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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  Repeat Hyundai owner - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Lady Schei - February 27 - 3:40 pm

  This is the 3rd Hyundai I have owned. The first was over 20yrs ago when we lived on the west coast. Brought it back to the midwest and was so happy with performance. 15 years later I got an Elantra. Loved it till my son totaled it in an accident. It did in an accident. It held up very well. Now I have my Santa Fe..2 years now. It has been fun to drive, mileage traveling 24-29 mpg on the hwy and never less than 19.5 even in our Michigan winters. When I need a replacement(hopefully many years away) I will head right back to my dealer for another Hyundai

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  Some faults - 2005 Hyundai XG350
  By Hazel - February 24 - 7:23 am

  My husband is the only careful driver of this car. He was thrilled to buy it, and has been fairly pleased with the performance. It is now over 2 years old, and has 11,000 miles on the clock. He just had an inspection done, and the brakes are gone already. The repair department told my husband that they usually only last to 9,000 miles. The radio has been just awful from the start. It has been in repair twice. Problem has not been resolved. Terrible to listen to on a trip to town, crackling all the time. So I end up putting an audio tape in.

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  A Good Car for a Great Price - 1998 Hyundai Accent
  By yaconjo - February 24 - 2:00 am

  The Hyundai Accent is a great little car for the price. It has a secure, relatively quiet and comfortable ride, is great on gas mileage, and has a solid feel and construction. A great second car for local commuting.

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  I drive a lot and really like my XG-350 - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By Leo in Indiana - February 22 - 1:53 pm

  I do a lot of highway driving and this has proven to be the most comfortable vehicle Ive ever owned, especially considering the relatively low price. Frankly, I find it on par with my friends Lexus.

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  Tremendous Value - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By srr3306 - February 20 - 4:36 pm

  I traded an Infiniti FX for this car. As a result, I use that as a basis to compare. Cruz has all the luxury features, is quieter, built a little better (so far), has a better ride, and the audio with the the DVD package is the best I have ever heard from a factory. Fuel economy is about the same (disappointing since it is FWD with a six speed, weighs about the same and is a bit slower.) At least it likes regular. Handling is the only negative, but the FX is a unfair comparison. Compared to Highlanders and Pilots, it is fine.

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  Great car - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Rick Burton - February 19 - 2:00 am

  This is my second Sonata. I had a 95 GLS V6 way back when and never had a problem with that one. I have had this one for a bit over a month (GLS V6) and love it. The car is smooth as silk. My only complaints would be the poor (19mpg) mileage around town and the fact that the o/s mirrors are not breakaway, a feature the 2005 Sonata did have. I got mine with the premium package. The vehicle is very quiet, but the 17" tires/wheel do have more noise than I prefer. The standard tires are not nearly as noisy, so if you dont like tire noise, get the standard tires. I would have done so myself, but it was included in the premium package and I really did want the sunroof and the upgrade mirror

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  Great safety features and gas mileage! - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Angelique - February 17 - 3:15 am

  The only things I can complain about are as follows: traction was poor in the snow until I bought all season tires (I would suggest you do the same if you live in a snowy state); brakes were better after I had new ones installed; interior is basic, no heated seats or anything- but comfortable enough; poor placement of drive shift when you want to access car charger or front console storage and air conditioner/heat vents are not placed that great for the driver. Other than these minor tweaks- I found the car to be enjoyable to drive and pleasant to look at. Mainly bought it for gas mileage and safety ratings- which are still great after 5 years.

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  GPS System - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By sand1042 - February 15 - 3:08 am

  The desgin of the GPS in this car is very bad. You cant use in the daylight. It has the back-up camera but its worthless during the day. A true waste of our money for this package. Other than that we really like the car.

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  Great Car 4 Its Class - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By HAILU - February 15 - 2:00 am

  Most consumers only based their car buying trend just by known brand names of car prouduct lines,Hyundai proved them worng.This cheap in price but great in performance even better than known compitators i.e Honda civic, Toyota Corolla etc.powerful engine (140hp)which is much powerful than the Toyota corolla CE(125hp).I have this car now for about 6 month and havent seen any problem on it. I will advice America to turn their face for buying such economical and reliable cars with out digging in to their pockets for simillar even lesser cars just because they have stayed on the market for long but their quality going south.

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  skeptical at first, but very happy - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By shann - February 14 - 8:10 am

  I have had hondas, fords and my last car was a nissan sentra, I wanted something more roomy and with more power and i found it. At first I was skeptical about getting a hyundai, but it was more car that fit my budget and it has proved me wrong. I would suggest this car to anyone, and this is just a base model and it has more features then a the honda 2006 base.