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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  Junk in my opinion - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jeff taylor - September 7 - 12:14 am

  Have a 2011 hyundai sonata limited 2.4l engine! Have had trouble with the passenger side door latch, trouble keeping the bulbs in the headlights and taillights, now when the ac is turned on it sounds like popcorn popping, and the car doesnt want to start! Anyone else had this problem

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  Worst Decision I have ever made - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By hp124 - September 1 - 11:44 am

  I purchased the 2011 Hybrid Hyundai Sonata 2 months ago and it has been nothing but a headache for me. I have had the car in the shop now almost every weekend since I bought it because of new issues that keep arising. The gas tank is a huge issue, and Hyundai seems to have no idea what is actually going on with it. They have "fixed" it 3 times now and I am still having issues. I am currently getting around 23 miles to the gallon (glad I spent the extra 6 grand to get a hybrid) and I also think I might be leaking fuel as well. (I filled up my car 2 days ago and have driven 100 miles and already have less than a half tank) The computer system in the car looks great, but it cannot even begin to function. The average fuel economy cannot calculate itself at all, it has continuous glitches that keep popping up (which is why my car is currently in the shop) I also just recently received a recall notice on this car a week ago, but it was a "fix" I already had done and it did not fix the issue. In contrast my problems have actually been worse since having this "repair". I think Hyundai had the right idea with this car and I think it is gorgeous, but I also believe they tried to rush the production on this model.

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  Three Major Failures Already - 2007 Hyundai TUCSON
  By CarGuy - August 20 - 9:26 am

  In 8 months our Tuscon has left us stranded (wouldnt start due to the alarm module failing), required a new power steering pump (it was making awful noises), and decided to dump all its 4WD transfer case oil into our driveway. Its also been in for factory recalls. Its spend A LOT of unplanned time at the dealer (twice going in on a flat bed tow truck). Its not very confidence inspiring when it keeps having such serious problems? We like to backpack, and had the problems happened deep in the woods, we could have been seriously stranded. Hyundai roadside service is useless there. The gas mileage is no better than many MUCH larger SUVs which is also embarrasing.

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  Lot of Car, lo money - Lo Quality - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By bgpenhollo - August 8 - 2:00 am

  Bought used at 40k mi. Engine lunched at 115k. If you buy or own, change the darn timing belt @ 70k. Belt is made of pressed fiber of some sort. The Korean v6, unlike American v6, is an interference engine - meaning if the timing belt goes, the pistons and valve beat the engine to death - unlike a non-interference engine. We run Mobil one synthetic from day one. We have two American cars - both v6 - one at 180k the other at 225k. Never changed the timing belt. Both run. The xg350 had a rattle in the driver side trunk. It cruised smoothly and easy on long trips but about as much fun to drive as an Abrams tank. Do not recommend and will never buy another Hyundai. Your mileage may vary

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  My 2011 Sonata Hybrid is a piece of junk - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By sonatasux - July 11 - 10:24 am

  Bought mine in May 2011, I have given this car every opportunity to be satisfying to me, BUT...Its a PIECE! Will be taking back to my l dealer for the 3rd time tomorrow since "check engine" light is back on AGAIN. Heres whats been wrong so far in 3 LONG months of ownership and 9,000 miles: Gas tank issues, it wont let me put a FULL tank of gas in it you can pump SLOWLY 5 more gallons in it after the pump handle clicks indicating its full. Strip of plastic along entire roof is coming off. Surge/Sluggish/Jerks u back & forth while accelerating(dealer says its normal!) power sunroof stops midway, wont close all way, clunky front suspension noise on drivers side. Wish I had my G35 back!

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  Bad Car - 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Jack22 - June 30 - 5:30 pm

  I purchase this car and it has been ok at first but after I put a few miles on it it started to break down on me. Hyundai did take care of the towing and labor the first 2 times but refused the third time. I would not recommend the car.

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  Poor Quality Car - 2010 Hyundai Sonata
  By ra123 - June 25 - 12:06 pm

  The mileage of the car will drop significantly. The door handles will snap in cold temperatures and will not be covered and will cost the consumer dearly

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  Unsafe acceleration from dead stop - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By ProfessorPlumb - June 23 - 8:22 pm

  As Rusty_Blades has stated in an earlier review (and Ive replied to the same), My Tucson as delivered has an issue with acceleration from a dead-stop that is both annoying an potentially dangerous. Ive only had the car less than a week and havent been able to talk to service about this yet, so hopefully there is now a fix, Ill update this review when I find out. The problem is that the car starts to accelerate on its own as soon as you take your foot off the pedal, this seemed a bit odd when I test drove it, but I was so impressed with its performance as highway speed that I purchased it just the same. I wish I had taken Rustys advice and tried to parallel park it during the test drive. When I tried this a day after I purchased it the buyers remorse really started to kick-in hard. Im sure Hyundai will come up for a fix for this if they havent already, but until I can get this fixed this stays at a 2-star review. My other main beef with this car is that the head rest cant be adjusted far enough back for my comfort, I may have to take it apart and try to come up with a way of further adjusting it. Otherwise, I think Id be super happy with this car, it is very quiet, smooth as silk at highway speed, and Peppy with a capital P.

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  dont do it - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By bangbanggg - June 16 - 10:00 am

  I bought the elentra for the warrenty. No other company offers one as good. Its burning more gas then what the sticker displays. I already had to take it in for sevice twice one was the check engine light came on.. it was fault spark plug wires which ended messing up the plugs. i did the plugs myself they did the wires. around 20000 miles i start feel a lost in power. so i went to dealership to tell them i thing the clutch is slipping. they "look" at it and agree with me and say i need a new clutch, but i have to pay for it

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  I HATE this car! - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Lauren - June 4 - 3:00 am

  This is a terrible car. Not only is outrageously slow for a "sports" car, having less than 200 hp and a 0-60 over 7 sec, the gas mileage poor for being that slow. Plus it is front wheel drive. My other car is faster with 300+ hp and a 0-60 around 5 sec and better on gas. Also, so many things in this car have broken both mechanical and electrical. The axles, the window motors, the radio, the transmission has had multiple issues, and one of the headlights go out about every month. Not to mention the "dual exhaust" is not really dual exhaust it is one pipe that splits into two. This car surprises me every day with its crapiness.