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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  Worst vehicle Ive ever owned - 2007 Hyundai Veracruz
  By der3156 - July 4 - 1:33 am

  Since day one when it was delivered to me I have had transmission problems! For almost 3 years it has been back and forth to three different dealers. Nobody can stop the vehicles from downshifting when braking and making a loud clunking noise. Meet with Factory Rep. tomorrow. Have contacted state consumer folks and this vehicle DOES qualify as a "Lemon". If necessary, I will force dealer to take it back. Stay away from Hyundai. It has taken me this long to get a 2nd meeting with the factory Representative.

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  Make up for the low price in repairs - 1997 Hyundai Sonata
  By Leeann - June 3 - 2:00 am

  I bought my Sonata used a couple years ago. It ran fine for about six months. When it hit 100,000 it fell apart. Ive had it in the shop about twice a month for the last year and a half. It has been one headache after another. I would recommend that you not touch this car with a 10-foot pole.

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  More problems than all cars ever owned - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Hyundai is Bad - May 14 - 7:30 am

  I bought a 2009 Sonata GLS 5m, and have had more problems with this car than all of my owned cars combined. Since the first week I have had problems hyundai has continually been lost in diagnosing the problems. The vehicle has been in the shop for almost 80 days with the following problems. Mis-fire codes - 5 times with no resolution. Blown Hydraulics - 4 times (clutch) Suspension is very noisy over bumps. Cruise control intermittently fails. Brake pedal fades to the floor and hissing. Exhaust rattles and is noisy under acceleration. Instrument cluster became unreadable. Drivers seat cushion failed and metal parts are hitting body. Spongy drivability when its hot, rattles all over

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  Only if hell freezes over - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By wv driver - May 8 - 6:53 am

  Only if hell freezes over will I ever buy another Hyundai. I purchased this vehicle new and the sales person knew that my work required a lot of travel. I bought it and like most people it was for the warranty, However I have learned buyer beware on that. the Maintenance schedule and cost are ridiculous, the mpg sucks. I have had to purchase two sets of tires because of wear, alignments were done each time. the ESP Light comes on and goes off whenever it likes, none of the Hyundai mechanics can seem to figure it out. the car has spent more time in the garage than on the road in my book. and hyundia usa customer service likes to pass the buck whenever possible.

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  28K brakes and bad engine sensors - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By ronwizbot - May 7 - 2:00 am

  I experienced 2 bad "Check Engine" sensors and the brakes wore out prematurely at only 28K miles. The 10/100000 warranty is fine, but my local dealers are sub par so I had to take the vehicle to dealers that are further from home. One of these other dealers recognized the sensor failures and fixed them and recognized the brake problems. I got after market brake pads from another company because I didnt trust the Hyundai brake pads. It lacks power with the 2.7 liter V6 engine. The cobalt-blue paint has a high chip rate.

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  Dead car in middle of freeway - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By woman - April 24 - 6:56 am

  A few days ago my car lost all power while driving on the freeway at night. The car has been acting up now for about 5 months, maybe more. while driving, sometimes, with my foot on the accelerator the car looses all RPM then after about three seconds it comes back to normal. It happens all over, on the freeway to neighborhoods at 10 miles an hour. But A few days ago at night the car did its no RPM thing then died. all lights turned on. And now, two mechanics shops cannot tell what is wrong with it. (one had a reading about transmission) but then the transmission place cant get the same reading.

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  Broke down on me a lot! - 1999 Hyundai Elantra
  By Lexas_p - April 21 - 2:00 am

  I can never trust this car. Every morning I get in it...I wonder if Im going to make it to work.

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  Should have had me at hello. - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By M. Fitzgerald - April 19 - 10:58 pm

  The looks are what get you to the dealership right? In its market space, the redesigned Tucson is sleeker than everything else. The exterior looks futuristic without being over the top. The interior is wonderfully laid out and minus being unable to get my seat JUST right (the headrests are simply odd) and maybe a few too many blind spots, it is knockdown awesome. But then you drive it. During the test drive you can feel a bit of sluggishness coming off the line, and you are reminded by the salesperson that this car comes with a fancy "dual clutch transmission". So you think, "well, brand new car, probably something I can get used to". But you cant get used to it. You cant get used to driving a stick without it being a stick. You cannot get used to the rules having a dual clutch transmission comes with ("dont creep up on the car in front of you in traffic, wait until there is some space and then pull forward". Seriously?). But you bought it and you just think that over time everything will be ok. And then comes the gear stalls. When you are in first gear and the DCT doesnt engage second gear, but the computer thinks it did so now your in some odd wonderland between first and second, sort of gliding (or stalling is more like it). And if you stomp on the accelerator, nothing happens....youve got to "tap, tap tap" the gas pedal and get third gear to engaged. And after you shut the car off for a bit and come back, its like nothing ever happened and the dealership just claims ignorance. Its really unfortunate to lose as much money as I will when I offload this and go to something else, but I feel less and less safe every time I drive it.

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  ??? - 2000 Hyundai Sonata
  By deedirt - March 23 - 2:00 am

  after 28000 miles a new transmission was put in. many problems relating to trans. now it approaching 40000 miles is showing agian signs of another trans. electrial problems also was about 25000 miles. over all very dissatified with this car. bought it for the warrenty and plan of getting rid of it before it is up.

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  Hyundai Sonata Hybrid... Deceptive Advertisement - 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By James - March 3 - 9:54 pm

  Im another victim of Hyundais deceptive advertising practices. Their advertised mileage was so far from from the truth and actual mileage (city & highway) that Im embarrassed to own one. However, Im happy to inform others of how unhappy I am with my so called economical hybrid to prevent them from buying a LIE. My car looks nice, but thats the only nice comment I have about it... the transmission shifts very hard and the engine is extremely slow to accelerate, especially when you need that little boost of power to enter a highway. Steering is too sensitive and you feel every little bump in the road. Please learn from my mistake and keep searching for your next vehicle. I thought that I had done my homework, but I was mislead by the far fetched mileage advertised on the new car window sticker... I will NEVER buy another vehicle from this auto manufacturer.