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:

• 

  Original Owner, finally got it correct - 2001 Hyundai XG300
  By KD - January 19 - 2:33 am

  Original owner. Purchased for warranty. Thank God. First 72K Hyundai covered new Trans., rear struts, 3 radios and many, many sensors. After warrentee, found if you replace all 3 coils at once, and the air mass flow sensor, $800 total, she has been running extremely well for the last 40K. Have 135K on it now (8/2/09) getting 26 to 27 mpg w/o AC and 23.5 to 25 w/ AC. Find it comfortable for a 64 long legged guy. Overall good car because of warrentee and loaners from dealer.

• 

  07 Entourage - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By GWinVan - January 12 - 12:52 am

  Had the Entourage for 5 months now and am pretty happy with it. The bad is definitely gas mileage - absolutely horrendous (not even close to my V6 Tacoma). I have had minor problems with the TPMS (misread in cold temp), and a sliding door that doesnt close about 5% of the time without retrying. Otherwise, the van has been great. I find the quality above average, the engine sure has some pep and the exterior styling is decent (similar to Odyssey). I would recommend this car to someone who is planning on driving the car for years as no doubt its resale value will not be that of Honda, Toyota, Nissan etc.

• 

  Piece of junk - 2001 Hyundai Accent
  By jeremy - January 6 - 1:42 am

  I have had this car for a year and a half and have at best put 5000 miles on it. I have had to replace 02, mass-air intake, and tps sensors, a lifter, and now the timing belt went out with possible valve damage or some bent rods (still yet to be determined). Ive decided to just get rid of this car and not bother fixing it anymore. It seems that the check engine light was always on. Stay away from this car, it gave me nothing but problems.

• 

  Needs Improvement - 2012 Hyundai Sonata
  By ems1 - January 4 - 11:28 am

  I bought the car because I thought it was a good value for the money. There are a lot of great features even in the base model. Steering problems and poor paint along with the dealers inability to fix the problems make this car unacceptable. If you are thinking of buying one, go over everything like you would if you were buying a used car. Quality control is not where it should be. Be sure do do a long test drive and look for steering problems, especially right or left pull.

• 

  No! - 2001 Hyundai Sonata
  By Todd - January 3 - 4:13 pm

  Get something else. Not reliable - needed new door locks TWICE, water pump, exhaust. Now the mechanic says it needs a new engine. I have no pressure in one of the cylinders. Airbag light is on, dealer cant fix it. Cruise control doesnt work. Stock CD player wouldnt eject anymore and had to be replaced. Transmission searches for correct gear on the slightest of hills. Headlights burn out every 2 months (yes, I am installing them correctly without touching the glass). Car now has a very loud squealing noise when turning the wheel in a parking lot. Traded it in for a Civic today.

• 

  Beware of Hyundai - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By Tom Larson - January 3 - 10:00 am

  I would STRONGLY advise against purchasing a Hyundai. I purchased a new 2003 Elantra hatchback last July, and 18,000 miles later, the clutch failed. I was just informed by the dealership the clutch is NOT covered by the warranty, and Ill have to shell out $900 to get it fixed. Ive been driving other various manual transmission cars for 20 years with no problems. The Hyundai is a poorly made vehicle, and the much vaunted warranty is total sham, if not fraudulent. Again, I would stay away from Hyundai!

• 

  Bad Gas - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Diane - December 20 - 4:26 pm

  I lost my Santa Fe due to an accident where it was totaled. I then purchased the new Tucson. While it was a great car to drive, roomy and easy to park,the gas milage was intolarable. I was only getting 13 mpg, That was not acceptable so I traded it in for the Elanta. Much better gas milage but i was my Santa Fe back

• 

  disheartened - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By disappointed - December 18 - 7:58 am

  The car was taken back to the dealership within 24 hours for problems. Currently on 4th set of tires within 3 years. Emergency brake locks in cold weather and wears down tires (been towed several times). Maker doesnt take blame, rather passes the buck. Solutions are not guaranteed that problems are fixed, yet my wallet takes the brunt. Dealerships report that my problem is not a warranty issue. Frustrated!

• 

  Nice at first-now the worst purchase ever - 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By cofun74 - December 7 - 3:45 am

  I bought the Santa Fe in April of 2013. I put a lot of miles on my vehicle with highway travel back and forth to work and driving my child to her activities. Currently my vehicle has 40,000 in October of 2014. I really enjoyed the vehicle at first, until the funny clunking sound started in the front end while starting off from a complete stop. After my Hyundai ceritifed service department at Bob Brady Dodge proceded to tell me nothing was wrong with my vehicle and that they had driven it 10 miles, although the odometer had the same mileage as when it was dropped off. When the service guy rode with me he did confirm it didnt sound right, although they convinced me it was just the AWD.

• 

  Other than the odometer LCD... - 2012 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By JT - November 17 - 7:58 am

  Im happy enough with my 2012 Hyundai Elantra Touring GLS, except for having to repeatedly replace the odometer/trip LCD. I think Im on my third replacement. I have 13K on it (each replacement odometer LCD is set at "0" miles), and this one is now starting to go. Once it goes bad it can only be read in the morning. After the car sits in the sun all day the odometer fades until it is unreadable. Other than that Im happy with the car.