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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  Great value - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By chapelthrill23 - November 1 - 5:36 pm

  This is an excellent car for the money and shows just how far the economy game has advanced. It is not a sporty car to drive nor is it a smooth luxury ride but it does exactly what it is meant to do and that is to be an excellent commuter car. It is spacious, comfortable, cheap to buy, has features like XM and heated seats that are wonderful on the commute, and gets solid gas mileage. The interior and exterior styling are excellent. Reliability is something that is still tough to determine. Through 25,000 miles it has been good mechanically but there was an issue with a sunroof leak. Overall it has been a good choice and made a lot more sense than spending more on a Civic that had less stuff

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  Just bought a 2013 Azera - 2013 Hyundai Azera
  By omay - October 29 - 11:10 am

  Unbelievable value for the money. Love driving it, great bluetooth for phone and easy to use navigation. Comfortable leather seats, seats 5 confortably including tall adults in the back. Wish the steering wheel could come out a little but more (an extra inch would have been nice) Overal, great buy, great MPG with potent V6.

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  Glad I ditched the Fiesta! - 2012 Hyundai Accent
  By mechanic80 - October 29 - 10:02 am

  A basic hatchback that has an interior color other than black! Mine is a 6 speed, a real advantage with the relatively small 1.6 engine, but still quite gutsy! I drive almost exclusively highway miles between Albuquerque proper and the east mountains. 23 miles each way, and 43 MPG is my average with a high of 46.5 when I drive like a little old lady (NOT typically!) Convenient controls and placement thereof. A little buzzy but quite tolerable. Good road feel and great brakes. I enjoy throwing it around road curves. decent standard equipment and greatly improved safety over previous model.

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  Frustrated w/ 2012 Hyundai Elantra Limited - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By withpaul - October 28 - 3:27 am

  We bought the car in September 2011 (2012). The car is light blue, fun to drive as long as its working. Rear view camera quite often doesnt work when in reverse. Rear back panel under the windshield became sticky jelly so it was replaced but the shop messed up the glass under the tail light. The rear seat began to fail taking another 4 hours to replace. The steering wheel began to peel - within 6 months became a mess so it was replaced. Navigation system with voice as you all know is junk. Satellite Radio is ok. Bluetooth doesnt always work. Theres a tapping sound from the engine on start up and when freeway driving on cold days. Leaking oil from oil pan seal when only shop serviced.

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  Average vehicle - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By fshifteh - October 27 - 2:07 am

  I have had my Elantra for almost a year and 18000 miles into the service I am in a position to provide some feedback. As far as the gas mileage I am resigned to the fact that the vehicle is going to give me avearage 26-27 in mixed city/highway driving. At this time I have found a couple of things that are annoying and I wonder if other owners face the same issues: 1) When coming to stop the shifter gear makes a clicking noise. I have taken this to the dealer and they replaced the shifter solenoid but it hasnt entirely resolved it and I still get the noise most the time when the vehicle is coming to stop. Another issue is the clicking noise from front left tire when driving over certain bump

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  terrible ride - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By mesa2 - October 26 - 12:46 am

  I just traded in my Toyota Corolla on this Elantra, what a mistake! This is like riding in a bumpy truck, not a fun car to go for a relaxing ride. We feel every single crack in the road. On the freeway, it is not as bad but in city driving it is so miserable, no one likes riding with us anywhere. Not as good of gas mileage as our Corolla either. We have buyers remorse. We would rather stay home than have to drive this around town

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  40 MPG is disappointing - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By somms - October 19 - 10:10 am

  Bought this vehicle in August for its 40 mpg hiway rating as I travel 50 miles one way to work daily. I now have 3500 miles on this vehicle and the best fuel mileage I have gotton is 33.9 mpg traveling 65 mph on the hiway to and from work daily. With 9 fillups the mileage has ranged from 31.0 to 33.9 mpg. The dealership salesman has said that its not broken in yet and the mileage should get better as more miles are put on it. I have my doubts at this time that will happen. Other than the mileage issues, I have not had any other issues with this vehicle. It drives and handles beautifully.

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  20 Miles Per Gallon - For Real... - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By lisam6 - October 16 - 8:54 pm

  Do not buy this car if gas mileage is important to you. I have had this car for 4 months. I get only 20 miles to the gallon on city, flat road driving. Disaster.

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  Excellent Car - 2008 Hyundai Azera
  By dragonsol - October 16 - 6:17 pm

  A few month ago I have bought a used 2008 Hyundai Azera Limited (Canadian Edition) with 68,000km. Since then, I have driven about 10,000km and managed to get a consistent/avarage 28MPG (25MPG city and 30MPG highway). The car looks good, fun to drive, comfortable and no reliability problems whatsoever. I have purchased an aftermarket DVD/GPS unit with rear view camera to replace the factory radio, so now the vehicle is complete.

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  Great Vehicle with 1 real issue - 2013 Hyundai Accent
  By artco - October 10 - 1:21 pm

  I love my new 2013 Accent, it drives very nicely, though I prefer not to use the ECO button as suggested by the dealer, it losses too much power and reaction. MPG I am avereging 28-30 overall. It appears that the MPH indicator is way off since I have kept track of every mile and fuel fillup, When I show 30 miles to empty I can only add just over 9 gallons? the vehicle has 11 gallon tank? so really instead of reading 30 miles till empty it should show 80-90? After going below 30 the reading blanks out. Another major gripe is the lack of a spare tire and would you believe it no dealer or third party currently carries one? So get a real flat and your going to regret it. I added autostart