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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  Not satisfied - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Phyllis - November 11 - 5:19 pm

  Bought my 07 new in 0906. Feel I overpaid for it. 18,800. Have had to replace tires at 32,000 and brakes. Now my automatic seat works sometimes and my sun visor wont stay up. Dealer only service during the week, late only two days and rarely has loaner cars. Michelin tires are too expensive for this car and wouldnt climb my driveway last winter. Slide a lot! Never heard any noise but had to replace the windshield glass in the first 20,000 miles. Orange barrel fell in front of me and now I have a crack in the front bumper doing 50 mph

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  Dont waste your money - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By JustMe - November 11 - 3:56 pm

  I bought this car brand new, and thank goodness it had a warranty! I have had this car in the shop about once every 4-6 months. Practically everything on this car has broken! And the paintjob is supposed to be covered under the warranty, but good luck with that! There is virtually no clear coat on the car, and what is there is chipping off and the paint is wearing off. The dealership will not honor the warranty on the paint, and I got nowhere when I contacted Hyundai corporate! I will never again buy another hyundai. Poor quality car, and even worse customer service!

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  Unbreakable people mover - 1999 Hyundai Accent
  By Chrs68 - November 11 - 1:16 pm

  I bought a rebuilt Accent from my sister-in-law when she moved to the other coast. The exterior design made me name it Gertrude. Three years later, I have not had to make any repairs, only normal wear and tear. This is just a people mover that does the job with no fuss, and I have no complaints about it, except that it is starting to rust (living in Quebec, any 10-year-old car has that problem). It has enough power for the job and not enough to be stupid with it - great for my kids. It has enough room for four people and adequate trunk space. I plan on keeping it for as long as the rust will let me.

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  Real Review, this is not a 10 CAR!! - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By CamaroCurt - November 11 - 10:00 am

  This is an OK car, nothing special especially in terms of the materials used. Car has many squeaks/rattles/buzzes that the dealer does not want to address. Car handles well and the 4 wheel discs work well. Seats are comfy and I fit, 65" 225lbs nicely. Build quality is only fair due to rattles and cheapness of interior materials, seats are already showing wear?? in 2 months... This concerns me. Car can be caught completely flat footed on hills where it WILL NOT downshift, the lead tech told me this was a KNOWN issue , he also said they were not as well made as the Sonata,

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  longshot buyer - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By longstrk9 - November 11 - 10:00 am

  i took a longshot on this purchase, ive only had it a week not much to complain or compliment on at the this time. i own a 2002 trailblazer for 2 years and thats what i traded in for the santa fe. now being that i just left a 300 hp suv its hard to critized a smaller suv at this time but i am amazed that gas milelage only differs about 2 to 3 miles the santa should give more gas milage. so far so good first 400 miles hope the next 400 is something to brag on. (hello shreveport la.) LOL

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  This car stinks - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By Laurie - November 11 - 9:53 am

  I purchased this car brand new. I was so excited. It was suppose to get 33mpg on the highway. I only drive highway miles. I am getting 24mpg and the dealer and Hyundai just say they cant find anything wrong with it. They are not doing anything about it but giving me the run around. I will never purchase another Hyundai again!!! Should have bought the Toyota like I was thinking about!

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  Buy this car! - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jeremiah - November 10 - 11:13 pm

  After driving this car for over 8000 miles, Im still pleased with what a tremendous value it is. GLS has all the options you need with popular equip. pkg. Pretty powerful for a 4 cylinder while getting great mileage for a car this size - 27 mpg mixed city/highway. Originally thought about civic/corolla/elantra, but this car was a class up for the same price (with incentives). Great interior! Very quiet car. ESC works great in the snow. Manually shifting the automatic works OK, but upshifts are slow. Also, it tends to downshift from 5th to 4th on even the slightest hill in cruise control on the freeway. Oh well. Seats could use more lateral support when cornering.

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  Great car for the money - 2007 Hyundai Azera
  By MistrBackgammon - November 10 - 1:23 pm

  Overall this is a great car. Big comfortable well appointed interior. Great performance and mileage for such a large car. Wonderful seats, sound system, climate control, etc. Enormous trunk but opening designed to leak in rain. Mushy suspension which appears to be unfixable. Metal trim in console marginal, fake wood trim peels oddly. Warranty covered halogen foglight bulbs repeatedly, but when plastic panel under car falls off for no reason this was alleged to be "body damage" uncovered by warranty. Overall fit and finish excellent but Hyundai seems unwilling to support and stand by car at level which would expect with such a luxurious vehicle.

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  Unique, quick, and a overall good car - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By PUN15HR - November 10 - 11:56 am

  Ive now had my tiburon for 2 years, and I must say, overall Im very impressed. I have modified this thing past the point of unrecognizable and it takes to every mod like a pro. Car has had some issues, (that are known by every tiburon owner) clutch design is a p. O. S as well as the dual mass flywheel setup. Look into a conversion kit for best results. Window motors are known to go bad as well as a alignment issue and syncros (which I have replaced under warranty) overall good handling, great sound from the motor when modified, good acceleration and excellent style. Sure theres little kinks but they had to cheapen some parts to bring such a sports car at such a incredible price.. A+ to Hyundai

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  value, value, value. - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Corey - November 10 - 10:56 am

  Hyundai has attempted to do what honda and toyota have done for years with the RAV4 and CR-v: which is sell great "crossovers" to an ever growing market. weve had our Tucson for over a year and are still enamoured with it. The only reason we would get rid of it is to move up to the Santa Fe to accomodate our growing family. As other have mentioned, price, standard features, and build and ride quiality are the main reasons to by this car. All Toyota/Honda give you is 20 more HP in the engine at a cost of thousands. We have the 4 cyl. and it is perfect for what we need: mostly city driving. We did take it from home - Toronto- to Cape Cod and with the car packed got 25 mpg.