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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  Love this car! - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By someone_somewhere - April 12 - 4:16 pm

  Ive had this car over 2 years and never had a problem with it except one little dash light that stuck on and Hyundai fixed it free with no hassles.

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  After a year with my 07 Sante Fe - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By scotts758 - April 11 - 4:56 pm

  I have had this SUV a year now and had no problems. Between city and highway, I average about 19.5 mpg which is acceptable with AWD. I thought it would get better mileage with the smaller engine (2.7). Sticker claimed 19 city and 24 highway. I like pretty much everything about this SUV except the seats are kind of bland. I live in Michigan and it goes thru snow with no trouble at all. This is my 2nd Hyundai. My Son drives my 2003 Sonata with 130K on it. That car was very reliable too.

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  Gas Mileage is an issue !!!!! - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Tsunami882 - April 11 - 3:49 pm

  The advertised gas mileage is a farce. After 14500 miles,I am only receiving about 15.5 miles in the city and 19.5 on the highway.I have driven it with 7 passengers.I have driven it with 1 passenger.I have driven it with reg. unleaded.I have driven it with super unleaded.I have driven it in the winter w/o AC.I have driven it in the spring w/AC.I have even driven it with the tires overinflated as sugg. by my dealer,but to no avail,the mileage has not changed drastically.The break-in mileage was atrocious at 12-13 in the city and 16-18 on the highway.Aside from this issue,I still like the vans appearance.Sleeker & Cheaper than the Sienna.If gas prices were not so outrageous,it would be a 10!!

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  Got Lucky - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By RichVid - April 10 - 2:00 am

  My wife and I were in the market for a secondary, slightly used car for our household. We looked at Saturns, Ford Focuses, Mazda Proteges, etc etc...in other words, something reliable but not wanting to pay the $$$ of a used Honda or Toyota. We never considered a Hyundai. Then we noticed a neighbor down the street with a nice looking Elantra for sale. Further Investigation revealed a 2002 GLS with only 11,000 miles and a price tag around 6K! After driving the car, it was pretty much a no brainer...it now sits in our driveway...What a wonderful little car at a steal of a price.

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  Replacement clutches are NO GOOD!! - 1999 Hyundai Elantra
  By K Mills - April 7 - 11:09 pm

  My son bought this 99 Elantra in 12/03 during his last yr of high school. It had about 23k miles on it, now has almost 90k. Usual maintenance, tires, brakes once and thought it would get him through college. Wrong! Replaced the clutch 5/06 and it had to be replaced again 1/07 - less than 8 months later, no change in driving habits or mileage. Now we cant unload this thing to save our lives and the blasted clutch is acting up again... Oh, and the inside door handles arent the best either. They just come off in your hand - no "man- handling" necessary. Have replaced 3 of those.

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  New Convert - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By JeffD - April 7 - 4:03 pm

  As I prepared to replace my wifes 2000 Ford Contour, I went with a clean slate and looked at everything. The Ford had been a good car with no problems in 75K miles. After looking at, studying (thanks Edmunds) and driving everything from Infinities to Camrys to Accords, I bought the Sonata Limited. While we have not put a lot of miles on it yet, my initial impressions are very strong for this car, even in the class of competition it had. It is powerful enough (better than the peppy Contour V6) and very quiet. Maybe not as powerful or quiet as the Inifiniti, but I can live with the difference in my bank account.

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  Terrible gas mileage, otherwise nice van - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Harris - April 7 - 3:04 pm

  We loved all the features in the van, it was so nice with all the compartments and DVD for the kids. The gas mileage they have listed though is criminal, we used Chevron gas, the mid-grade and got about 15 miles to the gallon around town and 19 - 20 on the highway. We used our cruise control and averaged around 70 mph. We consistently got this driving from Portland, OR to SLC, UT. The transmission was slugglish and it didnt respond well. We had oil leaks after we had put 8,000 miles on the van. Overall, we LOVED all the options that were on the inside of the van, however, mechanically, it was inferior to other vans of this class in our experiences. Not our favorite purchase by far!!!

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  A Big Improvement - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By coupeman - April 7 - 10:00 am

  I drove both a V6 6-speed and a 2.0 5-speed. The cyl GT is a better value, but the 2.0 is better looking. The high spoiler on the GT coupe ruins the appearance of the car, and I would not buy one with it. The saleman actually offered to have it taken off! The base car is the best looking of the lot, but the low spoiler on the 5-speed V-6 GT base model is tolerable. I have to admit that I was tempted by the good looks of the Tiburon, but the interior is not up to the exterior, and in the end I opted for a Mercedes C230 Sport Coupe. If they had a Sprint model V-6 with the low spoiler, I might just have taken it.

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  A Nice car - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By Kaan Berk - April 6 - 11:21 pm

  I am very happy with the performance but inside door panels should not been made from plastic bcs when the buckle of the seat belts hit those panels scratches occurs. This gives an ugly look to those plastic panels, like 06 accents panels should be covered by cloth or something else.

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  Another Look - 6 Mos later - 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Bob - April 6 - 4:23 am

  This is a followup to the original review done shortly after purchase. I continue to like the peppy engine and comfort, but a major weakness has been the construction, I have never owned a vehicle that dents so easy, sheet metal as soft as soup cans. The vehicle is garaged, does not go to work with me, and is parked away from other cars. I have paid out over $200 in dent removal, with my next move to see the Hyundai rep. It has been very disappointing - and only has 3000 miles!