‘They keep blowing up’ Team of mechanics share the vehicles they would never own, and it’s a short list
Tire Boss in Wheeling, Illinois, sees cars of all makes, models, shapes, and sizes roll in. As a result, the mechanics at the Midwest shop have opinions. Strong opinions. And some of those strong opinions pertain to which cars they’d never want to buy. But be warned, it’s not a long list.
Many of these mechanics say they’d never want to own cars from just two brands
In a TikTok video, an interviewer bounced around the shop, asking the mechanics which vehicles they’d never want to own. Now, if you’re a Hyundai or Kia fan, you might want to keep your skin nice and thick for this one.
Shop consensus: Hyundai and Kia just won’t last
“What car brand would you never own and why?” the interviewer asked the first mechanic as he wrenched on a car up on the lift. “I would never own a Hyundai or Kia,” he responded without hesitation.”
As for the why, he responded matter-of-factly, “They keep blowing up. No matter what you do with them.” It didn’t take long to find a like opinion. “Easy, that one’s gonna be Hyundai,” another mechanic responded.
“Not good cars,” he added. “Nothing about Hyundai is good. Kia is another one.” Ouch. The interviewer wanted a third opinion, so he moved on to one last mechanic.
After finding his final interviewee, he asked the familiar question. A familiar question and a familiar response. “I would probably never want to own a Hyundai or Kia product,” the tech replied.
And why not? The tech responded by saying, “Because after 100,000 miles, they just start falling apart into pieces.” Three mechanics, one question, and damn near the same answer every time.
Viewers were not picking up what the mechanics were putting down
The Illinois mechanics had their opinions based on personal preference and experience at the shop. But their TikTok viewers had other things to say about Hyundai and Kia.
“Dude, I own a 2016 Hyundai Sonata [with] 230,000 miles,” one viewer responded. “Never had a problem. Just the basics. Brakes, tires, and oil changes.”
Another viewer was also quick to chime in with their dissenting opinions. “Shows they don’t know cars,” one viewer commented on the mechanics’ page. “Hyundai and Kia have higher reliability ratings than Ford, Jeep, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Chevy, and Nissan.”
Reliability rankings and satisfaction surveys don’t support the opinions
Opinions aside, Hyundai and Kia rank higher than most popular European and American brands, if also behind several Japanese brands, in terms of reliability. Hyundai and Kia rank as the No. 9 and No. 8 most reliable and satisfying automakers in the US, respectively, per Consumer Reports.
That puts the Korean manufacturers behind Japanese brands like Subaru, Toyota, Honda, and Mazda. But the data also puts Hyundai ahead of Ford at No. 13, and Nissan at No. 12.
MotorBiscuit reached out to @tirebossinc for comment via TikTok direct message.
