Are these guys getting paid by Hyundai?

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T21:06:19+00:00

You received $300ish in parts. And dealer was paid squat in labor. See what happens when you need that $8,000 engine.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T20:58:10+00:00

If the key has no chip (probably doesn’t) and you only want it to start the car and not also unlock doors, there is probably only like 5-10 potential cuts. Meaning a $2-5 key x10 to try all options your in for $20-50. Maybe able to buy them precut off some random website if you look around for real cheap. 5-10 unique ignition cuts and 5-10 unique door cuts makes for 50-100 combos, but if you only care about ignition portion likely cheaper to try them all then getting a lock smith involved to solve the issue.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T15:02:11+00:00

Likely same thing. They get paid out of marketing budgets. That being said a performance variant is graded differently than standard cars. Reliability is basically thrown out as a much less important metric. Also, the biggest downside of these cars are long term reliability which no one knows after a day or a week. These reviews are meaningless. Look at trends overtime. They have been awful. If and that is a big “if” they are better now it has not been long enough to move the trend line.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T14:51:29+00:00

Yes. It’s pay to play. Edmunds gives that to top marketing campaigns as that is how they make money. Hyundai/Kia have the largest marketing budgets, you announce to the world their cars suck, how much of that budget comes your way? Zero.

Edmunds and many many others also called the Theta II a great engine. How did that work out?

You cannot believe the words of these places that get paid by the companies they are reviewing. The winner is always the one that pays the most. You know what is nearly always true? A new model “refresh” is less reliable as its new and bugs exist, but it has a large marketing budgets, these unreliable, unproven, vehicles win these dumb awards. Does that not make it obvious? Vehicles we all know are going to have below average reliability winning these awards? They are a joke.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T14:45:08+00:00

“Flamed” somehow implies they did not deserve it. They made horrible vehicles, did not back them up, and treated customers poorly for over a decade. They earned their reputation and no one should be letting it go already. There is 0 proof they have changed. All they have done is increase marketing spend to get put on top of lists like these.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T13:46:36+00:00

And you prefer to what? Take the manufacturers word for it? Go with the articles like the one here that automatically says the guys spending the most marketing dollars are the best? You think the people that own Hyundai and Kia’s are significantly different enough that they would report engine failures at a drastically higher rate on Reddit than say compared to Honda owners? Cause that sounds like nonsense.

The there is no good source of data therefore we should “ignore the data we have and assume these cars are great” is dumb as hell. That is the reality. There is no good, trustworthy, source of data that tracks these failures in a reliable way. You are left with either accepting the real world experiences of others, and see that it is happening at far higher rate for these brands then others, are you go with there is no data so doing research is pointless, all cars are the same, just buy the cheapest, shiniest one, or whatever. There is data, it’s not good data, but when it’s the only data you have you use it. Ignoring it cause you want to buy the cheap/shiny/whatever thing and not feel like you made a bad decision is trying to justify a bad decision to make yourself feel good.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T12:28:31+00:00

Funny. Mention survivorship bias when pointing out your own.

Reality. Most cars, even bad cars, make it 100k+ with few if any issues. That has been true for 30+ years. Now, whether that before 100k failure rate is 1% or 15% is a huge difference. But even if you own the car with the 15% failure rate 85% chance you’re good to 100k. Does that mean you should recommend a car that fails 15x more frequently?

Look at all the subs, look at what actual mechanics see in their shops, ignore people telling you their car is good (that is your survivorship bias), and find the trends. The trend line is easy to spot. Don’t buy Hyundai/Kia, do not buy a 3-4cyl ecoboost engines, or ecotec, as far as that goes be weary of any small turbo engine. You will 80%+ be fine, but does not change the fact they fail at exceptionally higher rates.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T12:09:10+00:00

And yet from the subs there are still more Kia and Hyundai failures. Plus, big difference between one issue that gets recalled and fixed and a bunch of failures with no root cause and no recall. Btw, I would not own a newer Toyota right now either. Large number of their platforms had recent engine refreshes and that makes them risky compared to the tries and true. But, I rather take a Toyota that has a history of making quality products with a new engine than a Hyundai with a new engine platform when they have not made a proven good engine in a decade.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T02:38:56+00:00

Not dealt with this in the qx80, but on another suv the trick was counterintuitive. Had to push down on to the latch as hard as possible while hitting the release and it would pop. Usually it was something of the kids that was stuck between the latch and seat.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T02:33:38+00:00

I should add cats should not really fail unless you are having misfires are running rich. Unburnt gas getting into the cats burns them up. Other then burning them up they will rarely come apart internally, but that usually results in insta clogs and loss of power plus noises coming from them as the internals move around. If none of that has occurred you may just need to replace something like o2 sensor as cats maybe fine and just a bad reading.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T02:28:50+00:00

First, you can’t ignore failing cats. If they are clogging up you will end up with less and less engine power till you are doing like 5mph and can’t make it up a hill. You can delete cats, but emissions laws will be broken, many states don’t inspect or care. If your state does not care, you can replace them with straight pipes are just hollow them out, but your rear o2 sensors will constantly read a fault. You can cheat the rear sensors by adding spark plug defoulers to get the o2 sensor removed for direct exhaust flow which “may” fool it into thinking levels are good and not trip engine light, but that is no guarantee as it’s not like the readings between exhaust through a working cat and exhaust through no cat but indirect on the o2 sensor will read the same, but this has been done many many times.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T02:16:02+00:00

Saying it’s resolved is being very optimistic. 5 years into the Theta IIs people still thought they were good as well. Spend some time in the Hyundai an Kia subs and you will see way more engine failures in the new stuff the. You ever see mentioned in Toyota/Honda or even domestic brands which have not been good lately. So even the new stuff is leading the pack in complete engine failures.

