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:

• 

  Lots for the Money - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By mannyg13 - August 11 - 11:44 am

  Very very nice car for the money. I went in to buy the new Azura. Dont get me wrong that is a nice car, but the Genesis is serene Interior well appointed. Feels like a much more expensive car. Lots of room, both front and back seats. Sound system nice!! Only complaint to that is the technology is behind. I have 5,000 songs on a thumb drive and I can only browse in order. Would like a way to sort them by mp3 tags. A/C was a little slow in cooling, but we had a hot summer. Not sure what to blame that on.

• 

  The Azera is a great family car! - 2008 Hyundai Azera
  By 2hyundaiowners - August 10 - 10:04 am

  Purchased used in 2009 w/17,000 miles. It has been very good with no maintenance issues. I wanted a Toyota Avalon but they cost thousands more for the same car. Also chose this vehicle because we have had such good luck with our Hyundai Sonata. Everyone that rides in it loves our car. This is a nice luxury vehicle with great features that is very affordable. Hyundai has a great warranty & they have always been very good to deal with, we will buy another Hyundai next time-possibly a Genesis.

• 

  Love our Sonata! - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By 2hyundaiowners - August 10 - 9:53 am

  We bought it in 2007 w/ 20K miles-it now has 100,000 miles and looks & runs great. Only had a couple of maintenance recalls & broken sun-visor covered under warranty. After warranty expired, one sensor went out, it was covered by our extended warranty. We have only replaced tires, oil, battery & brakes-NO OTHER MAINTENANCE! My husband commutes 75 miles daily & averages 26mpg on highway, 21 in town. It has great acceleration needed for freeway. We got a great car with many upscale features for a reasonable price. Liked this so much, we purchased a 2008 Hyundai Azera for the family car. We are passing this down to our daughter it has great safety ratings & we trust it for her and her baby.

• 

  Sleek All Around - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By kmbrlysue - August 9 - 5:16 pm

  I purchased the 2013 Hyundai Elantra Limited the end of May (owned 2.5 mos) & have 4000 miles on it. 30 city/38-43 hwy. So far, the only concerns I have are the paint quality and road noise. Hyundai offers a package for a coat of protectant for the paint & windows for almost $3000 more, which may have been nice to have purchased. My car has already had 3 dings from parked cars & it has chipped the paint. Concerning the road noise: it is smooth until hitting rough road or block chunks on the interstate. Another noise is on the roof when it rains. Sounds like water hitting tin. The sunroof cover helps w/noise.

• 

  Cant beat the value for the price! - 2012 Hyundai Azera
  By go4it2 - August 9 - 1:03 pm

  Impressive roominess in the cabin with far better seats then the over price would suggest. Nice comfortable ride with MPGs to spare.

• 

  great family car - 2008 Hyundai Sonata
  By revpsyko - August 9 - 11:15 am

  traded in our 04 neon which was a great little car, for the 08 sonata, we needed a bigger car for our growing family. Great gas mileage, great features, smooth ride, the ECS is nice, electronic brake-force distribution, and an attractive price, just couldnt really couldnt ask for a better car. plus being IIHS safety pick for 07 and 08 really put us at ease when we signed those papers.

• 

  Best New Car - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By kwheels - August 9 - 10:57 am

  I bought this car for my wife and weve been very pleased. Weve driven over 23,000 miles on our 2012 Elantra Limited are averaging a consistent 37mpg during routine weekly driving in Eco mode. When it was new and with Eco mode turned off the worst tank average was 29mpg. Since the 10,000 mile mark the worst weve seen is 31-34mpg while driving around Atlanta traffic. When driving on the highway the first tank full averages 39mpg, and every tank afterwards averages 45-47mpg. We travel with 2-3 passengers and about 100lbs of luggage.

• 

  2010 hyundai elantra automatic - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By jackson55 - August 8 - 7:59 pm

  Ive read your review on the 2010 Elantra blue. At first I couldnt understand why it was given positive grades for its performance and then i realized it was a 5 speed manual transmission. I think a fair amount of elantras are automatic, have you test driven them and i am talking about a 2010, although I believe they used the same power train for any number of years. I cant believe its such an annoying thing to drive, especially when people go around praising them, i think it must be the warranty they like. Im not sure how many forward speeds mine is but it doesnt seem like its enough. In particular what im talking about is The car upshifts to early when you accelerate at a norm

• 

  i love my elantra! - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By kstu_mn - August 8 - 2:21 pm

  First time new car buyer and dont regret buying new at all. So far have put 2000 miles on it and averaging upper 30s for mpg. Fun to drive and I am a huge fan of both the interior and exterior design. Inver Grove Hyundai was very helpful in explaining all the features. The car doesnt have great acceleration but I am very pleased with everything else. Love this car.

• 

  No spare tire - get used to it - 2012 Hyundai Accent
  By fl_lead_foot - August 7 - 8:16 pm

  No spare tire in new cars is the current trend. In 2012 about 25% of all new cars sold did NOT have spare tires. It is a way for manufacturers to save mo0ney AND weight, to increase MPG and improve CAFE.