2003 Hyundai Tiburon

I had been awaiting Hyundai's release of their 2003 Tiburon for months before it hit showroom floors. The car promised to be the best looking vehicle on the road for under 30 grand and touted a tuned V6 and a 6-speed transmission for a budget price. Oh- and a 10 year warranty.

Skip to today. At first glance the Tiburon could be mistaken for a Ferrari. The front hood and headlights look much like a Chevy Cavalier. The rest of the car is very sleek, drawing attention atop its giant 17" wheels (GT version). The dual exaust hints at some muscle under its hood, as the V6 emblem would seem to verify.

Unfortunately, the most important advancement to the Tiburon- the V6- was never specially tuned as was rumored during its development. The V6 is straight from Hyundai's Sonota and Santa-Fe vehicles. While once expected to put out over 200hp, it only produces 181. While the aluminum V6 is very smooth and has a wide power-band, it cannot overcome this car's largest downside- weight.

Despite having an engine made of Aluminum, this car is heavy- or at least it feels that way. The car has a great tendency to understeer- usually the fault of a heavy front- making the car much more fun to drive straight then around turns. The wide power-band of the engine makes the 6-speed transmission somewhat unnecessary. The 4-cylinder version of the car is made from iron instead of aluminum- thus reducing the cars weight much nor helping the understeer. Acceleration is good though unrewarding, as it's broad powerband does not require a careful or delicate touch. I found myself skipping gears (from 3rd to 5th and from 4th to 6th) while driving because of this wide powerband- the six-speed is fun, but unnecessary.

The top gear of each transmission keeps the engine at a fairly high (3000) rpm for a 6-speed on the highway, which promotes engine wear and ruins gas mileage. The V6 in particular has the torque required to drive the car at lower RPMs.

The leather is nice, although not as nice as what you'd see in more expensive vehicles. The interior is bland except for the chrome-accented shifter with its round base. The Infinity stereo doesn't fill the console, though it plays fairly loudly. The subwoofer is still too boomy at lower levels to sound good, yet not loud enough to satisfy the aftermarket crowd. The head unit does read recordable CDs. I did not like how the interior combined both round and square vents- the design seemed thrown together. At the price of this vehicle, though, these should hardly be considered complaints.

The steering wheel does not tilt high enough to allow tall drivers to easily get their knees under while entering. It is reminisent of an MX-6 and is very akward for taller drivers to get into and out of. The car is not particularly roomy, though it is an improvement over the tiny previous model.

The back seats fold down to about 15-20 degrees, not flat. This gives a lot of usable space, but seats that fold flat would have been nicer. I would have expected more cargo space from a hatchback of this size with fold-down seats, but it is still on par with other vehicles in its class.

The latest Consumer Reports rates the Hyundai Elantra below average for reliability and the brand new Sonota worst-in-class for 1st year reliability. Elsewhere on the Internet you may hear that Hyundai's reliability is improving, but the Tiburon borrows from these two cars- expect to exercise your warranty a lot.

I would not buy this vehicle. There are other cars the perform better although don't look as sporty. For example, the Mazda Protege slightly faster than the 4-cylinder Tiburon, is way more comfortable and far roomier, has bullet-proof reliability, better handling, and can be had for several thousand dollars less. Several other "pocket-rockets" offer similar acceleration and price (Sentra Spec V, Focus SVT, Civic Si, Protege), but trade the Tiburon's good looks for added comfort and practicality.

I guess it depends on what you want.

All-in-all, I was disappointed with the Tiburon- but in all fairness I had very high expectations. The Tiburon is not a bad car, but there are definitely better choices out there. Hyundai is rumored to be developing a turbo version of the Tiburon making well in excess of 200 horsepower. Hyundai sure is showing their potential in the budget-sports car market.

They're hitting the target, just not quite the bulls-eye.