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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  Nine years and 150,000 miles later..... - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By cshaw22 - April 2 - 6:16 pm

  I bought my Santa Fe new in 2004. After 150,000 miles, it has spent more time broken than any car I have ever owned. Since new we have replaced the crank sensor 6 times, the throw-out bearing grenaded taking the clutch with it, the radiator disintegrated, the cat converter burned out, the power steering pump shaft broke, etc,etc. The tranny has been solid as many times I was able to restart by downshifting and popping the clutch which made the tranny scream but got me to the house. I bought an extended warranty which paid for itself many times over. It rides and drives great but breaks down too often. No longer my daily driver, but still my beater as it hauls a lot of stuff, when it runs.

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  Better choices out there - 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By sunstormreview - March 27 - 10:45 am

  Never owned a Hyundai product, I was smitten by the high style high feature content at a competitive price. My first Santa fe was so riddled with problems Hyundai gave me another. The second has less than half the problems as the first with one common issue that botheres me most, the vehicle randomly shuts off! This has only happend four times in 9 months but its very serious problem in my opinion. Its very random- the suv loses all power and just stops, it restarts straight away. So far two dealers cannot figure it out. My other two gripes are terrible fuel economy, and interior rattles. Overall Im much less than happy here. There are other owners who feel the same way Ive spoke to.

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  BEWARE....FALLING APART - 2003 Hyundai Sonata
  By Lori - March 19 - 7:32 pm

  Beware...this car is falling apart. Im reading all of the reviews and how happy owners are about their Sonatas. I am extremely UNHAPPY. I just took it into the dealer and it will cost me approximately $2000 to repair. The airbag light wont go off and cost $481 to fix-not covered under warranty. How is a safety device not covered under warrenty? They said theyare not sure why a belt is making all of this noise but they will have to take the engine apart which with permission is oveer $280 and then I need to replace the timing belt and any other parts. They said they cant diagnose the problem without doing all of this work. I still owe $10000 on this piece of junk!

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  This car is a dog - 2005 Hyundai Sonata
  By Joe Doherty - March 19 - 10:56 am

  1- Dashboard hardware falls apart 2- Excessive tire wear even though dealer maintained - rotate and balanced. 31000 miles on car now and it is ready for tires 3- This is the third flat tire I have had 4- Windshield wiper mechanism fails often 5- For some reason tail lights burn out often, this is the second time. 6- Automatic side view mirrors do not operate well....they move but not enough. 7- I would not buy another Hyundai

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  Its OK - 2003 Hyundai Sonata
  By JY - March 15 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car because of the price. I personally prefer Japanses cars, but financial problems always happen to everyone, I believe. Compared to my old car, Nissan Sentra, its really not fun to drive. But it rides pretty smooth and pretty comfortable. BUT I would definitely go back to NISSAN!!! Just invest a couple of thousands more.

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  Somewhat Disappointed - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By Robert Goodwin - March 5 - 2:36 pm

  Very comfortable car with excellent vision and fantastic price & value. I average 18.5 MPH. I have experienced an oil leak and starter motor problems at 5000 miles. The dealship service has been excellent but did not expect these problems given the rave reviews by other owners.

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  2010 Santa Fe Lemon- - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By DA - February 22 - 2:00 am

  After great reviews I took a chance on a Hyundai Santa Fe 2010. Ran great until about 7000 miles. Thats when I noticed oil on my garage floor. Had the problem (timing chain cover)"fixed". Four days later it is leaking worse than ever. I cant wait to hear what the problem is this time. Also, intermittent transmission issues. Hyundai customer service no help yet. I will never buy a Hyundai again. I wish I would have done better research when I bought this vehicle. Please do yourself a favor if you are reading this review trying to decide on a purchase...do not buy a Hyundai. I fell like I threw $22000 out of the window and Im sure it wont last 100K. I should have bought a gm. :-(

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  Ripped Off - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By Joe - February 19 - 1:28 pm

  This car is awful. Radio reception is horrible. Interior has new squeaks & rattles every day. Replaced muffler at 10K miles. Had to replace rear brakes after 18K miles (all highway). Dealers said that was normal wear & tear. Parking brake freezes on cold days & causes rear end to vibrate above 40mph. Called dealer twice about it & he said it was normal. Averaging only 29 MPG driving all highway miles with cruise control set at 70mph most of the time. Windshield wipers quit working one morning, then started working again on the afternoon drive home. Learned my lesson on this one. Ill never buy another Hyundai again. The car and dealer service are worse than I could ever have imagined.

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  Deadly DCT! - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By SusanInFL - February 13 - 10:05 pm

  I bought my 2016 1.6L Turbo DCT Tucson Limited w/ Ultimate package the night of May 16, 2016. First incident: within 300 miles, stepped on the gas pedal & it didnt move; kept stomping on the pedal; it finally lurched forward, into oncoming traffic, then didnt move; kept stomping; it jerkily and slowly starting lurching forward; the engine was revving high through all the gears, but it didnt "kick in" until about 5th gear. Second incident: backed out of my driveway and put the car in Drive; it revved through about 5 gears and hadnt moved yet. Third incident: stopped at a red light; light turned green and car wouldnt moved; shifted through all the gears (Park, Neutral, Reverse, Drive) about 6 times before it finally peeled out and sped through the intersection (sure am glad the light was still green, because I wasnt looking). Headed straight to dealership. They discharged the capacitor and "re-taught it the system". Mine was not the first Tucson brought back to the dealer. Thought I noticed a failure to accelerate within a day or two, but was confirmed when... Fourth incident: Turning left, after stopping at a Stop Sign; mid-turn an oncoming car was approaching rapidly so I stepped on the gas pedal; it revved over 4K RPMs, but didnt accelerator; oncoming car swerved to miss me; frightening as hell! My Tucson has been at the dealership since June 24th. Ive been told many stories: waiting on a back-ordered part; part due in 7/16/16; manufacturer instructed dealer not to install part because it isnt a "fix"; filed complaints at carcomplaints.com, NHTSA, Hyundai Corporate, and now here; as of yesterday (8/1/16), Ive been told a "fix" was discovered last Friday. Its supposedly going through the approval stages and should be disseminated to the dealerships within 2-3 weeks. I know I didnt get to drive my Tucson for very long, but, what I did have the opportunity to experience (interior, comfort, & technology) I fell in love with, or I would have gone through the Lemon Law and gotten rid of it. There was even talk of a "buy back", but I really wanted to wait for my Tucson. I dont have buyers remorse, I just have great disappointment that Hyundai sold me this 2016 Tucson in the first place, knowing they are death-traps that they cant keep on the road nor fix, and knowing they are releasing 2017s with the same faulty DCT. If there is not truly a remedy in the near future, I will be squeezing that Lemon.

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  Solid Value - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By Steve F. - February 10 - 9:42 am

  Bought my new 2006 Azera Limited several months ago. So far, build quality appears to be excellent. No major or minor quirks of any type. The 262-hp engine is fast, but with slight lag when hitting accelerator.