HYUNDAI still hurts over its pile-‘em-high/sell-‘em-cheap days of the driveaway Excel and early Accents. Today it wants the world to know how well its vehicles score in the influential JD Power owner-satisfaction surveys. And how happy people are with their everyday Hyundais like the Getz. But the latter is under attack from cheaper rivals like Kia’s Rio and now the ex-Daewoo Holden Barina, yet the company is standing firm with its more powerful, more refined Getz facelift that it says buyers will appreciate because it’s better finished and more pleasurable to live with. So let’s get this Getz straight: you’re buying Hyundai over a Holden because it’s a better quality product, right?
TB Getz Series 1
Released: September 2002
Ended: October 2005
Family Tree: GetzARGUABLY the Hyundai that’s done most to change its image in Australia and around the world, the first Getz was engineered and built to European rather than South Korean or American tastes, and it showed. Peppy performance and handling in a neatly packaged and keenly priced light-car, soon found plenty of willing takers. High spec levels, which included dual airbags, air-con and a CD player even in the base 60kW 1.3 XL three-door, kept buyers bounding in, although 90 per cent chose the 74kW 1.5, which also included a handy five-door hatchback. Historically then the ’02 TB Getz has done for cheap South Korean cars what the ’65 Toyota Corona did for Japan… make them respectable.
Super Test
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