Hey Scotty. I noticed my truck was giving me some problems so I traded in my 2020 Silverado LT for a 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe limited after careful consideration between it and the cars currently available on the market at its price point. The suv offers better options over Honda and toyota counterparts. Do you think the car will last considering Hyundai's step up in quality and design? I baby my cars like a newborn.
Late model Hyundais are not known for quality or longevity, unfortunately. They've had some severe engine and drivetrain problems in recent years. It may be OK up to about 100K miles or so and will probably start falling apart shortly after that point. Since it's brand new hopefully you won't have to worry about that for a while. I'd check recalls to see if it's one of their recent models that has the spontaneous combustion problem or other serious safety issues.
It hopefully will run fine for 100k miles. After that, it's a complete dice roll.
Hyundai/Kia quality is not good, definitely not comparable to Honda/Toyota.
I bought a Santa Fe 10 years ago and it's still going strong. Just oil changes and tires. I just changed the coolant and for the 1st time the water pump did not start leaking. That was a 1st for me. Every time I ever messed with the coolant the water pump was soon to follow.
I just bought a 2021 Sorento and I like it. Santa fe and Sorento share the same basic frame. It's the same company. So far so good.
You already bought the car but were you in the shopping phase I would say the biggest thing is the dealer you chose. The cars are fine but the dealers range from really good to all out crooks. One dealer told me the lack of heat in my car was normal only to find out they forgot to take the shrink wrap off the cabin filter. Another sold me an extended warranty for $4300 which they said I could change my mind about in thirty days. Well it was like pulling teeth after I changed my mind and wanted a refund. The same dealer would not fix broken trim that came with the car even though they said they would after I pointed it out when I took delivery. Kia Motors America paid for the replacement piece but I still had to put it on myself.
I had a dealer on a safety inspection tell me the brakes were no good on my Santa Fe with only 10K miles on it. Another dealer passed the car a week later with no problem. Had I went with the first dealer I would have parted with $1800 dollars.
On the other hand I had another Kia dealer rescue my wife when the Santa Fe broke down. They honored Hyundai's warranty and fixed the car for free.
You can go on web sites like dealer-rater and you will find customer feedback. Just don't be fooled. Salesman from dealers post hundreds of glowing reviews pretending to be customers. The dealer I bought one of my cars from impersonated me and posted a stellar review the day I took delivery on the car. It was posted before I even had gotten home. Search through the last 6 months of reviews and read the negative ones. Chances are if you see repeated complaints about extra last minute fees or warranty deputes then stay away.
I would only keep the Hyundai Santa Fe under warranty, then consider selling or trading it in after that. In the meantime, make sure you stay on top of the maintenance especially engine oil and transmission fluid change intervals so the powertrain will last as long as possible, stick to highway miles (less strain on engine/transmission), and don’t drive the vehicle hard.
Don't keep it more than a few years. If you are lucky it should be farely reliable under 8 10 years or 100k miles but you never know. Quality isn't great and I heard they brought a new engine. All I will say is the old one was problematic enough. Of course I wish you all the best and hope the engine does not blow up on you like it has to many others. I think they had a video on Youtube from 2021 about Hyundai cars catching on fire. I think Canadian Marketplace.
Well, they are not really built to last, keep it during the warranty period, since those things fall apart when they get to about 100k miles.
I owned a 2016 Santa Fe Sport. I ended up not liking it over time. It didn't do anything great, it doesn't excel at anything. The engine doesn't have much power or acceleration. Not very comfy for long trips. The gas mileage didn't impress me either. And even with the engine warranty I don't want to go through with the hassle if and when it does blow. Ours never broke down but it also didn't reach 50K before we sold it about a month ago. I have not missed it. But IMHO the Santa Fe is much better than a Silverado.
