2008 Hyundai Tiburon User Reviews

Pros

Great mpg, styling, excellent warranty

Cons

Could use more power, steering could be tighter

Purchased As New

I went back and forth between the V6 SE and GS Tiburon for several weeks. Should I go with more power and lousy gas mileage (17/24), or slightly less power and great gas mileage (20/28)? Ok, ok, yes there's the Prius, hybrid this and that, but after driving a V6 VW sedan that I affectionately called "Big Gulp", 28mpg makes a world of difference.

So I went with the GS. I am not regretting this decision. But it seems that other owners might be regretting the purchase of their SE if you look on Auto Trader. Nearly all Tiburon's for sale are V6 models. Why? Because there is simply not enough performance to justify the mpg. Despite the sport tuned suspension, 17" wheels, and 6-speed.

So how does my Tiburon GS stack up? According to some of the "experts" it has a bland interior, weak power, outdated design, and numb steering. I think they are full of it.

Exterior: The Tiburon's styling is exceptional and if it wasn't for the Hyundai emblem most people would assume it is an exotic car of some sort. I did. And I have lost count of the amount of people that have motioned for me to roll my window down at a stoplight to ask what it was.

Interior: I don't care what the critics say, the interior looks great. The dash lights are a beautiful blue/red that makes moonlight drives all that much better. All controls are easy to understand and accessible. You won't have to dig through the manual for hours to figure out how to turn the heat on. The seats are comfortable and easy to adjust. How these are negative attributes to the experts makes no sense to me.

Performance: I'll admit a turbo would be nice to have on this car, and it's acceleration can appear to use some improvement. Notice I said "appear". If you learn how to drive this car it is actually perfectly adequate. While it isn't fast, per se, it is peppy and does the job just fine. The V6 is better, but the mpg of the GS is much more valuable to the average consumer.

Handling: The Tiburon corners really well although the steering could be tighter when you have to "jerk" the wheel. It isn't bad though, and certainly not a dealbreaker. The fact that I have owned Porsche's and other german cars known for superb handling likely contributes to this opinion.

Warranty: 100,000 miles of which 60,000 can be transferred. Much better than most.

I have no major complaints about the 2008 Hyundai Tiburon GS. It is a great looking car, gets excellent gas mileage, and after buying new cars that are out of warranty within 24,000 miles, the 100,000 Hyundai warranty is music to my ears.

So critics, experts, etc: keep on praising Mitsubishi, Scion, and whatever companies you are biased towards. It keeps the Tibby's rare and I rather enjoy being asked "what is that?" on a weekly basis.

The Tiburon has been discontinued after 2008. I got mine.