I’ve had several Hondas that went to 100k before I had to replace the timing belt. I’ve had one break, and becuse of Honda’s engines TDC, it didn’t do any harm. Just replaced the belt, and off I went.

Please check with the Honda dealer as what type of engine is yours, Interference type or NON.
I had a 85 Civic 1500, the engine turned to be interference, I trusted a Heavy duty Mech who also works out of his home. It turned out the belt snapped costed me dearly a $200 tow , in the end I had to sell her cheap!

Pricing decisions work best when the most information is available, that’s all.

ex-dtw: very well said. Information (or misinformation) is what determines customer acceptance.

I noticed a decline in timing belt’d motors after Ford and GM (Chrysler too?) heavily promoted their “100k between tune-ups” in the mid-late 1990s.

Considering many people will gladly dump their ride once it hits the 6-digit mark, that’s a strong sales tool indeed.

But that’s why I’m a Honda loyalist. There ain’t too many domestics that could handle that kind of wear and tear, they simply aren’t designed to.

Please see Shakers response below yours. The Prelude is indeed an interference fit engine and therefore an “accident waiting to happen”. Now 60K might be early for this type of maintenance, but on my vehicle it is necessary nonetheless.

Honda’s ARE great vehicles but that does not mean they might not make some compromises to satisfy a design. Interference fit engines are typically lower in profile and therefore allow the designer to reduce hood height. It seems that is the choice that Honda has made.

Understanding the tradeoffs made in design on a model specific level is what I think we are discussing here. For some 90K might seem like eons away, for others, right around the corner.

Pricing decisions work best when the most information is available, that’s all.

Kia, on the other hand, seems to be positioned as the lower rung on the ladder of Korean auto brands. I’m sure there are exceptions, but whereas Hyundai dealers once heavily promoted “easy credit” deals, that torch seems to have been passed to Kia.

At about the same time that Hyundai was preparing to pass this torch, Mitsubishi used a similar “no credit, zero down, perpetual financing” tactic to grow market share. Unfortunately, this was at a point where Mitsu’s products were not at their zenith of quality or desirability. The results, as many of you know, brought Mitsubishi’s auto concerns and its financing arm to its knees, as there were countless auto loans collateralized with nearly worthless vehicles. Years later, that marque is still struggling to rebuild its image, as well as its market share.

Hopefully, Kia will avoid a similar mistake by making sure that their products are built to last.

Oh, wait a minute…

In Central Ohio Hyundai and some Kia’s are holding their values quite well – better than the domestics are in fact. Demand is oddly high for both brands in this area, and new dealerships are spreading out of the major metropolitan areas.

They may not be as high in some areas, but that is changing with time.

I’ve had several Hondas that went to 100k before I had to replace the timing belt. I’ve had one break, and becuse of Honda’s engines TDC, it didn’t do any harm. Just replaced the belt, and off I went.

But that’s why I’m a Honda loyalist. There ain’t too many domestics that could handle that kind of wear and tear, they simply aren’t designed to.

Our prior 2.7 litre V6 Sonata had to have it’s cam belt changed (at the cost of almost $500) at 60,000 miles. It did start getting “tappety” at 74,000 miles, to be honest, so I am not surprised to hear that it would have required a valve tappet adjustment at 90,000.

Having had a 2.7 V6 AND the new 2.4 four cylinder, I’d buy the four banger every time. 20% more efficient, only down about 7 horsepower on the V6 – plus a more useable torque band.

The only time the 2.7 V6 is “better” might – MIGHT – be high-speed passing. Certainly the V6 was rev-happy, and was a dog below about 3500 rpm. It was “too peaky” for a family sedan, in fact.

Here’s a Wikipedia article, which states what I already knew – the four cylinder has a chain cam drive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Theta_engine

The basic engine design is “shared” with Chrysler(i.e. Chrysler couldn’t be bothered/weren’t competent enough to design a decent four cylinder, so used then-partner Hyundai to design the basic engine). I also have unfortunate experience with my LAST Chrysler product, a Neon, in which the head gasket went – twice.

The mechanical lifters on the Theta engine are described as shimless bucket tappets. The engine is intended to last 250,000 miles, according to engineering articles I read 2 years ago in Automotive News.

