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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  What a hoot! - 2007 Hyundai Accent
  By Mark - August 16 - 3:53 pm

  Bought the SE with sun and sound pkg for my daughter. Cute as a button and pretty darn fun to drive for a little roller skate. Reminds me favorably of the 1983 GTI I had in my youth. Whats not to like? ABS, a gazillion airbags, superb visibility, practical space in a tiny package, great tunes, fun, cute, inexpensive and sips petrol.

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  New 2010 Limited Tucson - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Jcdlg76 - August 16 - 8:40 am

  We just bought our 2nd Hyundai in the last 3 months. After buying a limited 2011 Sonata my wife started to look at Hyundai in a whole different way. After looking at chevy and gmc, vw. Hyundai was the Big winner! We only paid $23,900 for the Limited and if we had bought some other one with the same options we would have paid like 30K. And the warranty and the lower interest just made a simple deal. We are sold on Hyundai. Now we open our garage and we have 2 Hyundai looking Nice.

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  2006 Sonata LX 3.3I - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By richard tompkins - August 16 - 2:06 am

  I have owned in the past two Hyundai vehicles.The last was a 2004 350XG which was purchased new and was traded with 82000 original miles of which I put on this vehicle due to my being retired and traveling cross country a lot.I traded the XG for a 2006 Sonata LX 3.3 in Jan 2006 and 15000 miles later the engine light after three shop visits has come on again for the forth time and again Ill be on my way to the shop.Ive made all of my maint.visits and have been very satisfied with the service dept.where I purchased the vehicle.Hopefully I can get this problem cleared up.For the record ..Im a Hyundai fan. R.Tompkins

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  Pretty Great Vehicle - SO FAR! - 2007 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Thor - August 15 - 6:56 pm

  I bought this in February of 07. Had a baby on the way so needed something besides my Mustang to tote a kid. Overall this was a great choice, made after a lot of research. I find the milage to be great, cargo room surprisingly large and driving comfort to be outstanding. I also tested a Santa Fe and even though its the next "bigger" model, I felt it had less headroom than the Tucson. On the downside, it does seem a little underpowered, especially with the air conditioning running. I also dont like that the power supplies (lighter and rear cargo area) dont have power unless the engine is running. That sometimes makes it difficult to charge the cell phone. Overall, I dig it!

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  none - 2006 Hyundai Accent
  By AndyKorson - August 15 - 9:25 am

  My real only issue at this time is the low mileage I am receiving. Its all considered city, but it is only 20-23 miles per gallon which is so much lower than that average number listed on the sticker display.

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  99 Accent - 1999 Hyundai Accent
  By Allison - August 15 - 8:31 am

  I bought the car with 10300 kms on it for $4400 in Canada. The hub caps rusted very easily and needed to be replaced almost right away. The car is small and comfy, but if youre a tall person I dont recommend this car.

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  Maintenance was clearly an afterthought! - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Wavy Dave - August 15 - 12:43 am

  I purchased my Santa Fe new in 2003. Currently have about 69,000 miles on it. Several issues over the last year including, replacing alternator, gas regulator valve, gas return line. A/C cuts on/off going over bumps. Drivers side window is on its last legs. Rear bearings, emergency brake. While the initial purchase price was very good, you wind up paying for maintenance in the long term. Clearly Hyundai engineers did not take maintenance into consideration. Simple things like a spark plug change have to be brought to dealer because the process is very complex. Dealer quoted $520 for new PVC valve, plugs and wires. Currently, Im lucky if I average 12-13 mpg.

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  Hyundai came a long way - 2003 Hyundai XG350
  By Victor Myong - August 13 - 2:00 am

  Ive been driving this car for about a year now. Prior to this, Ive owned Acura Legend for 7 years, so I may represent a hard critic. Hyundai came a long way, but it still has a way to go to get to the level of Acura and Lexus. However, considering the fact that this car costs $15K less than the Legend, I have to say this car deserves a good score. I wouldnt say its fun to drive, then again, most sedans are not. Nevertheless, you get treated with nice & quite interior, comfortable drive, and plenty of power. For dollar for dollar, I would say this was a good buy for me.

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  Over 2 Years and Still Doing Good - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By LLE - August 13 - 2:00 am

  Bought in early 2001, this car has been a good affordable ride. Good gas mileage, and everything has gone well....except Hyundais warranty isnt truely 10yr/100k miles...look in the manual, because some items in the car are only cover until 1,200 miles. I had to pay for a repair within the first month....idle sticking when starting! Outside of that there has been no problems though.....Good car Overall. Now have 25k miles on it.

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  Lovin my new hyundai - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By lovemyhyundai - August 13 - 2:00 am

  I love this car! I just found out that I actually got a better deal than the edmunds TMV which makes me love this car even more! I was able to get all the options and still pay less than I would with any of Hyundais competitors.