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:

• 

  perfect commuter car - 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By rich and audra c - October 19 - 1:26 am

  Needed a fuel efficient third vehicle for 52 mile round trip work commute. Looked at several small sedans but lacked space needed to haul horse feed and other farm items. Drove the automatic hyundai touring but seemed a little sluggish. Finally found a manual transmission and the drive was very spirited. Gas mileage in mixed driving around 31 MPG and just over 33 MPG on the highway. Wish it had a six speed transmission always feels as if you need to shift one more time. Plenty of torque nice and quiet below 4000 RPM. Good list of standard features for the price opted for the sports package with 17 inch wheels and sunroof.

• 

  hyundai santa fe - 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By wayne kitchen - October 18 - 11:46 pm

  This vehicle does not handle well on wet pavement especially in moderaate rain showers. The drivers compartment does not have adequate stretch room for the left leg and foot. The gas mileage is awful.Easy to par

• 

  Nice Looking!! Poor Gas Mileage.:(:(:(:( - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By Aldo, Miami, Fl. - October 18 - 3:54 pm

  Girls dig the style, they even say is cute...nice firm seats, great A/C, look twice before changing lanes for acceleration is non existing. Gas mileage after 21,000 miles is about 22mpg. Needed battery after 14,000 miles. Plastic inside scratches easily.

• 

  Lots of miles = lots of repairs - 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Wiser Next TIme - October 17 - 10:00 am

  My Hyundai was great .. for the first 60K miles or so. After that, replaced the fuel injector (twice), spark plugs (twice), and wheel bearings (in 3 wheels - twice in the left front wheel.) I now have 88K miles and it is in the shop for the 3rd time in 3 months. Theyre just not made for high mileage. Whats worse is that the dealership does not stock a lot of parts, so many times they keep the truck for several days. Also, watch out for the warranty. The front wheel bearings are covered, but the back ones arent. In the DC area, its a $400 repair. Also, had 6sensors go out. None were covered by the warranty (after the bumper-to-bumper ends).

• 

  Im luvin it! - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By Bilbo_Fragginz - October 17 - 10:00 am

  I recently replaced a 91 econo-car with the 2004 Elantra GLS - and I am very pleased. I prefer to drive a car for many years (I drove my last one for just over 10 years) so choosing a new car took a bit of time to make sure I got something I would be happy with way down the road. The Elantra offered the best value: low cost, well built, sufficient fun-factor, good fuel economy, and a LONG warranty. Since I plan to keep this for at least 10 years, resale is irrelevant.

• 

  Great Bargain - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By JohnMi - October 17 - 10:00 am

  Great price, has all the features as the more expensive cars. Runs great, have averaged 24 MPG in the city. Have not taken it to the country yet. Has the big car feeling when on the road. Looks good, drives good has plenty of features.

• 

  Radio gave way - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By nonnocere - October 17 - 10:00 am

  Just bought my Sonata a week ago. LX with all the works including moonroof, homelink. Hadnt driven it only even 100 miles when the radio went out. Radio fuse was intact. Took it dealer, theyre replacing the entire radio, well see if it causes me more problems. The ride, however, is superb, and overall am very happy with the puchase. Good acceleration. Quiet over NYC potholes.

• 

  Decent car but... - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Chris - October 17 - 6:00 am

  I am the original owner, purchasing the vehicle (rated 18mpg City/22 Hwy) with 56 miles on the odometer. Ive never gotten more than 15mpg with it and usually around 12mpg is more accurate. Ive taken it into the dealer where I bought it several times only to be told theres nothing wrong with it. Several bulbs burned out the first year. All in all its been a decent car albeit it way underpowered. It took winter/snowy driving in Quebec, CA without a hitch but even with new tires, in the rain it feels uneasy. I cant say Id buy another Santa Fe but Hyundai does a good job for the money.

• 

  Bang For Buck - 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Dale Cummings - October 17 - 12:13 am

  The Tiburon SE is alot of car for the money(ESC,TCM,Sport tuned suspention, which gives it a much better ride than the GT). I drove all the Tibs and the SE gets 4 stars in the fun factor. I was looking at the 350Z but didnt want to pay another 7-10K more for a car that seemed to handle the same as the SE. And storage was an issue too. 14.5 cubic feet in the back, plenty of room for a week on the road. Its not the fastest car in its price range, but it looks and feels like a sports car. In world of boring bubble cars this little hot rod stands out in the crowd.

• 

  Excellent value, very reliable - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By 505danielm - October 16 - 6:57 pm

  This has been an excellent car, the price and warranty are what got us looking at it initially. Weve never owned an import before, but now Id definitely buy another Hyundai. We get 32-34 mpg in town, 40+ hwy. Gasoline with very high ethanol content does reduce MPG somewhat, but it will do that on any car. The only expense other than regular maintenance items was a battery. Plenty of interior room, upholstery still looks like new. PW, PDL, A/C, power mirrors all standard. Dealership was very determined to keep customers satisfied. We are very pleased with our Hyundai.