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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  Service concern - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By CandieUPS - March 11 - 10:00 am

  I have had to sevice the check engine light 8 times in less than a year..Since there is an excellent warranty for Hyundais, I have no expense but my time and effort without my vehicle during these service times is almost not worth having the Santa Fe. I bought my Santa Ff for $22,000 at 459 $ payments

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  into 9 months - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Ross - March 11 - 7:31 am

  Had dodge and vw minivans before, this is the best one. Great size, best pick up and comfort. At 6ft4 Im most relaxed on long drives. Cargo is more than adequate. I just wish the mpg was higher they had gps standard.

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  great - 2008 Hyundai Azera
  By betch - March 10 - 7:29 pm

  This car has power for a 3.3 liter 234 hp engine. It pulls very easy and easy to spin its tires. Got 2 speeding tickets on a freeway going 110mph because it is so quiet in the car. Love pearl white paint and beige inside. My dad wasnt too pleased that i got this because he knows that i would fly in it. Wheels could be bigger. Never thought i would want a Hyundai.

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  Loving it - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By loving it - March 10 - 2:36 pm

  We just picked up the car last Thursday. And it is so awesome!! We are normally German car drivers but we had to get, we never in a million years thought we would own a Hyundai but this car is a lot of car for the price. We also test drove the Genesis, and we are going to buy one of those next!

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  Dont look any others - 2007 Hyundai Azera
  By springers - March 10 - 1:53 am

  Our other car is Mercedes, and my previous one that I traded for Azera is Saab 9-5 Aero (v6) sport wagon. Its like Mercedes in terms of handling, Quitness, and elegant interior design. I bought Powder Peral White and Beige interior. I tested all other Lexus, Cadillac,Infinity, Acura. I ended up with Azera. The value is unbelievable. I love it......

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  XG350GREAT - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By JACKIE WALTON - March 9 - 10:00 am

  I HAVE HAD MY XG FOR ABOUT 7-8 MONTHS AND LOVE IT MORE THAN ANY CAR I HAVE EVER DRIVEN AND OR OWNED.THE RIDE IS E VEN BETTER THAN MY LINCONS I HAVE HAD.I WILL STAY WITH HYUNDAI PRODUCTS FROM HERE ON OUT

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  This one REALLY Out Performs all others - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jack - March 9 - 9:33 am

  It is the best car I ever tested for its price range. I realized its built quality is far superior to Honda or Toyota especially the materials used. I thought I was sitting on an Audi. Love its quiet ride!!!!

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  Better value than you think! - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Norbert Bruns - March 9 - 8:46 am

  If you cant afford the Audis, BMWs Volvos, Toyotas etc... This is the next best thing! A must test drive if you plan on purchasing a Sedan. Great features that are included with the vehicle. It would be hard for me to believe this car does not receive some consideration for either car or value of the year award.

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  Drive it like you would on your test drive! - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Rusty_Blades - March 9 - 5:27 am

  On your test drive do all the things you would during your normal driving... punch it, test all the modes, parallel park it. I wish i would have done that as it has some strange things that it will do on its own.... from a dead stop the rpms will drop when you are on the brake and when you let off alittle bit the rpms will jump and the car will lurch forward on its own making it very hard to park in a tight spot....i have a small garage and have to inch in and it always almost hits my other car in front....i hope this is a fixable issue as it very annoying....has alot of turbo lag and seems confused as how to shift off the line or when you need to overtake someone on the freeway.....seems like i have to drive around the quarks that it has and so far have not be able to get used to them because it is so random....maybe its just the one i have but after reading the other reviews it seems that alot of other people are experiencing the same issues....other than that its a sexy style and has alot of potential....hopefully for me this will be fixable with Hyundai....because accelerating on its own is not safe!!....will update if it is fixable or not..... UPDATE... well after seeing the dealer and doing the Ecu update and talking to the tech....this is just the nature of the dual clutch transmission....think of it as if you were driving a stick and had to use a clutch...it does this automatically from a dead stop to a slow roll and will cause it to have a pause during a hard acceleration .....WISH they would have told me this during my test drive!!...which is hard to tell during normal driving until you have to park or coast really slow.....so we are going to have to just deal with it....ill be surely getting rid of this tucson as quickly as a option comes my way....good luck everybody....

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  2007 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited 4dr SUV AW - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Adaline - March 8 - 1:40 pm

  This is the best of the best SUV in the world...I love my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited 4dr SUV AW. It is in the shop getting fixed for the fuel sensor it went bad and fog lights go out, but I miss my SUV. I had a sonata 2001 Hyundai now my son drives it. My next SUV will be another Hyundai. Love them. Oh, and I would love to give a shout- out to the Ontario service department. They are the best service in the world!