Overview & Reviews

A relative newcomer to the American marketplace, Hyundai is a Korean automaker with a product line that has improved greatly over the past decade. Hyundai cars and SUVs provide a high level of content for an affordable price, and are currently backed by one of the industry's longest warranties.

In 1947, Chung Ju Yung founded the Hyundai Civil Engineering Company. Mere months later, the outfit was bombed in the Korean War. However, the company regained its footing to distinguish itself as one of Korea's leading construction enterprises during the 1950s.

By the late 1960s, Chung had turned his attention to the automobile industry. The Korean government at that time believed that it made more sense to import vehicles than produce them domestically, and had made its opinion known. Still, Chung opted to follow his own convictions, and in 1967, he founded the Hyundai Motor Company.

The company quickly established an alliance with one of the industry's oldest automakers, signing a two-year contract with Ford in 1968 to share assembly technology. Hyundai's first car, the Cortina, was created from that partnership. The manufacturer's first car to be designed and built in Korea was the compact Pony (although the car was based on Japanese technology courtesy of Mitsubishi). The vehicle made its debut in 1974, and the following year Hyundai began exporting it to overseas markets.

Hyundai entered the U.S. market in 1986 with the introduction of its subcompact Excel. The car was an immediate hit, with its supreme affordability being a primary selling point. More than 100,000 Excels were sold stateside in the first seven months. By 1988, Hyundai had begun to produce cars using its own technology. The midsize Sonata was the first fruit borne of this endeavor.

Unfortunately, Hyundai's nascent image was soon tarnished by the poor durability and reliability of its vehicles. Sales tanked. However, rather than abandon the American market in the '90s, Hyundai chose to invest heavily in new product designs and improvements in overall quality and reliability. In 1998, Hyundai also purchased Kia, another Korean automaker, to expand its business and economies of scale.

It all started to pay off by the start of the new millennium, with the 2001 Elantra in particular showing massive improvements in overall quality, reliability and performance. Other models followed suit and the desirability of Hyundai cars increased sharply. Providing an extraordinarily long warranty period didn't hurt either.

Today's lineup is indicative of Hyundai's complete turnaround. Hyundai has a vehicle for nearly every segment, including the economical Accent subcompact, the popular Elantra compact, the midsize Sonata sedan (also available as a hybrid), sporty Genesis and Veloster coupes and a couple of stylish SUVs. Hyundai has also expanded into the entry-level and premium-level luxury sedan markets with its Genesis and Equus sedans. Having gone from being the butt of late-night TV jokes in the 1980s to a well-respected manufacturer of quality vehicles, Hyundai has created a very inspiring rags-to-riches story.

User Reviews:

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  Take It Off The Market - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By Slinkygirl - November 4 - 1:53 am

  Take it off the market before someone gets hurt. It is a piece of junk and a saftey hazard. Hard to control and even harder at higher speeds. Hyundai does NOT stand behind their products. I have spent more time at the dealerhip than driving this junk.

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  YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By Hotta - October 17 - 2:00 am

  PERFORMANCE IS NOT GOOD. HARD TO HANDLE AND STEER. SWAYS TO THE LEFT. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. COULD INTERFERE WITH SAFETY.

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  Junk - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By Larry Smith - October 17 - 2:00 am

  Car has had a lot of parts replaced. I spend more time in the dealship then going places. I had to get rid of the car.

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  Dont Waste Your Money. - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By nomoretiburons - October 15 - 3:23 am

  Bought a 2006 Hyundai Tiburon in 2007 with 9k on the odometer. Ran fine at first. Less than a year later, O2 sensor went out. Replaced that, a week later another, replaced it, a week later another... replaced it, a week later guess what. This thing eats tires despite the fact that the alignment is good. The wear is even across the tire but we get less than 16k out of 30k tires. Have replaced the brakes, Sunroof no longer works, lock motor on driver side door went out, radiator hose started leaking at the thermostat housing, replaced the hose clamp and fixed it, a few days ago the radiator cracked in a spot that I still cant explain why.... Buy a Pinto your repair bills will be cheaper.

