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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  Best car Ive ever owned - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Chuck B. - January 12 - 2:00 am

  I am totally amazed by this car. It comes standard with pretty much everthing. Its fast, handles great with the standard Michelins, rides good, is quiet at highway speeds and I always get 30+ mpg. Im at 14,000 and the car has been flawless so far. Not so much as a squeak. The dealer and Hyundai have been great. I looked at Civics, Toyotas, the laughable Focus and many others and the Elantra is the deal of the decade. More room, more power, more features and I got it for under $12,000. I drove Saabs for years but got tired of all the expensive repair bills. The Hyundai costs less than half as much and doesnt drive that much different.

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  Best car ever - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Degerdi - January 11 - 9:43 pm

  Ive had my car for a few weeks now so dont take my word for reliability but this car is amazing

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  Best Kept Secret - 2009 Hyundai Genesis
  By Best Kept Secret - January 11 - 1:20 pm

  The Genesis 3.8 V6 is the Best Kept Secret in the luxury car lane ... but undoubtedly not for long! Leased my new black, premium-plus pkg Genesis about 3 weeks ago after my usual exhaustive, but comprehensive research. Every aspect of the cars looks and performance has met or exceeded my expectations; in short, this is honestly not another car on the road I would covet over my Genesis! The power train is silky smooth, tons of acceleration power on demand, smooth transmission with super-powerful, turbo- level boost in manual shift mode when entering onto highway ramp or pulling out into fast oncoming traffic. Lines of the car are the envy of every co-worker and valet whos seen it

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  Awesome Car - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By JC - January 10 - 12:46 pm

  Love the car. Love the price Better. Love the warrantee. Enough said.

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  Major Upgrade from Original Santa Fe - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By TomJ - January 10 - 12:10 pm

  Santa Fe has aggressively kept up with the competition. This is my third Santa Fe, and while I admired the original version (even the quirky styling), there is no question but that the new version is a significant improvement. I am amazed at how well- thought out it is, in general, through the superb use of materials to small details, such as the slight driver’s side tilt to the center console stack. Look and “tactile” feel (other than a few too many hard surfaces) is very up-scale; I even find the firm seats “just right.” Power is ample and smooth, and the base stereo works well. Bravo Hyundai!

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  great car for the money - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By tony - January 9 - 4:00 am

  this car is good looking and well built.ride is similiar to my cadillac. actually has some better features than the cadillac such as adjustable foot pedals and foldback outside mirrors. quite impressive for a$30,000 car.

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  incredable car for thousands less ! - 2006 Hyundai Accent
  By mike - January 8 - 9:17 pm

  this car does everything you could ask it to, never breaks, doesent complain and cruises at 80 getting 28mpg. (I live in Utah) Its not fancy, but it comes with everything standard. It is highly recommended by me. Also my Neighbor bought one and so did his sister after driving ours, They also are very pleased. I am glad I didnt buy the Toyota or Honda. The money I saved buys me gas for a few years!

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  fantastic - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By thrilled - January 8 - 11:51 am

  we took a 10000 mi cross country trip, what a great experience driving the entourage through 18 national parks

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  Hyundai Takes no Prisoners - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By RW - January 8 - 10:50 am

  I have owned the Azera for one month, and driving it has been a pleasure. It performs smoothly and is extremely responsive, It is not a sporty car in that its suspension is not tuned for sharp turns. It performs more along the lines of a touring car. Curiously men seem to appreciate the cars elegance, while most women are lukewarm to it initially. There is a lot of brand snobbery, yet I think anyone who experiences this vehicle should have no problem seeing that this car is on par with the Avalon, Passat, Lucerne, maxima, and ES330. Hopefully time will prove this to be one of the better cars on the road today.

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  Review - 2016 Hyundai Sonata
  By Amy Thibaudeau - January 8 - 5:23 am