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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  Love this car! - 2013 Hyundai Veloster
  By blantzy - January 8 - 11:09 pm

  I love the look of the car - I have the orange one. I like how fast it accelerates and it gets good gas mileage. The technology on it is pretty cool - like satellite radio and bluetooth and being able to remote start the car. The heated seats are a plus, and it has keyless entry so I never need to fumble for my keys to get into the car. The keys just stay in my purse. One problem I had immediately after leasing it is that the sound system would make a vibrating rattling sound when Id turn on the radio at a medium to high volume.

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  Excellent SUV - 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By dutch - January 8 - 9:46 pm

  The impression from the inside is that of a larger vehicle, but the 09 Santa Fe handles extremely well, even in poor driving conditions. Plowed through 18+ inches of snow w/out a problem. Outside appearance resembles higher end SUVs, so it doesnt feel cheap. You end up getting a quality vehicle that looks expensive and drives equally as well for less $$$ than the competition. Best vehicle I have ever owned.

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  Couldnt Be Happier - 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Anthony Vincent - January 6 - 6:30 am

  I shopped them all. Price, within reason, was not an issue. I really like this SUV a lot. It rides well, its quick for a heavy vehicle, it has every feature out there that I wanted, and it seems bulletproof so far. In mixed driving I got 24.4 MPG in the first thousand miles. Love the way it looks, the huge sunroof, the power lift gate, the sliding driver seat, the onboard computer control, the solid feel when driving ... Just everything about this vehicle is excellent.

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  Great looking car! - 2012 Hyundai Elantra
  By Alona - January 6 - 4:32 am

  Nice looking sporty car at a reasonable price!

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  Time Will Tell - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Hyundai Buyer - January 5 - 2:46 pm

  This car is equal in almost every aspect to a Camry for considerably less money. What remains to be seen is if the 2009 Sonata will provide 160k mile problem free performance that my previous owned Camry did. Getting 25 mpg in city driving and recent trip in Colorado mountain drive 32 mpg. Better acceleration would be a plus in city driving but this car performs equivalent to a 6 cylinder on the highway.

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  special - 2004 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Dogmeister - January 5 - 2:00 am

  This car is sawesome period.

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  BARGAIN OF THE YEAR ! - 2004 Hyundai Elantra
  By hwjoe - January 5 - 2:00 am

  I did a lot of research before purchasing my Elantra GT 5door. I looks at Chevy, Dodge, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi and the HYundai was the best deal. For what you get in Hyundai for the price your pay, you cant beat it. I found a HTF pkg 8 with ABS/Tract Control and my dealer, Towne Hyundai in Denville NJ didnt try to mark up the car because of it. Warranty, Leather, great stereo, sunroof, power everything, auto, abs, tract control, reputable dealer, with a 2000.00 rebate and 500.00 extra for owner loyalty (I traded a 97 Accent with 145K-another good car) The Elnatra was well under $15000 !!! Where else can you get so much for so little !

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  Excellent Car - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By thomix - January 5 - 2:00 am

  I have got a car with almost luxury equipment for a reasonable price. Very attractive body, good quality on all details.

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  My Tiburon - 2006 Hyundai Tiburon
  By Diane - January 5 - 1:16 am

  I have really enjoyed driving my Tiburon for the last year. My husband and I just drove it to Texas for vacation in July and found it to be comfortable even on the 18-hour drive. We were really surprised and will be driving it on all our trips in the future.

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  Super Safe - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Popoon - January 3 - 10:00 am

  My daughter was driving the car when she was in a major crash. The car was totaled but she opened the door and walked away without so much as a scratch. The car was replaced with another Elantra as I dont want her driving anything else.