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  hyundai overall fail - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By buckeyeclair - October 1 - 9:33 pm

  within the first week of owning this vehicle parts started falling off. The interior is cheap and Ive had to have the fuel door replaced multiple times. Not only that but after maintaining my hyundai regularly it stalled our of no where (no check engine light, no oil light, no warning) and died. IT was towed to the local hyundai dealer where they said they had to jump it to get it into the service bay then stated they reved the engine and it died. Hyundai is now saying it is my fault for not maintaining the vehicle and they will not cover the cost of the engine. I am now completely with out a vehicle unless I pay over 8k for a brand new engine on a leased vehicle less than 2 years old.

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  BAD! - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By hvinroe_2006 - August 25 - 11:26 pm

  I cant help it this SUV suffers from just plain bad transmission! It makes the driving experience horrible and the dealerships make it worse. They are unwilling to recognize that this transmission slips and has problems. Go figure! Do not buy this until Hyundai is willing to replace this transmission with one that is effective on this powertrain.

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  Be prepared for issues if you buy the 2.0T - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By Oilsoaked - June 23 - 5:05 pm

  3 times in 3 years the turbo has caused issues. The first 2 times, the engine lost power due to the turbo failing. The 3rd time, the oil line from the engine to the turbo is leaking oil all over the place. We only have a little over 64,000 miles on this car and Hyundai will not cover the repair under their extended power train warranty.

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  Take a good look, BUT DONT BUY!!!!!!! - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By TimmyJ - May 19 - 10:00 am

  IÂ’ve had my tibby for 6200 miles and about 1/2 of those are from trips to the dealer for servicing. Watch for numerous recalls from a car that is full of defects! Spoiler light assembly, driver side window motor, sunroof, paint on door sills, gas cap leakage, window seals, tweeter blown, plastic sub cover in trunk may crack! BEWARE-THIS CAR WILL DISAPPOINT YOU IF YOU DONT KEEP THESE ITEMS IN MIND! IÂ’ve had other problems w/ leather seat flaw @ purchase, plastic doorsill damage and grease on roof after 1 of the servicing. The HORSEPOWER was lied about by 11 horse in their ads.

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  Upside down in value 2 times over! - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By VIRGINIA BROWN - May 3 - 2:00 am

  This vehicle was the biggest mistake ever! Ive had nothing but mechanical problems Im constantly taking it in for warranty work. I paid $12,000 for the car, but its only worth $2,900. The biggest problem is its losing $300 - $500 per month in value. So, I owe $8,000 on a car that is worth $3,000. Im making $400/mo payments on a $200/mo note to pay it off before its value drops to nothing and Id have to PAY someone just take take it off my hands. Im upside down 2 times over in a car thats 2 years old! The Hyundai Accent is the WORST vehicle Ive ever known. DO NOT BUY ONE... THERE IS NOT ONE POSITIVE ASPECT ABOUT OWNING THIS VEHICLE.

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  DO NOT RECOMMEND - 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Am - April 12 - 6:12 pm

  I have had this car for 2 years (first car Ive ever owned). About a month after I bought the car a vibration/shaking problem occured at about 15-20 mph. We have been to 7 different automotive places (including where we bought it from!!!) and NO ONE has been able to figure out the problem so Ive been stuck with the problem for about 2 years. Recently, (and Ive read other reviews about this) the fuel gauge is failing to tell me how much gas I actually have. Whenever I just had filled up at the gas station, the gauge stayed where I was before I had filled up. A new vibration/shaking has occured on the drivers side and only does it at certain points (weird, I know). However, I took it to walmart they said the left tire, it had been out of balance and it was fixed that day. The next day the same problem occured and I immediately took it somewhere I had gone before and of course when driving it they couldnt feel anything and the car didnt make any noise or feeling like it had been. They visually inspected it and found nothing wrong (I know that must sound crazy but I promise it REALLY happened). Selling this car ASAP. After reading these reviews, Im glad Im not the only one.