[Anthony Shortte]

Wow, what a difference.

I purchased a 2019 Insight EX last Wednesday and I drove it from Sacramento to Mendocino (all back roads), down Hwy 1 all the way to Petaluma, stayed at Embassy Suites Saturday night and headed over to Napa, up to Calistoga to Winters to Woodland and back home to Antelope. About 800 miles total. (I do this with every new car I buy)

I've been buying Hyundai's since 2007. The first was a 07 Sonata Platinum Edition, the next was a 2012 Elantra Limited Edition, the next was a red 2015 Sonata ECO that I promptly totaled 32 days later, so I got a black one in place of it. I've had that black one for the last 3.5 years and at 92k mi the 7 speed DCT was slipping in 1st and 2nd (would love to see the look on Honda's face when they discover that).

As of right now, my only regret in purchasing this Insight is that I haven't bought Honda before now, that I spent the last 12 years with Hyundai, who at this point, I have few good things to say about.

Right now? I'm effing thrilled with my Insight. I cannot say enough good things about this car.

The warranty I got from the dealer (beyond the Honda warranty) is unbelievable. Limited Lifetime warranty for the WHOLE car as long as I own it. Yes, I paid a fortune for that warranty, but as long as I own it, after 5 years, I pay a $100 deductible and it's someone else's problem.

I might actually keep this one after 4 years. lol

Right now, I couldn't be happier.

 

[insightfully]

Wow, what a glowing first post! Welcome to the forum and to Hondas. I'm a longtime Honda owner and have eyed Hyundai, so your recap and comparison are helpful perspective.

I also bought from a dealer that included a "free limited lifetime warranty" for the duration of ownership. The third party provider is Nationwide, and I have a minor deductible as well. It's the first Honda I've bought with lifetime coverage included, and hope there aren't funky loopholes in the future. There are 11 Honda dealers within a 30 mile radius nearby, so things like lifetime warranties and lifetime oil changes were offered to differentiate competition and value.

It sounds like you're a relatively high-mileage annual driver, so looking forward to learning from your experience as you'll quickly outpace many of us on the forum!

 

[Anthony Shortte]

Hyundai. . .

Keep in mind that the 3 dealerships for Hyundai that are within reasonable range are all owned by the same guy. I think that matters.

I bought all 4 of my Hyundais from ROSEVILLE Hyundai in Roseville, CA from the same sales guy (Who, of course, was always great lol). That's where the fun ended with Hyundai.

I'll start with the '07 Sonata. It was a good car, except I had to put a new battery in it every single year and of course, ROSEVILLE Hyundai never could figure out why, and $130 a pop for them to find nothing (despite warranty). I figured it was a fluke so I bought the 2012 Elantra Limited. Apart from the drivers side mirror motor going bad, having to have the steering wheel replaced (started peeling and coming apart at about 900mi) it was a decent car. The sideview mirrors only come in White, so they have to be painted. ROSEVILLE Hyundai outsources that to a moron apparently. He painted it on the car with no masking or anything. Then ROSEVILLE Hyundai delievered my car to me in the dark with overspray from the front quarter panel all the way to the back on the drivers side. It was also all over the front and side windows. You couldn't drive it was so bad.

Took 2 trips and 2 services to get all that crap off that car. Preposterous.

Then at 70k miles, the AC Compressor started clacking real bad. They wanted $1200 to fix it as I didn't have the Platinum warranty. So, a couple weeks later I brought it into my sales guy and traded it in. They had to fix that compressor on their own dime.

Wrecked the Sonata ECO that I replaced it with, then got another one just like it, the one I just traded for this Insight.

That Sonata ECO at 60k miles started popping up the oil light. Took it in, got the oil changed, informed them of it, so they set up an Oil Survey test where I'd bring it in every 1k mi and they'd check it. At the end of that it had burned a quart of oil, zero leaks or anything, it was just burning the oil. They told me that was normal (none of my other hyundais did this and this is just stupid). So, next oil change I take it to another dealer (owned by the same guy) in Folsom. They do the oil change, and call me and tell me the oil light is now on and won't turn off, they're investigating and they'll pay for a rental. Ok, fine. At least it's getting taken care of FINALLY.

