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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  Nice Auto - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By Steveg - March 25 - 10:00 am

  Was very worried about buying the Elantra giving the fact that Hyundai has had so may problems in the past. I am impressed. Have put 2k miles on the car so far and not the first problem, and the price was great, under 13k.

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  Great college car - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By pm2002 - March 25 - 10:00 am

  All around great car for college students or those on a budget. Outperforms a Civic and for thousands less.

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  One great economy car - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Blao - March 25 - 8:36 am

  Love at first sight, It looks and equipted much better than more expensive Corolla and Civic. Very roomy with hatchback model. Handling is better than my camry 95 LE V6. The engine is strong enought to move the car smoothly with traffice on both city and highway. Most of material used in the car look and feel great, only a few items look cheap such as the Glove compartment, antenna, muffler...

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  Outstanding contender among midsize - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Emile Banks - March 24 - 5:16 pm

  I typically only buy high end luxury vehicles, Porsche, Mercedes, Lexus, Jaguar and BMWs. This vehicle was purchased for my employees to use in my business. Since driving it I having second thoughts about making it a company vehicle. It looks great, drives well and has wonderful gas mileage. The interior is comparable to the luxury cars I am accustom to driving. Recently, while out of town, I rented a Cadillac CTS. The preferred the interior to my new Hyundai. i wasnt always a believer, but I am now. Great Job Hyundai, great job!

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  Problems - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By L Morgan - March 24 - 5:13 am

  I have owned my 2007 Hyundai Sonata for 2 weeks. After a few days, I realized that when I turn on the rear window defroster there is a lot of interference with the radio reception. Also, some of the defroster "wires" dont work at all. I took the car to the dealership. They confirmed the problems, but didnt repair them. They are currently "talking" to Hyundai to see what they will do. This is ridiculous. This is a NEW car with major problems and Hyundai cant decide what to do. For me, the only option is for them to replace the rear window. I think I made a BIG mistake by purchasing a Hyundai.

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  Great Drive - Best Quality and Pricing - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By dolomite - March 24 - 12:36 am

  A very good vehicle. As compared to other SUV/Crossover type vehicles (RAV4, CRV), this one definately outperforms over them all. Hyundai is slowly, but surely and definately improving their image and quality of thier vehicles - and the Tuscon is proof of it.

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  Love it! - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Love It - March 22 - 8:40 am

  This car looks good, and runs great. Very spacious, and well worth the money. I would recommend this car to anyone. I have a honda accord, and paid 5000.00 more than the Sonata. I find the sonata drives smoother than the honda. I never thought I would want a Hyundai, but I must say the Sonata changed my mind.

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  I cant believe its not a Lexus or Audi - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By John - March 22 - 4:30 am

  Audi performance with Lexus quietness. Even at 75 mph, I could hear my watch ticking. This vehicle performs and feels like an $50,000 car. Beautiful design added its value even further. This one was definately built to set new standards for its market niche.

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  My new shiny red car - 2016 Hyundai Elantra
  By Nicole - March 21 - 8:49 pm

  I have owned many different vehicles in the past include two Grand Cherokees, a Firebird, Escape, Land Rover, and a Corolla. My new 2016 Elantra is by far the BEST car Ive ever owned! The Value Edition offers many bells and whistles that Ive not been used to on other vehicles Ive owned. I was highly impressed with the heated seats, touch screen radio, Bluetooth, back up camera, sunroof, and XM. With Hyundai, they give you 90 of XM subscription for free. However, I already had XM in my Corolla so all I had to do was transfer the service from the Onyx box to the vehicle itself. I absolutely love the fact that my vehicle includes hands free calling. I travel A LOT for my job and being on the phone while driving is part of my everyday job. I was not even planning on really buying a vehicle the day I purchased my 2016 Elantra. My Corolla had just turned 100,000 miles and was starting to really show its wear and tear. I went into the dealer to look at a 2013 model that I saw for sale online. My luck-they had just sold the car that morning. The salesperson asked me to consider buying new due to the warranty and the fact that a new car was not much more expensive than a used one. He asked me what features I was looking for in a car and after I told him, he suggested the value edition for me. After looking at the car and starting the engine, I fell in love with it instantly. It had so many features! After taking it for a test drive, I knew I was going to purchase the car that day. The only changes I would make to the vehicle is the power of acceleration. (I am cognizant of the fact that its only a 1.8 4 cylinder and that its not going to have much power). However, it gets great gas mileage despite not having a lot of power. The only other feature I would add is power seats. The handling is perfect and it has an extremely smooth ride. The sound system is excellent. I will definitely buy Hyundai again!

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  Love it! - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Tracy - March 21 - 5:16 am

  Coming from a BMW, Im pleasantly surprised with Hyundai. They did a great job with the Tucson. Does it look like a luxury car, yes. Does it ride like a luxury car, unfortunately no. I notice the difference, but its not enough to make me run out and buy a 45/50k BMW again. My first tank averaged approx 26/27 MPG and the second tank averaged approx 23/24 MPG. I drive 30 miles into the city for work daily (stop/go rush hour traffic - Chicago) and love only filling up ONCE a week instead of twice a week...oh, and Im saving sooo much money since I no longer have to pay for premium!! Im also surprised on the acceleration. For a 4cyl, it takes off. Friend drove it and thought it was a 6cyl.