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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  Best First Car EVER! - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By Jess2k9 - September 27 - 5:22 pm

  So i was looking into getting a car, and came across the Elantras. These cares are THE best. I have been getting about 30mpg in town and 39 on the freeway. The manual is so nice and is very peppy. It is very fun to drive around town and mess around in. The response time is great! Also i keep getting comments from my friends saying that it is very comfortable and how they love the sound quality! The sound is amazing! I love how they actually come with 2 subs installed in the back. Also the tweeters and subs in the front. Well put together. This car is a solid car and a great one! I would reccomend this car to anyone! I have not had any problems and love this car to death. You should buy one.

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  Great Buy - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By JHB - September 27 - 10:00 am

  I have just had the car for a week and have thoroughly enjoyed driving it. Every one I show it to is extremely suprised by how it looks. Very smooth car to drive. With a price under 24K with taxes, it was a great buy. A Camry with similar equipment would be at least 5K more.

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  Tiburon-A Best Buy ! - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By AGM - September 27 - 10:00 am

  This car is great! I looked at the Mazda Miyata, Subaru WRX & RS and others. The price cant be beat with all the standard features. 10yr/100,000 mi warranty exceeds all. A/C is real cold, handles great, nice stable ride. For the $ the 4 cyl. has enough power, the gear ratio of the 5 spd manual is set up nice for all around driving. If price is no object you may want the 6 cyl for extra pep, but only if you want to race from the line. The 4 has plenty for city & hiway merging. Very comfortable and quiet for long rides. Lots of storage with the seats folded. Gas mileage is around 29 combined. Nice tight steering, good braking.

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  good vehicle - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By motorman409 - September 27 - 4:56 am

  Ive had this for 3.3 years, and it has been a good vehicle. Good AWD, mileage has been good, comfortable, warms up well, all around good vehicle. When its time to get my wife a new vehicle, I will seriously look at the the new Tucson.

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  Oh, What a feeling! - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By mbxz - September 27 - 4:13 am

  I picked up the 2011 Sonata SE with Pkg 4 (Nav and Sunroof) at $24,600.00 plus tax, tags, title, doc (total price: $26,657.00) a couple of days ago. I drove about 180 miles back home (NJ) from the dealer (MD). This car is beautiful and drives like dream. Its got everything: tight cornering, good suspension, very well laid interior design, beautiful gauge cluster, very well integrated navigation system and very well appointed seats. This car accelerates with grace and reaches 80-100 in no time. Mercedes, The is the first (family) car that ever excited me in driving. Luxury brand cars such as Lexuses on the road looked silly and ugly as I enjoyed Sonatas ride and beauty on the trip back.

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  2011 Sonata GLS Review - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By AirForceOne - September 25 - 10:53 pm

  My wife and I had planned on buying a Honda Accord but our son told us about the new 2011 Sonata (and the good report that Consumer Reports had) so we went to our Hyundai dealer to look at it. My wife immediately fell in love with the Sonata. The lines on the car and the outstanding paint/clear coat were outstanding. The test drive was great. It drove extremely smooth, had plenty of power, and had every feature I ever wanted (Bluetooth with buttons on the steering wheel, satellite radio+AM/FM/CD and USB port). The 6-speed automatic also has a shiftronic feature (you can shift the car manually by tapping the shifter forward or backward). I got 30 MPG (mostly city) on my first tank. Great car!

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  Great car - no fuss - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Manesh - September 25 - 9:18 pm

  Good car. Only issues I had with the car was when the dealer worked on my car. Changed the timing belt on advice of the dealer but when I looked at the old belt it looked almost new. Replace front rotors on the wheel due to rusting ($100 each). Other than that I have no issues with the car. It made it through the crazy upstate New York winter like a chap. Like the go-cart feeling. For the person who did not like the steering feel, take it to a mechanic and tighten the steering column.

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  SUV I ever want to be driving - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By Praveen - September 25 - 9:03 pm

  We went shopping for an SUV 2 years ago. Test drove Toyota, VW and third in line was this babe. Both myself and my wife were so baffled with the quality of the vehicle, we decided to buy it immediately. sort of "love at first drive". Gives us about 19 in city driving and has given as much as 27 on highway. 2 years and we still love this babe. Engine revs freely (responds well with Shell gasoline) and is surprisingly quick off the line. Quality of materials inside the vehicle is awesome.

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  Wonderful Car - Excellent Value - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By llerrub13 - September 25 - 4:46 pm

  This has been a wonderful vehicle. I purchased it new and it has performed superbly. It still looks good and performs well. All of the maintenance has been performed by the dealership. Had to replace headlights and stereo has had a couple of minor glitches. The fuel economy has been a little substandard but now for the good stuff. Ride is comfortable and sporty LX model has all of the bells and whistles including the sunroof leather seats and power antenna are very nice. I would highly recommend Hyundai to anyone (wife has purchased a Santa Fe and daughter has bought an Elantra). I see why Time magazine has named Hyundai as the 2009 "Car Manufacturer of the Year".

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  GREAT BUY - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By aubrey - September 25 - 1:43 pm

  Decent power; nice, car-like handling. Aside from the Freelander, its the most stylish in its class. Actually has some off-roading ability, too, and the locking front and rear is a big plus AWD is great in the snow. Love all the little things (i.e., fold-flat back seats, storage, dual visors w/mirrors, red lights when you open the doors, dual exhaust, change holder, etc.). Where else can you get stability/traction control, AWD, 6 airbags, 4 disc brakes, ABS, 6-disc in-dash CD w/subwoofer, fog lights, V6 auto w/Shiftronic, plus a long list of other standard features all for about 23,000? I thoroughly researched the market and the Tucson is unbeatable for the value.