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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  I luv my Elantra! - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By Bruce - December 29 - 1:24 pm

  Great car - cheap as hell to buy, own, and operate. We have 20K miles on in now - and we may not need to buy another car for a decade.

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  Best Keep Secert - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Timberwolf - December 29 - 2:00 am

  Best SUV you can get for the money. Im an ex Honda owner and believe me, the Koreans have caught the Japanese.

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  Sonata +/- - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By etcindi - December 28 - 7:45 pm

  At 18K miles. I love the look of the car, very high class. I love to drive the car, handles, accelerates, performs excellently. I get 27-28 miles to the gallon driving 50 miles to work. 10 miles @ 70 mph, 30 miles @ 60-65 mph and the rest in town. I came out of a Jeep Commander so all the things above are delightful. Cons; there is no lumber support so Ive had to buy a contraption to be more comfortable. I have my seat high which may be why I feel like the vents dont blow all the places I want them to. My ring has gouged the rubber off my steering wheel a couple of places. Road noise, and if anything, a bug or rain, hits the top of the car it sounds like a tin shed, and many rattles

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  super suv - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By northern man - December 28 - 7:30 pm

  we love it,comfort great options and style. very quite ride and fun to drive. we have taken a couple of trips and got 23 mpg at 75mph. we have used the rear 120 pleg to charge our camera. my son loves the dvd player and the wireless headphones mom and i like. the automatic wipers are great. i would diffently suggest the limited over the other model. we found its just 1500.00 more but you a ton more options. the dealer has been great and helpful. the proxsimity key is wonderful and we love the two memory seating. overall we highley reccomand the car. we checked out all the suvs out there and this is by far the best!!

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  13,000 mile update - 2009 Hyundai Genesis
  By DGSVerona - December 28 - 4:53 pm

  This is an update of my original review. I have the 3.8 V6 with premium package and all available options. Ive had the car for 9 mths and it now has 13K miles of semi- aggressive highway & city driving experience. I still love this car! And heres the best part, since Ive owned the car the only service required has been scheduled maintenance. No rattles, no signs of wearing, and still fun to drive. In the snow (we had an 18 in. snow storm last week), it handled better than expected. I did struggle up a steep hill that wasnt plowed well (4" of loose snow on road) but otherwise the car did fine. I dont have any issues sports handling - but the ride could be smoother. Buy this car!

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  A great little car for the money! - 1996 Hyundai Elantra
  By Kalikiano - December 28 - 4:16 pm

  I bought my 1996 Hyundai Elantra GLS wagon used (in 2008), with 117,000 miles on it. Since I wanted a white paint exterior, I really had to search a bit until I found one (in Arizona). Ive put about 3000 miles on it so far and it has performed like a champ. Lots of room for myself, wife, and two large dogs. Well appointed, comfortable, with excellent cooling/heating capabilities and superb 360 degree visibility, I soon grew quite fond of this modest but sturdy little Korean automobile. With excellent fuel economy (27-30 mpg average for both city and highway), its really the frugal persons Honda Civic: high quality for low cost. Id recommend it to anyone looking for a good used car!

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  Great 2009 Sonata Limited 2.4 Auto w/Nav - 2010 Hyundai Sonata
  By Rons 2009 - December 28 - 11:36 am

  This is a great car! Traded in 2005 Maxima, much better ride, first tank in mixed driving achieved 28.4mpg, second tank got 26. build quality is excellent. All this and much more. Plenty of power to feel comfortable merging into traffic. And all for 10 Grand less than new Maxima. We are quite impressed.

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  Exceeding expectations - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By GumboGut - December 28 - 10:50 am

  The Sonata has been quite an eye opener for my wife and I. We purchased this car after testing Toyota and Honda. We took a chance because of the lower price point and have been extremly impressed. The car is very quiet(except for trunk echo on very bumpy roads)and handles very well. The V6 stated off with OK MPG around 24.5 on the highway, but now with 12000 mile our last highway road trip of 650 miles earned us 29 MPG! For the power the V6 offers, that is pretty impressive. The car looks great and has nice interior features for the money. The warranty is incredible and certainly influenced our decision.

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  Accidentally Got The Best - 2009 Hyundai Accent
  By Happy Hyundai Owner - December 28 - 10:47 am

  I bought the Base 09 Accent Coupe because it was half the cost of my 1st choice, the Honda Fit. However, the longer I drive the Accent, the more I feel its the best choice I couldve made. Ive even come to love the apple green color. It has an amazing amount of room inside - I went from a GMC Jimmy and have had little trouble adapting, space-wise. The exterior design is simple, clean and well- proportioned I think its one of the best-looking cars on the road. It handles and drives like a sports car, feels like an extension of my body: I think, it responds. Very solid, well- made car, reminds me of an MGB-GT I once had (without the constant repairs!).

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  Best value in car industy - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Owen - December 27 - 10:28 pm

  I bought the car in July 09 with 12,000 miles on it. I have since put about 6k miles on it and the car is superb. The engine is quite yet powerful. The design and look of the car rivals some of the 2009 and 2010 models out there now. The looks is absolutely timeless. This is my first Hyundai and I have to say I think I have found the company I will give my future business to. The only complaint I have is that the suspension is a little noisy. Sometimes even little bumps in the road sounds like your hitting a big pothole.