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:

• 

  great car,great value, but kind of defenseless front fiberglass... - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By coloradoguy3 - July 22 - 6:26 am

  Really like the value and good MPG, electric heated seats!. Handles well on snow! Seats are comfortable for 6ft and over. Lots of pluses, lots of extras for great price!

• 

  Owners Manual Inaccurate - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By 1st Hyundai - July 21 - 10:43 pm

  The automobile has nice appointments for a car in this price range. The interior looks as good as any premium auto I have seen. The care drives capably, but does not have a very sporting character. I wish the suspension was a bit tighter. My biggest problem to date is the ambiguous owners manual. It states in the manual that the outside mirrors should automatically drop when the car is placed in reverse. The dealer told me the manual has a misprint. Part of the reason I bought the car was for this feature. This disappoints me, because no one at Hyundai can tell me why this is the case. I believe this should have been included in the features on the car, but due to budget was delet

• 

  2008 veracruz - 2008 Hyundai Veracruz
  By andy - July 16 - 7:03 am

  Traded in a Tucson for the Veracruz. Have been happy with the size and 3rd row seats. A bit disappointed however by the power train. Its a dog to get moving from a stop which can be a problem in sticky situations. Transmission also gets confused as to when to shift and the engine can easily overpower the tranny before it shifts, better to do the manual shift. Fuel economy is not bad but could be a bit better. Have had a few qc issues. Car was sold with a bad tire and or rim, the rear quarter fills with water from the rear ac unit and both under mirror lights have popped out ..

• 

  Cheap tires - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By rose - July 14 - 5:23 pm

  I am writing to warn others. I have 28,600 miles on my original tires and had to be replaced today. I am disappointed in the quality of the tires on this vehicle and live and learn, I will look into this the next time I buy a car. So buyer be ware! If they are under warranty, I bet I would play ---- getting anything out of the company. I have read other reviews about this and now I can confirm it.

• 

  Best Value For the Cost - 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By spbinmb - July 13 - 12:53 pm

  We purchased a new Santa Fe late in September paying 31.5k all in no financing. The owner of the dealership is also the manager, and offered to trade it in at the same value in two years. Weve put about 2500 km on, about half winter driving with icy roads - the traction control and AWD is excellent. The defrost takes about 5 minutes to clear the windshield, same for rear and mirrors. Heated seats take less, and are wonderful when coming out of -30c. Road noise is minimal, visibility is good. No mechanical issues to date - when we took possession of the vehicle the turn signal was a little sticky; it didnt pop back into position automatically. After a week of use that cleared up

• 

  I love my tiburon - 2000 Hyundai Tiburon
  By blaze10729 - July 6 - 2:28 pm

  I love my tiburon and i am the third owner of what i know of and yes it has had its problems but what i do know of that the car was beat when it was first bought so the transmission went out at 122k miles and a bunch of other stuff now that those are problems are fixed it runs just like it is new besides that it needs a few things but overall i do love this car but i do wish it had more power that thats ok

• 

  Great first car! - 2008 Hyundai Tiburon
  By jmitchellw - July 5 - 10:16 pm

  Wonderfully fun yet underpowered and numb. Radiator went out after 5 years.

• 

  Impressed - 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By JM - July 5 - 7:58 am

  Went from a Genesis Coupe to the 2016 Sonata Hybrid SE. The Sonata has a lot of nice features and it is very quiet, we call it the golf cart since in EV mode its really quiet. Measuring gas mileage the old fashioned way; miles vs gallons pumped, my first tank gave me mixed driving 42.2 MPG. My mixed driving is back roads, towns and I-95 traffic moving at just under NASCAR speeds with AC all the way. Daily drives using the computer, I have seen everything from 36 - 89 MPG at shut off. The car shifts smooth and you may not know if you are on battery or gas unless you look at your gauges. The car has three driving modes; eco, regular, sport and you can feel real differences in all of them. On another note this car gets the same gas mileage as my motorcycle ....

• 

  5 years of ownership - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Rick - July 3 - 7:10 pm

  This car is definately fun to drive. The 6speed manual is a lot of fun, but the clutch is lousy. The first one was worn out at 24000 miles. (Not under warranty and cost $1900.00 to replace. The 2nd clutch went due to the throw-out bearing breaking (67k) again $1900.00. The Michelon Pilots that come with the car are for summer only, useless in the winter. If you want performance, handling, low road noise and great trad-life, try the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions. They are unbelieveable. The Continental Conti-Extreme Contacts do last and handle well, but do have a lot of road noise.

• 

  Great Starter SUV - 2007 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Kroz - July 1 - 1:23 pm

  I drove about 7 vehicles from my list (I did some homework before shopping) and kept coming back to the Tucson. It had everything I wanted. It was small, stylish and plenty of get up and go. I drove the 4cyl and 6cyl versions. I lucked into a sweetheart of a deal on a 2007 Limited. It has all the bells and whistles I could ever want. If youre considering an SUV, do not write the Tucson off just because its a "Hyundai." Its the smoothest riding, zippy, most fun to drive car Ive ever had. My only bad thing to say is if youre concerned about todays gas prices, this is not your car. I average 18.6--which is good compared to sticker--but at $4 gallon...