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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  the worst car I have - 2006 Hyundai Azera
  By John - April 21 - 4:00 am

  The worst car I have. Lots of friends dont recommand me to buy Korean car, it is my bad because I dont listen to them. I drove Honda accord and toyota camry before. Those two japanese hehicles can perform a lot better than this stupid car.

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  Terribly Unreliable, but wonderful dealer service - 2012 Hyundai Veloster
  By jnall - March 31 - 10:02 am

  Ive got a marathon blue luxury package with an automatic thats been plagued with gremlins. The A/V system has been replaced but random transmission problems persist (DCT). On two occasions now the transmission has stopped working. Once the car would not move from a stop despite trying drive and reverse and everything in between. Today the vehicle spontaneously went into neutral at about 30 mph. After coasting to about 5 MPH the car started moving again. I plugged in my iPhone to the A/V system once and it never worked again. Hyundai was nice enough to pay for a new phone. We have two velosters--our second one is great.

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  Not a half bad car considering the price - 1992 Hyundai Elantra
  By Trogdor - March 31 - 2:00 am

  I purchased this Hyundai as my first car . Since then Ive been using it for delivering pizza. After adding over 40000km to it I have a few things to say. The following has gone wrong: Muffler fell off, $90. Shifter cable snappe...on the freeway, $114. CV boots tore off $40 (diy). Synchronizers shot, $1800 to rebuild ... yeah right. $150 for a wreck and a weekend later ta da :) Its actually a decent little beater. Good on gas, has had only the problems youd expect for an econo import with 200k+ on it, no body rust, not interior wear, and runs smooth as the day I got it.

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  Cheap yet Expensive parts = Buyer aware - 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
  By Steve - March 23 - 2:00 am

  First of all I want everyone to know I love this car. But to my surprise it is very, very expensive to fix this car if there are issues. The warranty is also useless. I went over a speed bump at an odd angle and apparently the Transmission Pan got cracked. IT IS PLASTIC. I had the car towed to the dealership and was thinking that this would be a pretty simple and cheap fix as it is just a pan and fluid replacement. Well guess what. IT cost $1238.00 to replace the cheapo plastic transmission pan. They tried to tell me the fluid costs $70.00 a quart to replace. I was infuriated and had to clean out my savings to pay this rip off bill. The warranty does not cover it of course...

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  harsh ride - 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By daniel sanchez - March 12 - 4:08 am

  i am in the market for an suv with 6-8 seat my option were the Hyundai Santa Fe, KIA sorento, Toyota highlander, and the Honda pilot. I first went to see the santa fe and it looked really nice the drl made it better looking than before so the sales person let me take it for a test drive. as i got out of the dealership and on to the main road it felt like it had power to hit 40-50 mph. but as i was trying to slow down to make a right turn i felt the car just bogged down as i try to accelerate to enter the other street that to me seemed pretty dangerous because the if there was a car coming i could of gotten hit. so the sales person made me turn to another street where there was a lot of bump so i drove around 40 to see how the suspension would perform, and honestly it was the worst ride as i heard loud thump as if the the rear struts were bad or something, any little thump could be heard very clearly, it was far worse for my parent that were sitting in the back because they said that the car didnt even cushion any of the bump and that they were bouncing the entire time we were on that road , it felt like riding a horse. also the brakes are a little mushy for a 4000lb car i would expect the suspension to be somewhat decent . i have a versa and a old 98 town car and the suspension is 5 times better than the santa fe. i felt sorry to tell the salesperson that we werent interested in the car because of the ride quality.

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  Better be original owner - 1999 Hyundai Sonata
  By mavasauris - March 12 - 2:00 am

  Warning Hyundai does not honor the 100k "Americas Best Warranty" If you are not the original owner even if they are problems that have been listed in TSB and are known defects.

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  Think twice - 2001 Hyundai XG300
  By Terrific_Tigger - March 8 - 1:33 pm

  This car was great for the first year then it went down hill from there. 99% of the problems were covered under warrenty but who has the time to have their car in for service all the time. This car is considerably priced lower than other cars in its class. I thought I was getting a bargin instead I got a hassle. btw, the 10y/100,000mi warrenty is only valid if you have the timing belt replaced by 60,000mi. (read the fine print)

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  dont be fooled this car is not safe - 2000 Hyundai Accent
  By volvo.driver - March 2 - 2:00 am

  Do not buy this car for your teenage driver. The handling is poor - coupled with the small, narrow tires, this makes the car unsafe. I had the exact same accident two years in a row - lost control on a slick patch on the freeway and banged up the bottom of the car but good. Each time, I know I would not have skidded in practically any another car. The second accident totalled the car - Im fine, but it could have been really bad. This car is cute and fun, Ill give it that, but should you get this car, its probably a really good idea to get bigger, better tires and not drive too fast (i.e., not faster than 55 mph) or be fooled by the "zippy" feel.

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  Vapor leaks - 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By philld - February 19 - 8:15 am

  Engine light is back on, about the 4th time now that we have taken our Hybrid in for the engine light . It appears every 2 weeks or so. Been told it is due to a Vapor leak sensor that keeps going off, it is adjusted for California emissions standards and they cannot seem to fix this, and the factory does not have an answer. We are on the 6th recall fix, seems the car was released before its time. Need to research the Lemon laws next and waiting for the class action suite.

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  i got a lemon - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By kat - February 17 - 7:10 pm

  this poor vehicle has been in the shop so much. i experienced it dead in my driveway 3x in my first year, problems with the tire pressure indicator light, replacement of a stereo which was draining the battery (4 trips to diagnose and replace), and air conditioning which would not blow out the top vents. after a year, i am trading, or lemon lawing it.