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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  Economical SUV, a couple of drawbacks - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By rickyp - May 20 - 8:26 am

  The SF has proven to be the right economical choice for a small SUV, but comes with a few surprise nuisances. We love the interior and exterior styling and feel that we are getting more features for our money. We are very happy, but I caution people on two fronts 1) we are not getting 19/24 mpg – we see more like 16.5 2) The front driver seat because of the lumbar support (a late engineering addition?) pushes out at your upper back creating an uncomfortable driver seat. My suggestion is to take a good long test drive to test out the seat and fuel economy (reset the mpg gauge to see what you get how you drive). I still would have bought the Santa Fe, but would have not been surprised.

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  Very Pleasant Surprise - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Neil - May 14 - 11:23 pm

  We traded in a BMW X3 (big disappointment) and had planned on getting a Toyota Highlander, but with the recent problems there we looked at the Santa Fe. This is a great looking SUV, much more attractive than the latest Highlanders. Fully loaded with Nav (hard to find for some reason) and most other options, this cost us under $30K. Its more fun to drive than the X3, more comfortable, looks great and has awesome options -- the touch screen Nav also controls the audio system with XM radio and iPod controls. I can stream audio from my iPhone to the vehicle using Bluetooth! Were thrilled with the Santa Fe. Gas mileage is lower than expected so far though (17 city).

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  hard to beat - 2005 Hyundai Sonata
  By alasher - May 8 - 11:16 pm

  WE LOOKED AT MANY CARS IN THE 20,000 PRICE RANGE AND YES SOME WERE BETTER.BUT AT 18,100 OUT THE DOOR WITH .09% FOR 60 IS HARD TO PASS UP FOR A LOADED MIDSIZE AUTO! WE HAVE 2100 MILES LOVING THE RIDE ON OUR LEATHER SEATS WITH GOOD SOUND COMEING OUT OF THE BOX. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT? A 10 YEAR WARRANTY YOU SAY, WE GOT THAT TOO.

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  Check engine light blues. - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Ric Winton - May 6 - 10:00 am

  Having purchased a new 2003 Tiberon SE from a dealership in Canada, and being told that this was "a very reliable vehicle", I now question this sound- bite. In the three months I have owned it the check engine light has come on a stagering 7 TIMES!! aaaand each time a defect was found with a system. I have also Had to have it in on 3 seperate occasions to fix a broken sunroof. So far the dealership and Hyundai are onering the warrenty and fixing the problems, currently they have my car for extended testing to find root cause of the problem. Whilst I have no complaints about the service I am recieving I wonder if anyone else is having this problem.

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  GoodCar - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By BigMac - May 6 - 10:00 am

  This is a really good car if I can keep it out of the shop. If it was not in the shop all the time I would give the car a 10 across the board. This car is really fun to drive.

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  Hyundai Elantra - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By SteveSwims1984 - April 24 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car in July of 2003 and three days later I went on an 1800 mile road trip to NH. During the time I was amazed with the fuel economy and the quiet and ride comfort in a car that was less than 15,000 dollars with all the options. Some of my favorite features on the car include the comfortable seats, the knob on the 5-speed, and the cool blue lit dials for the speedometer and tachometer.

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  owner - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Kristy from NJ - April 24 - 2:00 am

  It runs well but I think the engine is loud when sitting inside. I just bought the car and I have some trouble adjusting the front seats. Its very roomy inside and looks good on the outside.

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  2009 Santa Fe GLS 6cyl 4AT - 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By jeanneshyundai - April 23 - 9:13 pm

  I purchased a new Hyundai in July due to the Cash for Clunkers program. I had a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, that I have loved, but it was getting ready to hit 200K. I drove several different models from the Kia Sportage, to the Toyota RAV4, Chevrolet Equinox, and the Santa Fe. On my second fillup I got 24 mpg-unbelievable!The inside is well designed except for the seats are not comfortable; drivers side. They are very stiff and not nearly as comfortable as the Jeep or other American cars. Please include fog lights as standard on this vehicle. The paint job is beautiful and I am thrilled about the warranty! Love the sound system and I usually put custom sound systems in the car after purchase.

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  Sonata is a hit! - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By jb - April 23 - 8:56 am

  I have owned several makes and models, this fits most of my needs.

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  Im satisfied - 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Hey Sante Fe - April 23 - 3:03 am

  Its a bit of a putt-putt but it works for me. Acceleration is slowed, nothing like when new but it still works. I usually work close to home so most of my mileage is recreational. Thats cool. Handles really well in bad weather, takes a while to warm up but AWD pulls out of snow and ice with hardly a grunt. Ive seen this vehicle without AWD almost stuck. The extra height helps me to see more, and makes me feel safer, its a smaller but not the smallest sized SUV.