The Hyundai Excel. Because you gotta start somewhere.
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Welcome to Auto Chatter! Ths episode is about the Hyundai Excel and its sportier cousin the Scoupe. Its not just a tale about the car. The Excel was Hyundai's first vehicle sold in America. Did they make a impact at launch? Lets find out! This video was slightly modified due to copywright issues and re uploaded.
My first car was a Hyundai Pony - as they named the Excel here in the UK. Red with a light brown interior. 1.3l petrol engine, 4 door hatch. It was 9 years old when I got it in 1997 and I gave it up in 2001 when the engine repair was going to cost more than the car was worth. It felt big with loads of room for my mates and our camping gear. Went fast enough for me and held its own on the long motorway journeys.
When I visited the US in 1998 I was surprised to see the same model, colour and trim, but with the controls in reverse!
I think you got Hyundai there before we did if my memory serves.
When my wife was in college she bought a new 2 door hatchback blue Hyundai Excel. She paid $50 per month. No air conditioning and stick shift. About 65,000 miles the Korean rubber engine seals started to leak. A Hyundai service manager confided about that about that mileage "They all do." No shims like Toyota. I adjusted the valves manually just like I had to do on our later Honda Civic SI cars.
The top of the plastic dashboard developed a nasty crack. The Excel did the job.
See also a movie "My Fellow Americans." Jack Lemon and James Garner are former Presidents who have to drive in a rented Excel as it was the last working car on the rental lot. As they are driving through rural mountains one of the headrests is vibrating mercilessly. 😄 A good film on the history of the Excel.
I should have used a clip from that movie. For some reason the only Excel on the big screen I could think of, was the bad guy in Boys in the Hood.
The joy of being Canadian: we had the Pony before we had the Excel. I never had the chance to own a Pony but I bought a ‘91 Excel SE brand new. It was a decent car which gave me seven years of trouble free driving.
From what I read, the Excel was a much improved car.
When I was in High School the Hyundai Excel was the car you drove because you couldn't afford anything else, and you dumped it the moment you could get ANYTHING else. Some other high school kid would end up with it and the cycle would repeat. Even a 10 year old Ford Escort or Chevrolet Citation was a HUGE step up from an Excel.
My memories of them were similar! The resale value dropped pretty fast.
When I graduated for college I got salesman job selling Hyundais in 1986. I sold 16 of these in about 2 months. I thought the car was far better than what was discussed in the press and superior to anything in its price class. Still do. I hated the sales job and resented the sales management being nothing more than old lot lizards who still dressed in polyester and who twice told me to kiss off a customer because "they aren't going to buy today." Well, I sold both of those customers a car. And then a week later I turned in my D plate and kissed them goodbye without remorse. I hate the process of buying a car because I know the games that are played.
I sold Hyundais a few years too in the mid 90s!...Which impretty sure I mentioned in the video LOL... I think I even sold a Scoupe or two. The 95 Accent was way nicer than a Excel IMO. I didn't see too many short term problems with Hyundais then....But I did sell a new Elantra around 95 or 96 with a manual and the next day it was towed in because somthing in the transmission grenaded. The "old timer" sales guys then were a riot! I heard all the stories about how things used to be. It's a good thing Hyundai had the spiff program where you called in after selling a car and got anywhere from like 50 to 300 bucks.....Because there was no markup on them then.
My dad bought a brand new Excel in 1986, a Beige GL Sedan. It was a great car and did its job, but it started having issues the last year he owned it.
I was 20 in sophomore year of college and bought a 1986 4 door GL chocolate brown no A/C> It went 100k with only brakes and alternator....5 speed ...got me through college. 4 years old...started to rust. They had an engine fault faulty king pins (screw the rod heads together. The engines were known for a Lower engine noise. Many of the engines failed early due to this defect. The part was produced by a subcontractor. I got 40 mpg on the highway and had no problem cruising at 80 (I was 20 ). The interior held up well and the build quality was no worse than an american car of that time. I did have a couple of creaks and rattles in the dash which were easily fixed by a well placed quarter. The stereo was not bad but the speakers were awful, once I replaced them the sound was excellent. It was a great 1st car. I think back now and I bought a new car at 20 while in school full time and working. Something that is near impossible today.
