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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  PROBLEMS!!! - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Michael Cunningham - April 16 - 10:00 am

  Got a Hyundai Santa Fe , but now we regret our decision. We have had multiple problems w/ this vehicle, such as paint peeling, check engine light coming on, and a very loud wind noise from the roof of the vehicle. It has been in the shop for the wind noise over 20 times and still not fixed. It took 3 months to get the check engine light fixed. Paint peeling has been replaced 3 times.

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  Transmission Issues - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Carangelover - April 12 - 12:13 pm

  Brought brand new in Jan of 06. Car is has been fun to drive over the past 1.5 yrs but have had numerous problems with the car.BCM unit needed to be replaced, now transmission. Hyundai warranty will not cover much. Hyundai is refusing to fix my transmission because I upgraded the spark plugs and sparks plug wiring for the 30K service. They are considering the upgrade performance parts therefore voiding my warranty. I will not buy another Hyundai, if you paid me, they pulled the same thing on me when my clutch need replaced on my 03 Elantra after 12k miles.

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  bad value - 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By dalaska - April 9 - 2:55 am

  I own two 2011 santa fes and four 2005 santa fes..the maintenance costs for the 2011s are triple the 2005s for the first 35, 000 miles. I wish I had not purchased the 2011"s. I am really disspapointed after owning the 05"s. they went downhill...I have gone thru 4 front hub bearings, 3 lower ball joints, 2 tierod ends, 4 sway bar links, 3 power steering pumps in the 2011"s and it is still not over.

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  Overheats - 2017 Hyundai Elantra
  By Nick - April 7 - 10:18 pm

  Just drove the car out of the dealer 7 miles down the road the car over heated. The car is brand new 0 miles before I drove it out the dealer I check all fluids and light condition everything check ok. Car is too noisy,you can hear everything inside. 2006 had better noise cancellation than this car. The sit is not really comfortable to a big person. Other than that features are pretty nice for the price the car is worth.

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  The verdict is still out... - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By vtecman - April 1 - 9:38 pm

  I have 58,000 KM on my limited, so lets start with the good. The styling is beautiful. This vehicle is beautiful inside out. Hyundai has definitely changed their game to appeal to a wider base. The bad: - Mileage - Constantly between 11.6L/100km to 12.7 L/100km. Not a big fan. - Fan started making noise at 45000km. Dealer fixed. - Sunshade from sunroof opens partially every week. Dealer says its due to the vibration form the wheels. (What vibration?) - Rattle in trunk (Same reason as above apparently) - Bluetooth sounds muffled to receiving party (Seems fine to the dealer) - Oil changes every 6000 km (Is this car from the 80s?) Overall we will see if it goes downhill...

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  3 mph Fender Bender - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By CamsTransAm - March 29 - 2:19 am

  Anyone considering an Elantra should know this! I considered getting an Elantra because of all the airbags/safety. I ended up keeping my car, and glad I did. In January it snowed and I made it to my destination safe (wrecks everywhere) when I hit black ice turning into a parking lot and an Elantra was sitting there. I hit the Elantra going 3 mph and dinged the door HORRIBLY. NO damage to my car!!! she needed two new doors and a new hinge, this is a huge safety concern and should be taken into account. IÂ’ve seen other reviews with govÂ’t crash tests where the airbags did not deploy in time and did more damage than if they hadnÂ’t gone off at all. My wisdom, choose wisely, do ALOT of research.

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  Very disappointed!!! - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By Linda S. - March 21 - 2:31 pm

  In Feb. 2011 I bought my brand new Elantra. Had to have a dealer call me when one came in as they were selling like hot cakes and none of the dealers had one to even look at in San Diego. It was exciting to see such a beautifully designed car inside and out that would get 29/40 mpg. WOW! This would be only the 2nd "new" car Ive purchased and felt the mpg would make up a lot of the difference in the new car price. The car got 24 mpg! How disappointing. Took it to every Hyundai dealer in San Diego and no one could or would help me and gave me the run around telling me "the car needed a break in period that would finish about 7,500 miles. I called what I thought was the Hyundai Corp. and after two years realized I was calling a third party that is hired by Auto Manufacturers to take complaints, etc. Finally, I told them that Id heard them say "Im sorry" for the last time and would contact an attorney. Contacted a Lemon Law attorney and they couldnt help me as it wasnt an issue with a failing part on the car. To appease many disgruntled and lied to Elantra owners, Hyundai issued many gas cards that equaled a few cents per mile reimbursement for inflating the mpg the car would get. So, I had to go to the dealer, wait in the service dept. line to have someone check my milage, fill out a claim form and wait for the reimbursement card to arrive. Then, when I needed the card refilled had to go to the dealer again and have money added to the card. And very little money I might add. I liked everthing about my purchase except the mpg THAT WAS INFLATED BY 9 mpg and VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! I sold the car with 17,000 miles. It was covered under the warranty to replace the driver headlight where the plastic was peeling eling off. Dont think Ill ever buy another Korean car. It was a stressful, bad experience.

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  mpg - 2005 Hyundai XG350
  By enton - March 19 - 12:26 am

  terrible mpg. mine does 10 mpg city. trying to sell as soon as posible

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  WATCH OUT FOR WARRANTY - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By SUE - March 15 - 2:00 am

  5/60,000 LIMITED warranty is much more limited than indicated in Owners Handbook. Watch out for items not listed in WHATS NOT COVERED section. Very vague, states what most owners already know, they dont cover the basic normal replacement parts, brake pads, bulbs, fuses etc. What they dont tell you about is what is usually covered by other manufactures under a true BUMPER TO BUMBER format. Had Chevy bumper to bumper and it covered everything for advertised time/mileage. Also considered noisy and heavy engine vibration when put into gear "normal" engine performance.

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  You get what you pay for. - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By Gina - February 17 - 12:30 am

  I bought the GLS hatchback when my old Chevrolaet Cavalier was near its end (1990)158,000 miles. The GLS cost me 15,000 out the door. Well at first I thought I got a good car for a good price. I was so wrong. 4 days after I took delivery it died at a stop light. I called the dealer and they towed it to the shop. They told me the computor needed to be replaced. I got it back the and 1 week later it was dead in the morning, had it towed again. This time they blamed the mechanice for leaving a wire loose. The A/C stopped working on its 2nd use, they told me the fuse was blown and replaced that. Then a few weeks later when raing the wipers stopped working, again they said a fuse blew.