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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  New owner - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By ed_r_11954 - October 27 - 10:00 am

  HAve owned Hyundais since 1990; the Santa FE is by far the best model. Hoping the Santa Fe out performs the other two we have owned (Gonna take some doing as we drove the Sontata all over Europe for three years with no problems). Milage is running in the 21/22 MPG range for city driving.

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  Nice car way to many problems - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By bk79 - October 25 - 4:59 pm

  My first car. Wish it had more power and zip. Live the way it handles. Love the way it looks. When it is actually working I love the car but at 100k miles it all went down hill had to replace power steering pump, fuel injectors both front axles and both front abs speed sensors, rest carrier bearing, the transfer case and the transmission. Between the fuel injectors and the transfer case and transmission all going out with in the last year and a half it was a between $6,000 and $7,000 and the ac broke twice. Would not but another one or recommend the first generation Santa Fe to anyone who doesnt have deep pockets to keep it on the road. All that being said I am sad that I have to get rid of

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  Thirsty - very thirsty - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Buddy - October 20 - 4:56 am

  Gas mileage STINKS!!! Getting 12 MPG on a car that was supposed to give me 20 according to the window sticker. Been back 3 times. They dont know why or what to do. If I wanted a car that got such poor mileage, I would have bought a much larger SUV. I love the look of the car but thats where it ends. Standard radio could be better. Sorry I didnt upgrade it.

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  My Accent - 2006 Hyundai Accent
  By Shelby England - October 18 - 7:38 am

  I have been very satisfied with my new Hyundai. I have actually exceeded the mpg of 36.54 on highway and avg 30-34 city driving. The handling is great. I spend much time in it and feel very comfortable. Car experts Ive talked to say it can easily go 300,000 miles if taken care of properly.

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  Happy for now - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By aquaman105 - October 18 - 2:00 am

  This truck is worth the money. The dealers will not come down on the price, but where can you get all this for so little anyway.

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  Hyundai Changed My Whole Opinion On Their Cars - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jay C - October 13 - 10:41 pm

  Very surprised with this vehicle. I was sketchy before I got this car because of Hyundais previous reputation, but after driving it and owning it for a few months, I am very impressed. I want to start off with my absolute favorite thing about this car - it rides so incredibly smooth, and the road noise is minimal inside of the cabin. Seriously, the smoothness of the ride is right up there with GMs more luxurious brands (Buick, Cadillac). The acceleration is impressive (I have the 3.3L V6), and the breaking is great. Another thing Id like to note is how great the overall visibility this vehicle provides. As for the interior, the layout of the radio, AC controls, and the car controls (turn signals, wipers, etc.) is pretty simple and easy to learn relatively quick. However, while I do enjoy the simplicity of the layout, I have to say I dont care for how basic this car is. I know it isnt the LX, but still, this car seriously lacks some features that other cars in its class (Accord and Camry) have. The backseat provides decent leg room and is somewhat roomy for the passengers. This car is 10 years old now, and Im still impressed with the driving characteristics of this vehicle, and my opinion of Hyundai has absolutely changed.

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  vics review - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By Vic - October 11 - 7:19 pm

  So far I am impressed with the looks and comfort of the Elantra. I got 35.9 mpg on a distance drive which is below our 01 Civic(41mpg) and 00 Saturn SL2 5-spd(40 mpg) and about equal to an 01 Sentra 2.0 L. It feels more like a Camry in quietness except for road noise. The handling seems very similar to the Camry---not sporty but good. Will it be reliable4---time will tell!

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  Nagging Navigation - 2016 Hyundai Sonata
  By Bob Cason - October 8 - 12:06 pm

  Paid extra to have the navigation package. My phones Google Maps is faster at both looking up an address and recalculating when directions change. Voice recognition has trouble understanding commands in normal road conditions, even worse with a window down or the sun roof open...disappointing for the money spent!

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  What a Shame (I love this car) - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By Kalroffb - October 8 - 3:36 am

  I have been to several dealerships in my area and have had some disturbing problems: Getting complete service on my oil changes (skimping on fluids or forgetting to check them) We had our car dented at dealer facility. Have had a couple elec. doodads replaced before 30K . The idle being rough when the car is warm and in gear. Rare instances it wants to die, but it starts right back up. This is progressive problem worked on 3x not fixed. Trans. has started leaking at 40K

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  V6 sonata - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By Pat O - October 7 - 10:00 am

  I have the V6 & PWR moonroof options.The car looks great and rides nice, the V6 gives it excellent speed and makes merging easy. The windshield defroster is a little slow but the AC is great. The fold down rear seats are a great addition. I would recomend the Auto. but I would stick with the 6 cyl.