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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  CAR HAS ISSUES - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By James - October 7 - 5:30 am

  Check engine light comes on every 5 to 8,000 miles. Coil pack keeps going out when this happens and the car sputters and misses. Also driver airbag not working(red warning light is on). Brakes are not the best either.

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  Almost 10 years in this thing - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Brian - October 3 - 1:04 pm

  Overall, its been a solid car with decent reliability. Its solidly built and pretty quiet on the highway. Gas mileage is middling, but it is a V6. Power is decent for a family sedan. Pros: Reliable, fairly quiet, inexpensive to maintain Cons: Interior is low rent. For some reason, the suspension has started to squeak when going over any small bumps. Hasnt affected handling. May be due to the excessive dry heat (Phoenix az) we have here. Have had to replace radiator hoses and one of the windshield washer nozzles (again probably due to the heat here). Would I buy again? Probably not. But for reliable transportation at low cost with decent power, its been a good purchase. Its like a good mule, not a quarterhorse.

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  Trouble From The Start - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Patti - October 1 - 8:20 pm

  Ive owned seven little old cars in the past fourteen years, many much older than this one, and this one has given me the most trouble bar none. As you probably suspected, the Toyotas and Hondas behaved perfectly. Now Im not gonna say it is all the cars fault, because Im certain its at least partially the fact that the previous owners were idiots (reversed the radiator hoses, made sure the PCV valve would never come out with the application of hardening mud). Plus, you have to consider, if idiots are buying Hyundais... yeah, that was kinda mean. But beware! Every thing I do to it, every fix, is like going down the rabbit hole, even though this car is relatively easy to work on. Let me start from the beginning. I bought the car only 4k miles ago, and with blown struts and cracked windshield and a little hitch in its shifting--I knew about all that. One week after the purchase, driving down the highway, radiator blew. So, tow bill. New radiator, and it was still overheating. This is when we realized the hoses were reversed. New thermostat, new belts while were at it. Two week long saga of getting the belts on juuuuuust right to get one or the other or all of them to stop squealing. Pro tip: tighten the alternator belt. Before I forget, let me mention that now, one of the pulleys is squeaking, will probably need to replace THAT soon. One of the back drum brakes was squeaking, tried to get that off to fix... of course its well and truly stuck, /fail. I did some research on the internet about the shifting, found a lot of people had had success with changing the transmission speed sensors. Bought them on ebay, installed, and... I think its shifting somewhat better. It doesnt do the odd shifting thing anymore... mostly. Its still not perfect, and its driving me a little insane. I think its manuals from here on out for me. But anyway, back to the car. Tried to change the PCV valve, unscrewed it from the valve cover... and the whole effing brass fitting came out of the valve cover with it, because apparently, someoned glued it in. Jammed it back in, PCV valve unchanged. Option at this point: Get really, really creative getting the PCV valve out, or new valve cover, $250. The engine was filthy, decided I was going to wash it before working on it. Wound up flooding one of the spark plugs. Couple-day saga of changing spark plugs (which were due anyway, so whatever), Heet, wires. Apparently Id fried the wire, too. Couple days after that, headlights went out. Both of them, at the same time. Odd, yes? Anyway. Theres more, I know theres more, but Im drawing a blank right at this second, so how about the good: The seats are comfortable, the sunroof still works and doesnt leak, aftermarket stereo plays Pandora. Oh! And Im beginning to suspect parts are cheap, cuz the junkyard quoted me $550 for a new (100k miles) engine. Peeves: Rear foot space is sparing, little spots of rust starting on body.

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  Too many repairs! - 1997 Hyundai Sonata
  By Lindsay - August 21 - 9:36 pm

  I bought my car used five years ago. It had 59,000 miles on it, two owners before me, and looked to be in great shape. I LOVED it. It served me very well driving long-distance back and forth from college. The V6 engine gives it great acceleration (though at the expensive of very low gas mileage) and everything about it started out smooth. It was affordable and a very attractive car. Well, after about a year the paint started coming off. My roof is now completely bald five years later and the lovely red paint is not perfect anywhere except maybe the doors. (Of course Ive never parked it in a garage and we have harsh winters.) Then about two years in my entire transmission gave out and had to be replaced - VERY expensive. Almost cost as much as the car itself. Then it was the door handle, then the electric window buttons, then the alternator, then all four brakes at the same time. This is spread out over five years, but Ive spent well over $4,000 (what I paid for it) in repairs. And it only has 75,000 miles! Today I found out the spark plugs are in wrong so I have to replace them and some other parts. The engine is really loud and clicks when I drive. The transmission can still be a little rough, and when I have the air conditioning on, my car rocks quite a lot. The passenger window is slow to go up. It seems like from the reviews Ive been reading, most people have gotten more miles out of their Sonata, but maybe mine was driven hard before me or just wasnt a good one. Im very attached to it, and its served me well, but be wary of all the problems that may come along the road!

