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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  Sonata issue with IPOD player - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Pat - March 10 - 6:00 pm

  Overall the car seems to be an excellent value. My only concern and something Hyundai doesnt seem to be able to resolve is the IPOD port. I have connected 3 different IPODs in and none worked. The only music that played was some MP3 songs no Itunes. I went to my local dealer who couldnt resole the issue I contacted Hyundai directly and the response I got was to go to another dealer to have them look at it, even though that dealer is over 50 miles away. So still no answer to why the IPOD port doesnt work.

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  More for your money - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Smooth_Ny - March 9 - 10:53 pm

  Im in love with my new 2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited Platinum Edition. The value I got for this car is amazing. I paid 23.3 including taxes and fees. I was in the market for a Toyota Camry, but I saved about 5000 going with the Hyundai. Toyota wouldnt offer much on my trade in, Hyundai did. And I got a V6 in addition to leather heated seats, and a great warranty for the same price as the Camry SE with the sunroof spoiler package(that was my first choice).

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  Excellent Value - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jason - March 9 - 3:10 pm

  The car is an excellent value for the $. Very roomy, quiet, pleasant ride. Stands up well to other cars in category I test drove (Accord, Camry, etc.). The safety features are a major plus (ABS, ESP, airbags everywhere, childseat-ready back, etc). Good commuter car. Not super agile or fast, but more than adequate for typical driving. Plan to keep the car for many years if it holds up, as Hyundai (and their super warranty) seem to believe it will.

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  Impressive, Could be so much better - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By jws - March 9 - 7:30 am

  Drives fun and crisp. Lots of power, excellent brakes w/ 4-wheel disk breaks, ABS, and electronic Stability Control, but the fuel economy is VERY poor (~20 mpg on 40 mile roundtrip to work, mostly highway speeds, yet rated at 24-34; my Trooper got better gas mileage on same trip). Auto-transmission shifts smoothly; fake manual is a gimmick. Car feels solid. Not fond of large, dual branding on rear of car. Tried Fusion, Accord, Camry, and Mazda6 as well. This had as good a ride, more pep, better use of interior space. And the price is amazing for comparable cars. Have had for only 1 month so far, so this is my initial review.

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  owners comments - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By masonskitty - March 7 - 2:00 am

  i like the full leather interior, the wood-grain accents, the arrangment of the instrumentation, the power of the 3.5 liter engine, the ride & many more features too numerous to mention here.

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  Great value and very comfortable ride - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mfshook62 - March 5 - 8:40 am

  Great car for the price, about same size as the Lexus RX, but $20k less, and certainly not as luxurious. Plenty of room for a 6 driver. Nice amenities and leather interior. Comfortable ride with plenty of passing power. Averaged about 23 mpg driving from San Fran to LA and back, mostly at 75 to 85 mph. Was a little surprised to notice in the door panel that the car was manufactured in Aug, 07.

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  2011 Sonata Hybrid with Premium package - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By marnold4 - March 3 - 6:34 pm

  We just have about 350 miles on the car but so far its great. Plenty of pickup to get on the highway or pass, excellent fuel economy (baby it on the highway, on the flat or slight downhill, and you can hit 50 mpg fairly easily). The interior design is outstanding, nice leather seats, Sound system with Infinity speakers and sub-woofer work nicely. Its nice to have a transmission that actually shifts, and you can shift it in manual mode. BlueTooth works great with our HTC Droid phones and the i-Pod touch works perfectly as well. Nice sound and reception on HD radio stations in the area. The car has more of a luxury feel than a sporty handler for driving.

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  Cheap Asian beer can, you will regret - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By PABLO - February 28 - 8:45 pm

  The car has no torque, the engine is programmed to always keeps low rpm, not fun to drive,wrong transmission,on the fwy at 75 mph the rpm is 2050, you get foot pain from the gas pedal if you drive more then 30 min, when you accelerate it hesitate, then it go down 2 speed and it rev. THE REAL LIFE MIX MPG IS 20. shady company!

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  gas guzzler - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Bevery - February 28 - 2:50 pm

  I purchased the Limited trim with the ultra package. The van drives beautifully. It is easy to handle and has lot of amenities. However, I am very unhappy about the gas mileage. I have not been able to get over 13 miles to the gallon even on short highway trip where speed was up to 55 mph. This is considerably less than the 18/24 miles advertised.

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  Various Concerns - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Richard - February 24 - 2:40 am

  Had to replace automatic on and off light sensor did not work when purchased. Carpet had to be replaced because of rips. After car warms up transmission shifts very roughly between 1st and 2nd gears and sometimes between 2nd and 3rd. I was told that the transmission was an inter active unit and would soon smooth out after the break in period. The car has over 6000 miles now and nothing has changed since the day I purchase it. Also it emits a foul rubbery smell from the heating or air vents. Smells like air coming out of a tire. If steering is turned to quickly to either lock position car will cut off. Bought to the attention of the dealer the shifting concern but was told this is normal