# Are all Hyundai's like this?



## HyundaiBigDog (Dec 15, 2018)

Recently picked up a 2013 Santa Fe Sport 2.4 (190hp). It looks great, it's a dream to drive on the highway, but the power from a stop is sluggish. But here's the biggest issue: When I drive it on a cold morning, the first 5 - 10 minutes, until the engine warms up, there's like 50% power. I have to rev the engine hard just to get it over 20 mph. Once the engine is warm, it returns to it's normal crappy acceleration. Is this typical for a Hyundai or is something broken?


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## EcoboostMKS (Nov 6, 2015)

Never owned a hyundai, but that doesn't sound normal. Any engine codes? 

If not, i'd do a tune up. Change the air and fuel filter (if the car has an external fuel filter). Change the spark plugs. Change the oil and use the correct weight that the car calls for.

If that still doesn't fix it, you'll need to do a compression test on all the cylinders to see how healthy that engine actually is.


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## HyundaiBigDog (Dec 15, 2018)

EcoboostMKS said:


> Never owned a hyundai, but that doesn't sound normal. Any engine codes?
> 
> If not, i'd do a tune up. Change the air and fuel filter (if the car has an external fuel filter). Change the spark plugs. Change the oil and use the correct weight that the car calls for.
> 
> If that still doesn't fix it, you'll need to do a compression test on all the cylinders to see how healthy that engine actually is.


No Lights to indicate somethings wrong.


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## EcoboostMKS (Nov 6, 2015)

HyundaiBigDog said:


> No Lights to indicate somethings wrong.


Change the plugs, filters, and oil like i mentioned. See if that helps.

If not, check compression.

If compression is fine on all cylinders, no codes, and the car has new oem plugs, then you're pretty much out of options. That's just your car, but i don't think that's the case. Something doesn't seem right, but it's kind of hard to diagnose over the internet.


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## HyundaiBigDog (Dec 15, 2018)

EcoboostMKS said:


> Change the plugs, filters, and oil like i mentioned. See if that helps.
> 
> If not, check compression.
> 
> If compression is fine on all cylinders, no codes, and the car has new oem plugs, then you're pretty much out of options. That's just your car, but i don't think that's the case. Something doesn't seem right, but it's kind of hard to diagnose over the internet.


Thanks, I'm going to look into it.


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## MalikBrother (Feb 20, 2018)

All the engines need time to be warmed up. Warmed engine are peppier. My brother has one and even with the warmed up engine, 0-60 kms in the city can be sluggish because of 3rd gear takes time to shift. It is tuned to be economical oriented hence the sluggish. In highway, we are on higher gear hence more quicker and less fuel to burn.


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## HyundaiBigDog (Dec 15, 2018)

Mystery solved. Hyundai uses *GDI* - gasoline direct injection engines. These engines are known for sluggish performance when carbon builds up on the valves. The cheapest way to fix this is to spray valve cleaner into the air intake while someone pushes on the gas pedal to keep the engine at 2,000 rpm. It sucks cause you need 2 people.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Your sport is a 4 cylinder I believe . I have the full size santa fe that has the same V6 they use on the Genesis. It runs great, no sluggishness.


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## njn (Jan 23, 2016)

Gasoline direct injection engines do have a carbon buildup issue, but the poor performance would be all the time, not just on the closed loop warm up cycle.

On cold days, I have found that flooring it and let the engine bounce off the rev limiter in park would warm up it quicker.


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## HyundaiBigDog (Dec 15, 2018)

As steveK2016 mentioned, to get the acceleration I want, I need a 6 cylinder, which sucks because most crossovers don't have them. I test drove a 2018 CR-V before buying the Santa Fe and it also had poor acceleration. Just so you don't think I have race car expectations, until now I've been driving an 03 Odyssey, it's 33% larger than my Santa Fe, but accelerates better.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

HyundaiBigDog said:


> As steveK2016 mentioned, to get the acceleration I want, I need a 6 cylinder, which sucks because most crossovers don't have them. I test drove a 2018 CR-V before buying the Santa Fe and it also had poor acceleration. Just so you don't think I have race car expectations, until now I've been driving an 03 Odyssey, it's 33% larger than my Santa Fe, but accelerates better.


Yea I went with the full size Santa Fe for the XL ability and was happy to hear it has a v6. Its not as zipper as my previous vehicle, 3.6 V6 Cadillac CTS Performance but it still has enough kick.

Hybrids also have a sluggishness to them as well. I test drove a QX60 regular and hybrid and the hybrid had this weird delay when I accelerated that I didnt like.


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