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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  2010 Hyundai Elantra - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Joey B. - October 20 - 3:38 pm

  Just got this car, so far so good, solid, smooth, cant go wrong for the price, this car is used for my commute to and from work

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  189K and counting. - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Mike - October 18 - 12:48 am

  I have a great history with Hyundia. I bought a new 2002 elantra and drove it for a year. Gave it back due to a bk, to have cheaper pymts. Then bought a 2002 Sonata, returned it two days later, due to hating the big floaty ride. Got another 2002 Elantra, formal rental, with 22k. 6 yrs later 189k and counting. My friends cannot believe that I still use this car for my daily 100+ miles commute. Service history: The first year, it had service to fix a throttle sensor, no cost. Next year the battery, no cost both under warranty. At 96k changed timing belt. The only bad thing is that you have to replace the headlights every 6 months. Oil changes every 10k, tires, one set of brakes. @30mpg. Sweet.

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  A speedy "little" hatchback - 2011 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By jayteejr - October 17 - 11:12 am

  I research every one of my purchases to DEATH and buying a new car was no different. We have a young child and two dogs, so needless to say we needed something that could haul them all comfortably. I am not a fan of SUVs and a minivan was out of the question. Browsing Edmunds I ran into the Elantra Touring, scheduled a test drive and never looked back. The SE trim game me everything I wanted and the manual transmission keeps it fun to drive. Only about 300 miles on her to date, but so far this has been a great purchase!

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  My first SUV - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By spiderman7136 - October 16 - 10:00 am

  The vehicle is built by far better than most, I looked at them all and the price is good for the product your getting. I think they will take over the low priced suv market. I bought this one just as a bang around vehicle if were doing alot of traveling I would advise v6.

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  We like it - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mkelly - October 16 - 10:00 am

  We like everything about the Santa Fe, espcially the price and warranty. It performs well, has a high clearence underneath the vehicle which an SUV is supposed to have, unlike alot of other brands. You can go off road with this vehicle, gas milage could be better. It is well built and comes standard with eletric windows, locks, alarm, fog lights and audio system with CD- player. A great buy and deal for anyone.

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  Not a bad car at all! - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By jourdanrose - October 16 - 10:00 am

  The pick up on highways is awful! City driving is just fine. My very tall children fit quite nicely in the back seat and the drivers seat is spacious and comfortable. I have the v6 model and the gas milage is average. I also purchased the full 10/100,000 warranty and for a single mom it gives me peace of mind.

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  Best in Class and Price - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By dracula - October 14 - 10:00 am

  After 4 years of searching and researching options, I finally decided on the Hyundai. I recently took it for a short vacation trip to Helen, Ga, which is in the mountains and I was certainly glad I bought the 6 cylinder. I never had a power issue climbing the medium grade hills in that area. I got exceptional gas mileage; at least the advertised mileage but then I was not in a hurry to get there and did the posted speed limits and didnt gun it at lights or stop signs to get "of the line". It was very quiet and comfortable. The XM radio was nice, however, it did cut out along the shaded tree roads. The accelerator takes a little time to get use to. It does seem to jump a little.

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  First impressions - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Adamant - October 14 - 10:00 am

  Ive had my 2011 Sonata SE for just a few weeks now so this is just a preliminary note. Car is BEAUTIFUL -- iridescent silver blue pearl is simply awesome. What wasnt awesome was getting 20 mpg (mostly highway) from my first tankful.

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  Good car - 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By utvols02 - October 13 - 2:56 am

  I bought this car for my wife a couple months ago, and she absolutely loves it. After driving the manual version, I can say that the automatic version feels much slower, but acceleration is still adequate. The brakes are very good. Ive been averaging 30mpg between city and highway driving, which is a few mpg better than advertised. Overall we are very pleased with the car, and I would have no hesitation picking this car over the competition again.

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  A real winner - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By pamedict - October 10 - 10:48 pm

  Purchase of our 2004 Hyundai Accent GT was a direct result of my son wanting a beater car to drive back and forth to college. Found a plain Jane 2002 Accent with 5 speed at a local used car dealer for him, I was impressed with the gas mileage (35mpg)on the highway but the ample amount of space inside for a big guy like me. 63", 290 and the zip this little car had. Thus the search began for a similar model for my daughter who turned 16 this summer.I was pleased to find a 1 owner, 2004 GT Automatic with 75000 miles. Body in good condition and the interior like new. With a nice stereo and CD player included the price was right and we bought it. 6 thousand miles later a success story!