Tony Barber was actually host of $ale from 1980 until 1991; at the time of this ad airing, he would have been doing his short-lived run on "Wheel of Fortune".
Sadly these cars didn't have great longevity. Only about 1,300 pre-1999 Sonatas remain registered in Australia today (as of 2019), even though over 7,000 were sold in 1997 alone. When you compare it to Honda, or Toyota, for example, far more of their 90s-era vehicles remain. There are still about 50,000 pre-1999 Corollas registered.
I agree, this era of Hyundai were a very mixed bag. After 2000, they seemed to have progressively got much better. There were some 90s cars that offered reliable service for a number of years for their owners, while others fell apart very quickly, due to electrical and mechanical maladies, even poor welding on these cars (not sure if this affected Sonatas but Excels had subframe welding issues and Lantras had very shoddy CV joints that cracked in a few places). An interesting point on the Sonata especially this vintage is that the ones I see in salvage yards and at auctions in Australia seemed to be unregistered for a while, my guess considering some of the Sonatas of this vintage I see for sale are deceased estate or elderly owned cars is that it is deemed uneconomical to fix the car for the return someone would get if they sold it (1993-1998 cars seem to be in this position more than their later counterparts). Unlike the Camry or Accord, the used market doesn't seem interested in these so that's why they get left in the too hard basket when needing repairs or to be put back on the road having not been used for a number of years, a shame as good ones actually aren't bad cars.
Tony Barber was actually host of $ale from 1980 until 1991; at the time of this ad airing, he would have been doing his short-lived run on "Wheel of Fortune".
Sadly these cars didn't have great longevity. Only about 1,300 pre-1999 Sonatas remain registered in Australia today (as of 2019), even though over 7,000 were sold in 1997 alone. When you compare it to Honda, or Toyota, for example, far more of their 90s-era vehicles remain. There are still about 50,000 pre-1999 Corollas registered.
How would you say the reliability of Korean cars compares today with Japanese cars?
I agree, this era of Hyundai were a very mixed bag. After 2000, they seemed to have progressively got much better. There were some 90s cars that offered reliable service for a number of years for their owners, while others fell apart very quickly, due to electrical and mechanical maladies, even poor welding on these cars (not sure if this affected Sonatas but Excels had subframe welding issues and Lantras had very shoddy CV joints that cracked in a few places). An interesting point on the Sonata especially this vintage is that the ones I see in salvage yards and at auctions in Australia seemed to be unregistered for a while, my guess considering some of the Sonatas of this vintage I see for sale are deceased estate or elderly owned cars is that it is deemed uneconomical to fix the car for the return someone would get if they sold it (1993-1998 cars seem to be in this position more than their later counterparts). Unlike the Camry or Accord, the used market doesn't seem interested in these so that's why they get left in the too hard basket when needing repairs or to be put back on the road having not been used for a number of years, a shame as good ones actually aren't bad cars.
Sonata III