Hyundai Tiburon: Buyer Beware

May 11, 2006, 12:00:00AM. By Jane Mundy

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"Basically the Hyundai warranty is void as soon as you drive the car off the lot. When the clutch on my Hyundai Tiburon GT went, they told me it was because of bad driving habits. I am really pissed off. They just deny everything."

Bill Parfiit Jr., Pasedena, Maryland

"I have a 2004 Hyundai Tiburon GT with a 2.7 liter engine but it's the same problem as the 2003 model - a defective clutch. Hyundai told me it was a driver error and the clutch went because of the way I drove the car. But I am 47 years old and know how to drive. On top of that I am a mechanic and I have been driving since I was 16. The Hyundai representative I talked to was like a robot; she kept repeating the same thing over and over again - driver error driver error.

My clutch went out at 16,000 miles. It should last about 100,000 miles. I have never had to replace a clutch in any car I have owned, and there's been quite a few.

First of all, I went to the dealership where I purchased the car and they told me it wasn't covered under the Hyundai warranty - it was a 'wear' item, just like tires or brakes. They had that written on the warranty in small print. Then I talked to the operations manager at Bob Bell Ford - another dealership - and he was very nice to deal with. He said they would replace the clutch for the cost of parts and labor, and wouldn't make any money on the parts. There was no big savings here but at least I could talk to him, not like the Hyundai rep.

I bought my own after-market clutch; I just couldn't see putting the same piece of junk back in there. The parts cost me $478 and the dealer charged $870 for labor.

I bought a Hyundai Tiburon GT brand new in September, 2004 and the clutch went in January 2006. The clutch was only guaranteed one year or 12,000 miles on the warranty. But the way they advertise as America's best warranty - their slogan - says 10 years or 100,000 miles. This is false advertising. And if you read the fine print a lot of other parts aren't covered. I will never buy or drive a Hyundai again."

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