I searched the forum and nothing came up about this car.
Is this a decent car to drive and maintain? I intend to get a used one, of circa 2010. Are parts readily available? I intend to drive it mostly in Taipei/Taoyuan. Any owners here who would like to share their experience. My choice is based purely on its looks…
Fairly good article on buying an i30
carsguide.com.au/car-reviews … used-13748
End of the day it’s a cheap korean car… the build quality of Hyudnai increased around the same time the i30 came out… should be ok, a cheep and cheerful transport alternative… 
Quick scan of the forum messages did not show too many flattering words on the brand. And the Taiwanese wife is not too excited about a Korean brand. Both these things had put me off, but perhaps it deserves a test drive. Thanks!
My wife and I are looking to buy a new car before August (when we will be driving every day). Everyone I talk to in Taiwan tells me to stay away from Hyundai, but then the reviews I read from many different sources outside of Taiwan tell me that the ix30 is a decent car in every respect. I don’t know what to make of that. Anti-Korean sentiment (what my wife thinks)? But then Taiwanese buy Korean phones like crazy and seem to love everything to do with Korean culture these days. Inability to shake the bad rep Hyundai had from about a decade ago? I don’t know. I personally trust Japanese cars more, but that 600,000 at 0% over 60 months really is music to my ears!
I guess one can only go so far with reviews as they tend to be done while driving the car around for a short (sometimes very short) period of time. Ownership, on the other hand, brings other factors into the picture – after sales service, availability of spares, cost and quality of spares, skilled technicians to fix the car (perhaps not so much as they all ought to be pretty uniform in these days of global supply chain) and of course long term reliability. However, given that these guys have been making and selling cars internationally for at least three decades, I would think the quality has gone up considerably, if not to the levels of the Japanese.
600K, 0% loan does sound sweet. Is it the full price of ix30? Or you need to top it up with cash? Is Hyundai an exception in this regard or pretty much all brands offer such deals? BTW, I’m considering i30 and ix30.
This is what I can tell you from about two months ago. The ix30 has a listing price of 830,000 for the model one step higher from the basic one (we wanted side air bags which aren’t a part of the package for the basic model). You can get a discount but with taxes and insurance, it goes right back to around that level (at least with my crappy negotiating skills). So that means 230,000 NT when you sign (assuming you want the 0% deal) and then 10,000 per month for 60 months. I was told that the deals change so I’m not sure what they’re offering now.
As to other makes, it seems they all offer some kind of 0% financing (but not as high an amount as Hyundai). In the end, though, they probably make the same money from everyone: If you go for 0% financing, then the discount probably isn’t as deep. Even though the skeptic in me knows this, I’m still enticed by that 0% financing deal!
This. I remember a few years ago when I bought my Samsung S2 I showed it to my boss. He got excited, said how nice it looked, then realized it was a Samsung… His face instantly changed and he immediately handed it back whilst saying, “I don’t like Korea”. Also happens to be the same thing he says when he sees a Hyundai. It seems it’s more the older crowd who has an inherited hate for Korea.
Hyundai was the first car company to offer a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty in the states and have also won Motortrend car of the Year with their Genesis.
The best people to talk to will be on the specific-car related forums.
and
would be the best places to start, you will get a feel for issues/fixes and what it’s like to own the cars for a little while…
You may have some resale issues with the older generation not liking korean cars/telling their offspring not to buy them… but, you don’t really get a hyundai for high resale values anyway, they will depreciate rather steeply… this is offset by the cheap initial purchase cost.
Here in California, my friends and family (all average consumers, no car enthusiasts) are all very positive about Hyundai in a way that really surprised me. When I left the US in 2008, Hyundai was still viewed as a cheap knock-off of Honda; now I have tons of people recommending it over the Japanese car-maker. I’m not sure about Taiwan, but here both Hyundai and Kia have industry-leading warranties of 10 years, 100,000 miles standard. I’m not sure how that works for used cars.
In short, Hyundai seems to have turned itself around and become a respectable brand. Also, there are tons of Sonatas and Accents on the roads of San Diego, I’ve noticed.
[quote=“marasan”]
Everyone I talk to in Taiwan tells me to stay away from Hyundai, but …[/quote]
Trying to think of a topic on which I would seek the advice /opinion of Taiwanese in general.
