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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  Kudos to Sonata - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By geminilaf - October 4 - 2:00 am

  More value for the money than Honda and Toyota for thousands less.

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  2006 Sonata - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By bae146 - October 3 - 10:03 pm

  This is my first new car in 10 years. It is a complete joy to drive. I am so glad I picked it over the honda and toyota. Not because they are not also great cars but with the hyindai you get the same type of car for thousands less.

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  Great except for the transmission - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By 2010_santa_fe - October 3 - 6:57 pm

  We purchased our Santa Fe after driving at least 8 competing models and the Santa Fe was way above the compting models. The Santa Fe V6 has plenty of power, decent MPG, rides pretty smoothly, and has lots of extras at a good price. The problem is its transmission. It started having shifting problems at about 3k miles and we took it in and they reset the tranny. The problem was gone for a while and then gradually returned. We took it back to the dealer and the replaced the tranny at about 7k miles. Now its been reset again, then reprogrammed and now Im taking back to the dealer again for the fifth time Jan 10. There are lots of posts about tranny problems on Santa Fe forums now too.

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  Complete Disappointment - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By bretp21 - October 3 - 3:56 pm

  Ive had my Veloster for 4 months now and Ive had nothing but issues. The transmission has a design flaw which causes a lag in between 1 and 2. The check engine light kept lighting up like a Christmas tree with only 800 miles on it. The interior, although beautiful, is super squeaky when driving. The stereo will randomly lock on the screensaver and not work for hours at a time. And now my engine is starting to sputter randomly like its not getting fuel. After driving used cars all my life, this was my first new car and I couldnt be more disappointed. Its had more issues than any used car Ive ever owned and its brand new. The worst part? Hyundai doesnt care.

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  Simply fun! Cheap thrill! - 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
  By 3abqari - October 3 - 9:16 am

  I knew I wanted a fast car that is affordable, so I looked at the entry level of high-end cars, and fully loaded cheap thrills. From Chevy Cobalt SS to the Camaro, from Nissan Sentra SE-R to the Altima, from Honda Civic Si to Mazda 3... and a few more. I found out that the base model of the Genesis Coupe 2.0T has plenty of toys to keep me busy... An advise: keep both hands on the wheel in high speeds... I got the Genesis Coupe because the Hyundai brand proved to me their engineering and quality of the Sonata, mainly the ESC and ABS technologies. Plus, I always wanted a rear-wheel-drive car. You cant beat the fact that you only need to use regular unleaded, although you got the turbo there.

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  Great Job Hyundai - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Frank - October 3 - 7:36 am

  Great car very comfy and stylish. Love the seat memory option, only had it for couple of weeks so far so good.

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  Price is worth it - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By swimmurgirl - October 2 - 10:37 pm

  I bought this car for my daughter and she fell in love with it. She loves the blue light interior and the way it handles. The price was awesome. Paid 14K for it. Very impressed. I was worried about engine noise, but after driving it, it wasnt that bad. So no complaints. Had to decide between the Corolla S and Hyundai. Went with Hyundai based on price and features. We get 3 months of XM. Toyota doesnt offer that. A lot more amenities that a kid could like at that age.

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  I like the car very much. - 2016 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ken Dranchek - October 2 - 8:06 pm

  Purchased new Sonata; Silver, SE in March 2016. 2300 miles on the odo. Replaced OEM Khumo Solus tires with Continental TrueContacts at 900 miles. Transformed the cars ride and handling, much quieter, as well. Im breaking in the car using the manual shift mode because the full automatic-normal setting lugs the engine. Have recently begun driving in full automatic in the Sport setting. The shift points in Auto-Sport are very close to the shift points I was using in manual shift mode. The engine stumbles when moving away from a dead stop in full-auto but not in manual shift mode. Hoping Hyundai soon owns-up to this fault and issues a TSB to increase the engine idle speed. Slight rattle from the glove box area over rumble strips. Will wait until it is constant before taking to the dealer for repair. I will change the oil and filter at 3000 miles per the owners manual and will use Mobil 1 Full Synthetic with factory oil filters. By accident, I discovered the mat in the trunk is reversible. Access to the engine air filter and cabin filter is very easy. Getting 29.8 mpg so far.

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  I started with 14 Choices - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By tweiler - October 2 - 10:00 am

  I started with 14 small SUV choices several months ago and I never would have thought that my final choice would be a Santa Fe. I let the data drive the decision and the overall winner was a Hyundai. I couldnt be more satisfied with the vehicle. Hyundai has redeemed itself.

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  Very satisfied Santa Fe owner - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Kesayne Green - October 2 - 10:00 am

  Very nice vehicle. I think its one of the best Ive own so far. I get a lot of compliments on my car. I chose white because it is hard to detect dirt.