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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  Never own Hyundai again - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Karen L - February 18 - 8:27 am

  I own a Hyundai Elentra 2010 and I am getting rid of it in 2 months. Horrible brakes and skids in bad weather.

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  Never own Hyundai again - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Karen L - February 18 - 8:27 am

  I own a Hyundai Elentra 2010 and I am getting rid of it in 2 months. Horrible brakes and skids in bad weather.

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  Worst Suv Ever - 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By B-E-N-I-T-O - February 9 - 3:46 pm

  Well stating I have only had my Santa- fe for a few months now I must say I will never by another Hyundai ever again. The santa-fe is built cheap compared to other foreign models. The parts are extremely expensive. Parts are not high quality, transmission have many problems. Heated seat got so hot it burnt a hole in my drivers seat, center-console it very cheap plastic. Has left me stranded 3 times now and with a nice Wrecker bill also.

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  Not Worth the Savings - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Minivan Gone Bad - January 27 - 10:31 pm

  I bought this horrible minivan and have been dissatisfied since.,.Front end vibrates entire car..dealer had car for 1/2 the month and factory rep said "he knows the vibration that I am experiencing"...AND...I m now filing with BBB as Hyundai warranty requests but for the extra $$$ I would have spent--Would have been well worth it to SAVE me this aggrevation...I took another Entourage off the lot & test drove..The vibration existed in the new one toooo..Especially at 75-80 the steering wheel was shaking uncontrollably...Must be an engineering defect or my car was built on a Day before or after a Holiday.

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  Get ready for a new transmission! - 2005 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Tom - January 27 - 8:00 am

  This is the third Hyundai I have owned and will be the last. Tibs have a documented history of having transmissin problems (particularly the 6 speeds as found in the SEs). The styling is nice but what good is it when the transmission goes out and the acceleration is sub-par to other vehicles? I have had my car for 11000 miles and I have had transmission trouble with it since day one and the dealer refuses to acknowledge a design defect in the car. For the same price many other V-6s on the market can outrun you AND get better gas mileage, not to mention better workmanship. You truly do pay for what you get.

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  Tranmission - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By disgruntled27 - January 25 - 10:51 pm

  I am into my 3rd transmission for a car that is 4 years old and 30,000 miles. Dealer cannot explain why my car keeps destroying the transmissions. But when engaging my car into gear there is a delay and then bangs into gear. I am totally disgusted and am getting rid of this car. I will never recommend this car to anyone.

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  Dont let the looks fool you! - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By Eddie - January 21 - 6:37 pm

  Hyundai Bluelink service is horrible. Works sometimes and alerts you when you have a issue. But does not elaborate on the issue. Customer service is horrendous. The dealerships service departments are terrible at least here in NYC. My friend started having issues with his 2015 sonata at 2500 miles. My check engine light started at just under 5500 miles. TPMS issues as well. Going off for no reason. The sunroof creaks and rattles. The leather is nice until a few months later and I always clean and moisturize with meguires wipes. Rearview camera doesnt always kick in. I can go on and on but I think whomever is reading this got the point.

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  Worst Car Ive ever owned - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By amym71 - January 19 - 10:10 pm

  Bought this car thinking it would be perfect once the kids left home. I couldnt be more wrong. The seats are very uncomfortable. The bluetooth wouldnt work. Within the first month, the brakes were squealing so bad, you couldnt hear the radio. On cruise control at 70MPH, the transmission started slipping then started in everyday driving. I took it to service, they found nothing on the diagnostics. Before anything else could go wrong, 10 months into owning it, I traded it in. I will never own anything from Hyundai again and will tell everyone I know about this horrible car.

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  You get what you paid for - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By marvin - December 31 - 10:00 am

  The Elantra I bought was below expectations. It had three major problems within the first 7K miles. In one case, the maintenance technician had to drive it for 400(yes!400) miles to determine the bug.

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  Waste of Money!!! - 2000 Hyundai Sonata
  By Amanda - December 24 - 7:33 pm

  I bought this car from my brother less than a year age, it doesnt even have 80,000 miles on it yet and the sub-frame has rotted out and has become undrivable. I dont understand how a car company can get away with using material that can get rotted out so quickly and pose a hazard to the peoples safety like that. I have had older cars that did not have these problems. On top of that I am having transmissions problems with it as well and my power window motor is fried. If I knew then what I know now I would have not bought the piece of junk. Hyundai should be ashamed and I am glad that I did not get in an accident with my children in the car due to this problem.