Hello All,
My wife wanted a bigger vehicle so we could fit the dog in too. So we decided to go looking for a 4x4. I would never of thought of a Hyundai Tucson, but a car dealer I know told me to take one for a drive and compare it to the Freelander that my wife was thinking about.
Well he was right, the Tucson drove like a car, smoother and much better equiped.
It was 3 years old with 2 yrs warranty left, 26.000 miles for £6750.
The first year of having the vehicle was great, took it for it's service at the main dealer and all was fine. Then not long after the engine management light came on and the engine lost a bit of power.
I am a mechanic myself (motorcycle) and thought that the problem was the EGR valve, phoned the main dealer, told them the problem and they said i would have to take it in to be diagnosed.
Took it in, they had me hanging around for 4 hours, to tell me it's the EGR valve. GREAT!
Had no stock so had to take it back a few days later.
Well at least it was done under warrantee.
Now just before the warrantee was about to expire, my wife told me the engine is starting to feel a little lumpy and the gearstick is shakey. She took it to the main dealer and they said it needed a software update, which did smooth it out a bit. But a month later after the warrantee expired I found out the problem. The dual mass flywheel fell apart. They would not do it as it was not under warrantee anymore and was a big job.
So I did it myself, new flywheel and clutch £450 + 7 Hours labour.
The next year my wife pulled away from home and then the vehicle would not go over 1500rpm. TIME FOR A TURBO!
Another six months passed and there was a screaching under the bonnet.
POWER STEERING PUMP.
Found that the pump failure was due to worn STEERING RACK, so got one of those too.
Next thing to go wrong was the Air Con, an electrical fault.
Then one day the airbag light came on, I thought it's time to get a box of matches.
Well seeing as the horn stopped working too, the problem had to be the squib under the steering wheel, and it was.
Now the Tucson has done 67.000 miles and the clutch has started to slip slightly from time to time, so that is my next job again. The original clutch is made by LUK, I last fitted an LUK. This time I am fitting a Sachs clutch, unless anybody knows of a better one.
While I have spent all this money on my wifes Tucson, I myself drive a Rover 75 CDTI , done 10,000 more miles, thrash the living daylights out of it and has never gone wrong once. Perhaps she should have got the Freelander Diesel???
