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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  Surprise - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By ENU - January 31 - 10:00 am

  When I went to purchase my Elantra it was for price and warranty and to drive to work. To my surprise this is the best small car I have ever owned, so much so that I have purchased a Sonata. This car company has come a long way.

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  2004 Sonata GLS-Superb - 2004 Hyundai Sonata
  By shelley1121 - January 31 - 10:00 am

  I bought my new Hyundai 1 week ago, I totally love it! The dealer was great and the price was outstanding. I test drove the Toyota Camry and this seemed to run better. I felt like my money was well spent. I like the4 cargo net in the trunk. I liked Hyundai because everthing my car came standard and it is pretty well loaded. It seemed like Toyota and Honda added more options which drove the price up, not Hyundai, I only paid $49 for the pinstriping and that was it!

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  Best SUV in its Class - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Elaine_G - January 31 - 10:00 am

  I had to purchase a new car in a hurry, and test drove every SUV in the under 25,000 price range. I drove most at least twice. The Sante Fe is Roomier on the inside, has more options that are considered standard features, is more comfortable than all of the other brands. I have been driving this car since July, and it is the most fun car to drive that I have ever owned or ridden in.

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  GREAT LITTLE AUTO - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By JERRY PACIELLO - January 31 - 10:00 am

  GREAT VIEW OF THE ROAD FROM DRIVERS SIDE .EASY TO HANDLE BOUGHT IN FLORID DROVE BACK TO NEW YORK THE NEXT WEEK.MOSTCOMFORTABLE TRIP I HAD IN YEARS POWER OF ENGINE WAS A BIG TREAT JUST FELL IN LOVE WITH IT

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  2nd review, still learning - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By gary - January 30 - 8:46 pm

  All good, finding new things on this machine every time out. Found take off in automatic a little hesitant but not used to drag race, so ok. Did a little research anyway reading tech data. It makes since to me why now. Drive train is made to get max fuel economy w/fare amount of horses. Using same 3.3L v6 added cvvt, new injection system boosted HP and MPG + Shiftronics all new f/2009. Trans has special valve to somewhat control RPM surge in auto mode manual side no valve 1st geared lower. You control RPMs. Better jump, dont hit car in front. Good f/ city driving. Also car has timing chain not stupid belt. Traction control is great when rain puddles on hiway.

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  Awesome! - 1995 Hyundai Sonata
  By James II - January 30 - 2:00 am

  i hate someone to blame this car just based on some trivial problems. so comfortable and smooth in driving. i paid $2300 at 120000 miles. still working well and too silent to feel i am driving. i bought it in NJ and drove it to FL about 1300miles. still has no problem.

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  Review - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By Tom123456 - January 30 - 2:00 am

  I really enjoy this car. It is one of the best cars ever. I love it.

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  Great car. Lets hope it stays that way - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By skiboy78 - January 30 - 12:30 am

  We bought this car almost exactly a year ago. we have almost 13,000 miles on it and no major problems. The only thing that went wrong is a screw came lose in the visor, but it was replaced under warranty. It has great power and we average 24 mpg city which is great for this size of a car. We did have an issue with the alarm going off and the electrical not working but I figured out that it was the main fuse. So just push it in and all back to normal (this only happened once so I havent bothered telling the dealer yet). I think thats what has happened to a few others. Otherwise, I love this car. It was a great deal, great ride, and GREAT looks! All around, great car!

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  Solid & Reliable - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Greg - January 29 - 6:00 pm

  Pricing and warranty blew away everything in its class. I was impressed by the low cost 10year/100,000 mile optional warranty I purchased because it was proof that Hyundai was standing behind their product. Ive never seen this degree of confidence by any other manufacturer. This vehicle is NOT a "toy mini SUV"; its built very solid, has excellent handling, and still runs as good as it did when I drove it off the lot. After almost 3 years and 40K miles Ive had zero problems. I rarely take it offroad, but when I do it has excellent clearance and suspension that handle anything you will find on a gravel road. Speed bumps ? Hah! This thing mows em down like they werent even there.

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  A pleasure to drive hard or soft - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By allsure - January 29 - 10:00 am

  Clean, powerful, fun, solid, fast, great brakes. I love this car and feel it is worth more than what I paid for it. It is a blast to drive and can also turn a few heads. I hope the add-on accessory guys get wind of it and put more product out there.