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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  Would never Buy again - 2001 Hyundai Sonata
  By hyundaihater - September 7 - 1:48 pm

  Mom gave me this car and what a lemon.though it lasted me through college,cost me tons of money for repairing. Timing belt broke at 53000 miles out of nowhere, had to get a new engine at this time, luckily under warranty after showing massive proof of oil change records.had to get new breaks every year and a couple months later would squeal like a pig the minute i stepped on breaks. Terrible rotors or terrible work by mechanics ill never know. Check engine light comes on intermittently. Luckily, i will never deal with this again as im now a college grad wholl be able to avoid a hyundai now and forever. Am very grateful to have had a car that got me from point a to b. So thanks.

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  Incredibly loud noise - 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Russ - September 5 - 10:36 am

  This vehicle deafens us whenever we take it on the highway. Wheel bearings are short lived. The battery has to be replaced frequently. Overall, not worth the money. The dealer is also on an efficiency kick which means that you will pay top dollar for the vehicle as well as service. They are trying to squeeze the customer whenever they can and the auto body shop doesnt provide good quality.

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  Maintenance was clearly an afterthought! - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Wavy Dave - August 15 - 12:43 am

  I purchased my Santa Fe new in 2003. Currently have about 69,000 miles on it. Several issues over the last year including, replacing alternator, gas regulator valve, gas return line. A/C cuts on/off going over bumps. Drivers side window is on its last legs. Rear bearings, emergency brake. While the initial purchase price was very good, you wind up paying for maintenance in the long term. Clearly Hyundai engineers did not take maintenance into consideration. Simple things like a spark plug change have to be brought to dealer because the process is very complex. Dealer quoted $520 for new PVC valve, plugs and wires. Currently, Im lucky if I average 12-13 mpg.

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  unless youre looking for trouble stay clear - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ben - August 9 - 11:52 am

  I purchased a new 2015 fully loaded Sonata 2.0 T. I was pretty happy with it until fuel injectors went bad when the car had less than 9000 miles on it. that caused spark plugs and coils go bad and finally catalytic converter! There are three things that bothers me about this car: ***1- Hyundai itself: they do not have ANY PARTs in stock, so the car had to sit in the dealership for almost a month only because parts werent available or they had to order it and have it shipped or parts were on back order. ***2- after I showed my frustration and even mentioned word "Lemon Law" to the dealership after my car was sitting in the dealership for over 2 weeks, Hyundai North East general manager "Pauletta" called me and assured me that they were working on it and they would ship the parts as soon as theyre available. she gave me her phone# and told me after my car was fixed she would call me and offer me gift cards or free service coupons. guess what?! I got my car back but there hasnt been any sign of Pauletta! I called her multiple times and left messages, she never answered her phone and never returned my call. and when I complained about it to the dealership they told me they have had the same complaint about "Pauletta and her promises" from other customers! WAY TO GO Hyundai!!! ***3- Sonata 2.0 T: stay away from Hyundai Turbo cars, I talked to three mechanics and even the dealership guy himself told me that Hyundai Turbo cars are high maintenance cars....

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  Stay away. - 2000 Hyundai Sonata
  By jheoaustin - August 3 - 1:21 pm

  I bought this piece of junk in 2002 from the original owner at 11K miles. It started troubling a week after the purchase, from the minor power window break. Then I had to visit dealership about 10 times to fix the symptoms from check engine light to stall on the road. 4 months after new car warranty expired, it now refuses to accelerate, which was fixed 2 years ago. Dont believe Hyundais good rating. I believe you would regret if you did.

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  ripped off - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By woolley - July 27 - 10:00 am

  in point form- heater controles caught fire twice - sunroof fell out compleatly in full open - replaced engine twice and transmission shift linkage (i do drive mussel cars and tryed to drive this like a sports car not built to drive like a sports car) electrical shorts every where in the car dealerships alway said "ITS SOPOSED TO WORK LIKE THAT" to all the problems and more

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  Not a good SUV - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Lighthouse - July 27 - 10:00 am

  After 3 month of buying this SUV I needed a new engine. I have 4wd 6 cyclender and this vechile does not have any power at all.

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  Never again... - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Rich - July 22 - 9:00 pm

  At first I enjoyed the vechile, until the interior parts such as the ashtray (broke 2 times) the sunglass holder broke. I have also had ongoing fuel system problems with leaks that the dealer can never seem to fix and keeps giving it back broken. I am not happy with the fit and finish of the vechile I think they could have used better material. But i guess you get what you pay for. But i will have to definatly say never buy a vechile from the Atlantic Automall in West Islip. Terrible Service, terrible sales, they told me they were going to include a better warranty on the vechile. I ended up paying for it without even knowing. Not happy. I guess i bought a lemon

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  WORST CAR - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By nicolemarija - July 19 - 7:04 am

  i bought this car full out from a girl at 106,000 i didntt pay much for it and its such a gorgeous cars, the girl took care of her and only took her out in summer, she said that hyundais have alot of problems and shes had to replace so much stuff and sold it to me for cheap, 4 months later shit started happening, brakes gave out.. i dont ever use my brakes inless i have to I gear down with my standard, then everything seem fined then my brakes nnow are giving out AGAIN, and sos my clutch, my car burns oil like CRAZY but when i bring it in they say theres no leak. then today I got home from work pulled my ebreak and then all of a sudden my check engine light camee on & wont go away, worst car

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  check engine light - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By michele - June 28 - 8:47 pm

  I took home my 2006 Elantra the next day after 40 miles the check engine light came on. I took it back to the dealer he said every thing was fine. I got 1/2 mile and the check engine light was on again. I see another review that has the same problem. I am wondering is this a problem. They say I will get a new car tomorrow. The code is cyl 4 missfire when they run a computer check.