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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  Good car - 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By utvols02 - October 13 - 2:56 am

  I bought this car for my wife a couple months ago, and she absolutely loves it. After driving the manual version, I can say that the automatic version feels much slower, but acceleration is still adequate. The brakes are very good. Ive been averaging 30mpg between city and highway driving, which is a few mpg better than advertised. Overall we are very pleased with the car, and I would have no hesitation picking this car over the competition again.

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  Great Car - 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
  By Daryl - October 12 - 12:33 pm

  Ive had this car for a month, and I have nothing bad to say other than, unlike John below, I have run my front bumper up onto a curb or two.

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  A big time lemon!!! - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By John N - October 12 - 10:25 am

  This car gave me problems practically from the get go. The air conditioner went out literally 8 times in the 5 years I owned it!!! The first 6 were covered under warranty, but after the warranty expired, the dealership refused to stand by their work and fix it for free. Also, both cv joints went, and the cooler system needed major repairs. All of this before 80,000 miles, and I was meticulous with the maintenance. I never missed anything. I will never buy a Hyundai again.

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  The Veloster is my favorite car yet...and Ive had 20! - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By boscoosgood - October 11 - 7:05 pm

  I traded my 2011 Fiesta with Dual Clutch Powershift for a Veloster with Dual Clutch EcoShift. The Fiesta was very clunky at low speed and my commute is a lot of crawling at less than 5mph. However I really like the idea of a Dual Clutch so I tested the Veloster and I can tell you the difference is astounding! The Veloster Dual Clutch Transmission is smooth, quiet and seamless...even smoother than many conventional Torque Converter transmissions Ive driven. A lot of folks talk about the Veloster being slow...well thats a subjective opinion. Its certainly quicker than the Fiesta and while its no sports-car it certainly gets up to highway speed quickly and without drama in my opinion.

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  A real winner - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By pamedict - October 10 - 10:48 pm

  Purchase of our 2004 Hyundai Accent GT was a direct result of my son wanting a beater car to drive back and forth to college. Found a plain Jane 2002 Accent with 5 speed at a local used car dealer for him, I was impressed with the gas mileage (35mpg)on the highway but the ample amount of space inside for a big guy like me. 63", 290 and the zip this little car had. Thus the search began for a similar model for my daughter who turned 16 this summer.I was pleased to find a 1 owner, 2004 GT Automatic with 75000 miles. Body in good condition and the interior like new. With a nice stereo and CD player included the price was right and we bought it. 6 thousand miles later a success story!

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  complete package - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By tallygtv6 - October 10 - 2:00 am

  its got some giddy-up to it. the response to acceleration, braking, and steering is unbelievable. and the car is very quiet for so much power. beats the rsx type s and celica gts in all catagories. couldnt be happier

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  can do - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By ramon - October 10 - 2:00 am

  This car continues to amaze me. power for average use, handles very well for an suv, but half to drive accordingly.Fuel milage is good almost 30 if you keep your foot out of it,its not a race car just good all around pracital fun car to drive

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  Great new Santa Fa - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By IslandJoe - October 10 - 2:00 am

  After trying several others, was drawn back to the Santa Fe. Room & handling was great. Warrenty was major reason also.

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  Hate the jerky ride - 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By annette conwau - October 9 - 11:16 pm

  The accelarator is a nightmare...there is a lag time between touching the pedal and the movement of the car. It is VERY difficult to hold at a constant speed if you are driving under 30 miles per hour. The ride is so distracting that it is hard to enjoy any other aspect of the car. The passenger side air bag is almost impossible to activate when someone sits in the seat. In a crash, it would be useless.

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  Great car but I hate the radio - 2014 Hyundai TUCSON
  By deking - October 9 - 5:40 pm

  The Tucson is a nice solid SUV that drives and rides like a sedan. The seats are very comfortable, the A/C works perfectly. We love everything about the car except for the radio, which needs a copilot, especially a very young one, to operate. What ever happened to user friendly? Every new Hyundai I get has a completely new radio design and every one gets harder to use. No pushbutton resets on this one, and there is a small display that is impossible for the driver to see and use while driving. A very unsafe situation if you want to change stations on the highway. I have complained to Hyundai but they dont seem to understand.