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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  very good - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By sonia - May 8 - 12:23 am

  very nice for long trips

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  Was Sonota Hype more than their Quality - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By SONOTTTTTA - May 7 - 6:50 pm

  Have two 06 & 07 nice cars but less than expectations my 07 is in the shop because of rear noise like swishing of gas, was told that this seems to be a random ongoing problem with Sonotas, have loaner now while the beat goes on with the rear noise. Owned Hondas, Toyotas, now Hyundais. Hyundais overall quality has me questioning did I fall for hype or is it truly a quality vehicle time will tell my 2007 has 1800 miles on it swish knock, swish knock,swish knock,swish knock the beat goes on.........Ps Prior to the 07 Sonota I had a 06 Tucson I traded with 1800 miles it was in the shop for grinding warped rotors all these little things have me questioning quailty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  Wow!!! - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By shaky4 - May 7 - 3:29 pm

  I am a Hyundai owner (2001 XG 300L) which has been bulletproof. I wanted to keep an open mind and test drove 12 other minivans. I prepared an excel spreadsheet and shortlisted odyssey and sienna before selecting entourage. I just cannot stop using superlatives!! My wife actually had tears in her eyes when she took it for a ride, she just loved it. Great engine, great ride, luxurious feel and best of all the engine bay looks like that of an expensive german sedan!! My friend saw it and went to the dealership this morning, and he is trading his 2005 Odyssey!! What else can I possibly say?

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  STAY AWAY !!!!! - 2000 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Colleen - May 7 - 1:03 pm

  I purchased my car brand new from the dealer in aug 2000. Everything was great I loved the car until it was about 4 yrs old. (I still have to this day) since then I have had 3 transmissions replaced, many tail light wires and brackets (they keep blowing all the time sometimes even 15 min after replacing) speed sensor went on it. The check engine light kept coming on after countless times, the dealer couldnt even fix it but my boyfriend actually fixed it in under 10 min. The very next time it was in the shop the dealer ripped my o2 sensor wires out and my car has been horrible since (they still deny they did it too) horrible service from dealer would never buy a Hyundai again stay far away!

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  Checked Entire Competition Before Buying - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By Applejuice - May 6 - 7:39 pm

  Let me start and say, GET THE SE version! Fog lights - standard! Great when driving in the mountains early in the morning with all that mist. The SE version has so many options - and I know cause when I checked out other models calculating the same specs any of them would have cost 2-4,000 dollars more! The SE sport handling makes a big difference which I noticed caused I compared the GS and the GLS to it in test drives. Power handling, leather trim-both the wheel and transmission shifter - standard!The 16" inch tires didnt hurt either and helped with the handling. I love this car. I have read all the reviews on Yahoo Autos,MSN,Cars.com, Edmunds and it comes down to this drive one first!

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  First Hyundai Ever - 2018 Hyundai Sonata
  By Don B - May 6 - 7:22 pm

  We have just purchased a new Sonata Limited with Ultimate Package for my wife. This is her first non Toyota car ever, after having 10 Toyotas in the past. We started out looking at the new Camry then the Altima and the Accord. Her first inclination was to go with the Camry but as we talked with the dealer and put together an offer she found several things about it that turned her off. The Hyandai dealer was close at hand so we began to look closely at the Sonata. We were able to put together a deal with a comparably equipped Sonata at thousands less than the Camry. We have just had the car delivered so it will be sometime before I can put together a more comprehensive review. The initial quality and delivery were excellent, but time and miles will tell if it holds up. My wife is not an aggressive driver, nor a car enthusiast, she views cars as merely an appliances. We hope the car provides her with reliability and comfort. Stay tuned for updates/

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  Very nice car - 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT
  By blou2 - May 6 - 8:46 am

  Traded a 2012 ford focus titanium for the 2013 loaded elantra gt...had nothing but trouble with the focus and so far everything works in the elantra and is as nice as the build and style of the focus...the elantra drives smooth and gives the feel of confidence....took a large monetary hit trading a 8 month old car but glad we did...the Hyundai is a very nice suprize....B-lou

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  Tucson 2005 - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Neptune - May 6 - 8:30 am

  The Tucson drives nicely with good handling charistics.

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  Best vehicle I have ever owned - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By bert - May 6 - 5:53 am

  Everyone in the deerwoods lauged at me when I left camp to buy my wife this veh. But now 3 of them have one also, yes its an 02 and finally were waiting for the 2011s Im 100% sure I will buy another, the only problem we had with ours was a tail light going out, it was fixed 4 yrs ago and now it has 80,000 miles and she wants another so spring we will, I will not even look at another brand, a bad taillight in 9 yrs. Why would I, by far the very best I have ever owned, Im 50 and I look for comfort when I travel with my wife, just got back from a trip to padre island and round trip was 1802 miles long and I was fine the whole trip, I hope this will help

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  Drive It - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By Chris - May 5 - 2:43 pm

  Love the drive, look, and feel of the azera. The test drive will make up your mind. The price with all options will blow you away. Bought a Santa Fe for the wife at the same time because of style and cost. You wont be dissapointed.