Hyundai Coupe fx 1.6L

clansman

what do you think about this car,, does anyone drve a Hyundai Coupe or would anyone buyone. iam thinkin of getting cos it looks like a sports cars its cheap... but under the hood its not a "real" sports car.. or am i worng?

Stephen

I had an '02 one. It was reliable but not terribly economical, and not terribly fast. You get about 105bhp from the 1.6. I did like it though. It was cheap enough to insure and service. The rear seats are strictly for people you don't like, they're that cramped You'll get no respect whatsoever from badge snobs, but well... fúck them.
If I was to get another one I'd get the 2.0 litre model, which can be easily spotted on the road by its extra exhaust.

_Kaiser_

Friend of mine has a 04 one.. She loves it. Not so sure myself. As already mentioned it's cramped and the all black interior makes it feel even smaller (of course maybe it was just me missing my Passat).

Plus (to me anyway) it seems like a bit of a "chick" car - probably why she loves it!

Henry Ford III

I like them. Nice shape. I know nothing about the reliability nor driving experience though.

RobAMerc

I have read some good reports about the 2002+ model, I don't know how much has changed although the front doesn't look as good anymore imo.

Seems like alot of car for the money, unfortunately some tools will scoff at you because they think its a girls car. These are generally real experts when it comes to everything and should be listened to intently :rolleyes:

clansman

is it cheap to respary them? some one told me it could cost around a few ks?
I heard the coupe is a womans car, but i dont understand why? is it that it
cost pennys or cos it doesnt have a 2.5lt turbo engine...

BostonB

I like the look and design of them. They don't seem to be rated very highly as a drivers car though. Girl in our office has an 06 one. Looks well. Its a GT rather than a sport car.

positron

TopGear had nothing bad to say about them. Hamster said 'Good car. Thats not considering the price. Good car, full stop'. I think Hyundai Coupe deserves a bit more respect than its getting now. Hyundai are generally cheap to run and pretty reliable, IMO.

oleras

clansman wrote:

is it cheap to respary them? some one told me it could cost around a few ks?

I remamber something about hyundai body shells being one unit ? i.e. no panels to replace if damaged, anyone know if this is still the case ?

As for being " a womans car"...... i tend to agree, but thats just me, my wife has a 206cc and thats a womans car !! But if you like it does not matter what other people think !

Melion

Girlfriend has her money put aside for the new one in January. Gorgeous looking car in red and i cant wait to drive it.

2stageturbo

It's a very nice looking car in my opinion.Bit girlie though.

tuxy

Well many car companies seem to favour hot hatches and for the most part have stopped producing coupés. So fair play to Hyundai, this car seem to fill the gap in the market. I think the latest model looks good but is a bit lacking under the bonnet.

BostonB

The current one looks the best IMO especially in red.

cpoh1

Its not so much that its a girly car more that its a sheep in wolfs clothing. One of the lads (yes he's a poser) in work drives a 06 1.6L and its dead to drive, the older model 2L wasnt much better to be honest.

My gripe with them has nothing to do with badge snobbery or its girly pretensions, more to do with the fact that my idea of a sports car or a coupe would be that performance is top of its priority list when being made. Hyundai had it at the bottom and built this car for people who were more concerned with looks and being looked at than having a decent performance machine. Thats fine if thats what youre into but it certainly isint my cupan tae, ive got my baleno for getting me around cheaply and reliably and bought a real performance car for the weekend.

clansman

i would agree with cpoh1 with "a sheep in wolfs clothing" cos they are only 1.6lt and 2lt period. a basic engine thats all. but most ppl cant afford insurnace on top end sports car so what to do. here we have a normal engine car but it looks good. yea it wont go from 0 - 60 under 10sec but who really does that or who really can do that with the roads in ireland???? so ur getting a stanard car like any other 1.6lt or 2lt out there but is looks good.... I think has made a good point, it is possable to make a coupe with out a few extra hp(120k/h is the max and does it really make a difference if you reach that speed a few seconds ahead of the next person>???) and have all the extra's on board for half the cost of other coupe's with the extra hp. hey iam going to buy one...

Stephen

Its available in a 2.7 litre V6 too (at least the 02-06 models were) but nobody buys that in this country for 2 reasons...

1. Its a 2.7 litre petrol engine. Tax, VRT, running costs, blah blah blah
2. The 2.7 V6 only produces about 160bhp!!

I'm assuming this engine is still available in the newly facelifted ones?

I found it handled quite well, but the 1.6 was certainly lacking in power. At the time anything bigger than 1.6 was uninsurable for me. It certainly handled better than my new Civic 1.8, but I think that should be expected considering its a coupe vs a 5-door hatch.

BostonB

Stephen wrote:

...certainly handled better than my new Civic 1.8, but I think that should be expected considering its a coupe vs a 5-door hatch.

Its not the body shape that matters...

http://www.thetorquereport.com/2007/08/2008_honda_civic_type_rrthe_mo.html
http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/209988/mugen_type_r.html

Stephen

Yeah I know but your typical coupe has fancier suspension and the like than the typical hatchback. Type-R's and GTI's and other premium hot hatches excepted, of course.
The regular 5 door current generation civic has not-so-great rear suspension that was selected for its small size rather than its abilities in order to make the interior of the car as spacious as possible (and it is, I can fit comfortably in the back. In most cars my knees would be stuck in the driver's back . From being stuck in the back of some of my colleagues' cars (Saab 9-3, Nissan Almera, Renault Lagunas I & II), I can tell you that the Civic's interior is far more spacious. They put the fuel tank under the passenger compartment for the same reason too afaik).

Oh dear, I think I've derailed this thread quite far off topic!

OP, if you're going to go ahead and buy a Hyundai Coupe there's a few things you should check for. The pre-07 ones had alloys with a painted plastic bit over the wheel nuts. This paint tends to get stripped off very easily by power washers. Could be used in your negotiations. I don't know if the new ones have the same wheels.
Also, because visibility to the rear is so bad, check the whole rear end for signs of parking bumps and scrapes. Electric window motors can also be a weak point on these cars - the motor in my passenger window died a week after I picked mine up from the dealer, (it was 3 and a half years old at that stage) but he replaced it under warranty without delay - so check that both windows and the electric sunroof, if fitted, are in good working order. The sun shade part of the sunroof may come off its rails so check that that works ok too.
If you can, try and get one from '05 on - they had a minor facelift there - new front bumper/fog lights and smoked headlight cluster, as well as half-leather seats becoming standard on the 1.6. I had cloth seats in mine and they were looking a bit tatty after 5 years.
The window motor was the only issue I had with the car during my ownership, never a moment's trouble besides that.