By GI Korea on November 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm

Picture of the Day: The New Hyundai Avante Compact

• Retired GI
  10:06 am on November 23rd, 2010 1

  KUSHIBO, Show your Aunt a Mitsubishi Eclipse. I enjoy my 2006 and have had no problems with it. Quick and handles very well.

  CONWAY EAST, yea. It does kinda look like the bastard child of a Ford Fiesta and a Prius.

• Marcus Ambrose
  10:17 am on November 23rd, 2010 2

  Definitely ripped off the Prius.

  SK usually copies others. I remember a few years ago when the Oldsmobile Aurora came out. I thought it had the ugliest back end I'd ever seen on a car. But sure enough, 9 months later the korean car industry had one just like it.

  I'd rather the SK car makers copy though, they sure make some ugly crap when they try it on their own. http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/busan_mot…

  BTW, while searching for "south korean car models" to find the picture above, I came across this link: http://www.haipp.com/a/models/2010/0517/122.html Nothing wrong with their rear ends.

• Tom
  11:30 am on November 23rd, 2010 3

  #4, it looks nothing like a prius. If the Korean car has four wheels, you'd still be accusing the Koreans of copying something. There's so much you can do, without resembling something, since everyone of those new cars have to have four wheels, a hood, and a trunk, and all the design ideals have been used up already.

  But the bottom line is, Koreans know how to make good reliable cars, no..class leading cars. What do Americans make on the other hand? Big JUNK.

• Marcus Ambrose
  11:55 am on November 23rd, 2010 4

  Whatever troll. Yes, we know, corea great, corea perfect, no honest discussion. Got it. What a waste of breath you are.

• ChickenHead
  1:31 pm on November 23rd, 2010 5

  Marcus Ambrose,

  "Whatever troll. Yes, we know, corea great, corea perfect, no honest discussion. Got it. What a waste of breath you are."

  That had to be the lamest post ever. Tom's posts are 10 times better.

  "Whatever troll."

  Like OMG, like whatever, like I'm totally a teenage girl, like whatever.

  "Yes, we know, corea great, corea perfect, no honest discussion."

  The only thing stupider than Tom's intentionally stupid comments are those who paraphrase and repeat them. What kind of dipshyt makes the Cliff's Notes to Tom's Troll Bait? Oh, wait. That would be you.

  "What a waste of breath you are."

  Un-funking-believable. This is the final statement in a post that was so incredibly pointless that its only function was to repeat one of Tom's pointless posts…

  …while not commenting on Tom's claim that Korea makes quality cars (true) and America makes junk (possibly true).

  Tom is not the problem here.

• Marcus Ambrose
  1:56 pm on November 23rd, 2010 6

  Screw you and your post chickenturd. You are not the ROK drop police. The point I tried to make, and you missed: Tom's post was non-contributory. I was hoping to bring that to our great Admin's attention.

  Tom needs to be banned.

  If you feel the need to try and get the discussion off of Tom's posts, then you need to email the Admin here, not demean others that are after the same thing.

• kushibo
  2:16 pm on November 23rd, 2010 7

  ChickenHead wrote:
  

  That had to be the lamest post ever. Tom’s posts are 10 times better.

  Oh, what is it with you and your love fest with what comes out of Tom's anus, CH? It's just so obvious that he's trying to derail this thread to with the occasional kimcheerleading he employs to bolster his faked "I'm just a regular South Korean" persona and obscure the fact that he's pro-Beijing agitprop…

  Ha ha, just kidding, CH. I totally agree with everything you said to Marcus Ambrose (though I would add that a factor in Marcus Ambrose's emotional response is that he is falling for Tom's fake KoKo bio).

  I was out and about when Tom wrote his response to Marcus Ambrose in #4, which is something I've thought myself many times. But then I thought if I agreed with Tom, ChickenHead would think I'm only trying to play nice because of CH's smugly self-righteous whining about people calling Tom out as a troll, and it would all go to ChickenHead's head. Can't have that.

  - – - – - – - -

  Tom wrote:
  

  #4, it looks nothing like a prius. If the Korean car has four wheels, you’d still be accusing the Koreans of copying something. There’s so much you can do, without resembling something, since everyone of those new cars have to have four wheels, a hood, and a trunk, and all the design ideals have been used up already.

  Hear! Hear! Maybe I'll find the links later, but I think there is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction among many to pooh-pooh the accomplishments of Hyundai and Kia. They are indeed at the top and they are starting to be seen as benchmarks in their various classes in terms of style and performance and quality.

  And the part about "all the design ideals have been used up" reminds me of a Korea-bashing colleague years ago who constantly bitched about how Hyundai was "trying to make their logo look like Honda's." I mean, come on, how many ways can you make a logo out of an "H"? Honda's logo, in fact, is (I've heard) meant to be reminiscent of the hon and da kanji in the name, while Hyundai's logo is meant to be reminiscent of the swooping taegŭk found in the flag. I was called an apologist for pointing that out, by the way.
  

  But the bottom line is, Koreans know how to make good reliable cars, no..class leading cars. What do Americans make on the other hand? Big JUNK.

  Well, that's not really true either, Tom. While that reputation took a beating because American car companies focused more on "Buy American!" messages than making good cars, quality fell with many cars. Honda and Toyota and Mazda and then Hyundai and Kia surpassed them.

  But things have changed lately. Many Buicks are good cars to by nowadays, quality-wise, and often economical. They're not all the big behemoths like the F150 that probably don't belong on Seoul streets. It's simply not correct to say all they make is "BIG JUNK."

