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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  Original Review, Revisited - 2007 Hyundai Azera
  By Susan - July 14 - 1:15 pm

  Its time to update the original review, now that the car 8.2k miles ... and the news is all good! Mileage has improved, w/ 30 per gallon on a recent roadtrip into the Rocky Mountains here in CO, with intermittent use of the air-conditioning and road speeds of 45 - 75. The cruise control definitely helps. This car purred while easily and smoothly passing big rigs on two-lane, twisty mountain roads ... revved it up to 95 for a quarter-mile sprint and the engine quietly, confidently roared! The cabin is quiet, the seats are comfy even after an eight hour drive. My friends who have Honda, Acura and Audi LOVE this car and its price!

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  Big Bang for comparatively Little Bucks - 2007 Hyundai Elantra
  By Raleigh - July 14 - 5:46 am

  This is my 3rd new Hyundai Elantra I have purchsed(also 2000 GLS and 2003 GT). We still have the 2003 and it has not given us ANY trouble, 82000+ miles. My new 2007 GLS with the 5 speed manual is more than I expected. I got combined city/highway mpg of 29, the numbers do not lie. The car seems so much larger than my 03. It handles and rides like a dream. Other than getting some rims and the windows tinted, I can not think of anything I would do to my new car. Hyundai is on par with any Civic and smokes the Corolla. If you do not test drive a Hyundai during your car search then you are doing your self an injustice.

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  Excellent car - 2007 Hyundai Elantra
  By jay - July 13 - 7:27 pm

  My parents owned an Elantra when i was growing up and i enjoyed the look and feel then. My wife and i were looking for an affordable, classy, fun to drive, good on gas vehicle. We didnt like the 2006 model but the 2007 model is great! Very snappy and fun to drive. I really like the elantras before and this just made me a life time customer. My wife loves how smooth stick shift is and how tight the vehicle moves. Great car at a very affordable price!

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  A loyal Japanese car owner !!! - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By HH - July 13 - 12:58 pm

  Our first Korean car, and could not complaint with anything...test drove Quest SE, Odyssey, Siena, Town & Country etc.... and we took home a beautiful Entourage Limited with Ultimate pkg ... could not believe the workmanship - performance of this Van, the 60k bumper to bumper, 100k power train warranty is assuring ! I honest it drive better than the Quest and Siena and about the same with Odyssey (Im driving an infiniti G35) ...LOVE IT... Go Hyundai!

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  Great SUV for the money - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mike - July 12 - 7:20 pm

  The transmission shifts fine. Im getting 21 MPH highway during sea level driving, reduced some at elevation.

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  Good Car - 2009 Hyundai Genesis
  By Jay - July 11 - 5:53 pm

  This is our company car, and I drove about 5 times (total of about 100 miles) since last month, and this car is very good. The ride is really smooth and quiet. The car has Lexicon Nav, and the bluetooth handsfree sounded so good and clear. RWD feels really good. The seats are very comfy. It is really luxurious and good looking, but 2% lacking to be compared with BMW or MB.

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  Great SUV - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Jerry P - July 11 - 11:13 am

  We traded in our 2002 Santa Fe Limited for this one after checking Toyota and Honda. We get about 20 mpg over all in the summer and 23-24 over all mpg on long trips, about what they predicted. The only draw backs we have found are that the right rear seat belt buckle will not come out of the seat hole far enough to get it buckled up. The cruise control is to slow to respond so you can drop 5 to 7 mph on inclines before you get back up to speed (frustrating for the people following you). Hyundai does not have a fix for these and maybe nobody else has these problems as I havent see it listed before. We still love the car and would buy another.

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  Shark Attack - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By sharky - July 10 - 10:00 am

  I am very pleased at the class this car has for the price, not to mention the looks it gets from other people, its a real eye catching automobile. Also the warranty that it has, the whole time my car is financed, its under warranty, now thats a deal. I have the GTV6 and this little care will move on down the road, and is fun to drive and is sporty as hell.

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  Hyundai Elantra 2003 - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By YUNKYBIRD - July 10 - 10:00 am

  I really love my Elantra - the size , fit style all suit me just fine.

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  I like it - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By rally - July 10 - 8:20 am

  great car, well designed, and well delivered. I am very pleased with it.