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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  All things considered, its not great - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Justice Peterson - January 30 - 6:50 am

  My wife and I like the comfy seats and they are easy to adjust. Theres plenty of room all around. The layout is good and the build quality and materials on par with the Ford Edge and Saturn Outlook. Good A/C. The ride is fairly smooth and its quiet inside. We were surprised to see the gas go so fast especially in the city when it returned only 13-14 miles per gallon average. Not very good. We are not impressed with the reliability or warranty coverage either. The dealers are all unethical. They charged us for things we never needed when we brought it in for warranty items; the trans would not shift out of park and was flat bedded, dealer charged us $850 for brake pads! Poor resale!

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  Awesome! - 1995 Hyundai Sonata
  By James II - January 30 - 2:00 am

  i hate someone to blame this car just based on some trivial problems. so comfortable and smooth in driving. i paid $2300 at 120000 miles. still working well and too silent to feel i am driving. i bought it in NJ and drove it to FL about 1300miles. still has no problem.

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  Review - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By Tom123456 - January 30 - 2:00 am

  I really enjoy this car. It is one of the best cars ever. I love it.

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  Great car. Lets hope it stays that way - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By skiboy78 - January 30 - 12:30 am

  We bought this car almost exactly a year ago. we have almost 13,000 miles on it and no major problems. The only thing that went wrong is a screw came lose in the visor, but it was replaced under warranty. It has great power and we average 24 mpg city which is great for this size of a car. We did have an issue with the alarm going off and the electrical not working but I figured out that it was the main fuse. So just push it in and all back to normal (this only happened once so I havent bothered telling the dealer yet). I think thats what has happened to a few others. Otherwise, I love this car. It was a great deal, great ride, and GREAT looks! All around, great car!

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  Solid & Reliable - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Greg - January 29 - 6:00 pm

  Pricing and warranty blew away everything in its class. I was impressed by the low cost 10year/100,000 mile optional warranty I purchased because it was proof that Hyundai was standing behind their product. Ive never seen this degree of confidence by any other manufacturer. This vehicle is NOT a "toy mini SUV"; its built very solid, has excellent handling, and still runs as good as it did when I drove it off the lot. After almost 3 years and 40K miles Ive had zero problems. I rarely take it offroad, but when I do it has excellent clearance and suspension that handle anything you will find on a gravel road. Speed bumps ? Hah! This thing mows em down like they werent even there.

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  A pleasure to drive hard or soft - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By allsure - January 29 - 10:00 am

  Clean, powerful, fun, solid, fast, great brakes. I love this car and feel it is worth more than what I paid for it. It is a blast to drive and can also turn a few heads. I hope the add-on accessory guys get wind of it and put more product out there.

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  future owner - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By futureowner - January 29 - 10:00 am

  I took the test drive last week I fell in love with the car. I went for a short drive and it was funny to see so many heads turn as I passed by or at the traffic light. The sound system is awsome, but I thought that the shift stick was too big. Anyhow, Im buying this car by the end of the week......I cant wait to have it.

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  Need a new car buy a Tucson - 2007 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Roy Hancock - January 29 - 12:20 am

  From day one this has been a great SUV fun to drive on and off road (more fun off road). Controls all have great locations, but AC light ( dont know if it is on or off during the day with that little green light.) I have always had V8s so this was my first 4 cyc. At first it seemed a little slow to start, but what I soon came to realize is that I almost always had a jack rabbit starts with the V8s. Now I feel real comfortable with the 4 cyc, but what is the best is that I get 25 miles per gal arround town. This is much better than Hyundias claim of 23 MPG. If your looking for a new car or SUV test drive a Tucson, you will not regret it.

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  terrific - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By happycustomer - January 28 - 9:20 am

  I only purchased my Santa Fe 2 weeks ago but so far i love it. It is very comfortable. I cant wait to take it on a trip. It is very stylish and all my neighbors are complimenting me. I will write again after I have the car longer. I did a lot of research before I purchased and found that it was the most car for the money in its class. I dont understand why all the manufacturers are selling cars with roof racks but no cross rails.

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  Dont Buy!!!!! - 1999 Hyundai Sonata
  By hanger1111 - January 28 - 2:00 am

  Replaced Ing. Coil 2 times Crankshaft. senseing unit. Crank Belt... Alternator 2 times.. Wont buy Hyundia Again...You get what you payfor I guess