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 an Avalon - 2014 Hyundai Azera
  By ed - November 4 - 5:37 pm

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  Great vehicle - 2015 Hyundai Accent
  By joel - November 4 - 4:58 pm

  there is nothing not to love about this car, and this is coming from a Honda buff. Love this car, made a great decicion by getting this car, i drive it everywhere and like it more then honda accord sport with same manual transmition, i take 3 kids to school (including car seat in rear) and they all fit confortably. If you still thinking about Hyundai beeing that car company from 80s you wrong, test drive them and you will see.

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  Got the lemon!! - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By brittany - November 4 - 12:22 pm

  absolutly hate this car! Good gas mileage and good in the snow but other then that horrible engine drone. Transmission has had a problem since day one that the dealer will do nothing with! Most uncomfortable driver seat and rider seat. Love the size of the trunk and heated front and back seats. Have yet to recommend this car to anyone.

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  Compares to my old Lexus LS 430 2006 - 2015 Hyundai Genesis
  By stuart Greenbaum - November 4 - 10:30 am

  Head lights do not go on when wipers turned on. Bluetooth sucks asking at least 3 questions sometime 5 to dial. Great move going to the low profile tires gives the Lexus ride without the power but hey its a 6 cylinder not an 8 real roomy inside and Im 300lbs plus which is why I went to the Lexus in the first place. I also miss the headlights that turned on the lexus when you made a turn. So far 4 month and 3000 miles I love it!

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  Changed my perspective of Hyundai - 2012 Hyundai Genesis
  By Jim - November 3 - 7:10 pm

  This is the first Hyundai I have ever owned. Ive been driving a couple of Mitsubishi Lancers and a Chrysler 300. So vehicles that stand out compared to the original smo joe car. I work at a dealership and this car came in well priced. Had to jump on it! Beautifully designed and amazing comfort. 0 complaints

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  Lemon - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By Christina Espinoza - November 3 - 5:59 pm

  I was hoping for something better for the reviews. Only 3 years old and needs work on fuel ejector and a new axle!!!!!! What the heck?

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  Ahhhhh! Its comfy - 2015 Hyundai Genesis
  By Ed Pawlowski - November 1 - 8:11 pm

  I drove a 2014 Genesis base model and liked it enough to check out the restyled 2015. Glad I did. Major improvements and it will be looking good for a few more years. Bought one 4 weeks ago. I have 3000 miles in the first month. This weekend, along with another couple, we took a 750 mile round trip. After 300 non-stop miles, I never felt better getting out of the drivers seat. This was a combination of highway and secondary roads. On the highway, after a few hours I realized just how comfortable the seating and ride are. Very quiet, it is less tiring to drive. The technology is great. Adaptive cruise control is fantastic. If you are buying a premium car you should have all the options. Nit picks. I wish the headlights turned on when you turn the wipers on. That is old technology I had on cars 15 years ago and is a simple to do safety feature. Id like to have remote start on the fob. Using the phone works, but takes too many steps that can be done with a simple button push.

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  10 years on.... - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By chris - October 27 - 9:05 am

  I bought my black Sonata brand new on March 13, 2006. It had just came off the truck and had all the plastic on the outside and inside. They hadnt even checked the car in yet. I drove the V6, but decided on the 4cyl and I have NEVER regretted that still after 10 years. I have had no problems and this is my 3rd Hyundai. 2 previous were Elantras(99, & 04), which were trouble free as well. I still love driving my car and nothing has ceased to work and it still like new even at 10 years old. I only have 62,000 miles on it. My family has a variety of makes of cars (Subaru, Honda, Toyota, Nissan) and I still love getting back into my car as the quality is just as good as the others and mine is older than any of theirs. It shows how Hyundai just got it right with the 06 Sonata at the time. I feel the newer ones may be better in areas where mine was "lacking", but there is something about the newer ones that I just dont like. Im not sure if there are way more plastics than softer material on the inside or what. Gas mileage is fantastic as well. It never changes and I get pretty much the same each trip. The best I got was a 10 hr round trip to OC, MD and back at 600 miles to a tank of gas. Yes, the gas light was on, but I still had 30 miles to empty reading on the computer. How can you beat that.....I have never had really any issues with any of the Hyundais that I have had, yet people still think these cars are not that great...If you maintain them and service them they will last just as long as any other...Interesting that people are starting to realize that Hyundais are competitive and really great cars...Something I new about the company for 16 years now since Ive had my 99 Elantra.

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  thumbs up! - 2013 Hyundai Accent
  By Jerome - October 26 - 2:40 pm

  love this little car, almost as much as my old 1981chevette ! I frequently drive 300 miles at a time with one tank of gas, and no backache! Handles very well, although it bounces around at times still the traction has been there when I needed it. Fantastic mileage!

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  Fun to drive, high maintenance costs - 2013 Hyundai Elantra
  By Jason Williams - October 26 - 7:50 am

  Purchased used with 60k this year. Unfortunately 60k is the cut-off for 2nd owner warranty so dont purchase without warranty. So far this car has cost more in repairs than my two other cars (03 Toyota matrix and 06 Dodge Stratus) combined. So far two bad wheel bearings, ac compressor making loud noises, replaced battery, alternator is starting to fail (lights are flickering at idle) has intermittent rough idle, and the power seat controls work intermittently. No complaints on gas mileage gets about the same as my matrix (average around 33-35 mixed driving) . The car is fun to drive but a little noisy. Bluetooth system keeps trying to pair phone when not active.