• kushibo
  2:19 pm on November 23rd, 2010 8

  Marcus Ambrose wrote:
  

  The point I tried to make, and you missed: Tom’s post was non-contributory.

  Well, not really. The first half made a very valid point. The second half could have been a bit less "in your face," true. I wish Tom weren't always trying to find a way to troll like that, but…

• ChickenHead
  2:23 pm on November 23rd, 2010 9

  "Screw you and your post chickenturd."

  Hey… that's a clever one. You substituted head for turd, Marcus Ambchrysanthum. Get it? I substituted "rose" for "chrysanthum".

  "The point I tried to make, and you missed: Tom’s post was non-contributory. I was hoping to bring that to our great Admin’s attention. "

  Holy shyt! You are right! How is it that nobody every noticed that and the Admin hadn't figured that out for himself!

  "Tom needs to be banned."

  No. Tom needs to be ignored… and the problem will resolve itself.

  "You are not the ROK drop police."

  True, that. I am, however, taking it upon myself to be the ROK Drop vigilante until the level of intelligent/amusing conversation has returned to pre-Tom levels.

  Intelligent responses to information within Tom's occasional intelligent posts are encouraged.

  Writing encouraging responses to obviously childish-reaction-provoking trolling posts are not.

• kushibo
  2:50 pm on November 23rd, 2010 10

  I like the way the new Hyundais look.

  My aunt, who is about to retire but needs affordable and reliable transportation that isn’t going to crap out on her (and has an excellent warranty on the off chance it does), is probably going to get one of these. She’s had great luck with Japanese cars in the past, but less so over time. She’s now deciding whether to put in $4000 worth of maintenance on her Honda Odyssey or put that money down on an Elantra/Avante, a Kia Forte, or possibly a Mazda3.

  Sadly, that $4000 repair would probably cost one-third that in South Korea, maybe even with a Honda (?).

• Marcus Ambrose
  4:35 pm on November 23rd, 2010 11

  CH, you are being very liberal at this point. So your point is to insult and intimidate to control speech? Sorry to burst your bubble, but again, I have the right to speak. And I will continue to post as I want unless banned.

  If I find pleasure in pointing out Tom's obvious contradictions, then I have the RIGHT to do so.

  YOU do not get to decide what others post; if you did, it would be called the CH drop. I understand your change in tactics, but it is misguided and heavy handed. Taking away free speech or belittling or trying to intimidate to control speech only shows how little you believe in individual rights.

  And, for the rest of the subject, I did not 'poo poo' corean cars. Some are nice, some are obviously rip offs, and some suck. They one I mentioned is no better or worse than an Aztek. In the case of this story, the car clearly has Prius inspirations.

• Conway East
  4:54 pm on November 23rd, 2010 12

  Looks like the bastard child of a Ford Fiesta and a Toyota Prius.

• Tom
  8:51 pm on November 23rd, 2010 13

  If people are wondering why I'm so hard on you guys, take a look at people like Marcus Ambrose and their type of attitude. That's what p*sses me off about you guys.

• Dr.Yu
  11:31 pm on November 23rd, 2010 14

  Marcus is a troll. He needs some mental treatment but since he can not afford it he comes here to get treated by Dr.Tom.

• Greg
  3:02 am on November 24th, 2010 15

  Hyundai has been laughed at and ridiculed since its inception. I doubt the company cares about its detractors now.

• kushibo
  8:33 am on November 24th, 2010 16

  Marcus Ambrose wrote:
  

  Where was I unfair in judgment/opinion?

  Wow, your description in #16 sounds so much more reasoned and down-to-earth, not at all like the mini-screed in #2, which frankly came across as knee-jerk Korea-bashing.

  And no, the above car looks not so much like a Toyota Prius as a Honda Civic.
  

  I’d rather the SK car makers copy though, they sure make some ugly crap when they try it on their own. <a href="http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/busan_motor/image/ssangyong-actyon.jpg

  The” target=”_blank”>http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/busan_motor/image/ssangyong-actyon.jpgThe Actyon was designed by a Brit named Ken Greeley, so please do your homework when you blame SK car makers (all of them?) for making "some ugly crap when they try it on their own."

• kushibo
  8:36 am on November 24th, 2010 17

  Greg wrote:
  

  Hyundai has been laughed at and ridiculed since its inception. I doubt the company cares about its detractors now.

  Oh, Hyundai and Kia care very much about their detractors. That's why you have this constant aim toward better quality and better design, not to mention the 5-year bumper-to-bumper and 10-year powertrain warranties so that they can overcome that image.

  Of course, now they can look at their detractors and realize more and more that they're folks living in the past.

• Marcus Ambrose
  11:55 am on November 24th, 2010 18

  Good point Kushibo. Every car maker has a bad day apparently.

  In the case of the Actyon, even though a Brit designed it, the SK maker produced it. Frankly, I don't think most of the Brit cars are much to look at either. I hate the look of Land Rovers.

• Marcus Ambrose
  3:18 pm on November 24th, 2010 19

  I pissed you off Tom? I’m one of the few that would admit you have a good point those times that you actually write an intelligent response instead of trolling.

  Saying that this particular car is clearly a Prius inspired design is apparently hard to refute. Saying that there are ugly cars out there, both American and Korean, is also a fact. Where was I unfair in judgment/opinion?

• Teadrinker
  10:35 pm on November 24th, 2010 20

  Wow, from that angle it almost looks like it isn't a compact car.

• Teadrinker
  10:41 pm on November 24th, 2010 21

  "The Actyon was designed by a Brit named Ken Greeley, so please do your homework when you blame SK car makers (all of them?) for making “some ugly crap when they try it on their own.”

  But who made the final decision to move into production?

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