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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  My Sonata - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ashley Spiriti - July 29 - 1:36 am

  My husband and I bought our Sonata wanting to trade up from our Cavalier since we were expecting a baby. We havent had too many problems but it seems when we do, they are VERY expensive to fix and never covered under the warranty. Weve been steadily replacing rotors since we bought the things (which can only be bought at the dealership, go figure). I love the exterior!! No major failures as of yet but lots of recalls. The interior has had a lot of little probs. The arm rest on the drivers door ripped with just my husbands elbow resting on it. The silver chips off the inner door handles and leaves razor-sharp edges. WATCH OUT!! We had to sand them. Overall, its a good car.

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  If You Can Pay Less Than $300 A Month - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By galeval - July 28 - 10:00 am

  What I really like about this care is that you dont need a lot of space for parking. One of my main goals in purchasing this car is the monthly payment. I dont what to pay a car note that was more than my student loans. My car note is less than $300 a month (for 5 years), even with the features I pay extra for like automatic pop-up sunroof with sunshade.

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  5 year review - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Red - July 27 - 8:36 pm

  Battery will go dead at infrequent random times. I installed a new battery, but same problem. Dealer has no idea how to fix it. The trans-axle began to leak oil and make a burning smell. The dealer repaired it alright. Front tires are already worn out at 38k miles. The door remote control function is intermittent. I find myself shifting in manual mode most of the time, to obtain the most power and gas mileage. Also, the warranty may appear good at first, but the required maintenance schedules should be reviewed before buying. Would I buy this vehicle again? I dont think so. Mostly because of the battery issue.

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  Happy with Hyundai - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Happy with Hyundai - July 25 - 9:56 am

  For business I rented several of the competing mid-sized vheicles that were available from Hertz, Avis and National. I put them all through some rigous perfomance testing with the idea of purchasing the best. The Sonata was the clear winner. A great bonus was that the Sonata was also cheapest car with the best warranty. Money is tight so spend it wisely and buy the Sonata.

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  The touring is a Good buy for the money - 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By DJ Rebell - July 23 - 11:36 am

  Needed something inexpensive but reliable and roomy. I am dj and I just needed a car to get me to and from my gigs the touring offers a lot of space Im a very tall guy and I have no leg room problems god knows Ive been in suvs and I felt more cramped up. So far my equipments fit nicely but the bumpy ride make me uneasy with my equipments and I live in New York where there are potholes on every corner. Other than the bumpy ride the acceleration is a little slow and I wish it wasnt because this car has a very sporty feeling and the engine hums like a sports car so when Im driving it I feel like I wanna kick up dust. But for the price of the car its pretty decent. I would recommend it.

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  My first new car! - 2005 Hyundai Accent
  By Aimee - July 23 - 3:52 am

  After what I have had to deal with for the past 2 years this car has been a blessing. I have no credit so I need a cheap small car. Hyundai acctualy got me credit and sold me the car I drive the GT version so the the ride is sporty. I only paid 12,700. Ive got side airbags, power everything and even aircondtion plus to top it off a great sound system with cd. The noisy engin is the only down fall, but hey its comfortable and traveling to work school I am going to keep this car for as long as I can. Great gas milage also. I find the car cute. This is deffinatly a chick car though. My boyfriend likes it but has fun pretending hes driving a go cart lol. Buy this car low price and reliable .

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  Its OK - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By Ralph1 - July 22 - 10:00 am

  The XG350 is ok, drives ok, dont like the way it handles behind large trucks.

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  my car - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By JacquiH - July 22 - 10:00 am

  I am most satisfied with the vehicle warranty. We purchased the extended warranty, even though we probably wont need it. When I purchased my first new car, I purchased a Hyundai for the price and the warranty. The car itself caused me to purchase Hyundai again. I do alot of driving in my field of work and the car was/is always reliable.

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  Good little hatch with surprising room - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By bretpk - July 21 - 8:39 pm

  I bought the 12 Veloster in NYC and drove it cross-country to LA on my move, packed with two dogs, a girlfriend and more bags than I ever thought it could handle. I stopped mid-way on the trip at my parents place and as I was unloading, my mother commented that it was like a clown car with the amount of luggage coming out of there. If you pack right, its truly remarkable what you can fit. From a looks perspective, the Veloster was a little ahead of its time. People thought it was fantastic or ugly as sin. Now 3 years later I see a ton of them on the road in LA. Clearly, its catching on.

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  Tucson 2011 MPG - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Buck - July 21 - 3:40 am

  Hyundai advertises on TV that the 2011 Tucson gets 30 mpg. My experience for the first 2000 miles is 21.9 mpg. Most of the driving is highway and short trips (5 miles) to town.