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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  Not Perfect but Very Good - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By SantaFe Fan - April 14 - 9:13 pm

  I was hesitant about buying a Hyundai vehicle because of their past reputation. Liked the look of the redesigned Santa Fe and read positive reviews so decided to purchase and very glad I did. The Santa Fe has been a reliable and enjoyable vehicle for over 15 months. The ride is a little firm but not overly jarring and there is a rattle somewhere in the back that comes and goes. The local Hyundai dealer has been very pleasant to deal with for scheduled services. So far Im very pleased with the vehicle.

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  mileage - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By abigbake - April 14 - 5:03 pm

  Overall the vehicle is a good alternative to competing vehicles in the same class. However, I find the gas economy a poor alternative to other vehicles. For local mixed driving I am getting a poor 21.5 mpg as compared to 24 mpg advertised. On highway long distance driving of 200 miles and 150 miles local driving I got a poor 26.5 mpg. These numbers are achieved by taking consumed miles divided by gallons on fillup using a calculator not the onboard computer. Perhaps Hyundai should issue a tecnical service bulletin to correct this deficiency. Hundai should be aware that we use advertised ratings when we consider any vehicle purchase particularly in these days of high gas prices.

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  Highly Impressed - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By vanman - April 14 - 8:50 am

  This is our first Hyundai. Just brought it home Monday, 7/28/08. Only 112 mi so far. Beautiful Ebony Black w/silver pinstripe. The roominess, the power, the dash layout. Hyundai really paid attention to detail. We looked at all the others Nissan, Toyota, Ford & Chevy. The Sonata beats the pants off all of them. We also recommend the steering wheel audio controls & the power seat. Ours also has the light control group. This is an Outstanding Automobile. There is no nicer car for the money. We didnt know that the Sonata has been around for 20yrs. You have to drive this car! Will add more after its broke in.

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  Speedometer Off - 2007 Hyundai TUCSON
  By ohiomom1 - April 14 - 12:32 am

  I just bought my 2007 Tuscon for fuel economy. I went from my 2003 Chrysler Town and Country Limited to the Tuscon for better fuel economy. I like the car so far. I have a GPS with my MPH on it and noticed that my speedometer was off by 3-5 miles so I took it in to the Hyundai dealership because it is still under the MFG warranty and was told that this is NORMAL according to the manual and there was nothing that could be done. Very disappointing. I have NEVER had my speedometer off in any of my previous vehicles. Come on Hyundai - get it together.

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  Great Safety - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By Rick Patel - April 13 - 9:49 am

  Driving is always fun with this car when you can enjoy the best music on XM and your MP3 disc player. I had a recent crash with my new car and you wont believe but as per the advertisements, the car truly provided 5 star rating and we had not a single scratch on our body...I thank Hyundai for providing such great security features...I will buy a new 2009 model in a month time...

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  What an economical find! - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By pamedict - April 11 - 10:53 pm

  Originally bought my son a used 2002 2- Door GS Accent to drive to school in 2008. Had to drive it a few times and was impressed with the handling, power and overall comfort since Im a big person. Not fancy, but functional so I decided to keep my eyes open for another one for my daughter who will turn 16 this summer. I found a 2-door Accent GT, one owner in relatively good looking condition. After a Car Fax report and a phone call to the dealer who sold and serviced the car I made an offer to the local used car dealer and we negotiated for a day or two and I bought the vehicle in February. Have put a couple thousand miles on it and I find it to be a great vehicle for the money spent so far.

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  Poor gas mileage - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Sherri - April 11 - 12:43 pm

  We bought our Hyundai Tucson to get better gas mileage. The sticker said "20-26 mpg" I drive 12 miles to work on the highway, not stop and go. I get 19 mpg. I talked with the salesman and the service department, at first the salesman said they would check it and tune it up. When I called to set up an appointment I was told they could not help my car,and I couldnt count on those numbers. I talked with the salesman again and this time he said the estimated gas mileage is 20-23, not 23-26". Why are the numbers different???? Why are these numbers put on cars if they are not true??? Thats false advertising!!!. I had a Lincoln Town Car that got 20mpg driving 70 mph, I drive 60-65 and get 19.

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  A lot of car for a little price - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Andy - April 11 - 9:46 am

  So far, Ive been happy with this car. It has a nice ride, and a lot of interior room (espescially in the back. The trunk is very nice as well. There are a ton of standard features. in comparison to many of the competitor cars, the Sonata drives just as nicely, costs a few thousand less, and comes with a 100k/60k powertrain/bumper to bumper warranty. The car does NOT get as good gas mileage as the sticker would indicate. I drive on the highway about 85% of the time, and tend to get around 26 miles to the gallon (sticker read 24-33). I expected a little more than that.

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  Surprising Value - 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By Rick Belz - April 11 - 8:13 am

  My wife and I had been looking at sedans, not particularly hybrids. We had narrowed it down to Accord, Fusion, Subaru Legacy Sonata and Optima. We finally decided to drive them, and went to the Hyundia dealer to drive a Sonata Limited. I was most interested in the Limited with the Ultimate package because it had just about everything on it that the car I was trading in had. The car I was trading in was a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. We did not want to give up the heated and ventilated seats and the Sonata with the Ultimate package had those. Plus the Sonata with the Ultimate package has all of the up to date safety tech. Most people dont realize that the Accord with Honda Sensing does not include Blind Spot Monitoring. I definitely wanted that feature. Anyway we where in talking to the sales person after driving the Sonata Limited and my wife was looking around the show room and came back with a brochure for a Sonata hybrid. So we started talking to the sales person about the hybrid and he insisted that we needed to drive one because the driving experience was different. To make a long story a little shorter, we loved the hybrid and wound up buying a sliver one. What I really like about the hybrid are a number of things; it is very comfortable to drive and ride in and it is very quiet. The safety tech is very nice especially the SCC (Smart Cruise Control), I find myself using that feature all of the time. I only have about 300 miles on the car and Im already getting around 44 mpg in mainly suburban driving. It seems to have plenty of pickup, although with only 300 miles on it I havent really put that to the test yet. Plus with the drive modes, if you want more performance you can choose Normal or Sport. We live close the mountains just outside of Denver and I have had it on some winding mountains roads and it handles the curves very well. The only complaint that I have is that it does not have Apple Carplay. But I hook my iPhone to the USB port and that and the Bluetooth works well.

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  Good Vehicle - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By lawman910 - April 10 - 10:05 pm

  I have been driving the car for 7 years and have almost 70K. So far no major problems, brakes and tires, kept up with the Maintenance schedule. Little things like the clock has been replaced and still does not work right, drivers side wiper keeps coming loose and have to carry wrench to tighten. Had to replace the antenna would not work in freezing temps. The car has lots of power and can keep with the best of them. I average about 20 around town and to be honest never checked it on a trip. I would buy another hyundai without any hesitation, but now looking at at Acura, want to upgrade a little. Seats and interior all has held up well