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 Unless You Get A Lemon - 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Brian Boro - August 27 - 10:30 pm

  Just got it and it has had all the injectors replaced for a second time. When i picked it up this time the check engine light was still on! The dealer even left me without a car for 4 days. But when it runs its a great car it is my second(i had a 2004), the first was a great car

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  You get what you pay for. - 2013 Hyundai Sonata
  By johng911 - August 14 - 11:48 pm

  I bought a new 2013 Sonata due mostly to its price and warranty. Ive only had the car for a few weeks and I am still forming an opinion about it.

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  So what gives with the gas mileage? - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By stacey - August 12 - 10:46 am

  Purchased car used with 17K miles from dealer. Reading was 20.1 mpg, drove it home and mpg began to drop immediately. Went as low as 12.8 but then had problem with 02 sensor. Dealer said that mileage would improve after replacement. It got a little better, now back up to 15.1, city.On trips to Tahoe the best mpg was 18. Overall, I like the car but given the times, one cant make buying decisions on cars w/o taking mpg into account. I would never have bought this car if Id known what the true mileage would be. I think that all of the disclaimers given by both the dealers and the feds are outrageous. A consumer should be entitled to minimal expectations for such a critical feature.

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  Reliability issues - 2012 Hyundai Sonata
  By epastrana - August 6 - 9:40 pm

  I bought a 2.0t Sonata on November 2012. Since then the car had been 4 times at dealer for two issues that until today had not bee corrected. First, panoramic roof rattles no solution yet! Second, a/c stops cooling at idle. (at shop at this moment) Lets see.... Also a/c smells funny terrible during acelaration. No solution yet. Car has now 6k miles and is spending a week monthly on dealer! No fun... Hyundai does not reply comments on his site.

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  Beware!! - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Gleda - July 26 - 6:56 am

  This car is an owners nightmare. Yes, its fun to drive, but so far, the compressor, engine, and stick shift has blown , all under 30k miles. I have never recieved such horrible service than at ALL of the hyundai dealreships ive been to. All this, and Ive already has a LEMON tiburon before the one Icurrently own. I brought the dealership to court and they gave me another peice of crap in return. Ill never buy a hyundai again. Whats the chance that you get 2 BAD cars of the same make/model from 2 different states? Slim. I doubt its a coincidence.

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  Poor Workmanship - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By thand - July 24 - 12:05 pm

  I was thrilled with my Hyundai until the clear coat started peeling off the hatch door and the drivers side mirror as well as rusting on the drivers side mirror. The wiper arms are rusting as well and I have just over 60,000 miles on my car. To me this is lousy workmanship. most of the time my car was parked in a garage at work so was only in the elements for limited amount of time. I have never owned a car in which the clear coat peeled. My daughter who also has a Hyundai is having the same problem. I did some research and found out that even some of the 2012 models had the same problem. This is why I would never buy another Hyundai product.

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  Lacking - 2011 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Linda - July 21 - 2:00 am

  The Tucson seems to have pep and for the most part is fairly comfortable. Irritations I have with it is that the seats are located so far toward the middle that every time I enter or exit the bottom of the door jam hits the back of my leg so Im walking around with a dirt streak on the back of my slacks. Second, the side mirrors are located so that it creates a blind spot. Back seats lack enough padding on the seat. I would not buy another.

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  Not what you expected after the novelty wares off. - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By George - July 17 - 6:06 am

  The longer I drive this vehicle the more I dislike it.

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  Very Dissapointed! - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By scottg - July 15 - 3:16 am

  My 2011 Sonata is not even a remote competitor of Honda, Toyota, or Ford. I received my car with a defective door latch and terrible rattles in this door dashboard and console. The drivers side door pillar has a scratch. Several weeks later, my front drivers seat started to fray at the seams. The vanity mirror does not open, and rattles have reappeared. I sat in the back seat for the first time and folded down the rear seat center console only to find a deep 5 inch scratch across the cup holder! Hyundai needs to slow down and identify how these quality control lapses occurred – as this is NOT quality. It would be nice to try restoring my faith in your product- which is rapidly dwindling

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  XG350Lemon - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By XG350Lemon Driver - July 11 - 10:00 am

  I really want to like this car...unfortunately, its not mutual. Since Mar-02, this car has been in the service dept. for 39 days (excluding Sundays) with electrical problems. While this is a clear Lemon Law case, Hyundai is fighting me.