“Dammit, that’s frickin’ unfortunate,” I muttered to myself after I spotted a “heartbreaker” among the search results I was scanning in my Evil Wrenching Lair, conveniently located beneath the only volcano in Wilmington, NC. A heartbreaker does not call to mind Tom Petty’s boys, but rather the type of car that pulls at your heartstrings with a mix of yearning, desire, empathy, and pity. The kind of thing that would provoke my Uncle John to offer a wary “that ain’t right!” (his signature line since 1959).
Hello and welcome back to another SWG article, my Autopian friends! This one is going to be a little shorter and less wrench-heavy compared to my previous wicked-long, mega-adventure wrench-a-thons. It has been way too long since my last check-in, and with 16 cars currently awaiting repair, I barely have time to breathe over here lately – so let’s mix it up a bit and keep it light and fun this time!
So anyway, there it was, staring back at me from Facebook Marketplace: an ’09 Genesis in Black Noir Pearl for only $900! 2009 was the first year for the luxury sedan, and it looked stunning in the ad’s photos, practically jumping off the screen. This is one of the models I’d low-key had my eye on for years, since it looks incredible and is reaching used-market pricing levels of depreciation that make it a massive value for the money.
Top-end Executive sedans from Germany will bankrupt you with parts/diagnostics costs and wicked over-complexity. The Japanese offerings hold their value and always have a big audience of buyers as they are genuinely desirable cars for the most part. Outside of a few late-model Cadillacs, there aren’t many American offerings in this space, and those Cadillacs are littered throughout Facebook Marketplace – usually with timing chain tensioner issues, a truly unfortunate flaw (here’s looking at you, High-Feature 3.6 V6).
Meanwhile, the South Korean newcomer seems to bring some serious heat to this space with a killer combo of low price, limited brand provenance (it’s new), decent reliability, shared drivetrains with lesser Hyundais and KIAs (Borrego, Genesis Coupe), and high content.
A Closer Look (Minus Seth Meyers)
I immediately sent the ad to the Autopian Team in our Slack chat. Believe me when I say that I am personally convinced Thomas Hundal may be one of the most talented knowers-of-cars, ever, hands down. The guy took one cursory glance and responded within 30 seconds that the 2009 3.8 Genesis Sedan has steel springs and my example was sitting too low, so there is a suspension concern. Wow! I’m always impressed with the library of knowledge he brings to the table.
After speaking with the seller via Facebook Messenger, he informed me that he runs a scrap yard and was selling this car without a key. Ouch, it’ll cost a few extra hundo to have a mobile locksmith download the security and programming data from Hyundai and cut a key/buy a fob. Dammit.
He also stated that the widow of the deceased owner decided to call this Seller-Scrapper to tow away this Genesis to be parted out and crushed after its previous owner passed away, and the car was left at an oceanfront beach house in Holden Beach, NC for years. That means the car was sitting in salt spray from the Atlantic, which might also explain why the car is sitting so low. Had all that salt exposure rusted the springs into a saggy state?
The seller also mentioned not having a key meant he was unsure if the car runs. Not knowing if the car actually operates is a big deal for me. So OK, yeah, it doesn’t sound that great. Nothing good in life comes easily, though.
So, Should I?
If there’s one thing that incites all overly-optimistic Autopians, it’s a badass car for a cheap price, and I believe that is what we have here! We’re talking about a sleek, quasi-generic 5 Series copy with a 290hp V6, rear-wheel drive, 264Ft/lb of torque and an Aisin B600 6-speed transmission for under $1000! Add $200-$300 for a key, another $300 for the title, and this car could be mine for $1500, which is very enticing.
I just checked the inventory at the local Pick n Pull and discovered a 2010 V8 Genesis just hit the yard! That means cheap, attainable, non-sea-salted parts are a few miles from my house and can be mine after a short visit on a Saturday afternoon. This is huge, as the power of wrenching is one of the greatest forces in all of Greater Autiopia.
