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 Basic Car - 2005 Hyundai Accent
  By GT Dallas - May 13 - 7:41 pm

  A solid car with good value for the price. Economical gas mileage with enough performance to make it onto the freeway without fear.

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  City MPG very poor - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By lee8166 - May 13 - 6:29 pm

  I bought my 2011 Sonata Aug 2010 and felt Iwasnt getting the best mpg in the city. Ilive in Philadelphia. I havent driven outside of the city with it yet. However, Im getting 16 mpg city driving and I feel like that is very low mileage. Other than that I love my car!

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  great little car - 2005 Hyundai Accent
  By John - May 13 - 6:25 pm

  great little car, fun to drive, solid on the road, fantastic handling, lots of power

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  one problem - 2005 Hyundai XG350
  By Bernard Stahl - May 13 - 12:06 pm

  Enjoy driving. One problem: when idling, sounds like a diesel. Dealers said could not fix

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  Dependable Car - 2001 Hyundai XG300
  By Marie - May 13 - 11:50 am

  Bought this car new in 01. 6 years later and it still is great. No problems or issues, just change the oil and go. Currently have 70,000 miles on it. Jsut replaced the brakes and timing belt. Changed the tires once. Thats it. Very dependable car and love the way it drives. The car is filled with luxury features and I am still loving it after 5 years.

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  Smooth Ride - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By anna m - May 13 - 10:00 am

  I have had nothing but fun tooling around in my santa fe. It handles real smooth and is easy to drive. The engine is quiet but the cockpit with the windows open is noisy when you are in a confined area with traffic. A little more sound proofing would have been nice to block out the road sounds. The visibility at night is great the headlights along with the fog lights you can see pretty far ahead. I have the LX model which did not have a sun/moon roof option at the time of purchase other than that this is a great suv at a real value price and a great warranty. I would recommend this vehicle and the nice dealorship where I bought it.

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  If I can sell them I can buy them - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Matt - May 13 - 9:16 am

  I recently purchased a 2009 Sonata after selling them for about a year now. I am very impressed whith my own hyundai after having sold so many I now know why they sell so very well!!!

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  Nice appearance for a piece of junk - 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By mikeb - May 13 - 4:56 am

  I bought the most expensive Hyundai I had higher expectations due to false advertising. Lower gas mileage than advertised I get 16 miles a gallon highway. Dealership says its the additives in the gas that only affects Santa Fe B.S. High cost for maintenance and the car runs worse with every service they do. The transfer case was just replaced and its still making grinding noises and the gear shift needed to be replaced as well, frozen wipers wont move even my small economy car had good wipers. I could go on but there may not be enough space here...very dissatisfied. I wish I could get my money back!

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  Standing the test of time - 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
  By shanc25 - May 13 - 4:44 am

  My 2007 Tiburon GT, automatic, is up to nearly 129,000 miles so far and the only issue Ive had to this point is to replace a faulty fuel sensor. Thats it. Most reliable car Ive ever owned and I hope it keeps going strong for a while longer, because Im still in love with the way the car looks and how it drives. Gorgeous machine and its proven to have longevity to boot. Wonderful for a single person (whos under 60" tall - thats important with the shallow headroom here).

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  Great Car - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Anonymous - May 12 - 2:00 am

  I was looking for a car to replace my Acura TL. I was looking for something affordable that had alot of options that wouldnt cost a fortune. Stopped by the Hyundai dealership and loved the new style of the Sonata. Drove it to my wifes office and had her drive it back to the dealership. She is a car snob and always made fun of Hyundais so I figured it was a no go. She Loved the car and we bought it that night. We have over 6000 miles on the car with no issues. If I had it to do over again the only thing I would change is purchase the 2.0 turbo (wasnt available at time of purchase). Previous cars owned C230 Mercedes, Infinity G35, Buick Enclave, 2008 Chevy Malibu, 2006 Chevy ImpalaSS.