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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  Its Not A Lexus But It Doesnt Charge to Be One - 2013 Hyundai Equus
  By royals - December 11 - 6:33 pm

  Only complaints I ever really had about this vehicle are: (1) Its got to be one of the most worthless navigation systems I have ever seen I used a $ 115.00 Garmin most of the time in my otherwise luxury sedan and (2) gas mileage is horrendous as compared to the competitors. Ultimately I ditched the vehicle for the two reasons above. I am a realtor and I need a good navigation system and gas mileage that beats what this car offers. I opted for a Land Rover HSE. I figured if I was going to get poor gas mileage I would at least get a vehicle that is fun to drive. A limousine type vehicle will never be a fun drive.

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  2011 hyundai accent SE 4 speed automatic - 2011 Hyundai Accent
  By jakethib1 - December 11 - 4:47 pm

  I have a 2011 Hyundai accent SE 4 speed automatic with 61,000 KM, i love the car i like that it has a sunroof fog lights, 16 inch alloy wheels. The car is comfortable and good on gas , it is sporty and handles very nicely, i love the car, but their are a few things i am dissapointed in. I have had some suspension problems i have had to replace 2 struts in the back and now a sway bar link kit in the front is clunking, it is all covered under warranty so its not a big deal, i also don like how the plastics on the interior of the car scratch so easily. But other then that i love the car it has never let me down its fun to drive and stylish. i recommend this car to buyers.

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  RSPEC 2013 by brian125 - 2013 Hyundai Genesis
  By brian125 - November 29 - 10:42 pm

  So far in 2 weeks here is my review..I love the sound system, very quite inside the cabin, very fast and fun to drive. The ride is jittery on bad roads just like the reviews. On the highway this genesis rides like any luxury vehicle. So the Positives outweight the negitives so far. Im a big guy at 61 250 and the drivers seat and position is very comfortable with plenty of head and leg room. I bought this vehicle for 38.3k plus taxes 20% of the msrp.

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  Car great, Han Kook tires not so great. - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By jeff1235 - November 13 - 1:06 pm

  I had a 2007 for 5 yrs until I got my 2013. Other than 3 radios put in, and at year 5 I did have some minor problems such as a back door handle broke internally and problems rolling up a back window. However the real problem was with the Han Kook tires. 3 of my 4 original tires got flats, one literally from what could only be called a large splinter. After 2.5 years I ended up replacing all 4 tires. Fast fwd to 2013. My nitro filled tires. I had my car 6 months. I notice the tire light go on. Sure enough I had a leak. I took it in for an oil change, looked at and told me I needed a new tire! The leak was too high to patch. All they had in stock Han Kooks. Han Suck! Loud on highway, tires?

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  Dont believe the gas mileage hype - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By rws0292 - October 29 - 8:52 am

  Recently purchased a 2013 Elantra Limited under the premise that I would be getting a fuel efficient vehicle for a decent price. I traded a 2012 Camaro to make this deal as I travel 65 miles a day to work and back in hybrid traffic. I drive pretty conservatively and live in Florida which is predominately flat. With the first 1,000 miles down, I am getting 25.4 MPG which is a far cry from the 28C-38H-32Hybrid they are so fond of telling you about. My Camaro was getting 20.6 hybrid, so I gained far less car with no real savings. The Elantra is a great car for what it is, but if you are seeking this vehicle solely for gas mileage, dont make the mistake. You wont see the stated mileage.

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  Been driven hard in 1 year - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By donjo13 - October 15 - 11:05 pm

  I bought my 2013 in Sept 2012. I am a courier and drive 250 miles a day. At this point in time I have 62000 miles on it here in NC. So far it has been a very reliable car and I have only had to replace one tire. The main complaint I have about it is the engine is very noisy. I have had it to the Hyundai dealer twice and they say its normal operation. I know its not because it didnt sound this bad when I bought it. When the car starts up for the 1st time each day it knocks like it has no oil for the 1st 3 miles or so. I have changed the oil regularly and use synthetic. I even left it overnight at the dealer so they could start it in the morning and here what I am saying.

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  Some Issues - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By ocd4deals - October 5 - 9:53 am

  I bought my Elantra brand new. Since owning it we have replaced each headlight at least twice and each foglight twice. We had to replace the first headlight on day 2 of owning the car. We had the dealer replace it whie it was under warranty but after 36k miles we were on our own. This was the most frustrating until we had issues with the brakes locking up the rear driver side tire. Upon doing a brake job we found that the brake bracket wasnt up to factory specs so when installing brake pads. the pads had to be filed down. With the seizing of the tire we have had to replace the hub assemly, bracket, and caliper. But other than these 2 issues the car has run great and we are at 78k.

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  2013 Hyundai acceleration malfunction - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By torry4 - September 28 - 10:09 pm

  2013 Hyundai Elantra unsafe to drive, accelertion malfunction. I have purchased a brand new 2013 Hyundai Elantra which has accelerated unexpectedly 2 times and the last time, the car was not able to be stopped before it crashed into a concrete wall. We have had the car checked by Hyundai through their 6 week process and they have come back to us with a letter stating nothing was wrong. When we asked for a copy of the testing they said they were proprietary and they could not give me a copy. Where do you go from here?

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  Great looks and great value! - 2012 Hyundai Accent
  By rlfeen - September 14 - 4:16 am

  I have owned this car for about a year and a half ~36k. I loved the way the new Hyundais looked and I decided on the Accent. I got a silver SE trim. I love black interior, fog lights and rims. MPGs arent that great for such a small car. AVG is 27/36 This is a great handling car. Engine is a bit noisy, however it is very responsive and you can really get up and go when needed. Drove this thing from Maryland to California and it did great. After about 10k I drove through a pretty deep puddle during a hurricane and the engine was damaged (my fault 100%). I ended up having to replace the engine. Hyundai wouldnt cover it because it was "water damaged," but my insurance did cover it.

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  OK small car - 2013 Hyundai Accent
  By colby_butler - September 12 - 7:22 am

  I had this car for about 2 weeks. Only had 10k miles on the odometer. I put about 1000 miles on the car. At first this vehicle did not impress me. This is by far the smallest cheapest car I have ever driven. However the highlights are the seats, the stereo, and shiftronic automatic. This car turned out to be quite comfortable even for a 4 hr drive. However I had a problem with this car. One day the turnsignals quit working. Checked everything and everything else works fine. I believe there may be a problem with the modulation control for the turnsignals in this model I had. In all this car seems like it would be a solid buy other then the one issue.