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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  Rear seat rattle - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Nighthawk50 - October 21 - 12:53 pm

  My Sante Fe is now 14 month old. Four time, I have asked the dealer to fix a rattle in the right rear seat back. They have never accomplished a fix. They even replaced the latching mechanism. The fourth request to fix, after driving 70 miles round trip and waiting 2 hours again, including an oil change, I was told that the seatback rattle is NORMAL in an SUV. I contacted Hyundai customer service and was told, in broken English, the same cock-and-bill story that it is normal for an adjustable seat back to rattle. I told them thats bull, that family and friends have other make SUVs that dont have seatback rattles and Ill never buy or recommend a Hyundai to anyone if thats their response.

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  Nice Looking!! Poor Gas Mileage.:(:(:(:( - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By Aldo, Miami, Fl. - October 18 - 3:54 pm

  Girls dig the style, they even say is cute...nice firm seats, great A/C, look twice before changing lanes for acceleration is non existing. Gas mileage after 21,000 miles is about 22mpg. Needed battery after 14,000 miles. Plastic inside scratches easily.

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  Lots of miles = lots of repairs - 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Wiser Next TIme - October 17 - 10:00 am

  My Hyundai was great .. for the first 60K miles or so. After that, replaced the fuel injector (twice), spark plugs (twice), and wheel bearings (in 3 wheels - twice in the left front wheel.) I now have 88K miles and it is in the shop for the 3rd time in 3 months. Theyre just not made for high mileage. Whats worse is that the dealership does not stock a lot of parts, so many times they keep the truck for several days. Also, watch out for the warranty. The front wheel bearings are covered, but the back ones arent. In the DC area, its a $400 repair. Also, had 6sensors go out. None were covered by the warranty (after the bumper-to-bumper ends).

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  Decent car but... - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Chris - October 17 - 6:00 am

  I am the original owner, purchasing the vehicle (rated 18mpg City/22 Hwy) with 56 miles on the odometer. Ive never gotten more than 15mpg with it and usually around 12mpg is more accurate. Ive taken it into the dealer where I bought it several times only to be told theres nothing wrong with it. Several bulbs burned out the first year. All in all its been a decent car albeit it way underpowered. It took winter/snowy driving in Quebec, CA without a hitch but even with new tires, in the rain it feels uneasy. I cant say Id buy another Santa Fe but Hyundai does a good job for the money.

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  Ok car, thats about it. - 2017 Hyundai Sonata
  By Rental car critic - October 9 - 3:50 am

  I rented a 2017 GLS model with the 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine. We took it to Columbus Ohio from TN, so I had some time to get aquainted with it. The car only had 3 miles on it when we started off. It got pretty darn good gas mileage. I averaged 35.1 Mpg for the whole trip, that included city, highway, and idling for a while. However it seems the gas mileage came at the cost of power. Which happens, but the lack of power from the engine was very agravating while trying to merge in city traffic. The lack of ANY grunt at city speeds got old quick. Highway was ok. The seats are ok for short trips, but seemed uncomfortable to me for long trips. I mean, you have to get out and stretch on long trips, thats a given. But the seats were just plain uncomfortable after about 45min-1 hour of driving. The instruments and dash were pretty nice and oriented well. AC was great. Radio/bluetooth were great. Lights and steering were good. Glad it has a blindspot mirror installed. The windshield was a little short for me and im 62. I had the seat adjusted as low as possible, still had to lean it back a bit. It would be a great highway car if it were just more comfortable. For stop and go and city merging, it needs more grunt. Overall id say it would be a good choice for getting you to work and dropping the kid off at school. But not for trips unless you pack icy-hot and ibuprophen.

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  Nice care but underpowered - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Chris - October 5 - 1:21 am

  Nice car and you get a lot for the price. A couple of issues: the car is underpowered. The care seemed to struggle under hard acceleration. To me 175 hp is anemic. The car does not have seat memory which a car at the price range should and no power folding mirrors which in this day in age should be standard at this price point as well. The car colors are not exactly the best either.

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  Cheap Parts! - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By Shirlene - September 15 - 8:47 pm

  We bought the car because we loved the styling and we liked the fuel economy. And while I still like both, I have been faced with costly services ever since! Most annoying is that my drivers side power window keeps malfunctioning. I soon will have replaced it twice in 1 year and 1 month! Also, I had always been pleased with the "ride" of this car locally. However, when my daughter moved to a location 7 hours away and I started driving that distance, I found it almost unbearable. Im not alone, everyone who has ridden with me at that distance is in pain. We cannot ride without pillows to prevent numbness! And that is true for people ranging in age from 35 to 70. Cute, not great!

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  Out of round tires - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Nighthawk50 - September 12 - 3:36 am

  Upon delivery in Sept 2008, my 2008 Sante Fe had a very obvious shimmy on the highway. After failed attempts to remedy the defect by the dealer, I was sent to a Nissan sister dealer, where they determined that the Bridgestone tires were out of round. The selling dealer then exchanged all tires with tires from another new Sante Fe and the problem was solved after much time wasted by me. In my judgment, the car should not have been delivered to me with a shimmy which was noticeable. Dont they test drive cars before delivery to the customer? I cannot address an unresolved rattle here due to restricted space for this comment. Will submit another review for that.

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  The Last "New" Hyundai I will Ever Own. - 2012 Hyundai Accent
  By Dan - September 6 - 3:55 am

  I say the last "new" Hyundai, when really I mean the last Hyundai I will ever own, and the last car I will ever buy new. I bought this car in October of 2011 as a brand new 2012 with 0 miles on it. It was a special order, from the dealer. Luckily, because it was special order, they didnt get the chance to mark it up $1500 like the other cars on their lot. Even still, I barely got out under sticker price. Up to about 20k miles was great, except for the garbage Kumho tires on these cars, which wore out after 16k. 22k miles I had the shifter knob replaced as the leather was deteriorating. 23k I had the heater motor replaced because it was whining terribly. From 23k onwards the clutch throw-out shaft had been making a chirping noise. 15 trips to the dealer.... let me repeat... FIFTEEN. TRIPS. Have all but yet to determine the noise, or even offer to replace parts. 26k I had them replace the clutch slave cylinder and bleed the system... no help. 27k they lubed the throw-out bearing... no help. Fast forward 60,000 chirpy miles later the check engine light comes on. 87k on the clock I bring it in for the light. Small evap leak code P0456. They change all the solenoids at my cost because EVAP is only covered to 82k.... thanks Hyundai. 90k the light comes back on... They clear it, not finding an issue. 92k the light comes on... They clear it, not finding an issue again. 95k.... my FUEL PUMP HOUSING falls apart. Literally cracked completely around the retaining ring and nearly bursts from the tank.... $790 later, out of my pocket AGAIN... its fixed... because the Fuel system isnt covered under the 100,000 mile warranty. 96,000 miles... I still owe $2600 on this car. Never. Again. Goodbye Hyundai.

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  waste money for a 35k miles 2000 sedan - 2000 Hyundai Sonata
  By josua - September 2 - 10:43 am

  I bought this car from a first owner, then I lost the 100k miles warranty. Rear wheel bearing, left front shaft, oxygen sensor, mass air flow sensor, tps sensor, front disc breakes worn out at 45k miles too much money to spend for a 70k miles car. Speed transmision sensor dealer said $500 plus 105 diagnostic fee. Crazy waste money. I drove this car by 20k miles and I have been spended at least 1500 dollars in parts and labor. So the fabricants are supposed to put some recalls for this car. The people who knows about cars doesnt recomend me Hyundai or kia any more. I dont understand how a company advertise 100k miles warranty for this car.