Buying a used car - '09 Hyundai Sonata

[cheapbutshiny]

My fiance is getting rid of her '94 Camry to step into a nicer, more reliable car. We're looking for a mid-size sedan with decent mileage that will last us for a while. My question is this - we found a 2009 Hyundai Sonata with a 2.4L 4 cylinder engine that is within our price range, but it has 155,000 miles on it. Is that too high for a Hyundai? I feel like it's not bad because the price is lower than other cars from the same year, and it is a Hyundai so it should be reliable. Feed back please

Also it's jet black...so if she gets this I'm taking on another part time job. Oh well.

[StangFan25]

That is a lot of miles for a 2009! I'm guessing it was a rental? My 97 Mustang had just over 100,000 when i traded it in in 2012.

In the end if its something you really want to pull the trigger on, see if you can get the
Maintenance records and make sure its been taken care of! Thats a ton of miles....

[Setec Astronomy]

Unless someone used it as a taxicab or a police car, those have to be highway miles to get that many in 5 years. Without knowing anything else, and just on the face of it, you're probably ok. I wouldn't count on getting more than 50-75,000 more out of it though, just for planning purposes. Keep in mind that some failures come from mileage, others come from age, corrosion, etc., so the fact that it's only 5 years old helps for some areas of reliability.

[cheapbutshiny]

Yeah it is a ridiculous amount of miles for a 2009. I'm having a mechanic look it over today and that'll have a big bearing on what we decide. Not sure if I will be able to get the records. The dealer doesn't have them and I don't know how to get them otherwise.

[CDot]

What everyone else has said--biggest thing is getting a reliable mechanic to give it a very thorough inspection before you buy. Regarding the records, they will be very difficult to find unless the previous owner included a full maintenance log (which 99.9% don't or can't). And like Setec said, I wouldn't expect more than 50-75k out of it.

And for price, check out http://www.edmunds.com/tmv.html to get the market price of the car for a bargaining chip.

[trekkeruss]

My fiance is getting rid of her '94 Camry to step into a nicer, more reliable car.

Just curious, did she buy that car used? How has it been unreliable?

[Klasse Act]

FWIW the van I drive for work, an 09' Ford Transit Connect, has 172K on the clock and runs great! I've put almost 100K on it in almost 2.5 yrs, the oil is changed every 10K (syn) and the only thing replaced is the p/s unit and this coolant hose elbow thing, that's it.

It really comes down to how it was broken in and how it was maintained honestly. Hyundai is NO joke anymore, so don't worry about that crap either.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online

[cheapbutshiny]

Just curious, did she buy that car used? How has it been unreliable?

It has been a very reliable car for her. We need to get something that will be good for us a few years down the road when we start thinking about kids and whatnot. The camry is going to need some work after not too long and we don't want to keep pouring money into a 94.

[MarkD51]

Just me, but I personally wouldn't wish to buy such with 55K on it, let alone 155K on the Odo. Yeah, the newer Kias-Hyundais are better, but they aren't Benzs.

[custmsprty]

That's way too many miles. Also, how much $$$$? It's also the old body style and they just updated the last new style with their 2015's. According to KBB it's only worth a few thousand. What model Sonata is it? What are they asking? Why don't they have maintenance records? If it were me I wouldn't send my wife down the road in a car with 155,000 miles on it.

[cheapbutshiny]

It's on the lot for 7k, but I'm positive I can get them down almost another thousand. Drove it and it feels good, mechanic said it's in great shape. No major issues. I'm going to consider it but will keep my options open. Thanks for the help guys!

[StangFan25]

In my opinion, that's over priced, i honestly think you can find something better for that kind of money. Are you selling or using the Camry as trade?

[CDot]

It's on the lot for 7k, but I'm positive I can get them down almost another thousand. Drove it and it feels good, mechanic said it's in great shape. No major issues. I'm going to consider it but will keep my options open. Thanks for the help guys!

Keep those options open! I did a Edmunds tmv (True Market Value) run on that car and I got this: 2009 Hyundai Sonata GLS What's it Worth? (http://www.edmunds.com/hyundai/sonata/2009/tmv-appraise-results.html). That's $4,350 trade-in and $6,518 Dealer Retail max if it's "clean". Remember that Blue Book value doesn't mean much of anything when it comes to the actual market--it overinflates numbers--so try to negotiate based off the trade-in/TMV.

Good luck!

[VISITOR]

while the car itself i'm sure is pretty solid (if it's in good shape), i would pass given the high mileage it has. maybe at a 100k it would be a different story if it were priced right and you were only going to keep it for a few years...

[Quickstrike32]

For your budget, I'd recommend something with a 3.8 V6. They run forever and do pretty decent on gas.