been off the h radar, need advice on next hyundai
 

hi everyone,



i've been a former member of hp.com and member of ha.org after a hiatus after selling my last hyundai which was a 97 j2 or rd.



i currently own a 98 ford ranger with the weaksauce 3.0 vulcan v6 with the light duty 4r44e tranny. the difference between unibody and body-on-frame is now etched in my brainial knowledge of why rear wheel drive isn't always the biggest reason to own a compact pickup with a breathless engine with a open diff 7.5 axle, having said that it carries my equipment and tools well and wheel bearings are a simply joy to fix.."hub bearing rotors" :biggrin:



i'm interested in possibly another lc..possibly a lc2 or a mc hatch if the price or "needswork" price is right, as far as i know, the mc accent still has the final gen 1.6 alpha II engine with valvesparkmagic technology..aka cvvt. i heard come articles saying the manual is a bit rubbery and not happy to quickshifting,

mechanical driver control like cable throttle, hydraulic steering, non abs brakes are my preferences in the wake of todays ever complex computerized devices on wheels.



any tips or lookout advices on particulars?

If the MC trans was anything like the HD Elantra it was rubbery but got less pissy with a quick shift vs. the XD. The newest manual Hyundais have what I call derp throttle. They WILL close the throttle when the clutch goes down and may not open it as fast as your foot tells it to open. Making a quick shift feel like crap. The Sonata and new Accent have it for sure. Genesis had a much lighter version of it. Veloster I drove didn't seem to do it (thought that was weird actually). There is a way to kill it but you also kill cruise control.



Never really heard anything bad about the MC accent. Never got into the look, but they seem to still be on the road in decent numbers. Compared to the LCs.

i'm hoping mods of bushings and urethane or puck mounts will help like it did with my lc, the j2 shifter on my 97 elantra was more mitsubishi oriented and i took a lesson from jafromobiles shift tech vid on youtube since the linkage style was very similiar, some ideas i took was coke can shim magic, zipties and velcro.



i worked on a customer's 2g scion xb that had a very tight very short "ricey" throw shifter that was plagued with grinding and hard to engage into gear with clutch pedal floored due to the syncros worn out due to forced quick shifting..i dunno if people have grasped the idea of height adjustable shifter on the fly with a male female shaft with a set screw setup or a ratchet lock setup..i'm digressing from the topic but thought i'd throw it out for anyone out here.

I loved my MC so much I bought a 2nd. I will say that the sound deadening in the later cars is much better, my '07 was pretty loud at times. Our 09 has been our DD for seven years and is still going strong. Plus even the 2 door hatch has a very nice back seat enough for 2 adults comfortably. The biggest down side is the weight, they are crazy heavy for what they are. So if this is something you want to mod you may want to consider a lighter car.



I will also say that I have become a fan of the Veloster. No where near as practical though, I'm pretty short and eve my head rubs the roof in the back seat. I tested the turbo when it first came out and hated it. The ones I've driven recently I have liked quite a bit.

the lc is probably slighty lighter since multiple grades of mild-high grade steel is used in the composition of the unibody, and has no rear removable subframe because the rear IRS is bolted to the body, mc's may be simpler with torsion beam but weakness is horizontal movement which is why a watts linkage conversion is a nice suspension mod, side airbags and tpms are a pita though.

Keep in mind that that aftermarket parts are still a bit tough to find for the newer Hyundai's so there might be certain things you will either have to fabricate yourself, find a shop to make one off stuff, or wait patiently in hopes that something is released that you want.

i probably had the only whiteline 3 way adjustable front sway bar for the lc in nova, thanks to a part out of a past beta lc..madhatter i think his name was?



probably the quickest 4 banger 1998-early 2000's hyundai's were the 2.0 beta j2's and 2.0 beta xd..both with manual trans..



caranddriver reviewed the rio as being sportier than the ho hum MC but is there noticable suspension difference between base MC and MC se?

Hi man! In my experience I would steer you back to a LC2 or LC. The LC2 feels quite a bit more refined than the LC and they're both next to free to purchase.

i will consider your input as well floyd, thanks again..



i'm checking local auctions, co-part, and craigslist and the occasional customer that i slap tires on asking if i wanna buy it..aiming for lc2 gt if the price to fix is agreeable.



dunno if the extra 5+ ponies from the cvvt alpha II compared to not cvvt is worth it..probably not,



i know lowered springs and braces are attainable, but how rare are chances of getting sway bars?

I don't think there are any sway bars produced anymore. You can check Ultra Racing, they're the last company I know of that was making them. Sometimes someone will be selling one on here. They're rare but the market is something like 15 people in the world that care and most of them already have a Whiteline bar at this point so the price usually isn't high.



The GT is quite a bit nicer than the non-GT, but the leather steering wheel and shift knob tend to kind of come apart. My steering wheel is still okay but missing a couple small pieces of leather around the stitching. The shift knob needed replaced long ago.