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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  Not good, Not bad either! - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By Jimmy Joe - October 17 - 2:00 am

  The car is used as my commuter car. I drive 1/2 hr to work each day in it. i think I paid $8200 total (including TTL) and pay around $12 in gas a week. the car is cramped (I am 61) and the seat does not slide back enough for me. The radio also has a problem with keys sticking and being hard to press. The car runs well enough...although it has too much power for the light frame so the front tires peel out froms tops at times.

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  Good - stick 5spd model - 1994 Hyundai Elantra
  By Sorin Leucuta - October 14 - 2:00 am

  I brought this car from a dealer in 2002. It had 61000 miles at that time and I payed $2,200. I one year i added 25,000 miles and the car still runs and looks the same. But the engine is loud now and i had to replace many tires and parts (horn, winshield pomp motor, brakes, axel, bearings). I alwais use Valvoline MaxLife engine oil. So its up to you to decide, but even if i love my car, my next choice would not be a Hyundai. Its not reliable enaugh. Maybe 2003-2004 models are OK, but I dont wanna take the chance.

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  Bad Transmission - 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Jim - October 1 - 10:46 pm

  Purchased 2010 Hyundai Sante Fe V6. While the car rides smoothly and gets good mileage for midsized SUV the car has serious transmission issues. When you first start off it sporadically will make a loud bang as it shifts between 1- 2 gear. It also has a rocking motion caused by the transmission when slowly accelerating. It also shakes badly when shifting from park to either reverse or drive. Contacted Hyundai Consumer affairs about this issue and they say that they do no have any trend as to any transmission issues. Do a Google search on 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe transmission problems and you will see many unhappy owners. Car is at the dealer as I write this. Doesnt look good. Dont buy

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  Not bad for the price - 2000 Hyundai Accent
  By ImpalaJeff - September 28 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car to go to and from work, thats it...With auto and air and the warranty you cant beat the price..

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  Catalytic Converter Gone Already? - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Disappointing - September 19 - 2:43 am

  I was first impressed, but quickly disappointed. After owning the vehicle for 2 weeks, the rear right tail light had built up condensation. Then the check engine light came on and found out that the Catalytic converter was bad....how can that be? I do not even have 8 thousand miles on the vehicle and I am dumping it. Oh yeah...one more thing...the stupid visor on the passengers side fell completely off...just hanging by a few wires.

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  Reason for no Haundai Lease! - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By QueryAll - September 3 - 2:00 am

  There is a reason why Hyundai does not lease their vehicles. Simple reason - Hyundai cars depreciate so fast that you can feel the money being sucked out of your pocket. Why so much depreciation? Over the last 1 1/2 years and 120000 miles of owning this car, I have brought it into the shop over 8 times for different problems. Two problems will cost me when trade-in time comes, even though the problem was fixed. The last problem will cost me over $800, because the parts are not covered under the warranty.

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  nice car with lousy transmission - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Ronald Osborn - August 21 - 8:55 am

  No problems except transmission went up after about 50000 miles. Replaced with remanufactured one under warranty but neither dealer nor manufacturer revealed whether replacement was any different from original. As I recall, replacement only had 12 month warranty on part itself, no labor coverage.

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  nice car with lousy transmission - 2010 Hyundai Elantra
  By Ronald Osborn - August 21 - 8:45 am

  No problems except transmission went up after about 50000 miles. Replaced with remanufactured one under warranty but neither dealer nor manufacturer revealed whether replacement was any different from original. As I recall, replacement only had 12 month warranty on part itself, no labor coverage.

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  Hyundai Sonata - 1995 Hyundai Sonata
  By paul the driver - August 12 - 2:00 am

  I bought the car at aroudn 50,000 miles and now it had 100,000 miles the car performed very well untill about 90,000 and then everythign just started falling apart i spend maybe 3,000 on repairs and currently my transmission only has 3rd gear i will redline on a highway at 90mph i cant take turns at more then 25mph or it will skid out i dont recomend buying a hyundai i would rather have a civic then this car

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  A loser - 1999 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ray Wilson - August 4 - 2:00 am

  Bought this car with 38K on it (a major mistake). Hyundais warranty is good but car has recurring problems. When warranty expires (60K) or 5 yrs) the car starts to literally fall apart. virtually everything but the motor will need to be re-placed. Even stuff fixed under warranty is only good for 12 month period. Dont keep this car after warranty expires, you will be SORRY.