Do I need another car? Hell no. Is this potentially a great buy if the cards all fall in my favor? Hell yes. I’m genuinely going to read and respond to each comment below if you feel that you can add some insight, direction, or humor to help out in this situation. Let me know your thoughts, my Autopian friends!
Fortune favors the brave, right?
All photos by Stephen Walter Gossin
- How I Saved A Once-$90,000 Mercedes SL I Bought For $1,900
- Why The Dirt-Cheap Broken Jaguar X-Type For Sale In Every Town Might Actually Be Worth Buying And Fixing
- I Took On A Bad GM Design In A Hail-Mary Attempt To Fix My Friends Broken Suburban But It Was Too Little Too Late
- What It Was Like Owning And Fixing My First Jeep After Owning Over 100 Non-Jeeps
- I Bought A 29-Year Old Buick With 68,000 Miles On It To Prove The Haters Wrong
- What I Learned Restoring A $600 Dodge Ram With A Burned Up Transmission And Ruined Interior
- How I Bought A Broken Version Of My Dream Car For $300, Then Nursed It Back To Glory And Let It Free
- Proof That A $700 Car Saved From The Junkyard Can Make Someone As Happy As A New Lambo Can
- How I Saved My Buddys’ SUV After It Died At The Most Embarrassing Possible Time
- ShitBox Showdown: The British Are Back In The Cape Fear
- Why People Cut Holes Into Their Cars’ Trunk Floors Even Though It Could Kill Them
- Even Cheap Cars Can Be Expensive: A Hard Lesson I Learned About The Repair-Parts Minefield
- I Spent $1300 On A Nissan That Lasted 3 City Blocks And 2.5 Minutes
- Rescuing A 75-Year-Old Car From An Older Car Enthusiast Reminded Me How Important Every Minute We Get Doing This Truly Is
SWG- you have been away from upstate NY for too long, where you can hear a (dodge/ford/insert car name here) rusting.
Advice from another former Utica-area(ish) resident quoting some zany Brits-
“Run Away! Run Away!”
it seems like these cars were underdogs when they were newer. Perhaps one in decent shape would do the trick?
Hyundai aren’t exactly known for their engines sticking together so unless you can confirm it’s working I wouldn’t touch it.
in this case, I think the bigger concern would be the underpinnings sticking together. the 3.8 was pretty reliable for Hyundai.
No.
Absolutely not lol
I make bad decisions but even I wouldn’t make a decision this bad. No all the way.
No.
Hope this helps.
Yes you should buy a Genesis, just not this one. I had a similar one and it was my favorite car ever.
No, no, no, a thousand times no. Just about anything on a car can be fixed, except for rust. And that thing is rusted beyond rusted. Walk away. That car is literal garbage.
When rust is the problem, no is always the answer. This is the New England motto. The one in the junkyard looks much nicer 🙂
Nothing a book of matches can’t fix!
Having spent two days beating the front rotors off a very less rusty volvo I say nay
This this thing has “parts car” written all over it. It can’t be that hard to find a rust-free one of these that needs a major powertrain component.
Seems like a lot of Hyundai products die early deaths for engine or transmission failure. Costs too much to hire out the repair, and you don’t meet a lot of people who are interested in and capable of DIY-ing an engine or transmission swap who own Hyundai products, at least out of warranty.
I understand the heartbreak notion but this is a hopeless case, as others said looks like flood more than just ‘near’ the ocean. The car in the junk yard you were looking at for parts would be a better cause.
NO!! You can’t make this one decent for what a decent one of these things costs. And they are pretty underwhelming even when decent. Had MANY of them as rental upgrades in those days, Hertz seemingly bought half of Hyundai’s production of them. Which should tell you something right there.
No. Rust. Also all DI Hyundai/Kia engines from this era have bearing issues, not just the recalled ones.
Man, I live in the Pittsburgh area and that is next level corrosion. I have not seen rust that bad on any car built past the early ’80s. I run an older fleet and NONE have that sort of underhood corrosion (my newest is 11 years old). Also, is that moss growing on the armrest?
