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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  Worse car Ive ever owned - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By velo_owner12 - February 16 - 4:48 pm

  After owning many Nissans, I switched over to Hyundai because I heard how great their warranty program was. What a mistake. The 2012 Veloster was the worst car I have ever owned. The low profile tires are worthless, constantly blowing out. There is no spare but you can buy one for $275.00. Hyundai lied about the gas mileage. Hyundai refused to provide a spare tire. I could not sell that car fast enough. I know someone with the exact car that needed a transmission after 15K miles. At least that was covered. The six tires that needed to be replaced werent. Would never buy another Hyundai again.

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  steering problem! - 2013 Hyundai Sonata
  By ni55 - February 8 - 3:29 am

  when I first got the car I loved it. that was before I went on the highway. on the highway the car is dangerous!! not safe! steering is very sensitive and it is hard to keep the car in the lane. bad design and im very surprised that no one crushed this car on the highway yes and there is not a recall. after I discover the problem I called the sales person and she told me that it is normal, bc of the electric steering power...what kind of nonsenses is this? I drove Hondas for the last 15 years but fell in love with this car on the test drive and the price was great. so for now I will say. great city car and thats it!!

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  5 speed Transmission - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By HC - February 1 - 2:00 am

  Im less than impressed with the shifting, especially from 1st gear to second. It is not precise and hesitates before shifting. Dealer said this is normal for this car.

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  Very reliable - 1995 Hyundai Elantra
  By draven1972 - January 31 - 4:41 pm

  Very good car bought for reasnable price $500 very little maintnence, brake pads battery and a altinator is all Ive had to put in. gets 20mpg 3 interior door handles broke, trans shifts a little hard down at stoplights but not always. good power (enought to smoke the tires lol) comfy interior (exept door handles ) good factory stereo. good looks in my opinion. very good highway manners. no problem keeping up with traffic. lots of trunk room. i like this little car alot it has grown on me.

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  NOT IMPRESSED with my Santa Fe - 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By taryn23 - January 30 - 4:03 am

  I am pretty disappointed with the Santa Fe I bought, I am 21 and I bought myself a brand new vehicle and what do you know less then 4000km on it the sun roof breaks. I live 4hours away from the nearest Hyundai dealership!! They told me I was not allowed to get it fixed by any local mechanics so I had to spend literally hundreds of dollars on this piece of crap vehicle travelling almost every other week to try and get it fixed all this money is coming out of MY pocket. At about 120km/hr it starts to vibrate like crazy on the highway. Never again will I buy a Hyundai. Ill stick with Toyota from now on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  Worst car Ive ever owned - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Randon - January 29 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car brand new with all the options, high spoiler etc. I took extremely good care of the car and really babied it. I loved the look of this car, but had a lot of trouble with the electric windows. I tried to lemon law the car on two occasions. Even the clutch had to be replaced at 12,000 miles. Im currently in a class action law suit over the issue. You couldnt pay me enough to own another Hyundai.

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  So-so - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By Jordan - January 25 - 12:16 pm

  I bought the Elantra used, though only 1 year old several years back. I just traded it in for a Kia a few weeks ago. I was surprised to find it used a lot more gas then I expected for such a light vehicle. Overall it was reliable, it ran fine when traded in and major problems never seemed to crop up. But minor things kept breaking like power windows, dash lights shorted out, dash clock shorted out, cd player broke, and the CV joints (not covered under mfg warranty) kept going even when I was careful about my driving. The interior design was nice, everything was easy to find and use, important in an emergency or when first driving a new vehicle. Outside it looked nice for a wagon.

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  The First New Car - 2005 Hyundai Accent
  By Aimee - January 16 - 12:00 pm

  Well I guess this is a decent first car for someone but it has its drawbacks. The backseat is pretty small. The front may feel a bit cramped for larger people. The gas milage is only good if you never leave the highway. Hopefully we will figure out why but so far we avg. just under 20mpg. Thats about the only downfall to the vehicle also no abs brakes.

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  Good, until crash - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Em - January 9 - 1:28 am

  The car was given to me by my father. The car drove exceptionally well. The only complaint he and I had was the lowness of the drivers seat which getting out of every day led to bad backs. Unfortunately, I had an accident, in a frontal crash, where the Elantra ended in disaster and was totalled. I hope the 2005/2006 models are improved in safety.

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  miss my subaru - 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT
  By ecormack - December 30 - 6:50 am

  very disappointed in my gas milage. Best Ive gotten is 27mpg. My subaru with all wheel drive got that. I should have gotten something different