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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  You get what you pay for.... - 1997 Hyundai Accent
  By jbheath - April 1 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car close to two years ago, and I have yet to find a feature that stands out as anything special. If I were to drive only dowhill, or only in an area where the air conditioning was completely unneccesarry, I would enjoy the ride much more. Unfortunately, it sluggishly makes its way around, and it cannot take hills with the AC on. If you want to have fun on your way to work each morning, this car may not be for you.

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  2011 Hyundai Tucson Limited - What a Mistake - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By maximov - March 31 - 2:18 am

  I bought this vehicle in Nov 2010. The first thing I noticed was the gas milleage that I am getting compared to the manufacturer values. It was way off. I get less than 20MPG. So OK. I can live with that. Then the car turned 2 years old then the trouble begun. You name it and it broke. CV boot, fan motor, power sunroof, ABS and just yesterday, all the warning lights on the dashboard went off at the same time. That was scary. The ABS engages even when I am just going 30KPH on a bone dry road. I thought that Hyundai had fixed their quality problems from the past but they obviously havent yet. I had owned 3 CRVs in the past. I should have bought a 4th one. This is the first AND LAST Hyundai!!!

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  Our was a Lemon, Manufacturer didnt care - 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By jsb71 - March 28 - 12:55 pm

  The problems with our 2013 Santa Fe Limited (2.0L AWD) began last July when the engine died (rattling noise in cylinders). Shop foreman requested full engine block replacement, but Manufacturing Company only approved short block. Car was returned 30 days later (no rental given) and continued to have problems. 5 months later, we are back at the shop, having the engine replaced again. Dealership is working with us on a replacement vehicle deal, for which we are thankful, but the Manufacturer has shown no compassion. We will be going to court to reclaim lost time with the car over payments and insurance costs.

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  To Many Problems - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Ron - March 22 - 8:00 am

  Since I have purchased this vehicle brand new two years ago, I have had many problems that are not covered by the warranty. It is on its third clutch and flywheel in only 37,000 miles and the first two were factory. I had a racing clutch and flywheel put in because it was cheaper and better quality than hyundai engineering. Now my starter is out and they are blaming it on my flywheel so they wont cover it by the warranty. I like how the care looks, and drives when it works. I hate how much maintenance i have had to it just to keep it running. IT is not worth it, the car looks nice but unless you want to waste a lot of money dont get the 6 speed version.

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  Poor Design for Maintainability - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Jim - March 21 - 9:33 pm

  At 75,000 miles had the spark plugs and timing belt replaced at a cost of $900! The intake manifold has to be removed to get at the spark plugs and the timing belt is very difficult to get to. There could be two reasons for this: 1) Thoroughly incompetent engine design engineers, or 2) Hyundai management dictated poor design for maintainability as a way of enriching their dealerships. The unfortunate owner has to spend a lot of money for what should be simple and inexpensive replacements. Spark plugs at least should be a do it yourself project. And then there are those engine and cruise control glitches; my Santa Fe seems top have more glitches than the space shuttle.

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  buyer beware - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By chiadok - March 19 - 4:57 am

  Im not sure if mine is the exception, but my Tuscon every once in a while has an electrical malfunction where the key gets stuck in the ignition, the blinkers fail to work, the locks wont work, and the lights wont turn off. Hyundai nor the dealership cannot figure out why this occurs. I was really looking forward to having a reliable vehicle with awd, good gas mileage, at a good value. This was my first Hyundai, and will definitely be my last. I noticed an article in inside line, where the testing manager had the same issue with the 2011 Sonata being reviewed. I wonder if this may be a Hyundai issue and not an isolated problem with just my vehicle. I definitely wouldnt recommend buying.

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  No Go - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By stoz - March 9 - 10:10 am

  Ive had my Veloster for a little over a year and have driven 37,000 miles with it. I purchased this car because I needed something with great fuel economy, which I believe I got with the Veloster. It looks cool and looks like it would be fun to drive. It is neither. When I test drove the car I figured I could get used to the power issue and just thought of all the money I would be saving in gas. The trade off was not worth it.

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  Poor gas Mileage - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Olivarr - February 26 - 10:00 am

  Car does not perform as expected.

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  GREAT VALUE - 2003 Hyundai Accent
  By RTJ - February 23 - 2:00 am

  Great option for someone looking to get from point A to B with good reliability and mileage! Lets be honest, I have to rank this car average or below in interior/exterior design, fun to drive, performance. BUT, that is not why I bought it! Reliable, good mileage, not stunning features/performance/design, but it gets job done and very well for the price paid.

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  Horrible Car for Kids - 2001 Hyundai Accent
  By Hopkins - February 20 - 2:00 am

  This was my first Korean car as well as my last. Although on highway speeds, steering is not so good. One bad thing with this car is that the shifting in automatic is horrible. I got stuck in the middle of an intersection many times because the shift gets stuck in between gears, leaving you helpless until it shifts in. Other than that it is a fun car to drive- until you have a accident. This car was hit offset and it looked just fine. However even with not that high of a speed the car was totaled- the whole frame bent and it became almost impossible repair to repair. Do not buy this car if you are worried about your life or you have a brain.