I see older Accents, Elantras, and Tibs starting to make their way to the 200K mark and lasting just as well as Toyota's and Honda's. Do you guys think the new models (Gen Coupes, Velosters) and even newer current models (2009/2010/2011) of the Accents, Elantras, Sonatas, etc will last just as long as the old ones? Supposedly the build quality is better now with Hyundai, but with more and more people jumping on the Hyundai band wagon, that means theres more percentage of people beating on their cars making them not last as long. What do you all think?

 

The build quality is slightly better today, but they use near-identical techniques and materials as the 90's. Cars haven't changed very much in the last 20-30 years besides increased safety and structural integrity measures.



90's Hyundais were ahead of their time. They were more modern than Hondas and Toyotas. They used ItalDesign for engineering, which was the most advanced facility at that time. I think some cars from the 90's will take over a hundred years to really crumble.



I know this is off-topic, but I see so many perfectly good/new old Hyundai chassis at the junkyard, it's a shame they aren't rebuilt.

 

More electronics means more potential failures. Reliability is still going to be good I'm sure, but the additional complexity comes at a price. My 2003 daily driver Accent has power nothing and the minimal amount of electronics required to make a car with EFI operate.

 

Oh come on, I really like 90s Hyundais because they are very cool, but they weren't built fantastically well. I'm sure their modern counterparts will probably last at least as long, as long as they are serviced.