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:

• 

  Good car for the money - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Matt - March 10 - 1:50 pm

  I traded in a CX7 for a 07 Sonata SE, and me and my wife love it. It is so quite inside and drives really smooth. With all of the safety features included this is tough to beat for the price. The 3.3 v6 has all the power you could ever want in a "family" car and has decent gas mileage as well. We are getting around 22 city and 28-31 Highway. Overall I would recommend this car.

• 

  Cheap Wheelwells / Mudguards - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By Darrel - March 10 - 1:45 pm

  After only 3 weeks and 300 km of winter grid road travel, all 4 wheelwells and all 4 mudguards are damaged. 1 mudguard has a 4" diameter hole clear through it. I am fortunate enough that my dealer is replacing all 4+4 free of charge in addition to coating them with a rubber compound calling it a "Goodwill" repair. For your information, the temperature has been ~-30°C. My maximum grid road speed was always less than 100 km/hr. The odd thing is, there is basically NO gravel left on the road since its not graded in the winter... currently the maximum particle size is only ~5mm.

• 

  Im done with this car and Hyundai Motor Co. - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By andrewg55 - March 10 - 5:41 am

  Love the styling and power from the 2.4 motor, but thats about it. The gas mileage is not what it is supposed to be, get about 21 City and never see over 32 HWY. The "leather" seats are cheap and hard. The suspension is rough and steering feels fake. The car has had transmission issues, steering recalls, brake sensor problems causing the car to not start, water leaks causing me to take the car in 4 times and eventually having to have a Hyundai engineer determine that the roof was not sloped right and then they had to do body work on the car to correct it! XM antenna shorted out and headliner had to be replaced all do to this problem.

• 

  I have had 3 elantras - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Debbie - March 10 - 4:30 am

  This is our 3rd Elantra. We also own a Sonata. We love our Hyundais. I recommend the 5 speed. This car is the best in its class for quality, price and overall performance. We love it!!!

• 

  Value! - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Chris - March 10 - 1:06 am

  I bought this car because my previous vehicle, a 2000 Ford Focus was totalled in a flood. I was going to test drive the Elantra back when I bought the Ford and should have! Though I havent had this car for long, its already so much better then the Focus. As far as handling is concerned, the Ford has this car beat, but thats about it. I dont know of any other car with leather, sunroof, abs, traction control, etc. for the price. Definitely check this car out.

• 

  Love my Santa Fe - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Love my Santa Fe! - March 9 - 6:33 pm

  Did a lot of research and comparison shopping before purchasing our Santa Fe. So far, we just love it. It handles great (have driven in snow, on ice, on highway, heavy traffic, etc.), and it is fun to drive. The small turning radius is better than any other car I have driven. I was skeptical about buying a Hyundai, but am extremely happy with my decision. Gas mileage is better than advertised. It has good power and feels very safe.

• 

  Lots of research paid off - 2009 Hyundai Azera
  By Dick - March 9 - 6:09 pm

  From the initial test drive, the car didnt inspire a lot of "oh-wow!" comments, but it was an interesting design. Seats leave a little bit to be desired in terms of thigh support, and the leather stitching on the black (gray) leather is ugly. But, I basically love this car. Bluetooth works great. Trunk size is very good. I have some problems with the transmission at slow speeds, as I drive the Washington DC beltway each day. But, overall I would definitely buy this car again. Without doubt, this is one of the greatest values available.

• 

  Better then expected - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By mirecku - March 9 - 1:34 pm

  Bought new in 2005 equipped with abs/tcs and 5m. 70,000 miles at this time with no Major problems. Been twice in small accidents, repaired fast and inexpensive. Stereo and speakers not good enough for me, but not really bad. We drive the car mostly in suburban areas in upstate NY averaging 26-29 mpg, 32-38 mpg highways, depending on a drivestyle. Traction control combined with winter tires makes car driveable even during big snowstorms, no problems with snow so far. Also very good for long trips, seats are comfortable, driver`s with lumbar support, armrest in good position, roomy in back seats. Almost no rattles, over 3000 rpm you can hear the engine more, aerodynamic noise is low, good for money

• 

  SE poor acceleration - 2017 Hyundai Elantra
  By Serge - March 9 - 12:30 pm

  Rented for 3 weeks in Florida. While making left turns before oncoming traffic, this car seemed to stall while trying to quickly accelerate... scary! barely avoided a few accidents! This occurred even in sport mode. Dont know if it was just this particular car or problem has occurred with other similar 2017 elantras? Recall on this issue?

• 

  Not Good - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jones - March 9 - 11:03 am

  I bought the Sonata back in August of 2006 brand new and since then it has had many problems. Both sun visors have had to be fixed, alarm had to be fixed, it needs new tires, an oxygen sensor is starting to go bad, and the trim is starting to come off. The dealership doesnt want to work with you and everything you call about they say is not under warranty. In order to test the car to see which oxygen sensor is going bad they are going to charge me. I have never had this many problems with a car or a dealership. You would think that in this economy a company would want to keep customers but apparently not. I would not recommend this car to anybody and i will never buy another one.