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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  Very disappointed with this car - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Stacey B - November 27 - 1:38 am

  Lets start with the good.... The style and the look of this car is very nice and eye pleasing. The features this car offers with the Limited and the ultimate package Is great. The two tone interior is appealing to all who see it and the seats are very comfortable. I love the heat/cooled seats in front and the heated seats in the back. The gas mileage has been good to, better than I expected. The only little thing is the Remote start through Blue Link... When starting it the heated seats dont come on, and the flashers continually flash until you get in car or it shuts off after the 10 mins. This is very annoying...I have had my neighbors call me saying something is wrong with your car, stores, work and restaurants ask who owns that vehicle with the flashing lights. This causes more attention to your vehicle when its running with no one In it. This can cause more ease for someone to find your empty car and try and steal it. Not smart on Blue Links part. This is a feature that cost you $200 a year because you have to pay for the Connected Care package to get the Remote Start, which both cost you $99 each per year. Now, I love the fact that you can lock your doors, start your car and so on via satellite, however the attention that the lights bring to your vehicle is not good and makes me not want to pay for this feature yearly. Again money taken away from Blue Link. Many people have been complaining about this for a long time and they wont change it. :( Now the bad..... I have 4000 miles on this car and already have had it in the shop 5 times! Ive had problems with the car shaking and vibrating over 55 miles per hour, tires never staying balanced, transmission hesitation and lag and absolutely NO kick down power. I still have problems daily but so tired of bringing it back weekly. No pickup and or kick down in "Eco" & "Normal" modes.... When at HWY speeds when you need to step on the gas for quick acceleration good luck with that as there is massive hesitation (RPMs jump up to 5/6 before the car even begins to start to move which is about a 5 second delay) and no speed pick up. Ive noticed that if I want a pick up I have to switch to the "Sport" mode. When you are in a quick decision moment you dont have time to think of switching it and this is Very dangerous. The jerking and lack of power when taking off from a stop is very frustrating. When slowing down to a stop sometimes the car seems like its going to die as the RPMs flutter and car Boggs down. I had it to dealer and the say its because the dual transmission is staying in second gear and thats normal. Well if thats the case then when Im at a stop light for a minute and I take off it stays in second and never shifts to 1st... Dos that sound normal to you? The vibration at higher speeds is horrible . Had tires rotated and balanced 2 times already and it till has not fixed the problem. Dealership doesnt seem to find t to be that big of a deal. When its your car and you drive it daily...you know when sometime has changed and or not running right. Since day 1 when putting car in reverse and then to drive, there is a clunking popping sound from the back of car after it hits about 20 mph. Had that looked at 3 times and they cant figure it out. Its odd because the car has to be shut off for at least 20 mins (each time you drive it) for this to happen.. The said the last time I brought it in, they had another new one on the lot and it did the same thing.... Well thats is not true, as I drove 2 other new ones and they do NOT do it. So not sue what they are talking about. Overall I regret buying this car, and the money I spent on it I should be excited to get it and drive it everyday, but sadly I am not. I was on the fence buying this car in the first place, but the one I test drove had no issues and the one they ordered for me was terrible after a few days of driving it. I have bought many many cars in my life and this has Ben far on the crap list along with the new Fusion I bought when they first came out! If I knew then what I know now, well lets say I wouldnt be writing this review.

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  Amazing Value for the Money - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ike - November 26 - 10:46 am

  My son has a 2006 Sonata which has been completely bulletproof, so when gas prices forced me to begin looking for an economical 4cyl, I started with the 2009 Sonata. Opening the door on the GLS for the first time, I was amazed at the beautiful, classy, high- quality interior that, yes, reminded me of a Lexus. The test drive was even more impressive; unbelievably quiet and smooth at 80mph, smooth-shifting automatic, little wind or road noise. I still test drove Accord, Camry, Altima, even Corolla, but none compared. I bought the Sonata because I liked it the best, not just because it was thousands of dollars cheaper.

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  Turns a lot of heads - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Laura - November 25 - 5:23 pm

  I loved it ever since I layed eyes on it. Mine is the Yellow S/E with the automatic trany. Its quick, but you really feel the power when you use the "sports shift." Its been hell though with the car, constantly taking it back to the dealer because of check engine light coming on after a month of owning it, (I bought it with 48 miles on it). It was just a silly emissions problem. Now today apx. four months later its going back because the air bag light came on. Its silly problems that make the lights come on. Nothing major. I definitely would not bad mouth the car in any way. And its pretty sad when you beat a Honda Civic that had all sorts of mods with your STOCK AUTOMATIC :)

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  Hyundai Accent GS hatch best ever - 2009 Hyundai Accent
  By Finnius - November 24 - 4:33 pm

  This has been a great car runs amazing drives like the day I bought it never let me down best car Ive ever owned

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  so far, so good - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Iowason07 - November 24 - 1:26 pm

  Very nice ride, quick, quiet, comfy. MPG could be better, but might improve with more miles. Light grey interior looks great, but is hard to keep clean. No problems at 3000 miles. Many safety features and standard features that are options on other makes, plus the warranty, sold me on this car. I also think it looks better than the competition. I just hope gas mileage improves to EPA ratings, especially with fuel prices going sky-high.

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  Great car for a great price - 2008 Hyundai Tiburon
  By clayt88 - November 23 - 6:36 pm

  This is a great little car that my wife and I just bought after finishing college. Were very pleased, overall, with its performance. Weve had Civics and Mustangs in the past and this Tiburon rates right up there. It doesnt handle nearly as well as a Civic Si, but it handles better (and is more fun to drive) than a Mustang.

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  My Favorite Car of All Times - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By CarolinaGirlOBX2 - November 23 - 11:16 am

  I had a choice, lots of them...and still to this minute a year and a half later am the greatest fan and driving advertisment of this wonderful black Santa Fe.

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  fun suv to drive - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By batt224 - November 23 - 3:56 am

  very good suv for the price, poor gas mileage...

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  What a Great Car!!! - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By Simon Steele - November 22 - 9:33 pm

  Did a lot of research on similar cars before purchasing - Toyota Avalon, Lexus and Ford 500. None of these cars offered all of the options for the price!! We got the Limited with the Ultimate package. Beautiful car........it was a hard sell to my husband who wanted a Lexus, but since he has driven over the past month, he loves the car too!! Great Warranty - watch out everyone Hyundai is on the move.

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  This car is unsafe to drive - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Lenny - November 22 - 8:20 pm

  I test drove this car righ after this model arrived at my local dealership. Liked everything about the car except one fatal flow - the DCT transmission failed to move the car from the intersection when the light changed to green for about 5 seconds after I depressed the pedal. The dealer made an awkward attempt to convey that this is normal for this transamission type. I turned around, drove back to the dealeship and parted our ways. If I ever drive this car agin - I would like to invite the company management family members for a ride along and see if they value the lives of their loved once the same way they value the lives of their customers. Please stay away from this car - it may get you killed.