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:

• 

  Buyer Beware - 2005 Hyundai Elantra
  By jon grant - January 20 - 3:38 pm

  i owned a 2005 elantra and it caught fire after 4 months 4000 miles. it was determined by the columbus fire department to be a defect in the car and then later determined by nationwides fire specialist to also be a manufactures defect. the dealership and hyundai in fountain valley california have done nothing to resolve the loss of my vehicle. hyundai motor finance company through which i financed is still making me pay for a car that obviously is unreliable and a lemon. buyer beware and check out NHSTA.com.

• 

  Be Careful!! - 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
  By karen - December 31 - 9:26 pm

  We were quite pleased with our Sonata Hybrid at first, but it definitely doesnt get the mileage that is posted on the sales price!! This past summer we ran into a major problem with the engine, a loud clanking sound started and from there we found out our engine needed to be replaced !! This happening to a car we had for just 3 years! So they had the car for about a month and a half because they couldnt find the parts needed to fix it, on top of that it was our fault that the engine had sludged up because they said we hadnt done appropriate oil changes totally not true!!They said they found large chunks of metal throughout the engine!! So therefore Hyundai responded that the work was not covered under warranty which we are still under!!! Thousands of dollars later we have our car back! Now 4 months later we have found out Hyundai has issued a recall for Hyundai sonatas 2011 and 2012 for this exact problem the recall states that they found large chunks of metal in the engine !! The exact same problem we had yet when we called about the recall our car is not in the recall!!! Ridiculous!!! I will not recommend Hyundai they dont stand up for the customer!

• 

  Beware - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Charlene - November 19 - 4:00 pm

  Make no mistake this car is dangerous and Hyundai is being extremely silent about it my brand new 2016 less than 45 days old has been in the shop more than Ive driven it I am on my third rental car from them and now Hyundais inspectors have come out looked at the car and are holding it hostage as they cant decide what to do with this car please please go read and look at the videos on Hyundai turbo issues the dual-clutch transmission is a nightmare and an accident waiting to happen someone is going to get killed in this car

• 

  Poor quality, poor service - 2001 Hyundai Accent
  By Erik - November 13 - 10:06 pm

  Ive owned this vehicle for two years. Ive needed to replace two head gaskets, two oxygen sensors and the exhaust pipe. The engine burns oil, but the dealer says this is normal for a Hyundai, even with less than 40K. The brakes grind and squeal and the clutch is going, but the dealer says that there is no problem. They have also hung up on me when I complained and refused to pay for costs supposedly covered under their warranty.

• 

  I hate this car - 2013 Hyundai Azera
  By Jay Skousen - November 10 - 4:28 am

  This is probably the 15th car I have owned and I have had only a few clunkers, but this one takes the cake. It is not the "big" issues, I have not had any mechanical issues, but it is the little things. If I can recall them, they are: > The placement of the power seat controls are on the doors near the C(?) pillar so that in order for either the driver or passenger to recline the seat or move it all the way to the rear you have to maintain a sit up until the operation is done. Ditto when you want to return the seat to its normal position, a sit up is needed. > The GPS is difficult to program, and it has a tendency to take you on strange routes, going from our home to my daughters in Dallas the last 20 miles it had us on narrow two lane roads when there were major 4 lanes and decent two lanes available, and it would have been shorter, faster. Even on moderately near destinations, 50 miles or so, it has a tendency to misdirect you right as you near the destination, it has had us turn West when we should have gone East on X road just a half mile from the destination. A terrible terrible system. It does not show the roads you are coming upon either. I suppose it does tell you many POIs such as rest areas, but I would have had to take out the manual to find out how, gads this bloody thing has at least 3, yes 3, manuals! The piece de resistance though is that in most cars with the GPS factory installed have a hood surrounding it so the glare from the sun is minimized. Not this car, there are times during a sunny day one cannot see the display. > The sound system has an awesome sound I believe it has 12 speakers, an infinity system. BUT, it is not intuitive on how to program stations you want to save. It is nice to be able to save, what is it 18 stations per band, BUT, when you push the steering wheel control to move to the next station it only allows the six stations shown. To get to the others you have to take your eyes off the road to select the next 6 and so on. On my GMC it flows from channel to channel and once you have gone through all the channels you can reverse. I will say though, the saving grace is the voice command. It works well. (I never did figure out how to instruct it to get directions via the GPS, I only used it to find me a station to listen to). > I have heated and cooling seats in the front and to heater work fine, but after the first summer season the cooling seats for the driver were minimally effective, I could live with it, but when I first got the car it made me cold, not now, though I am comfortable but gee. > I lived in the Detroit area for nearly 40 years and learned to drive there. I was livid to find out that I had wheel locks placed on the car. Not one, not one person I know anywhere has lost a wheel to thieves, not in Detroit or here in Ohio where I now live. The key was gone when I first went for a rotation and was asked for the key, I was nonplussed. I had to order a key for $15, and could not buy new lug nuts as in the infinite wisdom of Hyundai the lug nuts are not a standard size I had to have the dealer replace the lug nuts for another 20. This is not an option I would tout if I were them. Can you imagine your spouse having a tire issue anywhere and not being able to take your wheel/tire off because it is locked? Whew! > It seems to that Hyundai has an issue wherein you press on the gas and the car thinks for 3-4 seconds before it responds. Drives me nuts, and of course the dealer comes back, "it is normal we find nothing wrong" I compained 3 times. I have driven for nearly 40 years and have owned multiple cars and vans. My brother worked at GM in engines as an engineer, this is not normal. I am not a fool. I expected this to be the last car I would buy as I am now in my 60s. but I am going to get rid of this damn thing and buy something else. I am sure there is other issues, for instance I do not like the keyless entry and start feature, but my wife does. The big issue for me is that when I am exiting the car and press the lock button if I am still coming out it will not lock. I dont like that, but my wife has no problem so i mention it but it really is not too big an issue.

• 

  Dangerous - 2016 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Unhappy - October 15 - 8:27 am

  Like other reviews the DCT is dangerous and this car should not be on the road. Had 3 occasions when the car has completely failed to accelerate, luckily in each case no one behind me and not crossing a road. After the first occasion took it into the dealership they "updated" the software but did not inform me this is a known issue. Next day happened twice within a few minutes, plus overrevved when changing from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. Took the car back to the dealership and they admitted this was a know issue and the software update does not work. Hyundai are meant to be working on a new version, timeline unknown. I have requested a buyback from Hyundai and filed complaint with NHTSA, where there are hundreds of similar complaints. Hyundai and their dealerships should be getting this car off the road. Based on my customer service to date I will never buy another Hyundai or use this dealership chain. Even if they provide an update will almost certainly sell immediately.

• 

  terrible running - 2009 Hyundai Accent
  By ron - October 2 - 6:39 am

  car is very unreliable car has only 140.000 miles an it very very well maintain but car is having engine not worth buying stick with toyotas

• 

  Stay far, far, far away - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jen - August 8 - 12:45 pm

  My husband and I purchased this car in 2014 after his previous Sonata met its end. Lasting almost 300,000 miles without an issue, he wanted another Sonata. We bought the 2011 Sonata used and it was a great car at first. Unfortunately, within the last year, the car has become more of a headache than anything. We have had it at the dealer 4 times in the past year, and its there now. The first time, Hyundai claimed they couldnt find anything wrong and we were sent home. Check engine light came on again within a month, and they figured out something needed to be replaced in the transmission. The third time, the check engine light came on and we also had to replace the starter in the car, with only 60k miles on it. Now the car is in the shop again, and the airbag light is on this time. Thankfully we purchased an extended warranty on the car and it has paid to fix everything thus far. There have been 4 recalls on the car since we purchased it, and its a pain to have to take off work to keep putting the car in the shop. Ive also done research on the air bag issue and apparently it requires a new air bag that costs $1200 and isnt covered by the warranty which is a SAFETY HAZARD that Hyundai isnt doing anything about despite many complaints. I want to sell this car and get something WAY more reliable. This car is a POS. STAY AWAY!

• 

  Bad paint - 2016 Hyundai Elantra
  By Michael - July 18 - 11:52 pm

  The paint started peeling, dealer tried three times to fix and did a real crappy job. Tried to contact Hyundai and they wont even respond. Bought the car for the warrant, but Hyundai wont back the warranty, will never buy a Hyundai again. No support.

• 

  Buyer beware! - 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By dj - July 3 - 1:20 am

  I agree with previous posters, very bad transmission that definitely bogs and slips when cold. Hyundai has a horrible warranty service because they will always try to discount the problem. Poor quality. Gas mileage is about 20% lower than the sticker averages on the vehicle. Just another falsehood.