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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  Frank Hyundai Awesome dealership, - 2010 Hyundai Accent
  By pashun - July 8 - 12:51 pm

  This is my first Hyundai, love this little car, fun to drive, love the color ice blue, frank Hyundai is a awesome dealership, sales manager is great. Everything is centrally located, I needed to cut my payments so I traded a Toyota, (long time Toyota customer) but with all the problems with Toyota, I decided to go to Hyundai, I am a senior and just needed a car to get from point a to b, felt this would be a great car for me, like the hatchback, gets to 60 with no problems, drives smooth on freeway and takes bumps in the road nicely, got the car for 11,810 got great payments also with a $2,000 rebate. Totally happy with my new car. Test drive one you will be surprised

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  It is what it is - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By erics1611 - July 7 - 2:03 am

  Got the SE with navi/sunroof system. Navi is alright, its not as nice as Hondas, but it lets you access it while the vehicle is moving - no lockout! Would be nice if you could manually enter GPS coords but alas. Car seems peppy and responsive around town most of the time but it feels gutless on steep hills, make sure you downshift in advance. It has a great turning radius, suspension feels tight. I am used to a 4x4 pickup truck though. City/hwy mixed mileage has been around 24 even with taking it easy, so a bit disappointed by that. Hwy mileage is low-30s so far. Stereo sounds good, only downside is no easy way to manually tune XM radio like you can AM/FM radio.

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  Great Bargain for High Luxury - 2010 Hyundai Genesis
  By McGruff71 - July 6 - 3:10 pm

  Just brought my 4.6 w/ Technology package home last week. I have to say, my wife and I are giddy with our choice. Had a hard time finding a performance sedan at a reasonable price. Drove a lot of cars, this one was the hands down winner. I LOVE to drive it! I will say the road test reviews that describe poor ride/handling on broken pavement are 100% correct. You definitely feel some unwelcome lateral movement, verging on loss of control when you come across some broken roadway. But so far, that is the only drawback. She is a wonderful highway cruiser, and the sense of refined power from the purr of that V-8 is amazing. For the price, you cannot beat this sedan. (Coming from a Pontiac GXP!)

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  Little Beast - 2009 Hyundai Accent
  By sssss - July 6 - 1:10 am

  I got this car a week ago, and so far its been great, except for the fact that the car shakes while braking around 45 mph, and the tires lost pressure after a week so the low tire pressure light came on(but hey, at least there IS a warning light). i am taking it to the dealer this week to resolve those issues. Other than that, i love it. its so fun to drive, and i like the way the gears click into place and how easy the clutch is. i do wish it had cruise control and power locks, but its the base model and was cheap. I was very impressed when i test drove it, the ride is great for such a cheap car. also the mp3 jack is awesome

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  Test drive before you buy! - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Norm - July 5 - 8:41 pm

  This car meets or exceeds my expectations. I test drove several competitors including the Mazda 3. The Mazda 3 is probably a finer car, but not $7,000 finer. This is my 12th new car and I have never been more pleased with a new automobile. The gas sipping engine give plenty of performance for my pocketbook.

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  Unimpressive, uncomfortable, unkeepable - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By Cindy - July 5 - 2:04 pm

  Bought this Hyundai when gas prices were very high and reviews sounded good.Best mileage we got was 31 mpg for highway and around 27 mpg overall. The water leaks into trunk upon opening it after rain, the hood pops open by itself and the leg room in back is minimal and overall the seats are cheap and uncomfortable. I couldnt even sit in them after I had a back problem and had to use our 2000 Honda Accord instead. Trading this in for a 2007 Accord, which is a bigger car that gets the same mileage, has nicer upholstery and will get me somewhere without hurting my back and providing my back seat passengers with lots of leg room.

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  Very Pleased - 2010 Hyundai Genesis
  By droopy - July 5 - 11:42 am

  Have owned the Genesis for about two weeks and thus far have been very pleased. One of my co-workers stopped by my office the other day and asked, "How do you like the new Lexus?" When I replied that it was a Hyundai he had an expression of disbelief, as if I were making a joke. One of my wifes friends told her that she had driven by our house, had seen the car in the driveway, and asked if we had bought a BMW. She too was surprised upon being told it was a Hyundai. Our other car is a Lexus and I will admit that the Lexus has a slightly smoother ride however, the Hyundai Genesis has more comfortable seats. We feel that we have gotten a lot of bang for the buck with this purchase.

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  Very pleased - 2001 Hyundai Sonata
  By jackster - July 5 - 8:59 am

  I purchased my 2001 v6 24 valve dohc from a lady who obviously had taken care of her car this car drives very well and is great on the highway when you need to pass not lacking in acceleration I owned a 1982 Toyota supra celica gts with the same size engine and this little sleeper runs just as good with the same performance with a little smoother ride I would recommend this car to anyone and as a bonus I picked it up for 2000 Canadian which was a steal she actually cried when I took it away from her lol my gain !

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  Fast purchase! - 2010 Hyundai Accent
  By 2010 Accent - July 5 - 12:33 am

  The warranty and "return if you lose your job or too sick to work" (up to 1 year) made this purchase a great deal. We test drove 2 at different dealerships and didnt hesitate on buying this. We got the 5 speed manual after reading many reviews. We drove it in city and on the freeway and it handled beautifully.

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  Luv and miss my Hyundai - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By twoods - July 2 - 11:44 am

  I got my elantra with 54,000 miles on it in 2007 and the only complaint I have is that I had to keep replacing the headlights. I loved my elantra so much. It was recently totaled in a head on collision and I walked away from the accident with just the pain associated with car accidents. My elantra did a good job protecting me. She took care of me like I took care of her. I will miss her. I never had any issues with my car. If I found a 2002 elantra with low miles on it for the age of the car I would definitely buy it.