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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  Disappointing gas mileage - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Kenny Morrison - June 25 - 6:53 pm

  I realize we stepped up to a V-6 and more horsepower, but I was hoping for more than 22 mpg avg. versus the 27 avg. we got with our Accord. The car is also more noisy than I expected out on the highway.

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  Poor Quality Car - 2010 Hyundai Sonata
  By ra123 - June 25 - 12:06 pm

  The mileage of the car will drop significantly. The door handles will snap in cold temperatures and will not be covered and will cost the consumer dearly

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  Unsafe acceleration from dead stop - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By ProfessorPlumb - June 23 - 8:22 pm

  As Rusty_Blades has stated in an earlier review (and Ive replied to the same), My Tucson as delivered has an issue with acceleration from a dead-stop that is both annoying an potentially dangerous. Ive only had the car less than a week and havent been able to talk to service about this yet, so hopefully there is now a fix, Ill update this review when I find out. The problem is that the car starts to accelerate on its own as soon as you take your foot off the pedal, this seemed a bit odd when I test drove it, but I was so impressed with its performance as highway speed that I purchased it just the same. I wish I had taken Rustys advice and tried to parallel park it during the test drive. When I tried this a day after I purchased it the buyers remorse really started to kick-in hard. Im sure Hyundai will come up for a fix for this if they havent already, but until I can get this fixed this stays at a 2-star review. My other main beef with this car is that the head rest cant be adjusted far enough back for my comfort, I may have to take it apart and try to come up with a way of further adjusting it. Otherwise, I think Id be super happy with this car, it is very quiet, smooth as silk at highway speed, and Peppy with a capital P.

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  Pretty Sweet Little Hatch - 2016 Hyundai Veloster
  By Rob - June 23 - 1:25 pm

  Overall, this car is a cool little Hatchback, it looks like nothing else on the road. The acceleration is a bit lacking and the close ratio 6 speed doesnt help that, this is a "momentum" car . Ride can be a bit rough over bumps and patched pavement, but, i expected that.The tech you get in the base model is pretty nice. It is a funky fun little car that gets great MPG and lots of looks. So far , i am loving my Veloster. Have put a little more than 10,000 miles on the car, still very pleased with my purchase , I have had no issues

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  Beautiful is what im hearing - 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
  By connie - June 23 - 2:03 am

  i absolutely love the styling of the vehicle that is why i bought it. i have received quite a few raving compliments on it already. gas mileage is 29 on highway and about 20 in town which averages to about 24 when driving both. it definitely feels like a sports car. my only regret is that i did not buy the top of the line. money was tight and i didnt feel justified spending too much (i bought the 2.0 premium, but i really, really wish i had spent more to get the bigger engine, the fog lights, side mirror lights, etc. i was able to have a spoiler added to the premium package by the dealer and the spoiler really makes the car look great. nothing else out their compares!

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  beautiful car - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By speed guy - June 23 - 2:00 am

  it is a real sports car

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  nice but no BMW - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By lkydf - June 23 - 2:00 am

  Interior is classic & comfortable. Power is ample. Transmission: shifting is a bit sluggish...quite slow to downshift when passing. I agree with the editors descripition of the transmission as "confused" . Handling: OK but not a sport sedan .... For the money, its a great car. As for competing with high end BMWs & Mercedes, its a wannabee.

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  Exellent - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Doglover - June 23 - 2:00 am

  The Sante Fe is the best vechicle we have owned in a long time. It handles really well in the snow. And onlong trips it is very comfortable to ride in.The overall mechanical perforamce is exellent. We have had alot of people comment on the looks of it. And alot of people ask us all about it overall. My family loves this vechicle. Thank you for making suce a wonderful suv.Sincerly The Odland family.

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  Buy one! - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Lisa - June 22 - 10:03 am

  I did and you should, too. It is the most fun Ive had driving a vehicle. Not too big, not too small.

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  Its ok not more - 2001 Hyundai XG300
  By baba - June 21 - 10:00 am

  Ive owned my XG300 for one year and have had it in the shop at least four times for non routine maintance issues.I would still suggest for a low budget car its not bad overall.The so called options like Leather seats, wood grain accents, etc........are not up to par with the more expensive makes and models...This is obvious after after the excitement wears off.............