One '01 Hyundai Tibby added to my car stable

"-Amateur" (amateur) 02/18/2020 at 15:55 • Filed to: None

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I drive older cars and I feel vulnerable when I own only one car. If that car ever breaks down or is in need of repairs, I’d like to have a 2nd car cover for it on daily driving duties until it’s back from surgery...usually conducted by me, outside, at my own pace.

The ‘97 Savvy Cavvy still lives on, I’m slowly amassing upgrade parts for it to give it a good once over to improve handling and refresh it’s tired chassis.

I went out of my way to search for this car as crazy as that sounds. When this bugger first came out, I remember hating that front end, thinking it looked homely at best. Then I got older and now I like it, because my tastes have changed, and I think it’s a fun looking car, a real treat! It’s funny how that works.

The Hyundai Tiburon was pretty much sold everywhere and was also known simply as the Hyundai Sports Coupe overseas. It came in two iterations with refreshes squeezed in between throughout it’s life. The original car was the RD1 model which started life in 1997. Mine is simply the RD2 which was the refresh to that before a bigger, heavier V6 optioned Tib showed up.

RD1 model pictured

The cool thing about the car, it drives like a go-kart. It has such a short wheelbase at 97.4" and it’s an incredible fun time on the street...on the highway not so much. That short wheelbase makes it a little squirrely for my tastes. Front/rear sway bars, an IRS rear and Macpherson struts tuned by Porsche round out the handling package. It’s a good setup, but I can’t get comfortable with it. On corners they play well together, but for everything else it always seems like the rear is so fussy and doesn’t play well with what the front suspension is doing, it takes away from the confidence and a bit unnerving if I’m totally honest. The cars light, like 2600 lbs light which is absolutely mega in this day and age of behemoth grocery getters.

The heart of this beast is a rev happy naturally aspirated 2.0L four banger. It’s a DOHC that runs a hearty 10.3 comp ratio. It’s good for 140 HP at 6000rpm and 133 lb ft tq at 4800rpm. it’s a decent powerband but the juice just doesn’t happen until you touch 4000rpm.

The engine mates well with the close ratio 5 spd transmission on a final drive ratio of 3.84. 0-60 runs at 8.7 seconds after ringing it out for all she’s worth. I do intend to run an LSD in the future, just haven’t decided what to to go with, It’s a toss-up between a KAAZ clutch type or mod in a Torsen diff from a diamond star motor tranny. Either way, excitement will ensue.

I’m a big fan of the rear hatch window contour. It truly is a remarkable specimen. That dank OEM spoiler is super in my book, I do have a bit of 2000s tuner culture blood growing up in that era.

Look at that! Pillarless, frameless doors! It’s the little things in life...

State of the art Hyundai cassette player.

Aluminum 15x6" wheels on 195/55 profile tires with disc brakes all around. I’m soo used to having a drum setup in the rear that this is beautiful.

IRS multi link with trailing arm rear suspension setup.

Thanks for reading y’all!

Chuckles > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:13

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Nice find. I'm in agreement with you on appearance. I didn't love this car when new, but now I think it looks decent.

facw > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:13

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What sort of monster would sell a car sans-CD deck in 2001? CDs were nearly obsolete at that point and they still hadn’t made it standard?

Chuckles > facw 02/18/2020 at 16:18

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Honestly I think I'd rather have the tape deck, because you could use a car kit and plug in anything with a headphone jack. My least favorite period of car stereos was the era post tape deck, but pre aux input. FM transmitters were always awful, so good luck listening to music on your ipod or phone. 

punkgoose17 > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:20

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To make it more comfortable run the rear psi about 3 psi low. The directed amount is for a half full load and most cars seem to also post a higher psi for a full load in the car / trunk.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:25

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A local guy has one set up for the track, & it rips.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

facw > Chuckles 02/18/2020 at 16:34

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True enough. I know I was shocked car shopping in 2003 that only one of the models I looked at had any capacity for MP3 playback (IIRC the 2003 Focus had optional support for Mp3 CDs). But the 2003 S40 I got did have a tape deck so I could hook a progression of MP3 CD player, iPod, and finally smart phones up to it via that. My 2006 S60 doesn’t have a tape or an aux, but fortunately I had eventually upgraded the S40 with a Grom Bluetooth adapter, and I was mostly able to salvage that for the S60.

Still ~ 2001 was a little early to favor aux over CD, we had MP3s, but players either had tiny capacity, or were big and unreliable hard-drive based devices. Minidiscs were still hanging around I think, but were expensive and low capacity. You could of course plug a portable CD player into your aux port/tape deck , but really they had gotten cheap enough that it would have been a bit silly not to include one.

Michael > Chuckles 02/18/2020 at 16:35

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-Amateur > facw 02/18/2020 at 16:38

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Late 90s to early 2000s was a weird time with the interwebz, Y2k, tape to digital, and the rise of boy bands. 

-Amateur > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock 02/18/2020 at 16:43

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Well now I guess I’m following him on the insta. I also follow a page on FB, the Hyundai coupe cup UK where they race only T iburons around a circuit championship style . What a time to be alive...

facw > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:44

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rise of boy bands 

Spoken like someone who doesn’t remember New Kids on the Block. A nd presumably other earlier boy bands. Menudo at least?

-Amateur > punkgoose17 02/18/2020 at 16:44

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I will try that and see if it helps, thanks!

and 100 more > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 16:58

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I remember getting picked up for lunch in one of these by the lady who I’d later marry, when she rented it from the airport on a visit. She beat the piss out of that poor thing. I re member her rolling up to a red light doing about 40 and then power-braking at the last minute. You’re correct, that rear end weighs nothing.

We’ll never have another 90's car, will we?

fintail > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 17:04

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I remember when these were new, a friend wanted one, and he kept calling it “Tributron” - drove me crazy.

These are getting rare now, peak Y2K vibes here.  Hyundai was really adventurous with model badge fonts for a while, too.

someassemblyrequired > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 17:12

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The styling was divisive, but the Tiburons are decent cars.

-Amateur > facw 02/18/2020 at 17:25

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I was born in 1987, so that probably answers alot of questions 

-Amateur > and 100 more 02/18/2020 at 17:36

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That’s pretty much the only way to drive these things!  I miss the no frills easy going cars of that era. 

-Amateur > fintail 02/18/2020 at 17:42

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Tributron straight up sounds like a Transformer lol. Hyundai was still looking for it’s niche in the US and that’s what made them fun apart from their terrible electronics and questionable refinement.

-Amateur > someassemblyrequired 02/18/2020 at 17:44

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God I hope so, I’m kinda banking on it being reliable. Kinda hoping I’m not asking too much from an early 2000s Korean car. 

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 17:51

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Holy hell. I do think that’s the cleanest Tib I’ve ever seen. Enjoy! I secretly like these too.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 18:11

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Awesome!!! I’ve always liked the Tiburon (all generations) more than most people have. Decent little sporty cars. I’ve always liked the design of your Tiburon’s generation too! I have a thing for ‘underdog’ cars. :)

Looking forward to more updates on this fella!

sony1492 > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 18:53

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Should be, the elantras/spectras around 02-07 h ad this engine, and the 2 I’ve owned were solid.(1 Elantra was over 250,000 miles ). Th ey do have a timing belt though and the service interval is fairly short

someassemblyrequired > -Amateur 02/18/2020 at 21:07

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Do n’t know what they are like now, but people I worked with that had them in the aughties seem to have good luck with them.