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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  Excellent Value - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mike - December 9 - 3:40 pm

  We tested a lot of medium SUVs, and we finally chose this car for its style and value. The road noise is pleasantly quiet for a car of this type. The thermometer and compass (both standard equipment) were big pluses. We strongly recommend the larger (3.3L) V6 engine for its better acceleration and handling. The Santa Fe has been a joy to drive. It feels more like a car than a SUV. Our gas mileage has been 20.5 mpg in combined city/hwy driving.

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  Why pay more - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By Dee - December 9 - 11:00 am

  This car is really going to give Honda and Toyota a run for their money. after researching and test driving other cars we decided the Elantra had too many perks to even consider the other makes.We have driven 586 miles and mpg was 28.9 on the first tank of gas.

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  Customer Service: - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By jrzcummins - December 9 - 2:43 am

  I was quite pleased with the purchase proposal that was delivered to me for this car. Im very pleased with the design of the Tucson, they really have stepped up the game with this car.

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  would not recommend - 1998 Hyundai Sonata
  By alina - December 9 - 2:00 am

  Ive had a Sonata for two years and it was only two years old when I bought it. Ive had more problems and put more money into fixing it than I ever should have.

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  What a deal - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By JC1212 - December 9 - 2:00 am

  Thank goodness I didnt buy a Honda or a Toyota - I didnt realize Hyundai made nice cars until I drove this one and fell in love with it. Dramatic Jaguar styling, and amazing interior. Couldnt recommend it more!

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  My first Hyundai - 2013 Hyundai Veloster
  By apchouston - December 8 - 8:16 pm

  This is my first Hyundai after driving Nissan cars for so many years. But I have friends who swear by Hyundais quality that I finally caved in and bought one. I saw the 2012 model last year and liked it immediately and saw that the price was great too for all the stuff that came with the car. So when I decided to get a new car it was an easy choice. I got the 2013 version on the first Veloster I saw a year ago.

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  i love my car - 2005 Hyundai Tiburon
  By dominic - December 8 - 1:40 am

  i love this car its is a perfect 1st car to anyone there are not that many of them where i live the gas per mile its good i put $25 in gas its last me up to 6 days which is great because of gas prices. when your driving the engine is so quite and its a smooth ride.

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  Fantastic Car-underpriced by $10k - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By mikew - December 7 - 11:00 am

  Bought the GLS with the premium package (sunroof, power/heated seat) and have a very well appointed-luxury in my view, 7-seater crossover SUV for under $27k (we paid $200 over invoice) with a 10 year warranty. Incredible. This vehicle is rock solid, beautiful inside and out, and extremely quiet. We made a 300 mile trip with 4 + baby and all were quite comfortable (baby slept the whole way) and we had cavernous room for luggage/baby stuff. Flip the 3rd row and you still have room for the baby stuff. I cannot recommend this car more highly -get over the Hyundai "stigma" as it is wholly unjustified. Car of the Year right here...

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  2 year old Tibby - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By chilli007 - December 7 - 10:00 am

  I got my Tibby 2 years ago today. I love it very much and plan to keep her for a long time. I get a lot of complements on it. Ive had Audi & Lexus owners come and say how much they like it. My clutch is still fine and I have a supercharger as well. There are a lot of products out there to customize the Tiburon. Its fun to drive and feels lite and sporty. Only problems I had are rattles, leaking sunroof, and paint chipping on the back bumper. The dealer tried to fix the rattles but theyre kinda still there. The leak and the bumper are also fixed by the dealership. Its just an awesome car for the price.

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  Problems - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By margie weber - December 7 - 8:53 am

  Even though my son was very good about all of its maintenance checks and oil changes, etc. Hyundai was not good about the warranty coverage and making sure that a certain problem should be taken care of immediately. Now at 53,000, the engine was shot, and it took the extended warranty company Zurich 6 weeks to have it replaced. Now I have a gas line problem which was also noted back in 2005, that was not taken care of and again I have been without my vehicle for two weeks.