Does anyone out there have a new Sonata or Optima owner’s manual, with service requirements? I don’t know if this engine requires valve adjustments ever.

I personally think the Optima looks nicer than the Sonata, though I don’t like the McPherson strut system used in Optima, preferring the multi-link front suspension of the Sonata. The Sonata ride is much too “Buick like” for my taste, but it sure takes the (multiple, continuous) punch out of Michigan’s absolutely CRAP roads to some large extent.

The Optima has those “Frua” shoulders just below the greenhouse, which I’ve always liked (since the 1960’s). Look at a mid 1960’s Maserati Quattroporte or Glas 1700 sedan from the same era (both styled by Frua of Italy) and you’ll kind of see what I mean…. Reminds me of a quality Italian bespoke suit…

http://quattroporte.online.fr/qp1.htm

The 90K estimate is a wild-ass guess, possibly erring on the side of charity. As for causing a catastrophe, I suspect valve clearance misadjustment would announce itself quite adequately with gradually increasing clatter long before anything got destroyed.

The 2.7 is a reworked version of Kia’s previous 2.7, with updates to make it similar in many ways to the Sonata’s 3.3. I believe Kia will go to the similar-architecture but much more powerful 3.3 when Optima production moves to the U.S., which is scheduled to happen in a couple of years.

Chris G: Bottom line on whether I like the car? The base car, subject of most of this review, is a faceless transit capsule with nothing to have any feelings about. The V6 Appearance Package car (shown in our photos) with perforated leather, ESC, neon gauges and fat Michelins is fundamentally much more pleasing, and I’d consider buying it if it fit my own tall chassis better.

Why worry about the changing parts if it will take 100,000 miles before you have them change. Of course suspension is not part of the warranty it never did.

Sherman Lin, why then do you care enough about what I like or do not like to respond?

Yes, I do work at a domestic dealership, where we can sell Fusions for $3k more than imported Hyundais and Kias. That was my point.

Before this I worked for a fleet company that retailed more vehicles to the general public than any company in the country. I began to dislike Toyota and Honda when people would call regularly just to ask if we had any Hondas and Toyotas (we did, incidentally). These callers didn’t even know what class or type of vehicle they were wanting, let alone the name of each line’s main models. They had just heard that Honda and Toyota made good cars. My coworkers and I at each got between 1-3 calls per day asking this absurdly general question, and many of these people would have hung up if we had said no. That’s blind loyalty.

I don’t think Toyota or Honda are too worried about the Koreans. As I stated, Hyundai and Kia values still drop like rocks, and everyone knows it.

My guess is the reason the 2.7 is offered is to not cannibalize sales of the new Sonota with the V6 since it is a newer engine (More powerful too).

Their Beta engines (the 2.0 liter 4s) still require the timing belt change at 60k. They really need to upgrade that engine to stay competitive and eliminate the belt like their Japanese rivals have.

As for entering a Kia dealership, my wife and I were in one this past weekend. Before we entered, I warned her ‘Get ready for the high pressure pitch’. Sure enough, they wouldn’t let us leave without meeting the sales manager, ugh…

The Sedona is a nice enough vehicle but I dread the thought of trying to craft a deal in that place.

A huge service bill around 90k miles isn’t unusual. The last gen Lexus GS400/430 (and I’m assuming the new one as well, since it has the carryover 4.3L V8) required a $1000+ replacement of the timing belt at 90k. Although I drove mine until 115k and the engine hadn’t exploded before I sold it.

That explains the insane price. So much for Korean cars being a great value.

My question is, do the latest and greatest 3.5L V6s from Nissan (VQ), Honda, Toyota, Ford (Duratec) and the 3.6L GM have similar periodic valvetrain adjustments?

The older Sedona V6 had hydraulic lifters and a timing belt; now it is solid lifters, shims and three chains. To replace the shims if the valve clearance is off, you must remove the cams. To remove the cams you must remove the chains. Yikes! I don’t like this.

Source:
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/june2006/techtotech.htm

Sounds pricey! My wife and I will probably upgrade our ‘03 Odyssey once my Saab wagon is paid off. I’m thinking the Hyundai Entourage may be off the list…

However I’m guessing Kia/Hyundai have made good progress on reliability and when these cars are 5 yrs old and selling for pocket change, they will be an excellent “beater buy”.