Today I went to test drive a Tiburon and let me tell you, I really liked that car.
I like the exterior a lot, the double exhaust tips, the "performance" gas lid.... everything, it looks great (pininfarina design ). The interior looked and felt nice overall except for some cheap plastic parts but very few. I loved the seats, they felt very supportive and you have to consider that 10 min before I test drove a GTi aniversary edition with Recaro seats, the Tibby seats felt nicer...maybe it was because of the leather. It also had an infinity sound sys with an 8" sub, it sounded good for a stock system.
The one I drove was an auto because they were sold out on the 6speeds, it felt good though, very responsive and the throtle felt very smooth. The suspension was ok, it could use stiffer springs but that can be easily fixed. Very litle body roll, I made a fast U turn (kinda drifting at the end and everything) and I was very surprised, I expected the handling to be average at best but it felt very solid.

The salesman was the coolest I've ever met, he wanted me to really feel the car so I got to drive it hard, he even encouraged me to floor it everytime we came across a straight line . He wasn't annoying like most salesman are, aswered all of my questions and gave me the info I needed, I didn't have to sit through all the crap they usually do.

He quoted me a fully loaded V6 6speed for 18k out the door, he said that it might be a litle less than that. So, if you're looking for a solid car for under 18k don't hesitate to take a look at the Tiburon, you wont regret it.

 

im very impresssed with the looks of the new tiby. But since my next car is gonna be turbo'd (stock or after) i just don't know if the engine could take it. If only seen one turbo tiby but it was the 4cyl. and it blew up. The guy was runnin like 15psi on it which prolly wasn't smart in the first place.

 

To have a remotely fast Tiburon, you have to go with the V6. That poses problems for aftermarket tuning. Now you have 2 banks of cylinders. That means, instead of one header, you need 2. Instead of 4 spark plugs, you need 6, etc. There's a reason that "tuner" cars have been 4 cylinders for awhile. More efficient, cheaper, etc. Don't get me wrong, the tibby looks like a solid car (albeit ugly) but I think for the money there may be better. I'll have to drive one to be sure though.

 

it's a nice car. i couldn't see jack **** out of the greenhouse sitting in it though.

 

yeah people are sheep.

 

From what I've heard, people who buy the car to tune it go for the 4cyl, probably because of what maxx mazda said.
If I was to get one I'd go for the V6, I'd add the usual performance mods like CAI and exhaust but that would be it, I'm not willing to do any mayor mods to a daily driver because reliability is a very important aspect for me, that and the fact that it costs a lot of money.
Still I think it's the best bang for your buck in the 16-18k price range.

If you have the time, go test drive one and youll see what I mean.

 

Uh, my edelbrock headers on my old v6 cost about the same amount for 2 as I have known people to pay for 1 on a 4 cylinder. Ordered mine for approx $450 while a '98 civic (a very common 4 cylinder tuner car) edelbrock header costs $400 - $500 (prices from nopi). I used an edelbrock header for the civic to compare the same company, but almost every header offered runs in the $400 + catergory. Most of the cost is really R&D, the materials don't equal all that much on the final price. And as far as overall cost, my old truck was cheaper pretty much overall to mod. I think most of us that drive proteges have learned that it is all about supply and demand. If there is a small number of tuners in the market, then the cost is gonna be higher cause less people are buying. If you want a cheap tuning vehicle go with a honda or other common import, or get an old gas guzzler.

 

one odd note about the tibby... it uses the same 6 speed the specv, and maxima use.... minus the lsd on the specv (idk if the max has the lsd)

 

sure is nice until you want to start working on the V6 that barely fits in the engine bay

 

4 cylinders aren't superior to 6 cylinders. It's just that inline cylinders are waaaaay more tuner friendly. Depending on the engine a 4 banger can out perform a V8. The reason is it is less complex to have an inline type engine then a V style engine which has 2 heads, 2 intakes, 2 manifolds and take up way more space than an inline which only has 1 of everything and are very compact.

This doesn't mean that you can't, say, turbo a V8. It's just alot harder to fabricate and tune. Same with a V6. Since many people like to tune their cars, inline engines are choice (take the 2JZ-GTE for example). But if you want to stay N/A and don't mind the limit a V engine places on aftermarket choices, then a V6 is a great choice for their good powerband and fuel economy.

 

I test drove the Tiburon, and I cannot say that I agree with you as far as the driving experience. Since the starter of this thread drove the automatic he didn't discover the horrible torque streer this vehicle exhibits on hard launches. The stereo sounds good, and the vehicle is sold a good price, but make sure you get the ABS as an option - I locked up the brakes on my test drive going in to a corner. Also, if you are any larger than the average american (I am 6'5" and am 250lbs with a size 17 shoe) the car is not a good fit. The seats have no where near the adjustability of our Protege's and aren't as comfortable, and the pedals are so close together. I have not problems fitting in my Protege.

Anyway, that's my $.02

 

Anything can happen. Sure, 4cyls can beat up on 8cyl cars like, for instance, a camaro... But there is no way that 4cyl inline style engines are more 'tuner friendly'... If you mean less complex, then yes... But just open up a book and look at all the parts you can get for camaros/mustangs/firebirds/etc. It's unreal. There are probably 10 different manufacturers making the same parts for these cars. You can get everything from cams, to gears, to bigger bore throttle bodies, ANYTHING you want. I'd be willing to say there is no more 'tuner friendly' scene than high displacement 'muscle'. Not to mention (generally), the more displacement, the more 'room' for power. You can probably get 30-40whp from an intake and exhaust on a V8, you'd be lucky to get 30-40 crank hp on a 4cyl.

For example, for the price, you CANNOT match the performance (straight line) of an LS1 camaro/firebird. Car (~$10-15k) plus a procharger kit (supercharger around $3500) will yeild near 500whp. Hell, STOCK camaros/firebirds have been known to run high 12s bone stock. It's rare, but possible.

Getting 500whp out of a 4cyl for around $4k is nearly impossible... But like I said, anything is possible.

Regardless, I love my 4cyls. Turbo, etc. can help bridge the gap. But if I could get more cyl in my next car, I'd be more than happy

 

the word is that the current hyundai v6 is simply a weak block, whereas the i4 is a pretty strong block. if you want to drive stock, the v6 is fine, but if you want forced induction, the i4 can take it (within limits) and the v6 can't. that's why people wanting to upgrade performance are recommended to get the i4.

i've got a phantom grip LSD in my i4, and it's great. smooth even wheelspin and absolutely no torque steer.

 

true. Im speaking more from a sport compact car background. For me it's more tuner friendly to pick up a little engine. But yeah, pick up a mopar catalog or a dozen others and there are upgrades all over the place. I just prefer the relative "simplicity" and definately the added bonus that it's usually cheaper to do the same engine mod's to a SCC then have to buy 4 cams instead of 2 (although i haven't quite figured out the OHV pushrod engines out yet.

If i ever get my Z06 im gonna have to totally change my ways of thinking though. I saw an amazing Z06 at NOPI with well over 1000hp with basic mods and a supercharger running low boost compared to SCC engines.

Got to go...

 

Indeed! The Z06 is a an awesome machine, in many different ways.

To kinda stay on topic:

I really like how the new tiburon's look, very subtley aggressive!