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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  Best car I ever owned - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By ackr13 - February 25 - 4:17 pm

  I bought my Hyundai new in April 2004. I now have 123,000 miles on and could not be more pleased. Besides replacing tires and brakes( front rotors one time) the only repairs have been Timing belt, water pump, belts, tune-up with plugs & plug wires and front struts all done at 100,000 miles. Runs as good as new with very little rattle. I did replace the hatch lid struts 2 years ago.I average 24MPH in city driving, 32 on a trip. Love this car. I will run it till it dies. I traded my wifes 2006 Elantra GT in on a 2012 Santa Fe. Dont regret it a bit. Another great vehicle.

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  Hyundia sucks. and has the lowest resale value of any car i have owned - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By rickpettry - February 23 - 8:49 pm

  Hyundai marketed the Elantra at 40 MPGS> when In reality it gets about 35 MPG"S. I bought a 2012 Elantra based on the 40 MPG"S quoted. this car was suppose to save me up to $120.00 a month in gas. my last car cost me $58.00 a week to drive and so dose the Elantra. it is uncomfortable loud poor handeling. and has a poor stereo system. you can also find other poor reviews on Edmondson.com. facebook, and other sites just type in Elantra reviews.. Hyundai compairs the Elnatra to the Honda Civic. at a higher price tag than the civic. after resently driving other cars I found the elantra to be in a lower class such as the Mazda 3. the Corolla. and the Dodge Dart at about $16,000.00 which is a

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  Best car Ive owned. - 2008 Hyundai Sonata
  By sdemaris - February 23 - 12:18 pm

  I bought this car used with 34,000 miles back in 2009. It has been nothing but solid for me for over 4 years of driving it. The maintenance I had was minimal. The alternator went out on me last summer which was 500 bucks to fix but I was told by the mechanic that this is a typical problem with newer cars when they get close to 100,000 miles. Other than that Ive had no other problems with it other than typical maintenance. Im currently at 90,000 miles on it and plan on keeping it for a few more years. The paint quality is not the best on the outside but all in all still rides like a dream on the highway. Fun car to drive too.

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  Very good car... Except.... - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By 1ply - February 22 - 8:44 pm

  Ive owned this car for almost 7 months so far. At 16K miles the brakes started to make a strange noise, I thought that it must be due to the extreme cold temperatures weve been having. NOPE, at 17k miles Im being told that my brakes need service, and guess what its out of pocket! Never mind that this car is driven 80% highway with limited use of brakes (no heavy traffic). Dealer treats this as NORMAL. Ive had a mazda3 which only needed brakes every 60Kmiles. At this rate Ill be changing brakes every 8 months! Very poor design Hyundai. You may have just lost a(nother) customer.

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  Not a bad vehicle... Just nothing special... - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By meathead212121 - February 22 - 4:49 pm

  Purchased this vehicle used with just under 35k miles on it about 2.5 years ago and have put about 25k miles on it since purchase. The car is decently loaded... not as well as others but enough to keep the average person happy. with everything designed to be functional more than luxurious... basically theyre meant to go for the longhaul and/or help you not freak out as much do to the cost of the car. The Platinum model I bought has plenty in it and isnt exciting (not my style) but I will say if proper maintenance is done it that it can be EXTREMELY reliable. I cant justify trading it because Ive had no issues with it and for that Im keeping it.

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  Great car - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By mosin1942 - February 21 - 12:21 pm

  This was my first foreign car and I am very pleased with it so far. Bought it new in Oct. 2013. The gas mileage has been outstanding. On a trip to Denver from Longmont and back which took 96 miles the computer said we averaged 46 mpg. On average we are getting approx. 33 to 35 mpg.

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  just traded in 2013 hyundai elantra - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By steven39 - February 20 - 7:02 pm

  Purchased 2013 Hyundai elantra last summer and recently traded it in..It was trouble from day one..the radio came on whenever it felt like it and the trunk unlocked by itself also..

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  So far, so good. - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By topperman - February 17 - 4:34 pm

  I bought this Elantra over 2 years ago and have about 47k miles on it now. I have not experienced any of the mechanical or noise problems described in other reviews. The original tires were bad (noisy) and I replaced them after 40K. As far as gas mileage, I have found that there is a huge discrepancy in mileage depending on many factors: speed, outside temperature, wind, vehicle load. and terrain. I have found that headwinds or sidewinds will affect mpg up to 5 or 6. I probably average 35 mpg hwy and 28-30 city. Under optimum conditions I have consistently achieved 36-38 hwy. Would I buy another Hyundai? Maybe. Next time Ill go into something a little bigger. I am over 6.

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  Best car I have owned - 1997 Hyundai Accent
  By ataylor13 - February 15 - 4:28 am

  I actually got this car from a friend due to my honda breaking down and I needed a car for school and work. It was completely not my style in a car, I would have never been interested in purchasing it before. BUT THEN I realized how amazing this car was after 6 months of owning it and not one problem/issue. Amazing on gas, never had to fix a thing in the car, the most reliable car I have ever owned. Even at 260,000 miles it commuted me 100 miles a day for over 6 months with NO ISSUES.

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  The car is a bad joke - stop buying Hyundai until they get serious - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By whatfuture - February 10 - 7:01 pm

  1. Its rated well by Consumer Reports. 2. Looking good inside and out doesnt make for a quality car. 3. I feel ripped off and I did my research. Im currently looking to trade it in with @1100 mi. 4. I shouldnt have purchased the vehicle...