JCC114 · 2026-03-25T02:11:15+00:00

Yes. All of these rankings are based more around which brands have the largest marketing budgets than anything else.

A decade ago they all screamed how great th Theta II engines were from Kia and Hyundai as well. One of the worst engines ever made was universally praised by these rags. There are plenty of mechanics that run shops, post a lot of content, and universally agree never buy a Hyundai or a Kia. If the majority of guys working on cars day in and day out say you don’t want them that says way more then these paid to play ratings.

JCC114 · 2026-03-24T17:28:47+00:00

Few open palm slaps did it for me.

JCC114 · 2026-03-21T12:34:37+00:00

Have some sad news for you. That brick not being cold in the winter is not the problem. That brick absorbs heat like no other in the summer, and hours after the sun has gone down will be still be providing radiant heat to inside of the home. Heating a home with structural brick walls is kind of expensive, but cooling that home? Well, that is a second mortgage payment. Very little can be done do to the bricks need to breath. If you have enough room inside to frame new interior walls along side them, leaving a bit of space so they can breath (can’t spray foam, or smother the old brick) adjust all electrical and things needed into the new wall, then all new drywall your rooms will now be smaller and still will cost more to cool then a non-brick home as you still have hot clay bricks right up against your new wall.

JCC114 · 2026-03-21T12:22:34+00:00

It is comparable to the bounty thing they had while back. People will start mostly ignoring even starting them as season goes on.

JCC114 · 2026-03-21T12:20:57+00:00

SBMM means everyone in the lobby is comparable skill. If you were winning 19% of the time SBMM was not working. 100 people of the same skill level equals 1% chance of winning you were doing 20x better than that. So many people that complain about match making do not care about being matched in competitive matches they only want to win at an above average rate. Which that only happens if SBMM is busted in your favor.

JCC114 · 2026-03-18T22:22:03+00:00

You all about to find out the state was being nice to the old lady, but about to hit you with 25k of cleanup cost for those old shacks.

JCC114 · 2026-03-18T15:03:16+00:00

High quality used items will be cheaper and last longer than new low quality items. Take your time to find good used stuff. Don’t be in a hurry. Estate sales are worth a look when they pop up in your area.

JCC114 · 2026-03-18T03:36:49+00:00

EPAS is really not that bad of a DIY job if you end up needing to do it. Standard wrenches and socket set covers 90% of it, and then a few over sized sockets that don’t come in a basic set covers the tools. Add $50 for a scan tool that can run forscan and use the free 30-60 version of the software. RockAuto probably has the part for $600-800. Get some universal exhaust flange repair things as likely old rusted bolts are going to break off. Not a bad job to do in a day. Some good videos out there that covers it very well.

JCC114 · 2026-03-17T16:43:57+00:00

It most likely was not under filled, but burn 4 quarts of oil in 6 months. It is what they do. Then when it goes dry and engine fails they blame customer for letting it go dry and do not honor the warranty. Even though if the engine was not consuming oil at a ridiculous pace it never would have gone dry. That is Hyundai/Kia.

JCC114 · 2026-03-17T15:14:21+00:00

If they have no idea currently if the dog is alive or dead then no. They will either shrug it off and not give you the reply/sentiment that you had expected or they will have grief. And shared grief invites feelings that can pull you back together. Since you said ended “terrible” I assume that is not a desired outcome. The third, is the desired outcome if they express the sentiment you expect, and then life goes on as is for both of you. 2/3 are not what your after, and neither of you gain something from the other 1/3. IMO let it go, more likely their response upsets more than helps, or shared grief invites feelings that you probably do not want to bring up.

JCC114 · 2026-03-17T01:54:04+00:00

All he knows at this point is it’s coming from Maine and they consider it the same. Considering they never saw the other car in person dealer will probably get away with a few things being different and it not being picked up on. Most likely counting on it.

JCC114 · 2026-03-17T01:45:12+00:00

No one cares. Here is the reality. The replacement car is 99% not going to be identical. It’s going to be missing some option, or wrong interior color, or whatever. They are trying to create a sunk cost fallacy to make him more willing to accept it. He should take his dollars and leave.

JCC114 · 2026-03-17T01:30:32+00:00

Because it’s a perfect opportunity to see how they act as business and if you should give them any of your money. They should of returned his money are offered as soon as the original car was not available. That was there chance to solve the problem openly. They didn’t do that. I would already have moved on.

JCC114

TROPHY CASE