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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  Nice - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Mirandamay - April 10 - 2:00 am

  with every year of new tiburon that comes out they get better and better.

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  Got Lucky - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By RichVid - April 10 - 2:00 am

  My wife and I were in the market for a secondary, slightly used car for our household. We looked at Saturns, Ford Focuses, Mazda Proteges, etc etc...in other words, something reliable but not wanting to pay the $$$ of a used Honda or Toyota. We never considered a Hyundai. Then we noticed a neighbor down the street with a nice looking Elantra for sale. Further Investigation revealed a 2002 GLS with only 11,000 miles and a price tag around 6K! After driving the car, it was pretty much a no brainer...it now sits in our driveway...What a wonderful little car at a steal of a price.

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  Surprising Car - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By R S Moore - April 9 - 6:33 pm

  Great car. Have several road trips from Va to Fla and Canada. nstalled XM radio which made a good trip even better.Nice acceleration and smooth braking.Is stylish and roomy.Can carry a bag of scuba gear and luggage for three people easily.Do alot of highway driving and you can set the seat back and be extremely comfortable. Have read a couple of complaints about the seats but this must be strictly a personal preference.

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  First Time Hyundai Owner - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Mike - April 9 - 6:56 am

  Like a lot of people wrote, this is my first Hyundai. I had a 04 CRV w/ 91K miles & wanted something a little bigger w/ a V-6 for towing. I bought this Santa Fe used for $19,800 w/ 7500 miles & had them add nice leather seat and door covers for $900. Got $9000 trade for my CRV which also needed $1500 put into it so this was a deal I couldnt pass on. I drive 2/3 high & 1/3 city. Averaged 26 mpg w/ my CRV & so far Im getting 23 avearge with the SF & 3.3L engine. I drive pretty conservative, use the cruise & avoid hard braking & starts. A friends wife has the same CRV & she only averaged 20 mpg because she had terrible driving habits. What a quiet smooth drive too!!!

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  an excellent car and value - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Happy Hyundai owner - April 8 - 4:30 pm

  this car is an exceptional value for the money, fun to drive, solid and reliable.Quite ride and plemty of room for adults amd a very large trunk

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  Great buy for the price!!! - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Paul S - April 8 - 11:12 am

  My wife loves her Entourage! Purchased the LE with all the options. The power liftgate and doors work great. Already have 6000 miles and no problems to date. Dealership has been awesome with standard maintenace checks. I can not see paying the extra money for the Honda and we found the Sienna to be cheaper in quality and way pricier. Highly recommend at least test driving before you lay out the extra cash for other brand!

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  Changed Opinion - 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Kenny - April 8 - 9:53 am

  I was raised on Ford and Chevy. Naturally I was skeptical when looking at a Hyundai, but Im pleasantly surprised so far. We just bought it two days ago and so far Im happy. The price is awesome compared to other brands. It rode just like the Highlander we test drove before-hand. Plus it looks like a Lexus. WE looked at Ford Flex, Toytota Highlander, GMC Acadia, and the Mazda CX-9. This beat them all. I like the iPod interface and the blue interior lighting. All in all, Im happy with vehicle and hope it will last us a while and possibly become our daughters first car. These cars have come a long way from their days of disposable vehicles.

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  Replacement clutches are NO GOOD!! - 1999 Hyundai Elantra
  By K Mills - April 7 - 11:09 pm

  My son bought this 99 Elantra in 12/03 during his last yr of high school. It had about 23k miles on it, now has almost 90k. Usual maintenance, tires, brakes once and thought it would get him through college. Wrong! Replaced the clutch 5/06 and it had to be replaced again 1/07 - less than 8 months later, no change in driving habits or mileage. Now we cant unload this thing to save our lives and the blasted clutch is acting up again... Oh, and the inside door handles arent the best either. They just come off in your hand - no "man- handling" necessary. Have replaced 3 of those.

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  New Convert - 2007 Hyundai Sonata
  By JeffD - April 7 - 4:03 pm

  As I prepared to replace my wifes 2000 Ford Contour, I went with a clean slate and looked at everything. The Ford had been a good car with no problems in 75K miles. After looking at, studying (thanks Edmunds) and driving everything from Infinities to Camrys to Accords, I bought the Sonata Limited. While we have not put a lot of miles on it yet, my initial impressions are very strong for this car, even in the class of competition it had. It is powerful enough (better than the peppy Contour V6) and very quiet. Maybe not as powerful or quiet as the Inifiniti, but I can live with the difference in my bank account.

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  Terrible gas mileage, otherwise nice van - 2007 Hyundai Entourage
  By Harris - April 7 - 3:04 pm

  We loved all the features in the van, it was so nice with all the compartments and DVD for the kids. The gas mileage they have listed though is criminal, we used Chevron gas, the mid-grade and got about 15 miles to the gallon around town and 19 - 20 on the highway. We used our cruise control and averaged around 70 mph. We consistently got this driving from Portland, OR to SLC, UT. The transmission was slugglish and it didnt respond well. We had oil leaks after we had put 8,000 miles on the van. Overall, we LOVED all the options that were on the inside of the van, however, mechanically, it was inferior to other vans of this class in our experiences. Not our favorite purchase by far!!!