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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  I dont get Hyundai... - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By heather - April 7 - 4:56 am

  ...for making a car with this kind of transmission. I liked the Santa Fe until the experiences I have had with the transmission. It does ruin the driving experience. And to make matters worse, Hyundai service tells me nothing is wrong with it when there clearly is a problem. No transmission shifts like this. It clearly is slipping and it definitely does not help the poor gas mileage figures that the car already has.

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  Tuscon Regrets - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By LAM - April 6 - 6:46 pm

  Very dissapointing gas mileage, not 22 MPG as quoted, more like 17 MPG. Engine performance leave much to be desired, always doggin. This vehicle did not hold its value, purchased at $18,7k, at trade only worth 10k (and I shopped it around)!

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  What a piece of $@*# !!!!!!! - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By SH - April 6 - 2:00 am

  Four months after purchase: rattling noises, lost a lot of pick-up, and car kicking when going past 30mph. Dealer determined: "all components are functioning to factory standards." Brought car back 5 times and not fixed. Two weeks ago, car lost more pick-up, rattling strongly when in idle, lost almost all power going from 45 to 60mph. Went to my mechanic and asked him to check out. Mechanic asessed that there is something wrong with the fuel injectors and the trans and the air filtering system is not functioning properly (water seeping in). Well see what the dealership says to that!

• 

  *** - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By marcy - April 2 - 10:00 am

  auto has had many repairs (under warranty), but still have had to go into the dealer to have the reapirs done and it take the servic department several hours at a time. I would never recommend this car to anyone. Save yourself the trouble.

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  Accent - you get what you pay for. - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By Merrill - April 1 - 2:00 am

  The clutch needs to be replaced with only 19,500 miles

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  A regret customer - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By dolphin39 - March 27 - 5:22 pm

  I am blaiming myself for buying a Hyundai vechnicle. Needless to say the bad transmission and poor mileage that a lot of customers having on this forum, my less than one year old 2010 Sante Fe refuse to start one night, and put me into a cold night waiting for more than 2 hours to have their 24 hr road side assitance to tow my car to a nearest dealship. On the way, the tow truck guy of CAA telling me that he had been faced the same problem lately and feel sorry for me to have a Hynduai with such a nonreliable quality and poor service. So my advice for everyone who intend to buy a Hyundai vechnicle: Look somewhere else and stay away of it!

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  Buyer Beware - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By madnmas1 - March 23 - 6:50 am

  My husband bought the Veloster in 2012. He needed a car that had good gas mileage but with a somewhat sporty look. To give you an idea, next month will be a year and it already has 25k miles on it. Long story short within one week the car died, antifreeze everywhere, and they had to replace the gasket. It started shaking real bad and Hyundai did not want to let us trade it in. We went the BBB route and did not win. Took it in recently for FOUR recalls..the sunroof is known to shatter at high way speeds, the rear calibers had to be replaced and were a safety issue, the mileage was misadvertised and now we get a refund check for mileage every so often Buyer Beware. Run as fast as you can.

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  Very Disappointed - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By j_m_m - March 14 - 7:39 pm

  I was very disappointed with the Sonata Hybrid. They advertise 40 mph highway, but I get about 32; the internal computer says I get about 35, though. When I asked about the discrepancy between my actual fuel consumption and the sumputers estimate, the dearship told me the computer was more accurate than the actual (not sure how thats possible). The interior is also very constrictive and not comfortable for anyone over 6 for anything more than about 30 minutes. The electric motor is very weak, only operating up until about 10 mph, and only kicking in after that during coasting. The accelerator is also very unresponsive, sometimes taking up to two seconds to kick in.

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  New Santa Fe problems - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By rick - March 5 - 2:00 am

  Car ride is ok but tires are noisy. AC unit goes out on hot humid days, dealer says cant replicate. Breaks squealed when new, deal said couldnt replicate. Major problem with transmission, auto trans. slips down shifting and upshifting between 20- 40 mph, bringing in next week, hoping dealer doesnt say cant replicate. Would never buy another Hyundai, will sell this one soon.

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  Basic transportation. - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By cabofriop - February 24 - 2:00 am

  After 25,000 miles the car developed too many squeaks and rattling from doors and seats. During acceleration, engine noise is very high. Extra gear and revised transmission are needed. Automatic transmission lacks finesse and does not compare to Honda Civics or Toyota Corollas. At speed does not corner well. Performance is OK, if prepared to high revving engine and increased (engine) noise. Disappointing fuel consumption for a 1.6 liter engine: did not exceed 33.60 miles/gallon even at 65 on major highways. In short: just basic transportation.