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 First time SUV owner - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Carlos Hernandez - September 26 - 10:00 am

  Other than odd design and alittle under power, it is the best car Ive ever owned.

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  Great SUV - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Dee Ann - September 26 - 10:00 am

  I traded in my VW Passat for a Sant Fe and have loved the Sant Fe. I have not had one bit of problems with the Santa Fe. It always runs. I cant say that about the Passat. I deliver wedding cakes and the cargo space in the back is plent big enough for all the cakes. We shopped around before we bought this suv and by far, for the money, this is the best deal on the road.

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  Love My Hyundai - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Cheri Hager - September 26 - 10:00 am

  I love this vehicle. Its reliable and can go anywhere.Get good gas mileage and is fun to drive.

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  Love this SUV!! - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By C. Cook - September 26 - 10:00 am

  I did a lot of homework on many SUVs. By far, the Hyundai Santa Fe beat all out. For the price, the 10-year bumper to bumper warranty and 1.9 % financing, how could I lose? It has been one of the best investments Ive made in vehicle.

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  Love this car - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By reeeeeen - September 26 - 10:00 am

  My husband and i previously owned a pickup and a small sports car. now that theres a baby on the way, we were looking for a safe vehicle with room. we test drove the santa fe and were sold with the first acceleration. its comfortable, it MOVES, the standard options are unequaled, has a great warrantee and awesome safety features. im 52 and hes 6, its great to find a vehicle were both comfortable driving!

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  2003 Hyundai - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By fritzi1113 - September 26 - 10:00 am

  While looking for an SUV, I came upon the Santa Fe, liked the way it looked. After driving it, I knew that this is the vehicle I wanted after believing for months that I would only buy a CR- V. This is a fun vehicle to drive, lots of power with the 3.5 litre engine and the automatic transmission is unique in that you can shift manually if wanted or needed.

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  Enjoy to drive - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By njny - September 26 - 10:00 am

  I drive both on the New Jersey Turnpike and around the streets of New York City. This is my first SUV, my previous 3 cars were Lexus. I loved my lexus and always leased, but I needed more room and I had a limited budget. I have the car for 7,000 miles and find it a pleasure it every way. I know own the car and it takes regular gas!

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  Hyundai Sante Fe 2003 GLS 4WD 3.5 L - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By sca - September 26 - 10:00 am

  I was a previous owner of a 1998 Hyundai Elantra. The maintenance of the vehicle was very inexpensive and it was an extremely reliable vehicle. I bought the Santa Fe because I would always see it at the dealership whenever I went in for maintenance for the Elantra. So basically, I bought my Santa Fe based on the reliability of my Elantra.

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  Love the Santy! - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By GKPru - September 26 - 10:00 am

  Had my Santa-Fe for 10 months now and I will never go back to a small car. The main factor in buying this car was safty, price and a warrenty that is awsome!

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  Euro-hatchback - 2003 Hyundai Elantra
  By timques - September 26 - 10:00 am

  Even though down in PR we dont get some of the features(No leather seats, Michelíns, Moonroof, fog lights, cruise control) you get on the Mainland, my Elantra GT it is still a super buy, with better feature content for $1500 to $2500 less.