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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  Solid Purchase - Limited - 2015 Hyundai Elantra
  By Tj - August 6 - 2:28 am

  I purchased in May of 2015 and have since taken it to 2 road trips and accumulated 6k miles on it. I can honestly say its a solid purchase. Comfortable, full of features, entertaining on the road, looks amazing. Its fuel economy is "OK", only because it was rated at 27-37 city/hwy mpg, but I calculated 24-26 overall in mostly city/some highway driving, perhaps the LV heat has to do something with it. I love the drive selectable steering, the transmission is okay, you can on some occasions feel the transmission shift harshly, but rarely. Having been on those road trips, Ive noticed some things. My passengers and I both agree that the back seats are not comfortable on long road trips, theyre leather so Im not sure this could be said about cloth seats. Our butts and backs were very sore at the 2 hour mark, stretching at each rest stop was a must, but the two front seats were Okay for the road trip.

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  For the value its the best midsize luxury car! - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By operationdoom - July 7 - 1:38 pm

  I bought my Genesis a few months ago and its a 2012 with 30,000 miles. Its very comfortable and seats 5 easily with lots of room. It is very quick for its size and definitely turns heads. The only downside is the gas mileage is 22 mixed and city 18. Its a great car for the value!

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  Nothing But Tears - 2008 Hyundai Accent
  By loveeanne - July 5 - 10:32 am

  Ive had this car for 5 years. Two of those years I spent at college without it. Ive put about 60,000 miles on it. I LOVED this car. The first time the engine misfired, I thought "no big deal, this car has been amazing to me". It was all down hill from there. The engine has misfired twice and needed to be fixed. The breaks have been replaced four times. A valve broke off near the transmission and oil leaked down into the clutch. I needed a full clutch kit replacement and parts of the transmission replaced. That was less than four months ago. Last week, my timing belt broke without any warning and bent my entire motor. With that, I will have put over $4,000 into this car for repairs.

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  Great Car, Great Value - 2014 Hyundai Elantra
  By eflatblues - June 29 - 12:25 pm

  I wanted to wait till my first year of ownership was completed before offering my opinion. As of July 3rd I will have owned my 2014 Elantra SE Manual for a year and have put a little over 16,000 miles on it. My thoughts after a year is that this is a very good, solid, economical and reliable automobile and has been completely trouble free. I really like the styling and find the car very comfortable to drive. The fuel economy is fantastic. Mixed city/highway cycle returns 36.4 mpg and if I am keeping a steady 70 – 72 on the highway I consistently get 40.2. The Elantra is an exceptional value and is worthy of consideration in a new car purchase.

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  Has been a GREAT little car - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By paulnbedford - May 31 - 1:56 pm

  We bought our Elantra new in 2001 and maybe thats the difference from everyone elses experiences on here, but our has been a great little car only letting us down once. Turned out to be the spark plugs and wires needed to be replaced. Ive never seen a car jerk back and forth and act that way before in my life. Sure enough thats what the dealership said it replaced and it ran great afterwards. Unfortunately at the time it was bad enough you couldnt even drive the car though and had to be towed in. Fortunately though it was under warranty! Weve both said wed buy another Hyundai again without hesitation. Its been the best car weve ever owned other than our old Dodges from the 70s.

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  Love it and Hate it - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By rrankin90 - April 23 - 12:10 am

  I have owned this car since 2011. It only had 7,000 miles when I purchased it. Obviously Grandma Moses owned it first! I love the ride, drive, and comfort of seats for rides lasting less than four hours. Anything over that and my back begins to hurt. The only thing I can actually say that I HATE about the car is the constant need to replace light bulbs. From headlight bulbs, break lights, and the bulbs over the license plate. Ugh!!! Many are easy to change and Ive made my own way of changing them. Others... Not so much. Almost two hours to change the high mount bulb in the back window. Other than that I love it and will definitely buy another!!!

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  44 MPG @ 65MPH on #66 - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By R. Lee Earman - April 6 - 1:14 pm

  Had a few problems but fixed under warrenty - really have no complaints.

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  Never a problem! - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By Ralph DiMare - March 16 - 12:43 pm

  My 2012 fully loaded Genesis V6 has 55,000 miles and very reliable.

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  horsepower to gas mileage ratio is unsurpassed - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By Ned White - March 16 - 12:06 pm

  I have 40,000 mi. on my 2012 4.6L 385hp v8 sedan. With(10% ethanol) premium gasoline 93 octane, I get 21mpg around town and 26mpg on the highway in cruise (65mph) I found a gas station in NH that sells pure 91 octane gasoline (no ethanol) I fill up there often. My gas mileage immediately goes up to 31mpg (in summer) in cruise control at 65mph. Try to find a car anywhere that has that much HP and still gets 31mpg. Incredible ! (shows what a scam ethanol is also)

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  3.8 Geneis - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By noelle polson - March 14 - 2:07 am

  Bought used for 16K, best money i"ve ever spent for a car, loaded with tech and premuim pacakage great radio, power, comfort etc. car has 51000 miles, feels and drives like new, couldnt be happier.