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  Think twice - 2012 Hyundai Accent
  By Jordan Bocanegra - July 25 - 4:34 pm

  I was so excited when I purchased my 2012 Hyundai Accent (from a private seller with 53k miles) it is my first car and I found it very stylish. It doesnt have much to offer on the inside, no cruise control no Bluetooth but I loved it... For about a month. The car is so low to the floor that simply tapping the parking barrier when parking can damage the undercarriage. Something I didnt know until my check engine light came on and I brought it to the dealer. Turns out my av compressor got pushed back into the radiatior, and long story short it cost me 2600 dollars in repairs. One month after buying it. Another thing is when youre driving the car it wont go past 45/50 mph until it goes over 2k rpm and thats an annoying trait in a car especially if you highway drive. Knowing what I know now I wouldnt have purchased this car. Its not the worst in the world, but definitely not the best.

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  I would not buy another Hyundai Elantra - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By Derek - July 22 - 12:09 pm

  I purchased this car new in August of 2013 with 16 miles on the odometer. At 11,000 miles the drivers seat rail failed and had to be replaced under the warranty. Now at 20,000 miles the front drivers side ball bearings have failed, leaving me stranded on the side of the road. Road side assistance was amazing, but I found it very hard to get a Hyundai dealer to take the car. None of the dealers would offer me a courtesy car or rental. I had to find my own ride. The car is now fixed and back on the road, but needs a tire balance and alignment, which was affected during the repairs. The dealership said they are not responsible for this. My overall thoughts about the car, very sporty looking car, handles well, good gas mileage, reliable engine, I like the technology package, but very poor components aka powertrain and poor interior quality.

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  Great car, when its not having issues! - 2010 Hyundai Genesis
  By adamstemper - July 4 - 9:11 pm

  I purchased this car at 20,000 miles. It now has 35,000 miles. Within 1 month of purchase, I noticed the breaks got squishy. They issued a recall for having used bad break fluid which ruined the breaks. Within 6 months, my alignment started pulling to the right. The Hyundai mechanic drove it and agreed that he noticed the pull. Was called next day and told "nothing was wrong, we dont notice any pulling". Its still pulling to the right... The rear tail lights got moisture inside, had to have Hyundai dealership replace lights. The engine light came on, made appointment. Within a week the car wouldnt even start up. "Bad fuel line". Great car, when not being serviced!!

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  2011 Equus - sudden acceleration - 2011 Hyundai Equus
  By equus2011 - April 15 - 7:39 pm

  I bought my Equus in May 2011 as brand new car in Toronto, Canada. I had been very happy with it until its sudden acceleration happened in August 2014. I took it back to the dealership to check for the problem but they couldnt find anything. It happened again twice in the evening of April 2, 2015 but the engineer and technician from Hyundai Canada couldnt find anything wrong again. I dont feel safe to drive it so I traded it for a Genesis Ultimate. I only put in about 52,000KM to the Equus but the trade in value is not good at all. I have no choice as the trade in amount would be even lower if I traded it at the dealership of another brand.

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  Mediocre with some big disappointments - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By Douglas Shaffer - February 26 - 5:33 pm

  Overall, the car is "OK" but I will not be a repeat Hyundai buyer. I have the Limited and it has nice convenience features. However, the gas mileage has been a huge disappointment - not even close to the advertised levels. (And yes, my tires are properly inflated, filters and sensors are clean and I dont drive hard.) Also, in the winter months - every time I encounter a pothole - I create a blister in the sidewall of the tire. Ive had to replace all four tires way before normal wear would dictate. The other disappointment is the poor handling in bad weather. Obviously the car is light but driving in any kind of snow is more treacherous than it should be.

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  Hyundai Customer Support - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By Peter Beddia - February 24 - 12:55 pm

  I have had nothing but problems with mine, I love the car but I have no confidence with it. The radio has been replaced 4 times, the ac repaired and still does not cool, the radar, rack and pinion replaced, the fuel pump replaced, a fuel purge valve replaced not fuel mileage is terrible. The car is still acting up. Trying to file lemon law with Hyundai, here is what they do. Hyundai draggggg you out till most people give up and trade the vehicle in. ItÂ’s been over a year and a half and I can wait another year and half if I have too. I will never give up, and I have told my story to as many people as I can. I have personally stopped two people so far from buying a Hyundai.