Wanted love to last, but honeymoon is over
2025 Hyundai Palisade - Loved it at first sight, loved it at first drive, was seduced by safety features and impressed by warranty promises. I bought a brand new Palisade with only 14 miles on the odometer. I have had it for 2 months. The odometer now reads 1841.
My first, long 250+mile drive was a dream. My Second 200-mile drive yielded an engine light and shaky handling. (Pulled off highway at first opportunity and stopped car. Read owner's manual, but couldn't find definitive description of concern, so restarted car and engine light was off. Pulled back onto highway and engine ran smoothly again. I made it home. Engine light did not come back on for another three weeks of local driving. Was this a fluke? An anomaly?
I confidently headed out on another 250-mile drive, with 4 adult guests.
After about 200 miles of driving, the engine light came on, and the car vibrated a little. So, I did what I had done the first time: I pulled off the highway and stopped the car, waited a while, and turned it back on. This time, the engine light was still on. I was in the middle of nowhere, on a Friday afternoon, so I called the dealership. Service couldn't see the car until Monday. Since they didn't seem overly concerned, I completed the drive home at a very moderate pace (with nervous guests), and left my car in my garage until Monday. The engine light came back on when I started the car, so my husband followed me to the dealership (less than 2 mi. away) in our other Hyundai (brand loyalty). Service greeted me promptly and in a friendly manner, said they might keep the car overnight to complete diagnostics, and offered a courtesy wash of the car.
I was told that the diagnosis was a spark plug misfire on the second cylinder, that it was running fine now, and that I could come pick it up. When I asked if the spark plug had been replaced and if the work had been covered by warranty, I was told that the warranty wouldn't cover replacement of the spark plug because it hadn't resulted in a Catastrophic (service rep's terminology) failure. I now have the original spark plug and shaken confidence in the car.
Nit: They didn't wash the car, which I did not notice until I got home.
For me, the spark plug misfire issue constitutes a different type of "catastrophe" not only for me, but for Hyundai in the US, because two other people (including one who had been riding with me during the second incident) have asked about the resolution. One has decided not to consider Hyundai in the short term, and she is looking to purchase a new car soon.
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