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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  Best deal - 2003 Hyundai Sonata
  By general - April 6 - 10:00 am

  Best car on the market. Best warranty and one of the best service offered by dealerships.

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  Fun Car - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By rsrage - April 6 - 10:00 am

  This car is great. You cant beat a 10year 100,000 mile warranty!

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  Santa Fe - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By wdry - April 6 - 10:00 am

  Other than initial front end alignment the suv has been excellent for the money spent

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  Excellent - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Toronto - April 6 - 10:00 am

  5-speed shifts well & engine is quiet and the interior is comfortable. Reviews from this website say the engine is underpowered, what are they comparing it to. Ive driven everything from a Saturn Vue (crappy,noisy&slower), Rav4 (solid,averagepower, abit pricey), and CRV (same power,comfortable,but ugly and overpriced). The car passes very well in the city/highway. Overall this is the best buy only options added was A/C & alarm. Having the split window open in the back is very convenient plus other people who own Japanese cars cant get over how good this SUV really is. Do yourself a favour and when test driving other SUVs try this one out too.

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  Great Car for Great Price - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By taxman12 - April 6 - 10:00 am

  I just bought the 2003 Elantra, so far it seems to be an excellent choice. Smooth ride, easy controls, built sturdy. The price was very affordable

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  Excellent GT - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By abm65 - April 6 - 10:00 am

  Just bought a 4 dr GT auto. I love the car and better yet the price. I just couldnt reason paying more for the same thing elsewhere.

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  best bang for your $$$ - 2008 Hyundai Sonata
  By good deal - April 6 - 3:50 am

  I got this car about a month a go and I like, is a lot of fun to drive, the 6 cylinder engine has plenty of power, I got the limited so is loaded, I paid $20,299.00 for it including a $3k rebate. For the money you cant buy a better car new. Im getting 21 mpg but Im driving it like I stole it. I always had v8s so getting 20 mpg is big for me, the only complaint I have is that the glove box rattles when I drive on bumpy roads.

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  New Hyundai will surprise!! - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Lhart - April 5 - 7:50 pm

  Have only had the vehicle for 2 weeks and am incredibly impressed by the quality and refinement for the price. I test drove Honda, Toyota, and Pontiac and the Hyundai was the most impressive. Excellent list of features. I would buy the LX. I think it is the best value overall. This as quiet of car that Ive ever been in, including a Lexus ES300. Believe the reviews which state the Hyundai engineers were benchmarking against Lexus. Definitely worth a test drive. My first comment to the salesperson after driving it was " I cant believe this is a Hyundai!!"

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  Permanent Stress Test - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Les - April 5 - 9:16 am

  Ive not purchased a new car since 88, so I was very choosey about this one. Previous cars owned were all domestic and purchased "preowned" (read pre abused) - Im not too easy on a ride either; 25K to 28K miles per year and I drivem til they drop. (Usually to 200K miles or more). I wanted a nice car, an inexpensive car, a reliable car, and some options would only sweeten the deal. This car serves all that and much more. I can only echo others comments here. But Im sure when the payment book is empty and the odometer reads around 165,000 I will have finally finished my test-drive.

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  Love it, but CONSTANTLY in the shop. - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Folsom Local - April 5 - 8:00 am

  Car is BABIED, and yet at only 25k miles Ive had to put her in the shop nearly every 3 months for something major. It never ends. Had to replace numerous speed censors, the entire flywheel/clutch assembly, complete transmission change-out (mine is a 6- speed manual, that suddenly gave out a couple weeks ago), and sunroof control, along with ongoing minor annoyances like constant blown fuses from stock wiring issues. Ridiculous. I love this car to death and take such good care of it.. but every time I turn around Im running into major work that needs to be done on her. Having bought her used, I only get the 60k mile warranty, so I might SELL her before then! Yikes.