2008 Grand Starex Interior Flaw

**the KG** · January 3rd, 2009 01:51 PM

My uncle recently bought a Grand Starex and I was surprised to see that the upper plastic trims at the tailgate/hatch were missing. I dont know if this is by design or an assembly fault. I worked for an interiors and seating design firm for 3 years and I learned along the way that in auto interior design, the metal portion of the insides of a car should be covered, as in, there should be no visible weldpoints, beads, bolt heads, screw heads - in other words the interior should be sort of aesthetically clean. could someone confirm if this? If this is by design...then the Hyundai Designers couldve been busy eating Kimchi when they did thi...LOL...if not this could be the fault of the assemblers(in Batangas? as the sticker says...) - maybe they were busy watching a Pacquiao fight while this was being assembled...LOL...or maybe its the dealers fault, maybe somebody form the inside sold the trims to somebody and sold the car to my uncle in the hopes that it would go unnoticed...

:P

Check out the photos i've taken. Notice how the trim continuity is "cut", the lower trims are in the dark grey color and the upper trims are ligth grey.

Also notice the bare bolt heads, the beads and the weld points...

in plain sight...eeew! Gross!!!

I did see a pic that tells me that the trim is missing there...however...its not so clear, but it indicates that the exterior color is the same as that on the inside of the "point of interest" here it is

http://roadtest.u-car.com.tw/roadtes...6/rc-81670.jpg

**ronw123w124** · January 3rd, 2009 02:15 PM

Is it a local unit? I know for a fact that gray market units don't have that kind of problems that you illustrated. The problem with the local distributor of Hyundai vehicles (HARI) is that they try to cut corners wherever they can just to maximize their profits, so we end up with vehicles that are severly lacking in amenities as compared with the Grand Starex offerings from the gray market importers for the same money. We are actually in the process of acquiring a Grand Starex and were gonna buy from the gray market since they offer more for the money and now can be had with the same 5 year warranty that is offered in the local units.

**hotwheels** · January 3rd, 2009 02:23 PM

check with your local dealer or your service advisor of Hyundai
to confirm your observation and have a peace of mind. safe driving.

**the KG** · January 3rd, 2009 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by ronw123w124

Is it a local unit? I know for a fact that gray market units don't have that kind of problems that you illustrated. The problem with the local distributor of Hyundai vehicles (HARI) is that they try to cut corners wherever they can just to maximize their profits, so we end up with vehicles that are severly lacking in amenities as compared with the Grand Starex offerings from the gray market importers for the same money. We are actually in the process of acquiring a Grand Starex and were gonna buy from the gray market since they offer more for the money and now can be had with the same 5 year warranty that is offered in the local units.

Local unit as in made in pnas?i think so(i saw the tracking sticker on the body saying "BATANGAS", i also think its from a local distributor(HARI) - i'll confirm, but as far as i know my uncle bought their previous vehicle(crosswind) sa Isuzu dealership, so it could be a Hyundai dealership, as he has the trend of buying from Casa's(tama ba?) my apologies. im a noob when it comes to these sales talk thing...heheh - its really amazing though how distributors maximize profits by taking down a 1 piece trim that cost a small fraction of the whole vehicle...LOL...thanks for the input ron! Happy New Year...and all the best on your new car!

Originally Posted by hotwheels

check with your local dealer or your service advisor of Hyundai
to confirm your observation and have a peace of mind. safe driving.

yes, will do this, i already told my cousin to check on this or check out other units at the dealership to see if its the same as his unit. If this is by design, Hyundai should be correcting this. Thanks hotwheels! Happy New Year and safe driving too!!!

**ronw123w124** · January 3rd, 2009 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by the KG

Local unit as in made in pnas?i think so(i saw the tracking sticker on the body saying "BATANGAS", i also think its from a local distributor(HARI) - i'll confirm, but as far as i know my uncle bought their previous vehicle(crosswind) sa Isuzu dealership, so it could be a Hyundai dealership, as he has the trend of buying from Casa's(tama ba?) my apologies. im a noob when it comes to these sales talk thing...heheh - its really amazing though how distributors maximize profits by taking down a 1 piece trim that cost a small fraction of the whole vehicle...LOL...thanks for the input ron! Happy New Year...and all the best on your new car!

What I meant by local unit is that the vehicle was purchased thru the franchised dealer of the authorized distributor which in this case is HARI, I think the "BATANGAS" sticker means that Batangas was the vehicle's port of entry from Korea. But I read in the Hyundai club PH forum that the missing piece of trim for the tailgate can be purchased separately thru the casa's parts department, I think it costs roughly around P3,500? Not sure though. Happy new year also to you and your folks!

**Gerbo** · January 3rd, 2009 03:36 PM

I think this is BAD.

Taking out trim parts to bits and sold it separately. Wow!

Baka next time...puede custom-made. Made to order Starex Basic at 1.0M then decide the trim parts for next few hundred thousands piece by piece. Or get the full-time, full-spec at 1.7M.

**ianmitsulancer** · January 3rd, 2009 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by ronw123w124

What I meant by local unit is that the vehicle was purchased thru the franchised dealer of the authorized distributor which in this case is HARI, I think the "BATANGAS" sticker means that Batangas was the vehicle's port of entry from Korea. But I read in the Hyundai club PH forum that the missing piece of trim for the tailgate can be purchased separately thru the casa's parts department, I think it costs roughly around P3,500? Not sure though. Happy new year also to you and your folks!

^^^ *ronw123w124- i think you are correct with that sir...

==============================

*theKG - with the beige leather interior that you have shown, it seems that what your uncle has is the GOLD model (does the van have the rear wiper/washer also?)... and perhaps you can ask from what dealer it came from... - it is the top-of-the-line of the HARI based Grand Starex line that has a price (i think) of about 1.7M++. the trim IMO is unacceptable and it should be standard...