4 days later they tell me they've gone through the entire engine and can't find any problems. The light is off and I can come get my car. (no, nothing has been done but an oil change and a tear down apparently). They had the problem for 4 straights days, paid for a rental, and when the light decided to go off they were like, "It's better! here ya go!". That's not better in my world. It's a problem.

Oh and I paid for the bumper to bumper platinum warranty on this one because of the experience with the Elantra.. . . .for nothing.

That problem never got solved and was constantly a problem and it was burning oil at an unacceptable rate.

So, 2 weeks ago I took it in at 91,500 for an oil change. Drop the car off Friday night for an early service Saturday. I get a call at 7:30am on Sat morning asking me if I've had engine starting problems with the car. The answer was, "Nope. Not before today." As I'm talking to the guy, another service guy gets in the car, starts it up and takes it back. They do a full diagnostic and find no problems.

I get my car back.

Ever since then the first 2 gears are slipping and it's not acting right. Also, both brake lights have now blown out and the right front headlight that I replaced less than 2 mo ago was out. . . .but it wasn't burnt. Something was wrong with the electrics.

What an oil change.

I went to Honda on Wednesday and drove off in my Insight on Thursday morning.


Never again.

 

[andrew28]

Hyundai. . .

Keep in mind that the 3 dealerships for Hyundai that are within reasonable range are all owned by the same guy. I think that matters.

I bought all 4 of my Hyundais from ROSEVILLE Hyundai in Roseville, CA from the same sales guy (Who, of course, was always great lol). That's where the fun ended with Hyundai.

I'll start with the '07 Sonata. It was a good car, except I had to put a new battery in it every single year and of course, ROSEVILLE Hyundai never could figure out why, and $130 a pop for them to find nothing (despite warranty). I figured it was a fluke so I bought the 2012 Elantra Limited. Apart from the drivers side mirror motor going bad, having to have the steering wheel replaced (started peeling and coming apart at about 900mi) it was a decent car. The sideview mirrors only come in White, so they have to be painted. ROSEVILLE Hyundai outsources that to a moron apparently. He painted it on the car with no masking or anything. Then ROSEVILLE Hyundai delievered my car to me in the dark with overspray from the front quarter panel all the way to the back on the drivers side. It was also all over the front and side windows. You couldn't drive it was so bad.

Took 2 trips and 2 services to get all that crap off that car. Preposterous.

Then at 70k miles, the AC Compressor started clacking real bad. They wanted $1200 to fix it as I didn't have the Platinum warranty. So, a couple weeks later I brought it into my sales guy and traded it in. They had to fix that compressor on their own dime.

Wrecked the Sonata ECO that I replaced it with, then got another one just like it, the one I just traded for this Insight.

That Sonata ECO at 60k miles started popping up the oil light. Took it in, got the oil changed, informed them of it, so they set up an Oil Survey test where I'd bring it in every 1k mi and they'd check it. At the end of that it had burned a quart of oil, zero leaks or anything, it was just burning the oil. They told me that was normal (none of my other hyundais did this and this is just stupid). So, next oil change I take it to another dealer (owned by the same guy) in Folsom. They do the oil change, and call me and tell me the oil light is now on and won't turn off, they're investigating and they'll pay for a rental. Ok, fine. At least it's getting taken care of FINALLY.

4 days later they tell me they've gone through the entire engine and can't find any problems. The light is off and I can come get my car. (no, nothing has been done but an oil change and a tear down apparently). They had the problem for 4 straights days, paid for a rental, and when the light decided to go off they were like, "It's better! here ya go!". That's not better in my world. It's a problem.

Oh and I paid for the bumper to bumper platinum warranty on this one because of the experience with the Elantra.. . . .for nothing.

That problem never got solved and was constantly a problem and it was burning oil at an unacceptable rate.