You shouldn’t,no.
I could see enjoying an article where you take the entire car apart and lay the pieces out nicely in parking lot, a sort of automotive autopsy of a flooded/salt spray 2010s luxury car. Sell the good parts, scrap the shell.
Otherwise I don’t really see what’s interesting here… Luxury cars are really only worth anything when they’re new or in perfect condition, and that rust is beyond terminal. I can’t see this as a $ play. Driving wise, I have a hard time getting that excited about a dated, (but nowhere close to classic) V6 sedan. If the goal is simply wrenching content, you must have something less tragic in your fleet?
No
Would I buy it? Heck no! but that is not the question. I think you should, it is one of those things where a person does something none of the others would do but they are all watching to see what happens. It would be a great mass learning experience for the rest of us and also wrenchers love an underdog! So do it, go forth and enrich our humble lives.
That looks like a bad deal. It’s not like you have localized rust (like seals or whatnot), it looks like the car is rusty everywhere.
On a unibody this would be hell. Better get the shell from the one that is in the scrapyard.
Couple of things I would like to add:
This Genesis can be passed on, because its likely not a good investment. Any luxury car used will demand some requirements to be fixed….
Lexus: Their LS400, 430 models are excellent but parts availability can be an issue in the future, maybe not know but 15-20 years from now. Some LS460 models were more issue prone than others, and we know the stories of melting dashboards (that was fixed but still…)… So again, NOT EVERY LEXUS model is a good investment used either. The SC430 was pretty good too, again not a performance model but yes as it ages, parts may start becoming an issue.
BMV/MB/Audi: These are the worst of the lot to buy used. Complex electronics, over the top engineering makes it a pain if these cars are used. I have heard more horror stories about BMV ownership in Qatar than Cadillac or Lexus outside warranty, and less older BMVs are on the road as well…
Lincoln Continental/Town Car/Mercury Grand Marquis: These seem to be pretty good. But again they come with the usual Ford QC issues that get them as they age….the air suspension MUST BE checked…that said the 4.6 V8 in the Town Car is pretty much bulletproof aside from the manifold issues that were resolved and spark plugs breaking….
I have seen my share of Mercury GMs and a few Town Cars in Qatar, so….
Cadillac: Northstars were pretty bad, and they took ages to get them right until 06…and they tend to leak oil. So not the best car at all. But compared to German car they can last a good bit longer if well maintained and based on what I have heard seem to run horribly when abused but for a good bit before they die.
The STS seems to be slightly better, though not by much.
The Timing chain issues were common on 09-11 or 12 model years of the V6 and the design of the 3.6 makes sure that working on the engine is a terrible pain much like the northstar (just look at what you have to do for a heater core in a Malibu- can’t even imagine how bad it would be for a Cadillac with several layers of electronics). That said, later 3.6 years are a better buy used IF MAINTAINED WELL (abuse is what harms them pretty quickly) and the timing issues were addressed later in life.
The CTS-V sedans are better, although early model years do have their issues as always. But a well maintained CTSV (or IS F) would be a better purchase than a used Brabus/AMG or Alpina that has been run to the ground….and seem to be faring better overall than the BMV M5 V10s that had issues in that era….
Exception to Audi: UrS4/S6. Bombproof WRC engine and drivetrain, detuned for street use. Easy to wrench on, great community, sane pricing on parts. B5s are when they started shoving 10lbs of crap in a 5lb bag
Those Audis were decent….90s Audis I don’t hear a whole lot of complaints, but after the 00s was when they became more powerful but at the expense of reliability….
At least try to talk them down to $400. That’s a LOT of rust.
“Ouch, it’ll cost a few extra hundo to have a mobile locksmith download the security and programming data from Hyundai and cut a key/buy a fob. Dammit“
Aren’t there YouTube videos with instructions for driving these with nothing more than a usb cable?
Run, run away as fast as you can. Like others have said, it looks more like flood damage than sea spray.