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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  Love my new Santa Fe! - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By lyaana - May 14 - 1:10 am

  I just bought the Santa Fe on July 1st after having my Toyota Corolla CE 2001 for seven years and the absolutely love the Santa Fe. With my trade in and all the taxes and tags I walked away with the car paying only $20,138.00! I feel like the Hyundai Santa Fe is the best kept secret out there. I have all the options that I wanted except for an aux plug, which I will have installed very soon. I think you get so much bang for your money why pay up $5000 more to get the same thing. Once again I am very happy with car and my only complaint is that mileage could be better.

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  Love it - 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By kmahon - May 13 - 4:21 pm

  Just back from a 600 KM trip. Average mileage was 5.3L/100Km. Feels like I am playing a video game when driving. Smooth, comfy and saving money on gas for sure. Love the looks- the blue inlay on the silver metallic looks great and heads turn.

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  Terrible Suspension** - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Rickster59 - May 13 - 4:00 pm

  Purchased 5/09. Initial impression: nice looking and fuel mileage is good for a car this size. After driving for 1 week, my impression as follows: The engine runs smooth however the 5 speed automatic transmission hangs in 5th gear overdrive at 40 mph and engine lugs. Suspension: you hear TERRIBLE road noise inside car and can FEEL any and all road imperfections in steering wheel. Its scary! Loud rattling in trunk area when riding down bumpy roads. Have had car to the dealer 2 xs for this with no satisfaction. Hyundai needs fix this Sonata model as they have done with past Sonatas and issue a recall to install proper struts/mounts. Hard rubber Michelin Tires may be part of the problem

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  Better than Honda - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Flyboy - May 13 - 4:40 am

  I have 4,000 miles in this vehicle. Better ride than Jeep Liberty. More comfortable and reliable than the Mazda/Ford. Quality is high in this vehicle...no problems to date. This is Honda quality under a competing name. I am high income earner concerned with reliability. Honda and Toyota do not offer same comfort, V6, roominess for $. Hyundai will be big brand name in 3 years.

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  Great car for the price - 2000 Hyundai Accent
  By FirstCar - May 13 - 2:00 am

  This is the best new car you can buy. I got this as my first car and I dont regret it. Great fuel economy. If youre tall like I am.. make sure the person sitting behind you is small :- ). Ive had mine for over 2 years.. and Ive had no major problem.. I drive it a bit rough.. so had to get brakes changed.. other than that, Ive had no problem. Even had an accident and I was VERY pleasantly surprised with the safety. Bottom line.. GREAT new car on a limited budget.

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  I dig - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By I drive hard - May 12 - 3:16 am

  The orange crush color is a definite head turner and the car itself is a fun drive. Before giving it to my girlfriend, I drove it hard. Hard enough to bald the tires and bend the master cylinder. Woops! Weve done mods to car like an AEM intake, headers straight back with no cat to an ARK exhaust, with a stage one clutch and a light weight flywheel, and a short throw shifter. It sounds nice and isnt obnoxious. My only real complaint is that for a V6, 173 hp is a wee bit under powered. I guess that means if you want a bit more bite and more growl do a an exhaust and an intake. The car will get a little more hp and sound real nice.

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  Best Kept secret - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By Mem - May 11 - 10:00 am

  This car has more features and drives nicer than Lexus, Mercedes and Jaguar vehicles. The price is ridiculously low.

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  what can you ask? - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By juanri - May 11 - 10:00 am

  Good Looks, Fun to Drive, Power, performance and look add-ons outher just have to look a bit.

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  XG 300L: Driving in Style at a Value - 2001 Hyundai XG300
  By Auditor XG - May 11 - 2:36 am

  This car is so nice and elegant. It has a lot of features, some even the $30K plus cars dont have. Hyundai offers a great warranty. Its amazing how Hyundai can pack so many features and so much quality into a vehicle that is 25% or more inexpensive then anything comparable to it. If you have any questions or comments, you can email me at pardue77 @ yahoo.com

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  horrible road noise - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Sel - May 11 - 2:13 am

  My 2006 Sonata V6 has a "moan" like blowing in a bottle at speeds in excess of 60 mph. It makes driving the car a miserable experience. The dealer doesnt seem to want to find the source and tell me that is normal noise. I have taken it back three times. I seriously regret buying this car and I should have spent more and got a quality car. The Sonata is great looking but what you see is NOT what you get.