Hyundai i45 Engine Problems

Check for possible damage that might have been done by those who 'borrowed' your car. It's possible that the battery is completely dead, but I think that's unlikely. Take it to a Hyundai dealer and have them try to find the cause of the problem.

Missing the services really clouds the issue, as you don't know if the problem might have been picked up before it became a major issue. There's not a lot you can do, you need to find an engine and get your car going. You would be unlucky for it to happen again. You could also try to convince Hyundai to come to the party with part payment for the repairs, which might help alleviate the financial burden for you.

I would say don't sell it; fix it. It will be very hard to sell when it needs a new engine, so I would take it to a wrecker specializing in Hyundais and they should have a suitable replacement they could install for you. If you sell as it is you will take a bath on it.

The warranty would cover it if the engine failure was due to a manufacturing or design fault, but won't cover it if it was caused by operator error. In other words if you let the engine run out of oil or overheat the warranty won't cover it, but if it was caused by a mechanical fault caused by a design or build problem then you have a good chance of getting Hyundai to cover it.

Using oil is not necessarily a problem, it depends on how much oil it is using. Likewise the colour is not necessarily indicative of a problem; oil usually goes black after it's been run through the engine for a short period of time. If it is using a lot of oil take it to a Hyundai dealer and have it checked. There is nothing inherently wrong with Hyundai engines, and at 88,000 km and four years old it should be covered by the warranty.

You are likely to get a little better fuel consumption and perhaps better performance, but you need to measure that against the higher cost of premium to determine if the improvements are worthwhile.