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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  Dont buy this car. - 2012 Hyundai Sonata
  By dave436 - March 19 - 7:35 pm

  I owned 2012 Sonata Limited and 7500 mileage. You will get feeling so bad and get tired because of wandering while drive. (especially on Highway) The poor steering wont be centered as much as 1/2 inches.(left and right) Dealer and Customer center seemed like they have no solution about this so far. Id like you to go with Honda accord. Im waiting for my payoff day.

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  Do Not Buy This Car - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By N - March 14 - 3:06 pm

  I bought this car and two days later it needed an alignment. Two weeks later the drive shaft had a defective washers. About a 6 weeks later the engine mount broke. Not to mention the window molding falling off. And now it makes a noise everytime I pull into my driveway, I was told it was the ABS and that it just makes that noise. Save yourself time and money, shop for a different vehicle.

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  Buyer Beware this car beware this dealer - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Morgan Bear - March 8 - 11:00 am

  I bought this car 3 months ago at Stevenson Hyundai, Jacksonville,NC. and paid close to sticker,dumb.First day the CD player jammed and within 1 month the gas mileage drop off to 20.7 hiway I decided to trade it for a smaller car. I knew I was going to take a beating but did not know had badly. Short version, no dealer in the Eastern Carolnia area would give me more that 25k, the car had a sticker price of 35K, that is 11K dollars in three months. Went to Stevenson where I bought the car, 23K was the best he would offer. I asked him if he thought 12K $ in 3 months was right and he said, yep, thats about right. I finally dumped this pig it and bought a new Scion, love it.NEVER BUY THIS CAR!

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  Bad Investment - 1999 Hyundai Elantra
  By brian rawson - February 27 - 9:43 am

  I bought this car used and had nothing but problems with it from the start. It had 62K on it, and about every 3 months something would be going wrong with it. From hub bearings, to cv joints, cheap brakes & electrical problems, this car was a hassle to own. I did all the standard maintenence, fluid/filter changes, belts etc. It still ran terrible. Then at 90k the transmission started to give out, and I finally traded it in with 115k on it. Very sad that a car I kept so well maintained couldnt even make it to 100k before breaking down. Theres a reason they sell you the 100k warranty, with cheap cars like this you will definitely need it. What do you expect for under $10,000?

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  Electrical system - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Kevin Moran - February 13 - 10:00 am

  I have had serious issues with numerous sensors that make the vehicle impossible to inspect. According to the dealer there also appears to be a short in the air bag and they cant say for sure if it works. The dealer refuses to fix any of the electrical problems because it has 70,000 miles. As far as I am concerned the car is worthless.

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  NEVER AGAIN - 1998 Hyundai Accent
  By April - January 19 - 1:49 pm

  This car is not worth the gas you put into it. At 70,000 miles, it totally fell apart. It would have cost more to fix it than what it was worth. The axles needed to be replaced. The engine block cracked. The exterior door handles broke off of it. I mean, really, the door handles?! The list goes on, but I donÂ’t have enough characters to tell about each one. When it was working, it could barely go up the freeway ramp. It didnt like going above 50 mph. All around a piece of junk!

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  sub-frame rust - 1999 Hyundai Sonata
  By leon - January 15 - 9:54 am

  within first 18 months, had transmision problems which took 7 months to correct under warrenty. sfter 96000 miles, 8yrs old, entire sub-frame rusted out. refused to cover under warranty, even though cause of rusting is due to manufacture defect.tatally unsafe, when rusting of sub-frame appears, control and steering of vehicle is next to impossible. someone will be killed before Hyundai opens it eyes.

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  You get what you pay for, if that - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By StangFan247 - January 10 - 8:12 pm

  Even for an economy car, this car falls short of the competition. The handling is sloppy, acceleration is weak, and same goes for the brakes. The only "plus" about this car is the gas mileage, which is still not too good for a 2.0 4-cylinder (est. 25-27 highway). The interior is not that appealing, and the seat is quite uncomfortable, and after about a year, the interior smelt worse than my friends 93 Ford Escort. There is absolutely no style whatsoever. Ive seen pizza delivery cars more appealing than this tin can on wheels. Get a Civic or Jetta.

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  A piece of garbage ! - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Phil533 - January 10 - 3:10 am

  Save your money. Ive had this car for less than 4 years and Ive had the following problems : 1) Cruise control unit replaced. 2) Sunroof leaked 3 times. 3) Power steering pump replaced 4) Fuel sending unit replaced. 5) radio replaced. 6) Rear sway bar bushings replaced. 7) ABS pump replaced 8) Leaking transaxle This piece of junk has lousy resale value, has been in the shop more than its been on the road and the cost of preventative maintance is unbelievable. $500 for spark plugs ???? I have spent a fortune taking care of this car and it is the most unreliable vehicle I have ever owned.

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  piece of junk - 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By geologist26 - January 7 - 10:09 am

  the sante fe is one big piece of junk. I purchased it new GLS V6 AWD and have had several minor issues with it. The biggest being the AWD DOES NOT WORK! it has a ton of cheap parts inside and out and is just a bunch of junk overall. Me and my parents have owned mercedes, chevys, cadillacs, and fords and this vehicle is one of the worst! HYUNDAI DOES NOT TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR VEHICLES, no matter how good they might look.