There must be one, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be anything to do with choosing a car.
(Er…except in terms of market-opinion/resale value, which is the classic self-fulfilling idiocy. Damn! That one gets me every time).
But if you buy used, it can work for you.
[quote=“Ducked”][quote=“marasan”]
Everyone I talk to in Taiwan tells me to stay away from Hyundai, but …[/quote]
Trying to think of a topic on which I would seek the advice /opinion of Taiwanese in general.
There must be one, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be anything to do with choosing a car.
(Er…except in terms of market-opinion/resale value, which is the classic self-fulfilling idiocy. Damn! That one gets me every time).
But if you buy used, it can work for you.[/quote]
Yes, you have a point. But there is a much larger pool of Taiwanese drivers in Taiwan that I know than of non-Taiwanese drivers. And I was asking people like mechanics and the tow truck driver that towed our car when it broke down (kind of a mechanic), a car dealer friend, etc.
Also, although a minor concern, my wife and I wondered more than once if the likelihood of getting our car keyed would be higher if we bought a make that everyone hated! And so that was a little of the motivation in my questioning of Taiwanese.
I have a 2012 i30, just did my 80,000km service and have had no major issues with it so far.
It is my main car and I drive it everyday to work and on weekends.
Yes, I sometimes do get the “why buy a Korean car” from a few people, but they are holding Samsung phones so it’s just some stupid Taiwan thing.
Which is ironic given that the i30 is actually manufacturered locally by Sanyang Motors (taiwanese factory) who also makes cars for other Japanese car makers, and their Samsung phone is really made in Korea.
And after getting over that it’s a Korean car, they actually say that it’s quite a comfortable ride with nice room in the rear.
I’ve actually compared the rear seat leg room of Mazda3, VW Golf, Ford Focus and the i30 is much more spacious.
When compared with other cars in the same price range (Mazda3, Tiida, Fiesta, Vios), the i30 has much to offer and is reliable and nice to drive.
As someone already mentioned, the quality of Hyundai is dramatically better in the recent models (around the time of Accent and i30) and should be no worse than Toyota/Nissan/Mitsubishi. So don’t let Hyundai and Korean put you off.
I’ve actually noticed a lot of Hyundai’s on the roads around Taipei so I don’t think you should be worried about getting keyed.
If I keyed all the Hyundai Matrixes (Matrices?) I saw I’d likely need new keys.
This anti-Korean thing a WW2 legacy?
I remember reading somewhere that the Japanese tended to employ Korean troops in second-line non-combat roles (like POW guards on the Burma Railway, where they earned a nasty reputation.)
Perhaps they also deployed them to Taiwan, where there wasn’t any ground combat.
[quote=“frokky”]I have a 2012 i30, just did my 80,000km service and have had no major issues with it so far.
It is my main car and I drive it everyday to work and on weekends.
Yes, I sometimes do get the “why buy a Korean car” from a few people, but they are holding Samsung phones so it’s just some stupid Taiwan thing.
Which is ironic given that the i30 is actually manufacturered locally by Sanyang Motors (taiwanese factory) who also makes cars for other Japanese car makers, and their Samsung phone is really made in Korea.
And after getting over that it’s a Korean car, they actually say that it’s quite a comfortable ride with nice room in the rear.
I’ve actually compared the rear seat leg room of Mazda3, VW Golf, Ford Focus and the i30 is much more spacious.
When compared with other cars in the same price range (Mazda3, Tiida, Fiesta, Vios), the i30 has much to offer and is reliable and nice to drive.
As someone already mentioned, the quality of Hyundai is dramatically better in the recent models (around the time of Accent and i30) and should be no worse than Toyota/Nissan/Mitsubishi. So don’t let Hyundai and Korean put you off.
I’ve actually noticed a lot of Hyundai’s on the roads around Taipei so I don’t think you should be worried about getting keyed.[/quote]
That’s some good inside info. Hyundais no longer have the huge price advantage they once did (at least when comparing basic models) so I guess it comes down to a matter of preference. I like the styling of the ix30 (and the i30 if I were looking at a smaller car), but then I’m impressed by everything I’ve read and heard concerning Honda’s CR-V. We also test drove Nissan’s Rogue and loved it. Just can’t decide.
Anyway, thanks for sharing that information about the i30. Maybe I’ll put the ix30 back on the short list.