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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  Disappointing in the end - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By bast2112 - February 10 - 12:05 pm

  When researching which new car to purchase, the deciding factors in the end were that I had an Elantra for 12 years and it was very reliable, and I wanted a car with decent gas mileage. So far its been reliable, though a few small things have failed already. But the gas mileage is just plain terrible. If I had known, I would have gotten the car I really wanted that had weaker gas mileage instead!

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  Fantastic Car - 2013 Hyundai Accent
  By jconn1 - February 8 - 1:04 pm

  Ive had 3 Toyotas, and have had a new 2013 Hyundai Accent Hatchback for over 2 months. I simply love it. Quality, reliability and styling match or exceed my previous cars. Interior is very quiet, car is a blast to drive, and the styling is awesome. I like small cars because of their handling and ease of parking. I could afford a mid or full-size car, but why would I want one? This car fits what I need and want, and is tops in its class on virtually all measures. You cannot go wrong buying one. Youll love it.

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  Elegant Elantra for featherfooters - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By litesong2 - January 27 - 11:55 pm

  Worst feature, youll have to dump 3 gears before you finally get Elantra to go. Poor rear suspension. Beware of potholes, & rear wheel skip! Comfortable, less so with lots of weight. Elantra is the best looking car in 20 years, inside & out! Using ethanol-free gasoline & careful driving, accurately AVERAGED 39+mpg (high-43mpg), May thru early December, Seattle weather. Presently, with cold & winter blend gasoline, its dropped to 38mpg. Should still be above my hoped for 35-36mpg after the first year. Elantra has lots of road & tire noise, but very quiet on "experimental quiet pavement". Widest rear seat shoulder width of any car getting nearly 40mpg. 100%, no problems.

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  Takes my beatings, and keeps on ticking! - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By washadair - January 25 - 3:44 am

  Bought new, and never babied! It gets neglected and abused! So the fact that its still going strong, with nearly 230,000 miles on it, and hasnt needed any major repairs, is AMAZING! Oil changes done when I get around to it, often after 10-15k miles. Never brought it in for scheduled maintenance, but did get a complete Tune-Up once or twice. Original clutch lasted for over 200k miles! The radiator and thermostat were replaced the year prior. A few things have worn out, or about to: Drivers door wont lock (bad relay switch) making key fobs useless the motor for the drivers power window is slowly dying cant change time on clock high-beams turn on randomly when using the turn signal.

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  ABS problems in ice due to cheap tires - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By adveragedriver - January 21 - 2:28 pm

  As a whole, I like this car. It has a very comfortable driving position for someone my size (63"), gets good gas mileage (though not what was advertised), is reasonably quiet and has this nice extended warranty. I have noticed a couple of significant problems, however, one of which is dangerous. But first, for the false sales pitch. The sales person will tell you that the oil only needs to be changed every 7500 miles. That was one of the selling points to me. But the manual has all sorts of fine print around that figure, so the actual service guys will tell you that you may void the warranty unless you change the oil around every 5000. So dont get caught in that trap. see below

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  Now one full year old GL model - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By caperguy - January 16 - 8:23 pm

  A bit disappointed with the gas mileage as it is not getting what was advertised 13000 miles later.

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  Buikd quality Misses - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By muddie36 - January 16 - 8:29 am

  There are certain build quality issues with Hyundai and I believe that this was good first serious attempt to challenge Toyota and Honda. But the cup holders are horrible and should have never ever made it to production. What was hyundai thinking? One can only assume that Koreans think that every drink Americans have are supersized big gulfs? (they did address this with the 2010 updates). The Sunvisor breaking arm issue should have been a recall and not a TSB. The Sunvisor arm breaks and then comes down while you are driving, so I guess its okay that the visor comes down and blocks your view causing an accident. And the final pet peeve are the break lig

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  Extremely Unhappy with my choice - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By mike794 - January 14 - 1:00 pm

  I bought a Hyundai Elantra in 2006. About 11k miles on the car that I noticed my right rear tires treads are exposed. I TOOK THE CAR TO FIRE STONE ON TALBERT AVE. IN FOUNTAIN VALLEY CA., TO BUY A NEW TIRE, THE ATTENDANT BEFORE SEEING THE CAR ASKED ME IF I NEED TO REPLACE THE RIGHT REAR TIRE OF A HYUNDAI. I asked how did he know about the exact tire of the specific car he told me this is a common problem with HYUNDAIS Shortly after my driver side door handle broke while under warranty TUTTLE CLICK HYUNDAI said it is vandalism and not covered under warranty. I followed all procedures and finally went to SMALL CLAIM COURT where the judge ruled no one is responsible for the warranty work

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  Economy car - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By solivanh1 - January 13 - 9:09 pm

  I found the Hyundai accent fun to drive and easy to handle.

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  Love this car!! - 2003 Hyundai Sonata
  By ladymelan81 - January 12 - 2:36 pm

  I bought this car when it was 2 years old and had 90,000 miles on it. It never failed me in a serious way. I felt I was selling a family member when I let her go, then she was totaled 6 days after I sold her :( She was at 190,000 miles at that point and was showing transmission issues. Liked it so much Im selling the car I bought, for the same year Sonata again.