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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  What a car - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By BILL - June 21 - 2:20 am

  Replaced my 03 Altima wiht this Sonata SE and i am definitely not disappointed. Runs excellent, attractive styling-Ive gotten ten comments in three weeks, good value for the money, and free XM satellite radio for three months.

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  Pleasure to Drive - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Sid - June 20 - 10:33 pm

  We were always a GM family from our parents to us. Buick was our car. For some reason we bought a Toyota Camry in 2007. Very dissatisfied with the Camry. We traded the Camry for a Sonata 2011 and absolutely love it. We drove 200 miles yesterday on the FL turnpike and it drove beautifully with at an average of 33 miles to the gallon. All the other gadgets are awesome.

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  Best Value in a Hatchback Anywhere! - 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring
  By 57redleg - June 20 - 4:06 am

  Needed to move on to a new vehicle and pass my 2001 Civic to my son. Checked the Impreza, Fit, Forte, Elantra sedan and just about everything else. The Elantra Touring had the best value to feature set of all by far. The interior is fantastic from the comfortable seats, to the beautiful dash to the incredibly large back seat and cargo area. The included iPod connection, and overall layout is great. ESC and TCS works great so far, but once the Wisconsin snow starts falling Ill know for sure. The ET has more than enough power, though the engine noise is noticeable when accelerating to road speed. I do miss the 40 mpg I got with my old Civic; averaging 29mpg in 70% highway driving

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  xg350L - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By vitojm57 - June 20 - 2:00 am

  Extremely fun to drive with a look of luxary. If you were to combine a Lincoln Continental and a Toyota Avalon you would have a XG350L for thousands less.

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  Love it!! - 2004 Hyundai XG350
  By Mouse - June 20 - 2:00 am

  My 350XL is one of the nicest cars I have ever had and Ive been driving over half a century. It is so driver friendly and comfortable. A friend was so impressed he went down to buy one for his wife when he drove mine. I only wish Hyundia made a smaller model with the extras my 350XL has.

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  2005 hyundai lx - 2005 Hyundai Sonata
  By carl solomon - June 20 - 12:31 am

  Love this car. Great style, value and ride.

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  what was I thinking - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By heis - June 19 - 10:00 am

  Its a Hyundai- what was I thinking. guess we wwere influenced to much by the exterior design- The car looks really cool. However only after a short time we had the car thing are falling apart. The screw to the oiltank had a hairline crack. The motor needed readjustment. The engine noise is now transmitted to the interior and the plastic parts inside are vibrating. not much but I guess it will get worse. The car seems to accelerate pretty slowly- We ignored that when we bought the car. The actual economy is 24. (Much higher). We are really dis-illusioned

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  Not so Happy - 2001 Hyundai Tiburon
  By notsohappy - June 19 - 10:00 am

  Ive had my Tib for a year and a half and am not too happy with it. I have had no mechanical problems, but many annoying minor problems. Ive had the driver side seatbelt replaced for not retracting, both headlights and fog lights have been replaced twice in the past 6 months, windshield wipers actually got stuck together in a rain storm, driver side running panel is warped, paint chips VERY easily, and bird poop eats right through the paint (even when washed off within a few days). Other than that, its fun to drive. But, I am not sure I would buy another.

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  Poor Quality XG 350L - 2002 Hyundai XG350
  By AnnieP - June 19 - 10:00 am

  My car has less than 4000 miles on it. The wheel baring has been replaced, I had to purchase 4 new tires, and this morning on my way to work the check engine light came on. The dealer has been no help, refuses to perform warranty work and refuses a loaner car (as was part of the selling features). This car is poor quality and the dealer offers poor service. Unfortunately, the dealer is an embarrassment to Hyundai. Give me my JEEP back!

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  Dont underestimate this car. - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Mulletproof - June 19 - 10:00 am

  How many people have you heard complain about the quality of Hyundai? So had I. But I actually did this thing called "research" on the 2002 GLS. What did my research uncover? That there was no way Id find another car thatd let me walk out the door with all the standard options this car has, plus anti-theft, cruise control, spoiler and an AT for twelve four. Tax, title, registration and plates, people. Not to mention the beefy warrenty AND 24/7 roadside assistance for 5 years. I DEFY you to. It has looks I wouldnt get embarassed over to boot. Sure, it has its drawbacks, but the gains exceed those by a wide margin in this case.