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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  Great Ride - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Skyee - May 1 - 2:00 am

  I am very pleased with my Sante Fe. It drives great in the snow and rain.

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  Best SUV for the $, but opp. for improve - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By First Timer - April 30 - 10:00 pm

  I spent 40+ hours researching many SUVs and drove several as well (used MDX, X5, X3, RX330, new Outlander, new CRV, new Rogue, new Escape). For the money, this is simply the best value and best looking. Drives like a car, very quiet ride (almost as good as my Toyota Sequoia). I can relate to the hesitation between 1st and 2nd gears now that Ive had for a few weeks. Not as bad as previous reviews, but worth noting, particularly if you are being a "conservative" driver to save gas, which by the way, does not come close to the sticker estimate. We have yet to get to 20 MPG, even on the highway. Thats been the biggest disappointment. Overall, very pleased so far.

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  2012 Sonata Hybrid Standard - 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By palomies - April 30 - 1:34 pm

  Took delivery of my new Sonata Hybrid on July 18. Very happy with car so far. Five tankfuls of fuel have given me an average over 39 MPG...if the tank is mostly highway driving I get average over 40, if mostly city/errands and such about 36. No problem with switching between electric and gas engine. I think there may be a learning curve to learning to drive the car for the most economy as sometimes the gas engine will come in pretty strongly, especially in hilly terrain. Car is very comfortable for long drives, my bulged discs dont even know! (to be fair, my 07 Sonata was the same way). The handling may not be quite as good as my last Sonata, but this one also feels much bigger.

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  Good Job - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By Jermain - April 29 - 2:00 am

  I think the people at Hyundai have done a great job with the 2002 Hyundai Accent. It is a great car for its size and it is fast for the engine size also. However, the car disappointed me last Sunday, in that the transmission is slipping and it is high idoling. That confuses me because I have had no problems. Its only a year old. Besides that I cant complain with the performance.

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  Too much hype - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jim Sanders - April 28 - 5:43 pm

  Quality seems good, excellent paint job. Annoying rear noises when gas tank is full. Auto climate control makes noise when vehicle slows and door closures makes a secondary clang noise in trunk area. Dual exhaust is not aligned evenly. Power seems good altho trans to acceleration seems slow. Correction of these issue would make a great car. Mildly disappointed.

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  Cant get rid of it.... - 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By B - April 28 - 2:00 pm

  I bought my first HY back in July of 2009. For $12K I got 2006 HY SF GLS 2.7 V6 2WD with 25K miles. Since then I have put 10K miles on it. This car has so far exceeded my expectations. As a guy, I have never fallen in love with exterior of the old style SF, but my wife did and since the car was mainly for her I relented. Gas Mileage is better than the Tahoe and even my current 2003 V6 Ford F150. To be honest, I tried very much to rationally to find a valid reason to upgrade to a newer vehicle with all the recent deals, but for what we paid for and how surprisingly functional it has been and how much the wife likes it, I canÂ’t justify letting it go. I have grown to respect it.

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  Great vehicle - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By foz682 - April 28 - 3:51 am

  Ive only had it for a few weeks now, but so far so good. Im getting around 19MPG with mixed driving. It has lots of little features that make life easier, such as the proximity key, power tailgate, cool box in console, placement of interior lights is grea,t very comfortable and powerful. The one this that does bother me just a little is that the rear dvd player renders your rearview mirror useless, it totally blocks the rear window when in use.

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  An excellent car for the money - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By WH35473 - April 27 - 10:00 am

  I ultimately chose the XG350 over a Honda Accord for several reasons: 1. Unlike the editors of Edmunds, I really like the look of this car; I thought that it was among the best- looking cars I had seen before I even knew what make of car it was. 2. It really does have a long list of standard features, including many that I would expect to find only on a true luxury car costing thousands more. 3. The warranty on this car is outstanding. 4. Considering how much car I got, the price I paid was incredibly low. I paid approximately $2700 less for my X2004 G350 than I would have paid for a comparably-equipped 2003 Accord.

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  The sporty looking car - 2013 Hyundai Veloster
  By Eric Stitt - April 27 - 8:04 am

  This car can catch the eye of young drivers. Looks like a small sports cars and drives well when hugging the turns. Not great in accelerating but this was expected. Great on Gas!!!!! A big plus and travels well on the highway. A good vehicle if you are concerned about your budget.

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  17 MPG - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By Bloo Gecko - April 26 - 2:00 am

  I was looking for a car to get better mileage than my Volvo, which got 19 mpg. Then I was seduced by the beautiful looks of the Sonata. I found one in desert sand, and all rational thought went out the window. The 2003 V6 Sonatss are rated 19 mpg in town. But mine gets 17 mpg! This is inexcusable. Why cant Hyundai make a pretty car that also gets respectable mileage? This should be a top priority for them.