So, 2 weeks ago I took it in at 91,500 for an oil change. Drop the car off Friday night for an early service Saturday. I get a call at 7:30am on Sat morning asking me if I've had engine starting problems with the car. The answer was, "Nope. Not before today." As I'm talking to the guy, another service guy gets in the car, starts it up and takes it back. They do a full diagnostic and find no problems.

I get my car back.

Ever since then the first 2 gears are slipping and it's not acting right. Also, both brake lights have now blown out and the right front headlight that I replaced less than 2 mo ago was out. . . .but it wasn't burnt. Something was wrong with the electrics.

What an oil change.

I went to Honda on Wednesday and drove off in my Insight on Thursday morning.


Never again.

I have driven only Honda and Ford vehicles because I live 8 minutes from a Honda dealership and 11 minutes from a Ford dealership. I have always checked Hyundai & Kia's offerings when it comes time to shop for my next vehicle. Resale value, closest dealership is 30 minutes away(no traffic) which requires driving through multiple towns on local roads instead of near a highway, and they don't like to negotiate due to the "free 10 year warranty" prevented me from buying. Until Honda or Ford screws me over with a bad vehicle they are on top of my wish list for my next vehicle.

 

[Carfreak09]

Wow, what a difference.

I purchased a 2019 Insight EX last Wednesday and I drove it from Sacramento to Mendocino (all back roads), down Hwy 1 all the way to Petaluma, stayed at Embassy Suites Saturday night and headed over to Napa, up to Calistoga to Winters to Woodland and back home to Antelope. About 800 miles total. (I do this with every new car I buy)

I've been buying Hyundai's since 2007. The first was a 07 Sonata Platinum Edition, the next was a 2012 Elantra Limited Edition, the next was a red 2015 Sonata ECO that I promptly totaled 32 days later, so I got a black one in place of it. I've had that black one for the last 3.5 years and at 92k mi the 7 speed DCT was slipping in 1st and 2nd (would love to see the look on Honda's face when they discover that).

As of right now, my only regret in purchasing this Insight is that I haven't bought Honda before now, that I spent the last 12 years with Hyundai, who at this point, I have few good things to say about.

Right now? I'm effing thrilled with my Insight. I cannot say enough good things about this car.

The warranty I got from the dealer (beyond the Honda warranty) is unbelievable. Limited Lifetime warranty for the WHOLE car as long as I own it. Yes, I paid a fortune for that warranty, but as long as I own it, after 5 years, I pay a $100 deductible and it's someone else's problem.

I might actually keep this one after 4 years. lol

Right now, I couldn't be happier.

I had a 15 Sonata Eco awhile back as well. Your transmission slipping problem was the reason I got rid of the car after only 6 months and also the reason I didn’t consider the Ioniq when looking at hybrids, despite preferring a hatch. Dual clutch automatics just don’t work well in city driving conditions and I’ll be glad when Hyundai drops it. If I had known that, I would have bought the regular Sonata instead. My Eco was having a similar issue to the Tucson with the same transmission in that it would sometimes get confused on whether it should be in 1st or 2nd on a rolling start and would just rev and not go anywhere for a scary 5 seconds or so. The clutch also seemed to slip sometimes so I became worried about long term durability and traded it in on a manual transmission car at a huge loss. Other then the transmission though, I liked the car a lot. It handled well, rode well, stopped well, was extremely roomy, and the engine was smooth and fast. Mine didn’t burn a drop of oil in the 17k that I had it.

This in no way is a hit on Hyundai as I like their cars and would buy another. Just found it interesting to hear you confirm something I had feared on a previous car.

 

[ScubaGuy]

....from Sacramento to Mendocino (all back roads), down Hwy 1 all the way to Petaluma, stayed at Embassy Suites Saturday night and headed over to Napa, up to Calistoga to Winters to Woodland and back home to Antelope.

@Anthony Shortte :: Another Metallic Insight Owner in California! Welcome to the Honda family. I test drove many Hyundai Hybrids in my first Hybrid car purchase and stayed with Honda. The precision engineering and efficiency of the Insight will keep you smiling. :grin: