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 the gas mileage, hate the quality - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By Leon - February 11 - 9:11 pm

  It has about 57000 miles on it and its had 3 struts replace and 3 of the mounting brackets for the struts. The cruise controls are in a bind and are going to be replaced. Paint on both bumpers is cracked. Dealer repainted the hood but I got it back with the cluster assembly cracked in 4 places. Motor is very noisy when cold. Gas mileage is 27-28.

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  Great value, great fun - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By Herb & Amy - February 11 - 7:34 pm

  This car handles well and at the same time rides very comfortably on the road. Sporty feel without the roughness of a true sports car. Nice combination.

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  So far so good - 2009 Hyundai Elantra
  By HusbandOfToyotaLover - February 10 - 2:19 pm

  Bought my Hyundai Elantra 2009. I had to convince my wife, who is a loyal Toyota driver, that at 15K - 16K Hyundai Elantra is the best deal over against any Corolla we can buy. So far I havent regret it and my wife likes it. The engine is adequate, I mean who buys an Elantra to floor-it anyway? It is surprisingly comfortable and handling is surprisingly adequate (mind you I am used to driving Honda Civic myself.) Rear seat is small but trunk space is adequate. I have to say, at the price for VSC, ESP, ABS, XM (3 months), BlueTooth, MP3, and IPod player this car is the best bang for the buck. Of course you will take a hit at resale so keep that in mind. We like to drive them to death

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  Updated 05 Tucson GLS review - 2005 Hyundai TUCSON
  By shane1v - February 10 - 2:00 am

  Ive had the Tuc for a year and 7 months/18,500 miles now. I do like the car overall. The main problem is GAS MILEAGE. Check a few Tucson forums and you will find this is a major complaint. I get about 14mpg city! That is unacceptable. Hyundai has to address this, there IS a problem. Ive also had a couple problems(A/C system almost caught fire) that required dealer attention. Other than this, I really enjoy the Tucson. Great looking, inside is very nice and well thought out, & all the standard safety features make this a great value Also, if you run into snow where you live, get the AWD. I wish I did now. PS to some other posters-I dont think the sideview mirrors are heated.

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  Love this car! - 2008 Hyundai Accent
  By Meghan - February 9 - 10:32 am

  I bought this car in September 08 as a replacement for my previous car, a 96 Saturn SL2. I test drove this car and the Yaris before ultimately purchasing the Accent. The Yaris felt narrow while the Accent felt much wider, and has a warranty that cant be beat, for a couple thousand dollars less. There have been mixed reviews about gas mileage but I am averaging 30mpg with the manual. This car turns on a dime, and I have gotten TONS of compliments about how cute the car is. (Tango Red - looks much better in real life than on the website). The shifter isnt as smooth as the Yaris, but all in all I am very satisfied with my purchase.

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  Not as great as expected - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Karen - February 9 - 2:33 am

  Car looks like quality but after driving it a few months can see that I may have overpaid for what I got, Rides stiff (could be the SE model), tires had flat spots, some surprises and some disappointments--lots of storage spaces, vinyl inside doors, dash, seats scratch too easy, good head & leg room, Worst feature is the way all 4 doors unlock when car put into park (I got nervous at a gas station on a recent trip, I was getting my credit card out of my purse before exiting my car and realized some questionable guys nearby were "checking me out" and I wasnt safe with my back doors unlocked--gotta always remember to immediately re-lock the car when parking so no one jumps into backseat or side.

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  Some issues, but a good car overall - 2001 Hyundai Elantra
  By srchad - February 8 - 10:00 am

  Had my GT for 2 years and have 18k miles on it. Overall very pleased. Reasonably powerful and rides nice enough. Minor issues like sporadic engine racing at idle, clock stopped, and flaws in paint. Interior quality is surprisingly good and the parts seem to be good quality. Some cost cutting is obvious. The protectors that cover the bottom frame of the doors seem to be nothing more than thick pieces of tape, not plastic like in most cars. The heel of my shoe scraped right through one of them to the paint. Since the resale value is not up to par with Honda or Toyota, make sure you plan to keep it for a while. For the money, though, this is a nice car!

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  I love my Hyundai! - 2002 Hyundai Elantra
  By Jake - February 8 - 12:26 am

  I bought this car brand new and have driven 122,000 miles with NO major problems. The suspension, exhaust, and air conditioning are all holding up well and have never been serviced! The ONLY thing I think Hyundai could have done better is increase the time between replacements of the timing belt which is set for every 60k miles. Dealerships want to charge over $1100 for the service, but I can get it done at Midas for $450 - its a pain because they usually want the car for the entire day. Even with that, the maintenance costs have been super low and all I do is regular oil changes. I hope to keep this car for another 80k at least!

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  Watch out for this car suspension! - 2009 Hyundai Azera
  By Carlos - February 6 - 9:16 pm

  The driving is fun. Powerfull car nice well finish lots of details making this car amazing. The suspension is not so great, is very stiff so if you dont like the feel of the road "Do not purchase this car" I cant wait to trade in for some other and remember I purchase this car not even 3 months ago.

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  1.8lt 1999-2000 coupe - 2000 Hyundai Tiburon
  By nick147 - February 5 - 7:13 pm

  love the car, I brought it two months ago from Melbourne (2014) it only has 150,000kms on the clock. I had to fix the passenger window which cost me nothing, just some time as well as a cracked manifold which we ordered a new one for $150 and some time to fix the windshield wiper switch (stalk), the car came with a new windshield and battery but will need a/c re gassing ($200) it is super comfy and I highly recommend getting one P.S I got it for $1,600AUD