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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  Nice car - 1990 Hyundai Sonata
  By EricLISTER - March 14 - 2:00 am

  Its a pretty good car, ive tried to take good car of it, and its never let me down, not yet anyway.

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  Frustrated - 2008 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ann - March 13 - 9:33 pm

  The car has a drone around 38-43 mph. It is very annoying since most of my driving seems to be near that speed. A friends 07 impressed me. I was told there were no changes to the 08. NOT TRUE- he didnt have this problem. I was told it is a torque converter clutch chuggle (what?) and it would need a software change to fix it. I called corporate in Oct. and still no promised call back. The heat/AC mode is dangerous since you have to keep looking down to see what mode its in.

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  2Hyundais - One Family - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By LoyalHyundaiOwner - March 13 - 8:23 pm

  We just purchased a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. We already (and still) own a 2003 Hyudai Santa Fe and are very pleased with the reliability and superior value this vehicle provides for an SUV. The handling is excellent, the value for the money is superior, and improvements in standard features and exterior styling have made the Santa Fe even more desirable. Now that we have 2 Hyundai Santa Fes in our family, just call us crazy about our Hyundais.

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  Better value than Accord or Camry - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jim-n-NC - March 13 - 4:46 am

  Its official, Hyundai has taken the lead. For the same price as an Accord LX or a 07 Camry LE, the Hyundai GLS V6 kicks their butt. 70 more horses. Standard Foglights (important in mtns.) Standard dual exhaust. 16" alloy wheels w/ Michelins as opposed to 15 or 16" steel wheels with plastic hubcaps. Standard traction and stability control. Better ride and equal quality of construction and materials. Ford Fusion doesnt even come close in safety w/o std anti-lock brakes or side airbags. Plus the Fusions stereo is unchanged in sound quality from my old 83 Tempo, sad.

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  Very impressed - 2001 Hyundai Accent
  By n8d1 - March 13 - 2:00 am

  Well I bought this car used for a comuter car, with only 12,500 miles on it for only $6900. It has been very good on gas mileage (about 30/gal) and get about 250 mi/tank (only 8+ gal). Very peppy with the 5-speed and has lots of features I didnt expect from one of the least expensive cars on the market...even the stripped down model I bought. I am very pleased with it and will most likely keep it untill it dies, which will be 10yrs/100,000 mi. or more...

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  great car! - 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By Les - March 12 - 3:00 pm

  This is a fun car to drive. Lots of pickup, great maneuverability. We have a 2004 Santa Fe that has 120,000 miles and still runs great. Our Elantra Touring actually has a bit more interior room than the Santa Fe. Suspension is a bit stiff. Good gas mileage 26 mpg. Sound system is great.

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  WOW - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By This is a Hyundai??? - March 12 - 1:06 pm

  We bought this after searching every maker for a 7-passenger SUV that was fun to drive, looked good, felt good, and got more than 15-17 MPG. Its not an ugly minivan/round box SUV clone, it didnt cost $50K+ like the luxury brands, and it gets 20+ MPG combined driving while taking regular gas (unlike virtually every other premium- swilling luxury SUV - thats worth another 1-2 miles per gallon if you do the math). 1000 miles in, I am amazed! It is so far an awesome vehicle and comes in cheaper than the 5-passenger Lexus RX (whose look it very conveniently resembles) - plus it outperformed the Lexus in a Washington Post auto review. Good fit and finish, great warranty.

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  Great little car! - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By stl21boi - March 12 - 10:00 am

  I wasnt sure I wanted to buy a Hyundai. But after having almost a year now, I love the car. Havent had a single problem with it.

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  harsh ride - 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By daniel sanchez - March 12 - 4:08 am

  i am in the market for an suv with 6-8 seat my option were the Hyundai Santa Fe, KIA sorento, Toyota highlander, and the Honda pilot. I first went to see the santa fe and it looked really nice the drl made it better looking than before so the sales person let me take it for a test drive. as i got out of the dealership and on to the main road it felt like it had power to hit 40-50 mph. but as i was trying to slow down to make a right turn i felt the car just bogged down as i try to accelerate to enter the other street that to me seemed pretty dangerous because the if there was a car coming i could of gotten hit. so the sales person made me turn to another street where there was a lot of bump so i drove around 40 to see how the suspension would perform, and honestly it was the worst ride as i heard loud thump as if the the rear struts were bad or something, any little thump could be heard very clearly, it was far worse for my parent that were sitting in the back because they said that the car didnt even cushion any of the bump and that they were bouncing the entire time we were on that road , it felt like riding a horse. also the brakes are a little mushy for a 4000lb car i would expect the suspension to be somewhat decent . i have a versa and a old 98 town car and the suspension is 5 times better than the santa fe. i felt sorry to tell the salesperson that we werent interested in the car because of the ride quality.

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  My Second Elanta - Solid Value - 2014 Hyundai Elantra
  By Robert Grande - March 12 - 3:29 am

  Overall its a great car and initial quality was outstanding with no defects. Highway gas mileage may not always be the original false claim of 40 MPG but now that car is broken in I get there with summer blend of gas. Mostly highway driving (80/20) so overall I get 35 to 38 consistently. The transmission is very smooth though occasionally when you come to a hill it feels like the transmission should downshift. Fortunately you have the option to manually downshift so its not that big a deal. If you want sporty, go for a Mazda 3 - Elantras acceleration is okay and it handling is very good but not quite on par with Mazda. But then again, I judged the overall road noise level of the Mazda 3 annoying by comparison. Like the Mazda and other small 4-cylinder cars it gets a bit loud when accelerating onto the highway. Beware the blind spots sue to the slope of the front roof pillars. Backup camera is very handy since its tough to judge the front or back through the windows. Standard audio system is okay but wish it had a bit more "oomph" - especially for bass. Bluetooth works well and touch screen controls are easy to learn. Climate controls are well- designed.