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As most of my readers know there are some things that cause me to shout, scream and throw things out of my pram, one of which is when dealers or manufacturers try to mislead customers. Especially so when the manufacturer refuses to take responsibility when customers exercise their legal rights. This often happens when a customer makes a claim Read more »

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The father of one of my early girlfriends was a designer called John Lewer. Amongst many other things he designed was the iconic Coca Cola sign in Piccadilly Circus. Since the first sign in 1955 that gave Coke free publicity for years, as it appeared at the start of all Newsreels on BBC television and in cinemas, they have retained that site as one of the most Read more »

The warranty arguments are starting to build – exactly as I predicted. Warranty Direct, one of the largest providers of aftermarket warranty insurance, first of all complained that Kia and Hyundai’s new extended warranty adverts did not make it clear that the warranty had a 100,000 mile ceiling, the same as the widely promoted Vauxhall ‘Lifetime’ warranty. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed Read more »

We’re encouraged to keep cars for longer as the manufacturers review their warranty periods. Toyota have announced a warranty extension to 5 years/100,000 miles joining Hyundai on 5 years also and Kia now on 7 years. These being the only manufacturers to announce the extended warranties across their full range of cars. Fiat now offers 5 years but only on the Bravo. The move, according to Toyota, has Read more »

It seems that the manufacturers are not going to fight a price war but outdo each other by providing more for free as part of the purchase package. The latest has been the extended warranty. Toyota had to react to the drop in sales following their recall problems by extending their standard warranty from 3 years to 5 years. In the meantime Kia/Hyundai have reacted following their massive growth during the Read more »

Not only do the Americans have cheap lease rates they have some great incentives offered to buyers in order for them to choose their car over others. The latest gimmick is being offered by Hyundai. They are offering every buyer of their new V8 Equus luxury limo their service book loaded onto an Apple iPad. Customers can even use the iPad to book services or receive information updates. I didn’t get one of these Read more »

Auto Express have named their Driver Power 2010 top 100 cars. More of this next week but I can report that the Jaguar XF has been knocked off the number one position and replaced by, wait for it, the Hyundai i30. The survey was polled amongst 23,00 drivers with cars being assessed on 10 factors including reliability, comfort, build quality and performance. More of this breaking story next week but this week we are offering the i30 on special terms as our deal of the week – I don’t just throw these things together you know! By Graham Hill

‘I don’t mind what it is, I’m after something that does the job but doesn’t cost a lot per month.’ Quite a common request that I receive and so I have a bit of a rummage around and find a Kia on a really good deal or maybe a Hyundai or a Chevrolet. Suddenly the customer has become a bit more of a snob than even he thought he was but are we right to dismiss some of these makes? Martin Ward of CAP test drives cars all Read more »

Whilst we are still having our flabbers gasted how big do you think the joint operation of Hyundai and Kia are? Most people think that production has only just been moved out of the garden shed but in fact the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has become the fourth largest global automotive manufacturer, according to the Automotive News Data Centre. In fact the Korean manufacturer has now overtaken Ford as they have seen production drop by 30% in the first half of 2009. With a lot of good feedback these days on Hyundai and Kia product maybe we should take a closer look at them. By Graham Hill