The Accent that replaced them was a big leap in alot of ways. Yeah bottom end problems were seen..Especially as alot of them were not maintained like they should have been. They didn't hold up like a Civic or Corolla, but were alot less money. I'd agree were on par with Domestic subcompacts then...But I recall some of the Hyundai parts being kind of expensive for a cheap car.
My family bought a new one in the US in 1986, it was pretty basic but it was on the showroom floor. 4 speed manual transmission and no tachometer, but it did come with a cassette tape deck 😂
A tach in a import then usually meant you had a fancy version!
I had a fully loaded 1988 Hyundai Excel GS 3-door hatchback 5-speed. The "sports" car version of the Excel. Bright monochrome red. 68 whopping horsepower.
It only caught fire once at 110,000 miles on the clock. 🔥 Fixed it and drive it another 45,000 miles. It was my first car.
I loved that car.
Well...Glad it only caught fire once! First cars often get extra points to their owners. My first was a 79 Toyota truck with a automatic. It never caught fire and was SLOW...But I loved it too!
Had an '89 Excel as my first brand new car, 4 door 5 speed, no A/C no power steering. It was a shitbox, but it was mechanically reliable, had 150K commuting miles on it when I traded it with no major problems. I believe it was a Mitsubishi powertrain. But man was it pitifully slow. You hit even the slightest of hills, you were passed by grannies on the sidewalk in their wheelchairs. The paint sucked, it chipped and peeled everywhere but the body didn't get the bad corrosion that the '82 Honda Civic I had prior to it did.
Yeah...It was pretty much a Dodge Colt platform/mechanicals....but with its own sheetmetal and built in S Korea. Nissan used Mercedes based designs for engines in the 60s and Toyotas straight sixes were originally Chevy based ones.
I'm on my second Hyundai - a 2018 Elantra GT (hatchback version) following a 2007 Elantra sedan. The quality is indeed much better and I would never have even considered the brand, after living through the crap Excels of the 80s, if they hadn't started fleet sales, so I ended up renting a couple of Sonatas on business trips and realized they had greatly improved their products.
They have come a long way. I was selling them back when the Accent launched to replace the Excel and it was a huge improvement. The first Toyotas we got here in the late 50s/early 60s were....problematic too LOL.
I still see a white Hyundai Excel from time to time in Dunwoody, Georgia. That’s the only one I have seen in over a decade lol
LOL...I'm trying to think the last time I saw one. Early to mid 2000s maybe? Even other Hyundais from the 90s is a rare site.
4:47 This car was not built in America. "Imported by Mitsubishi". States it right there on the hatch.
You may be right.I might have confused it with the Mirage then.
“Hit the scene” 😂👊🏻👍🏻
Hope you liked it!
We used to have them in my country , the Ac was really cold . I don’t see any of them now .
Yeah..I haven't seen a Excel in 15 years at least!
@@autochatter believe it or no , so do I
I actually still have a 91 with 70k miles i drive quite often
With only 70k miles, your not driving THAT car that often LOL. Awesome you still have a survivor! The cars were inexpensive, and as such don't always get the best of care over the years.
I bought it 3 years ago with 60 from an old lady in Massachusetts and had it shipped to VA in the last couple months due to bad luck she's been promoted to daily and took it like a champ for a 30+ year old car it's been nice driving all week for 25$ in gas
@normanc5700 Thats great 👍
still have one google 1989 hyundai excel lowrider it’s a white hatchback
Nice!
I was watching other video, I didn't watch the first version, what did you changed?
About 8 seconds of music LOL. I have a subscription for a company where I can create video clips and such.It also has a music library. What I DIDNT know,is all of their music can be used, but you can't be potentially monetized from some of it. You don't know which either untill You Tube tells you after the fact.