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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  XG350L - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By Downtown - October 16 - 10:00 am

  After great experience with 4 Sonatas since 1990,the XG350L is all its made out to be!

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  XG350 - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By Larry Swiger - October 16 - 10:00 am

  I totally like my new XG and have no complaints after driving it everyday for 9 months.

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  13,000 miles and stilll happy - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Brooklyn based - October 16 - 10:00 am

  Fell in love with the car on the test drive and havent regretted the purchase yet. Very firm handling and good pickup on expressway driving - much better than former car (Saturn) Really like the exterior design - still see other drivers checking out the car - and the leather interior is a nice plus. Was initially skittish because of the (old) Hyundai reputation and fear that trade in value would drop like a stone, but have been happily surprised by performance (and I tend to drive my cars into the ground)

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  My first SUV - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By spiderman7136 - October 16 - 10:00 am

  The vehicle is built by far better than most, I looked at them all and the price is good for the product your getting. I think they will take over the low priced suv market. I bought this one just as a bang around vehicle if were doing alot of traveling I would advise v6.

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  Excellent vehicle - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By willenius - October 16 - 10:00 am

  We had previously owneda Dodge Caravan Mini Van. We loved the vehicle but it was 6 years old and out of warranty and things were starting to break down. We could not afford another Dodge Mini Van. We had a Hyundai in the past that lasted us 11 years and 140,000 miles and had a 7 year warranty and it was wonderful and affordable, so, we went back to Hyundai and bought the Santa Fee, we feel it has more standard features that are extra on other makes. We love it!! Keep up the good work!

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  smoothlikebuttah - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By steviek - October 16 - 10:00 am

  drives like a sports coupe, high enough without being in he clouds, great pick- up, with the push bar and side steps the coolest looking SUV on the road- every assumes it cost 40-50k! great storage and engine design very quiet ride - added dvd for rear passengers.

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  We like it - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mkelly - October 16 - 10:00 am

  We like everything about the Santa Fe, espcially the price and warranty. It performs well, has a high clearence underneath the vehicle which an SUV is supposed to have, unlike alot of other brands. You can go off road with this vehicle, gas milage could be better. It is well built and comes standard with eletric windows, locks, alarm, fog lights and audio system with CD- player. A great buy and deal for anyone.

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  Love This car!!! - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By fdicostanz - October 16 - 10:00 am

  All I can say is wonderful vehicle. Very pleased!!

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  awesome car for the price - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By ThriceSparta - October 16 - 10:00 am

  I absolutely love this car. I test drove all the competition and no other maker could offer so much for the Hyundai price and I actually prefered the looks and handling of the Hyundai over the higher priced competition. The hatchback is awesome and has a ton of room when the back seats are folded down, like a mini SUV. The car is very fun to drive, all my friends are impressed. It handles as nice as the Subaru WRX but about 5K less in price. Has way more horsepower than a Honda Civic and a much better look. Hyundai has made a believer out of me and I highly recommend the hatchback.

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  kehren - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By kevin173490 - October 16 - 10:00 am

  bowser helped us with a problem we had with our new car and got us in a new vehicle for a good price even offered us a payment protection plan that only cost us about 5.00 us. not bad considering that we were upside down in our previous loan, they did us good by putting us in a vehicle that has the best warranty on the market thanks to bowser and to hyduani for their vehicle. sincerily, kevin and patricia