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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  Electrical problems??? - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By Laurie - July 27 - 6:56 am

  This car has had problems from the very beginning. A week after we bought it, my husband and I left the car parked in the garage while went on our annual week-long vacation. When we returned, I got in the car first thing Monday morning to go to work and it wouldnÂ’t start at all. Completely dead. (We had not even made a single payment at this point and the odometer read 400 miles, most of which were accrued when the car was shipped up from South Carolina for us.) I called the dealership and the Sales Manager told me that someone else had called previously about the trunk popping open..

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  Nothing Special - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By cubdust - July 26 - 6:45 pm

  I bought the Elantra GT used (45,000 miles) and have owned it for 4 months. Like every vehicle on the market, you truly get what you pay for. Its been very reliable in getting me from point A to point B, but other than that, it offers very little. I feel its way too low to the ground and the pickup is as good as a lawnmower. I made the dealer replace the brakes because they were so loose, and on a few occasions it had trouble switching gears despite its automatic transmission. The stereo is weak and the "dinging" noise the car makes when the door is open is excruciating painful. Other than that, it has performed well and met my expectations, but I will upgrade within 6 months.

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  safety in an accident - 2000 Hyundai Accent
  By sincity - July 24 - 9:33 pm

  We were in a car crash that involved a wall with three kids in the back seat, NOT A SINGLE PERSON WAS INJURED. . . they car took all the force of the collision so that we were uninjured. . . That one accident sold me on that. . . sure it could have more guts and other stuff, but you cant buy a cheap car and think how safe it truly is. . .

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  Nice style and features, poor quality - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By DJT - July 24 - 1:13 am

  After a week of ownership, the air bag light stayed on (dealership fixed it and said it was a loose connector). After two weeks, the transmission needed to be replaced while driving along, it suddenly downshifted from 6th gear to 4th gear causing the car to suddenly slow down (fortunately there was no one directly behind me as no brake lights come on so they would have had no way of knowing that I was slowing down).

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  Replaing tires after 20,000 miles? Ridiculous! - 2013 Hyundai Sonata
  By Amy - July 21 - 6:34 am

  This is the second time we have leased Sonatas. Total of four cars. We had to relace the tires of all four cars in two years. This time the dealer told us we should be rotating the tires every 7000 miles. Thanks for the too little too late help. I am in my 50s my husband is in his 60s. We have owned a lot of cars over the years and the Sonata is the first and only car that required the tires to be rotated this much. Because, they are crappy tires. Moving on to another car manufacturer. We have been buying or leasing hyundais for the past 16 years (both of us). So done with them!

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  ok for the money - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By toyota - July 17 - 6:12 pm

  Good enough for a first car. Many small problems for a car with <35,000 miles. If you dont have alot of money its ok and better than a used car, but for a little more a Toyota has much more value and quality. Would not get another one.

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  Suspension system - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By bill b - July 15 - 9:10 am

  Driving my new at low speed Tucson is like driving on a railroad track. The suspension system is terrible. There is a terrigle clunking which the company rep says is there because the "magazine buffs" want it that way." According to the rep enough people complained so that they went back to Korea which said thats the way we want it even though the buyers disagreed. In addition it is poorly sound insulated so the spare tire chamber acts as a sound amplifyer. The dealer has tried to fix it to no avail. The company rep on the east coast is only willing to sing the company song! By the way my mileage is not what they advertised!

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  Bad Transmissions - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Bad Transmissions - July 1 - 10:00 am

  I am extremely disappointed in my Santa Fe. I purchased this vehicle due to there popularity. I immediately noticed that the transmission was slipping and making a loud banging noise when shifting from 1st to 2nd and so forth. I have since found out that this is a huge problem with the new Santa Fe and Hyundai is doing nothing about it as far as a recall. New transmissions are replaced with ones with the same problems. The Santa Fe must need a complete trans redesign. Just Google Hyundai Transmission Problems.

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  honest review - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By danny - June 29 - 4:11 pm

  Ive had my elantra for 4 years now. Ive had few problems. I do have all the scheduled maintenance done by the dealership though. The braking is not as good as I would like it to be. Also the car depreciated much faster and more dramatically than I expected.Ive had problems with the power windows and mirrors too. By far though...for the money... this has been an excellent car. I get a lot of positive feedback as the car performs like similar cars in its class. It has a nice ride. Ive had problems with the power locks. At times it is easy to tell that the car was made on the cheap. My recomendation would be to buy one that is a year old , as they depreciate unbelievably the first year.

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  DO NOT BUT THE SONATA HYBRID - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By rdb53 - June 27 - 11:56 pm

  Do not buy the Sonata Hybrid for its gas mileage. The vehicle will achieve the advertised highway mileage but the city mileage performance is erratic and the idea that it can achieve 35mpg in city driving is absurd. All the dealership can do is plug in their computer and look for error codes. When no error codes show up they tell you the car is performing as designed even if the mpg is only 26. Also do not waste your time contacting Hyundai Motors America customer service. The only response you receive from them is a referral back to the dealership and a list of the reasons that you may be at fault for the low mpg because of poor driving habits. They are a waste of their companys resources.