I've been searching for a new car for about a month now, did a test drive and I wanted to wait until I heard from my employer in terms of getting a promotion, but I had no choice but to purchase a new car.

My 97 Tiburon has been on its last legs for about a year now with things just failing on it, and this weekend was basically the last straw. First, the car was a salvage. The list of things wrong with it included a broken hood safety (hood would flap in the wind on the highway, which was sketchy alot of times). Leaking steering rack. Oil burnoff about every 1500 miles having to put 2 quarts of oil in. Numerous exhaust leaks. Interior rattle. Rearend rattle. Calipers locked up. Bearing noise.

I've replaced the manifold w/ an ebay header. had to do calipers, pads, rotors, bearings in the front end. The power steering leak was getting very bad. The rattles were getting annoying. And on Sunday, the final straw, the exhaust rotted at the catalytic converter making it VERY loud. On the way to the dealer to get the deal finalized, the exhaust completely dropped and was dragging on the highway. I had to pull over on the highway during morning rush hour in the rain and wrap up the exhaust with my belt. Obviously the very loud exhaust got 10 times louder and really had no choice. It wasn't driveable and would have been an easy way to get pulled over.

So, instead of dumping more money into a car that wasn't worth the gas I put in it every week, I purchased a 2009 Elantra. When I test drove one a couple weeks back I was very impressed. Maybe it was because I was driving such a piece of crap, but it drove so nice. The $2000 cash back offer was a huge appeal considering I didn't have any money of my own to put down.

I could go on and on about the features, but I'll just summarize on a roomy interior, decent sized trunk, very comfortable seats, iPod hookup, more storage than you could imagine, blue gauges, steering wheel mounted cruise control buttons, etc etc.

I did get a 5 speed. No way will I buy an automatic. Too boring. The new Hyundais now have reverse next to first gear (left and up) like in Volkswagens. That takes some getting used to.

Low and behold.... here are the few pics I've taken thus far...

My fav shot/edit
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...lantra06bw.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra01.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra02.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra03.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra04.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra05.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../Elantra06.jpg

It's so refreshing knowing that I now have a car that I can depend on. For far too long I've been weery of my RD's reliablity. Comment!!!

Nice purchase man.

Jeez, stock bad boy hood lol...and I went through the PITA to make mine.

Awesome dude, I totally hear you about getting a new car, I'm hoping to get a new one tomorrow. Just can't deal with the tib anymore. My exhaust has gotten loud as f*** too.

nice, what you have planned for it?

i'm gonna keep it very minimal. i'm going to rebadge it with Avante and S20 emblems and probably paint those and the H on the trunk lid white.

i'm not the biggest fan of the chrome accented grill, so i'm thinking this front end. and probably eyelines at the same time. i like this combination

http://www.kdmstuff.com/goods/images...121235cont.jpg

from what i've read at EXD, a CAI is not easily available. Due to computer/fuel settings, a cold air intake throws check engine lights right away.

not sure how long i'm gonna wait before i start doing big mods. wheels/tires would probably be the biggest thing i would do. not sure. I now have a $300/month payment i have to deal with first. haha

take a look into some of the very nice, yet subtle mods that Munky has done to his on CH.

Nice pick up man, looks real good.

Nice Elantra! It looks good.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (UrS0NvS @ Jun 25 2009, 10:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>take a look into some of the very nice, yet subtle mods that Munky has done to his on CH.</div>
Munky doesn't have an Elantra he has a Sonata.

^^^ oopz, my mistake.

i wasn't gonna say anything. lol. i did my homework and logged into CH for the first time in ages because of you. haha