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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  Genesis in Durham - 2011 Hyundai Genesis
  By Michael Johnson - June 16 - 11:39 am

  Awesome car for the money. You cant beat the bells and whistles for the price. Also the maintenance was easy with regular gas and simple checkups. I highly recommend this car. I have the 4.6 engine.

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  LOVE IT - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By Krystal - June 15 - 7:40 pm

  I love this car! Much better than my honda civic EX. Its peppy for a 4 cylinder, the gas miliage is decent, and it had a cute body style with plenty of room.

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  Great Ride - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By anteup - June 15 - 5:50 pm

  Was pleasantly surprised during the test drives. previously drove an Acura; that was nice; this is better. Interior layout is tops; GPS is a snap to operate, as is bluetooth and XM radio. Decked out, this is a great ride for the price. Then theres the warranty - as good as it gets in the industry.

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  Good design - 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By chad001 - June 15 - 5:06 pm

  Ive owned my Santa Fe for a little over a week now. Ive been very pleased with how the car handles. Has very good ride. The exterior and interior designs is clean and modern, much nicer than the Toyota highlander and Honda Pilot in my opinion. Im currently getting 20mpg (mostly city driving). I recently took a 4.5 hour trip (mostly highway) and was getting about 23mpg. The steering wheel controls are spread too far apart and difficult to get use to as they are very low on the wheel. The transmition does not shift a smooth as some of the others but feels solid.

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  Nice solid small SUV - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Jamie - June 15 - 3:43 pm

  I have to say that I love this car. It runs great, very quiet ride, and I can tow a boat and my jet skis with no problem. Plenty of room for the two kids and the dog in the back, even with luggage!

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  bang for your buck - 2002 Hyundai Accent
  By sep - June 15 - 2:00 am

  Excellent car for running back and forth to work, with kids,scouts ect.FUN to drive. Looks good too. No more mechanics bills for ten years. Peace fo mind for $11,000 cant be beat.

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  Its Cute! - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By NikNikNik - June 14 - 10:00 am

  Ive only had it a couple of days, but so far, so good! Its really cute, lots of features, great price, and drives well! Mine is GT fully loaded with all the bells and whistles for under 19k!

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  2005 GT Sedan - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By tvilberg - June 14 - 10:00 am

  I went to a Hyundai dealer Toyota and Subaru. The Hyundai was, by far, the most fun to drive and the best value. The snappy 2L 4 cyl engine couples well with the 5-speed to produce a sports-car driving experience. The car handles exceptionally well in curves. I was so surprised by how much fun driving a GT was that I bought one. The exterior finish and design are first-rate, as is the awsome feature list. The GT comes with leather seats and all of the ammenities of an upscale roadster --- but at a price near a sub-compact. The only feastures I can think to improve would be the seats (a bit stiff and the mileage (34mpg hwy). The real-time mpg display inhibits flogging the engine, too.

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  Very pleasantly surprised - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Don - June 13 - 11:13 am

  Was driving past the dealership as they were unloading their first Sonatas. I pulled in for a closer look, and the rest is history. I had a 2007 Camary SE, which I absolutely loved, but mileage was getting pretty high. The Sonata SE has much more in the way of features than my Camry, And cost $3000.00 less than I paid for my Camry 4 years ago. Awesome Vehicle. Cannot say enough about it.

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  My 2006 Sonata LX - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By W. Partsch - June 13 - 2:13 am

  We have had the Sonata LX since Sept. 05 and have enjoyed every minute in it. It is comfortable and very quiet. Sometimes we cannot tell if the engine is running or not (have to look at the tach to make sure). The Interior is very pleasing and laid out nicely and with all controls close at hand. The accessories for garage door opener, auto rear view mirror and others are very nice touches that many American cars do not have (but could have at a slight increase in cost). At time of our purchase the Pearl White color was not available due to manufacturing problems at the Alabama assembly plant. We got the silver color, which seems to have a touch of white in it, quite pleasing. Great car