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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  good buy!! - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By enna - March 19 - 2:00 am

  I like this car. Great buy for the money and a nice smooth ride. I bought it for my mother and now I am looking for Santa Fe for myself. I was surprised by the quality.

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  The Best Car Ive ever owned - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By JSchmidtIII - March 19 - 2:00 am

  I just rescently purchased this vehicle and I LOVE IT! Everything about this car is Easy to drive the stick shift is extreemly easy the clutch is very nice the steering I just cant say enough about it.

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  fun to drive and a great value - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Drymanowski - March 19 - 2:00 am

  I actually own a 2002 Santa Fe. Its one of the best cars Ive ever owned. I live lived in upstate ny all my life. We had a horrible winter last year. Snow falls up to 24" 2 weeks in a row. Never once spun the tires. The car perfomred perfectly and I didnt even have to use the AWD. Impressed by that and its overall reliability. Great ride and economical for a SUV. I would not hesitate in buying another.

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  the greatest suv on earth! - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By gary casper - March 19 - 2:00 am

  The Santafe is an all around great suv. Its perfect in all conditions; whether on snow, mud, rain, or sand it has never let me down. The inside is full of confort and space. The outside has a bold and husky look. Its a very sturdy ride but, not so rugged that youre bouncing all over the road. And thats good because, most of my driving is done on the highway. My last comment is on its gas mileage. Mine gets 23 mpg. on average so, i cant see why someone would buy one of those other suvs that get only 12 to 18 mpg. Its a great buy! Try one out for yourself and you will not regret it.

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  Hundai - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By karin gwin - March 19 - 2:00 am

  Bought it for my daughter, I was looking for quality, price, safety and maintance, warrenty. Thought that I found it with this car.

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  Move Over Toyota and Honda - 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By PMB - March 18 - 7:33 pm

  Ive had this car for 3 months and finally saw another one on the road, but not in Vivid Blue like mine. I already have 10K miles on it, and have only had one problem, that being the CD player. It handles like a BMW and almost drives itself. Fuel economy is as expected 27-32 MPG, averaging 29 MPG in mostly highway commuting. It is very comfortable and easy to climb in and out of. Luggage space rivals an SUV. The open air feel with four windows and a sunroof has my Harley sitting in the driveway and forgotten about. The dash lights are also attractive as everyone else says. When you open the door after refueling, the odometer lights up for you to jot down the mileage. Its the details!!!!

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  4 month owner - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By larry T - March 18 - 6:01 pm

  Very nice ride and quiet is the reason I purchased this. This vehicle offered things my other suv did not have. I was getting ready to re purchase a mazda cx5. the tucson has rear air vent, rear seat heaters. Front air ventilated seats along with heat. Blind spot monitor is nice. Panoramic sunroof is nice. Nice pick up with Turbo. Nice split screen with Nav and radio. Beautiful styling in my opinion. A few negatives, Automatic tailgate lift when you get behind it would go off just walking behind it. I turned it off along with lane departure warning. Hard plastic on interior door panels even tho nice interior. I miss the 3 D function of the navigation my Mazda had. On a bright sunny day hard to read temp gauges they get a little washed out. People talked about duo transmission having a little lag but was not an issue with me. All in All a very nice ride. I like it very much.

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  Tucson 2010 Rocks - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Songoro - March 17 - 3:03 pm

  I purchased a new limited Tucson 2010 for a 4 cylinder has good power, I am specially happy about the transmission changes gears as if it was a Cadillac, I noticed the gas consumption is not exactly what they say it is. But overall so far I am happy, yes I would recommend this vehicle to any body.

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  2007 Elantra SE, Nice car, nice price. - 2007 Hyundai Elantra
  By conton - March 17 - 2:43 am

  Ill keep it simple. This is a confident, high quality small/midsized sedan with a very nice interior, quiet highway ride, good efficiency, tight panel gaps, stellar warranty and a nice overall feel. It looks better in person than it does in pictures. It has nice presence in real life. Its reasonably peppy for a 2.0 4 banger and does all thats asked of it. The power is right in the perfect range for the type of driving that 90% of people do. It chugs around at low RPM approaching V6 feel. It climbs hills well at highway speeds and zips around town like a champ. It holds its own in spirited driving and has a satisfying soul. Like a best compromize Mazda3/Jetta/Civic.

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  Classy Car - 2016 Hyundai Azera
  By Oceana7754@gmail.com - March 16 - 6:42 pm

  Great performance. Plenty of room for occupants to stretch legs. Smooth ride. Good value and looks and feels classy.