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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  Im glad I bought it, good value. - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By xo1rider - January 22 - 9:16 pm

  I was convinced I was going to buy a Honda Civic but the Hyundai warranty and greater interior space hooked me. When I saw the standard features I could get for my money I was sold. My car has factory XM radio, alloy wheels, steering wheel controls for audio system and cruise. All of which I would have paid more for with the Honda. This is the first 4 cylinder car Ive owned in years and the lowest price car Ive had in a couple of decades. It fits the bill for me with the MPG and features. The bad news, it takes the corners worse than anything Ive driven in years. For every day driving its fine, good commuter but stay off the twisty roads!

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  Great Car - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jon - January 19 - 12:20 pm

  My wife and I bought this car because of the reported fuel economy and so far it has not disappointed. The first week of suburban driving we have achieved over 28 mpg, truly amazing for a car of this size. Having come from an Acura TL, we bought the limited as we wanted all of the bells and whistles that came with it including the navigation/backup camera. In comparison, I found that the steering is overly sensitive and the seats are a touch hard, but those are my only complaints. I am hoping that this car will be as reliable as my TL was. Having driven only 500 miles, I cant fairly rate the reliability.

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  Sonata Update - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By vanman - January 18 - 7:33 pm

  Have had this car going on 6 mos now. Have a little over 3000 mi. Have not had any problems to date. I was waiting to update my review until I had driven it in the snow. It did not disappoint me. The traction control & ESC seem to do just what they were designed to do. And the Shift Tronic feature is helpful, so you can use engine braking to slow the vehicle down on slippery roads. This car continues to impress me. Im averaging 32-33 mpg. If I get "Sporty" and use the Shift Tronic a lot. Ill drop down to 26-28 mpg. I honestly cant think of anything I dont like about it after 6 mos.

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  very impressed - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By stephen thomas - January 18 - 7:00 am

  Love the smooth and powerful 4 cyl. Most impressed with the new interior design and quality. This vehicle matches toyota and honda in all respects for significantly less money.

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  LOVE GROWN COLD - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Linda L. Evans - January 17 - 6:41 pm

  Oh the tears I have shed. I have owned two of these vehicles. One was 3.4 v6 and the one I have now is 2.7 v6. I truly loved this car enough to purchase my second one. I didnt drive my first one but for 30,000 miles. It had 67,000 miles on it when I traded it in. I have been very happy with the vehicle and would have purchased a third one had I not lost my career employment. I drove over 1,000 miles per week so went through 100,000 mile warranty in two years or so. It has been a mechanically sound vehicle until the latter years. I have experienced power steering going out, while driving in the rain, and no one can find why it does that. Now I cant use the hand operated door open and lock because it triggers something to do with the parking lights or signal lights not sure which, coming on and wont go off. I can hear a ticking sound like the signal lights. When this happens and I do not realize it the car is dead the next morning and I have to jump it. Plus the automatic lock feature is not a good idea. The seats are not that good. They were hard when I bought the car new and they are hard now 11 years later. Now the paint is peeling off on the hood and the clear coat is coming off in other places causing the paint to peel. On the hood the paint was peeled by a hard rain, not hail, but rain. It peeled on the hood on each side and in the same place on each side. Strange to say the least. The clear coat had not come off on the hood but paint still peeled. I have persuaded a few friends to purchase this car because of its performance which I can say is the best on the highway. But now that they have seen how my paint has done they are reconsidering. This was to be my last car because now I am old and unemployed and cant purchase another car. I was so proud of the one I have now because I took care of it. It still looked in appearance nice enough, but now is an atrocity from the paint peeling. I could cry a lot over this. Now the vehicle I once loved has turned cold like the car. T

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  I LOVE IT! - 2009 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Di - January 17 - 1:40 pm

  I had been shopping for a new vehicle for around 3 months. I had it down to a Nissan Morano, Toyota Rav4 (6cylinder) and the Toyota Highlander. Driving home from work one night I noticed a Veracruz in the lane next to me and I liked the way it looked and decided to test drive it that weekend. I wound up buying it that day. Driving is a pleasure. Brakes are great, steering it agile, ride is smooth for a SUV. Its quick with its 3.8 engine and it doesnt take premium gas like the Morano. Why arent there more of these on the road? I tell everyone its a hidden secret. Until you test drive one youll understand why.

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  What a Surprise! - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By gene frazier - January 17 - 10:00 am

  Reliability: superior to my previous Camry Design: LOVE the blue instrument lights...HATE the poor interior lighting and DIM turn signal indicators and computer display (unreadable with sunglasses). Still tight and squeek- free after 68,000 miles. Good but not great mileage. Only one unscheduled service visit in 2 years...my Camry had more than that the first month I owned it.

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  Lovin it. Going to upgrade ^^ - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Nick - January 17 - 9:00 am

  I bought mine in July 07. I bought the lowest model because I had some doubts about the maker. But Im very very pleased with this car with 15000 on odo. No problemo. Doing about 19.5mpg mostly in the city. The only regret is that I..We (actually my wifes car) didnt buy higher model. We should have bought at least the SE. We test drove all and yes, ALL suv and cuv in the similar class and it came down to VC and Highlander. Highlander was a nice suv also but we have no regrets whatsoever about choosing VC. Those who are in the market, I highly recommend VCruz. Test drive and see for yourselves. I cant wait to trade for higher model.

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  bad ride - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By not happy - January 17 - 6:16 am

  Bought my tucson in oct 2006. I checked reports. Wasn t happy after I bought it. I get 19 mpg. in town 17hgy. Seems like thats backward. After only 2000 miles I have had 11 tires replaced. Second day they turned the front roters they were warped. Service said tires were bad . The tucson shakes,wobbles at low speeds. Stering wheel vibrates bad. Service says nature of this to happen. I think it has to big of tires on it. Has 235/16/60. tire to wide.Service tech. said only way to change that is to drive it a while and trade it off. I think i will take his advice. I depended on J D Powers ranking when I bought my tucson. I was let down I am 50 years old. I buy new every 2-3 years . NOT HYUNAI.

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  wow - 2016 Hyundai Veloster
  By herb - January 16 - 9:32 am

  i bought a fully loaded turbo with the 7speed auto.i took this car for a long test drive before i purchased,and i can tell you that the negative reviews on here must be from people who bought the regular veloster.the turbo is a real pocket rocket.ride can be bumpy,but i knew this when i test drove the vehicle.i love the hyundai blue link,its awesome.