The answers to your questions were right in the text you quoted me on.

 

I just found out that 2009 is the last year for the Azera....

 

That's too bad. It seemed like a pretty good car that offered a lot for the money. I'm sure the various Genesis models that are in the pipeline will more than offset the lost Azera sales.

 

That's a shame. I always liked the Azera, although I thought Hyundai took too much of the nice interior wood trim out that was in its predecessor XG300/350, and the Azera's road noise was too high, at least on the one I reviewed. Still, if next year is the last one, I may have to choose between that and a new Subaru I was considering (I like Hyundais, but have a very strong attraction to the Subie flat engine/AWD system.

 

BTW, Sal, I posted a copy of my 3.8L Genesis review in the Hyundai Fanatics forum, if you haven't seen it. It can also be accessed here on CL.

 

When did you do your review for CL? I tried to Search for it. Thanks.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...yundai+genesis

 

So nice. lol Acura

 

Thank you! Yes, it IS a shame about the Azera. I liked it too.. It was an excellent FWD luxury car without all the bells and whistles OR the stiffer suspension. I think there are plenty of customers out there for this type of demographic. Maybe they'll bring the Sonata up a class to replace it...

 

We have had the car for 2 weeks now and still quite impressed with it. What a perfectly thought out interior, we just love everything about it. We didnt check out the lease terms but there are some great deals out there.

 

I think this information may be incorrect. There's a replacement for the Azera coming in 2010 - code named VG for Kia and HG for Hyundai. Kia doesn't currently have an "Azera". They have an XG350 in the Amanti. I'm not sure if VG is going to replace the Amanti with a new name or not. I'm also unsure if the HG will carry a new model name or simply be 'the next' Azera..

It'll be a front wheel drive vehicle with a 6-speed transmission. Sounds to me like something more along the lines of a proper Lexus ES competitor - as the Genesis strives for something more...

 

I like the styling of the Azera. It's conservative but would age gracefully. In some ways, to me it looks just as good, as the Genesis. The Amanti, on the other hand needs work ASAP, if they're going to keep it. It looks like a Russian limo from the 60's.

 

My wife and I went to an Enterprise car rental store a month or so ago. There were two cars left. A Buick Lucerne and a Kia Amanti. My wife asked, "which one do you want?". I replied, "NOT the Kia!". Well, the Buick Lucerne was more expensive and my wife wanted me to be economical. Since I normally give her a hard time about things like this, I decided to let it slide......

The Kia Amanti was a pleasure to drive and very comfortable to be in. The leather was very soft and the materials were of high quality. I timed myself 0-60 in 6.1 seconds after I became curious - the car was very powerful - even at 80mph, you got pushed into your seat when flooring the accelerator. The car was extremely comfortable and roomy for something mid-size. Road noise, tire noise and wind noise was muffled nicely - but engine noise was loud.

EVERYBODY complimented me on the car. All my friends - even the wealthy ones appreciated the looks of the Amanti. I was shocked at how much people loved this $26k Kia. Looks are subjective...





A new one may look something like this...

 

The refresh did smooth out the looks of the Amanti. It looks better than before IMHO.

 

What's cool about the Amanti is despite its fairly bargain price as new, it suffers terribly from depreciation... they're worth about 30% of their original selling price after 5 years and 60k miles which is among the top 10 highest rates of depreciation for any car on the market today.

What I can't seem to find out is how reliable they are and how much they cost to fix. There's not a lot of data out there for them since they didn't sell very well at all. JD Power seems to have not rated them at all. I don't really care if CR rated them or not since they seem to make up ratings arbitrarily regardless of how much data they lack. Consumerguide.com mentioned parts may be hard to come by for them, especially as years go by since they just didn't sell much.

I'd still be interested in looking at one used just for the bargain it presents. I'm not sure if I could deal with what most reviews have called horribly portly and floaty handling though.