Hyundai Repair: Timing belt replacement for 2001 Sonata, timing belt replacement, sonata 4

Question
Hi,

I'm currently at 53,000 miles on my 2001 Sonata (4 cyl, automatic).  That makes the car 7 years old this coming October (2007).  Our yearly mileage is less than 10,000, obviously.  The car has been great until this early summer, when the speed control sensor failed and now the shop says I need two ignition coils, spark plugs and wires.  Okay, makes sense, but they also want me to go for thier 450 dollars 60,000 mile service and the equally expensive titing belt replacement.  I'd love to wait on the timing belt unitl I actually hit 60,000 miles, but the tech said "I'm long overdue" seeing as how the car will be 7 this fall.  Would you agree?  I'm not going for the 60,000 mile service since I had the tranny flushed and an oil change not too long ago.  The rest of the service is a lot of BS if you ask me: some inspections, tire roration, etc.  No belts are replaced.

Jon

Answer
I definitely agree in regard to the timing belt.  The maintenance interval on the timing belt is four years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first.  Furthermore, consider that the four cylinder (2.4L) in your car is known to experience timing belt failures close to the recommended maintenance interval.  I think you're very lucky that you haven't already experienced an issue with this.  

Since you're replacing the plugs, wires, and coils, you're already addressing a significant amount of the items that are required at 60k.  You're exactly on mark to resist the 60k service.  The only other significant item you should probably think about is replacing the coolant.  If it's been more than two years since that's been done, you should probably do that as well.