. Their only complaint was that the suspension was too soft and buttery compared to it's Rio5 cousin, and that the transmission linkage seemed to be made out of rubber instead of metal. Other than that, it is an outstanding deal, with pretty good looks, at a pretty good price. But, as they say, you would be better off buying a Nissan Versa or Honda Fit.

 

[GT4_Rule]

What exactly is "there's someone who automatically gets up my wig"

You were the one who misunderstood my posts defending Hyundai....I was not bashing them, I was not going "American cars rule, Korean cars should die!"

 

[niky]

The Accent I drove was the 2006 model. I agree that a gasoline Accent is nowhere near as good as a Fit, but all we get here is the Diesel model. Sadly, the engine puts it in the same price class as the Fit

The Fit, in 1.3 iDSi gas form, actually gets mileage as good as (or better) than the turbodiesel, and in 1.5 VTEC form, gets just slightly worse mileage than the diesel... although it hasn't been tested as extensively as the 1.3.

I agree with C&D that the Fit is probably a better choice, better shifter, better clutch, slightly better cabin (early Fits had so-so plastic) fitments and definitely better space, comfort and suspension.

But the hatchback version of the Accent, though smaller than the Fit in terms of cargo capacity, is actually a good match to the Fit, and in turbodiesel form, costs just as much as the 1.3, and is about $1000+ less than the 1.5. It's a neat little car, if only for the engine and the price.

 

[YSSMAN]

Yeah, unfortunately most of our Hyundais are still a tad bit watered down compared to the rest of the Asian market cars.

...I wonder why Hyundai/Kia hasent been working on an introduction of the diesel cars here in the US, as sales of the cars increased by almost 80% last year. VW is rushing to get their cars to run clean for the 2007 regulations similar to the BluTec Disels from Mercedes...

 

[GT4_Rule]

I always thought US market was receiving special attention, evident by the introduction of the Sonata. Actually, most makers focus on US markets; US gets special Accord, Altima/Maxima (I think), special badges (Infiniti, Acura, Lexus), etc.

 

[a6m5]

These Fit and Accent diesels, what kind of mileage do they get per gallon? Do you guys think there's a realistic chance of those ever making it to the States?

 

[niky]

Fit doesn't have a diesel yet... the iDSi stands for Dual Spark. The 1.3 iDSi has a secondary sparkplug to improve combustion efficiency at ultra-low loads and rpms.

The record for fuel efficiency in local eco-runs was set in one at over 141 (US) mpg, but this is a freak occurence, and has not been repeated. The usual poeak efficiency in highway runs with conservative driving is around 75 (US) mpg.

It's an amazing engine, but with a 0-60 at 14 seconds for both the CVT and manual version, and a top speed of "merely" 105 mph, Honda doesn't think it'll sell in the US.

The Hyundai 1.5 turbodiesel has 110hp and 177 (frigging) foot pounds of torque. It's been tested at 49+ (US) mpg in highway runs locally. If Hyundai ever federalizes it, I think the US market would like it. It gets from 0-60 in around 9 seconds, and returns a real world consumption of 33-40 mpg in urban conditions... at par with Honda's 1.3 iDSi, which typically returns 33-40 urban mpg driven normally with the CVT.

But then, Honda's 1.3 does 54 (US) mpg in urban conditions (read: heavy traffic) if driven "eggshell-under-the-gas-pedal" style.

The efficiency of these engines is one of the reasons why I'm not quite sold on current Hybrid technology.

 

[YSSMAN]

Yeah, I can see where youre comming from. There has been a growing push twards the smaller and more fuel efficent models as of late, and although the diesel market is growing, the regulations on diesel fuel and how clean they must burn is pretty much going to take the market down from two to just one after next year. Which is a shame, as the Jetta diesel will happily do about 40MPG without a problem, and is quite affordable when compared to the Prius and Camry Hybrids.

 

[a6m5]

Man. I was reading some British car magazine comparo of compacts today. They had Honda Fit(Jazz), Suzuki Swift, Ford Fiesta, along with bunch other cars from Smart, Renault, Hyundai, etc. Most of those cars were very cool looking, going 0-62mph in 10-13seconds while achieving 40-50mpg! We are missing out!