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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  Highly Impressed - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By vanman - April 14 - 8:50 am

  This is our first Hyundai. Just brought it home Monday, 7/28/08. Only 112 mi so far. Beautiful Ebony Black w/silver pinstripe. The roominess, the power, the dash layout. Hyundai really paid attention to detail. We looked at all the others Nissan, Toyota, Ford & Chevy. The Sonata beats the pants off all of them. We also recommend the steering wheel audio controls & the power seat. Ours also has the light control group. This is an Outstanding Automobile. There is no nicer car for the money. We didnt know that the Sonata has been around for 20yrs. You have to drive this car! Will add more after its broke in.

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  Great Safety - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By Rick Patel - April 13 - 9:49 am

  Driving is always fun with this car when you can enjoy the best music on XM and your MP3 disc player. I had a recent crash with my new car and you wont believe but as per the advertisements, the car truly provided 5 star rating and we had not a single scratch on our body...I thank Hyundai for providing such great security features...I will buy a new 2009 model in a month time...

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  What an economical find! - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By pamedict - April 11 - 10:53 pm

  Originally bought my son a used 2002 2- Door GS Accent to drive to school in 2008. Had to drive it a few times and was impressed with the handling, power and overall comfort since Im a big person. Not fancy, but functional so I decided to keep my eyes open for another one for my daughter who will turn 16 this summer. I found a 2-door Accent GT, one owner in relatively good looking condition. After a Car Fax report and a phone call to the dealer who sold and serviced the car I made an offer to the local used car dealer and we negotiated for a day or two and I bought the vehicle in February. Have put a couple thousand miles on it and I find it to be a great vehicle for the money spent so far.

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  Surprising Value - 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By Rick Belz - April 11 - 8:13 am

  My wife and I had been looking at sedans, not particularly hybrids. We had narrowed it down to Accord, Fusion, Subaru Legacy Sonata and Optima. We finally decided to drive them, and went to the Hyundia dealer to drive a Sonata Limited. I was most interested in the Limited with the Ultimate package because it had just about everything on it that the car I was trading in had. The car I was trading in was a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. We did not want to give up the heated and ventilated seats and the Sonata with the Ultimate package had those. Plus the Sonata with the Ultimate package has all of the up to date safety tech. Most people dont realize that the Accord with Honda Sensing does not include Blind Spot Monitoring. I definitely wanted that feature. Anyway we where in talking to the sales person after driving the Sonata Limited and my wife was looking around the show room and came back with a brochure for a Sonata hybrid. So we started talking to the sales person about the hybrid and he insisted that we needed to drive one because the driving experience was different. To make a long story a little shorter, we loved the hybrid and wound up buying a sliver one. What I really like about the hybrid are a number of things; it is very comfortable to drive and ride in and it is very quiet. The safety tech is very nice especially the SCC (Smart Cruise Control), I find myself using that feature all of the time. I only have about 300 miles on the car and Im already getting around 44 mpg in mainly suburban driving. It seems to have plenty of pickup, although with only 300 miles on it I havent really put that to the test yet. Plus with the drive modes, if you want more performance you can choose Normal or Sport. We live close the mountains just outside of Denver and I have had it on some winding mountains roads and it handles the curves very well. The only complaint that I have is that it does not have Apple Carplay. But I hook my iPhone to the USB port and that and the Bluetooth works well.

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  EASY MOD - 2013 Hyundai Veloster
  By Robert Carra - April 10 - 7:13 am

  Remove the intake resonator, and install a good CAI. Swap the throttle body for an Elantra 60MM PN# 5151002E100. If you swap Exhaust no bigger then 2" or add a good axle back.

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  Great - 2017 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jason Hakes - April 10 - 4:38 am

  Edmunds helped us feel confident with our purchase and gave us some help when dealing with the dealership.

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  Excellent car for the price!!! - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By alainbock - April 10 - 2:00 am

  I am really impressed by what is offered in this car for such a low price.

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  A lot of bang for your buck - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By alfarocat - April 9 - 6:20 pm

  There are a lot of features that are standard here (example: ABS) that are extra on similar cars, like the Toyota Corolla. Its got great safety features--6 airbags! The interior is roomy and comfortable. The dash instrumentation is nice. Acceleration, while not great, is good enough. Its got XM radio, free for 3 months.

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  Great! - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Kelly Collier - April 9 - 11:46 am

  We love this vehicle. We have owned Subarus and Chryslers previously, and there is no comparison. It is very well put together and the interior ergonomics are very user friendly. We have 5 children and have plenty room for daily commutes. On longer trips if it were not for the luggage rack on top you would be in trouble. No additional storage with rear seats up.

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  Very Good Value - 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
  By swiler - April 9 - 7:50 am

  Genesis coupe may not win any awards for practicality, but its a thrill to drive. Steers like a race car. On snow, this car handles better with rear wheel drive than some cars with front wheel drive. Must be because front tires are narrower than rear tires, and light weight engine causes center of gravity to be closer to rear traction wheels.