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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  Great bang for the buck - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By Happy Hyundai Owner - November 26 - 1:47 am

  I have had a total of 5 Hyundais​ now (4 Sonata Limited, and 1 Genesis). Ive owned BMW 5 series, and a Mercedes 500 SL (both nice cars), but Hyundai is by far the best bang for your money you can get. My only negative of the 15 Sonata is they didnt offer a v6 in it. Everything else is great. On a side note, my fully loaded 15 Genesis is a better car than either the BMW 5 series or Mercedes E series. The question I get most often when people see my Genesis? "What kind of car is that? A Bentley?"

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  Great Car! - 2001 Hyundai Tiburon
  By jbcleere - November 25 - 3:56 am

  I like everything about this car. Looks great, handles great, lots of room, quiet and comfortable. Ive had this car over a year and have not had any trouble with it. Great gas saver also, I get 30-33 mpg! Cant understand all the negative comments, maybe Ive just been lucky.

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  Great car for the money - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By gmcgregg - November 25 - 1:40 am

  This vehicle has been the most reliable and fun to drive for the money. It have had only one problem with the vehicle and it was covered under their exceptional warrenty. This vehicle has be the least problematic vehicle I have owned especially when compared to the GM, Ford & Dodges I purchased in the recent past.

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  best value in the market - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By roberto - November 24 - 11:11 pm

  I shop around and corolla was 14k striped , civic 15k striped, sentra 15k moderate equiped and some bad reviews, dont mention the guarranty in any other, service and guarranty in the dealerships nation wide have very good reviews, the cash price was $12,450 and there was $1,500 cash back so I paid $10,950 plus taxes, etc. the only thing you have to do is get a cd player and you have a fully equiped car, whit the best guarranty, at the lowest price. what else can you ask for. I have driven the car for 5000 miles and have been a flawlees experience.

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  hyundai 2002 accent - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By e r kelly - November 24 - 4:29 pm

  Its been a grat traveling car, putting on the first 8000 miles within two months of purchase. Its been from Maine to California and Milwaukee to New Orleans. Not too much twon driving as I have a little old Chevy, still in great shape, for that! I take good care of my cars!

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  first hyundai, nothing but praises - 2008 Hyundai Sonata
  By Pat - November 24 - 6:43 am

  This is my first Hyundai since I have always been skeptical about buying the Hyundai brand. After extensive research, I settled with the Sonata GLS. I havent had too many miles yet since I have only gotten it. The car feels comfortable and everything feels just fine. Its comparable to other Accord, Civic, Maxima that I have/had owned or better. A few things are missing (AUX inlet, steeling wheel mounted radio control etc) but they are not the show stoppers. The good things are it comes with the exceptional warranty (others are copying it too), ESC, all kinds of airbags. Another good selling point is, you can knock off quite a bit from the price. This is impossible for other comparable cars

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  Great Car, but VERY small gas tank! - 2010 Hyundai TUCSON
  By MotherOfTwo - November 24 - 3:03 am

  Overall very happy with this car! Its just the right size for us and looks great.

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  Not Bad - 2003 Hyundai Sonata
  By Ken C - November 24 - 2:00 am

  Purchased a new 2003 Sonata LX V6 in Dec 2002. Have put 3,000 miles on it and it runs great. I agree with others, this cars is not as polished as a Toyota or Honda. We useally buy larger America cars. The Sonata matches them in ride but has less power. The trunk space looked good when we bought the car. But on our first trip found the rear speakers and other stuff really cut into the useable trunk space. Overall, we are very happy with the car and feel it is a great value.

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  Tibby - 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Joan43973 - November 24 - 2:00 am

  This is a fun car to drive. It is very reliable and love the style.

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  VALUE VALUE VALUE - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By puckguy59 - November 24 - 2:00 am

  We have only had the car 2 months but it is well worth the money. There have been zero problems with the car. You get a lot of features at a great price