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 CAR. BETTER THAN S CLASS! - 2011 Hyundai Equus
  By stimpack - June 4 - 3:49 pm

  Our family owned various German luxury vehicles past years. The common thing about those is poor reliability, and constant break down. Lexus? quite reliable, but not worth the $$$ you spend. (still way better than broken German) The quality of the vehicle is just Great. Better than Lexus, BMW, and Benz. Better ride, better standard equipment, Luxurious Trimming, and features. and save $40,000. Valet service is amazing. I dont have to at the service center all day and lose time and $$$ as I did with the German cars. The ego of Luxury Car dealers is just too high for me. You know, you have to please them to get the service. My advice is, if you want a luxury, and feel good, buy it!

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  Questionable MPG - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By txn - June 3 - 12:04 pm

  We got this car a week ago solely based on the 29-40 MPG. So far we have gotten 27 during on the first tank. I hope it improves. The car appears to be made well and the quality of the interior is impressive. I just hope the mileage gets into the advertised range. Anyone here fall short of the low end of the range and try to deal witht he dealer on it?

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  I am so glad I chose Hyundai Elantra GSL - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By deebi27 - June 2 - 11:02 pm

  I had a Honda CR-V, I loved my car however on April 19th a storm totaled my CRV. I had just paid it off in November. :o( Enter May and I was on a mad research expedition to find a new car. I finally settled on 4 cars. I test drove 3 on Memorial Day and the 4th one, the Hyundai Elantra Tuesday after work. OMG! There was no comparison between the Elantra and the 1st 3. The ride is wonderful! I have great 40+ mpg! I have my Bluetooth hook up, for what I believe will become in the near future...no hand held cell phone use! My husband (6) is quite comfortable in the passenger seat. Phone, radio and cruise controls on the steering wheel. I love my new Hyundai Elantra!!!

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  Great car for the price! - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By rtz - June 2 - 11:00 am

  Love the looks inside and out. Ride can be rough and road and engine noise loud. Options installed are fantastic! Bluetooth & ipod hook up. Ive had 3 tanks of gas so far (E10 in NY) and I am getting 31mpg with 15% city and 85% highway. Its rated fpr 29 city/40 highway. Im barley getting over city rating with large percentage HW driving.Was hoping for 35mpg combined. Hopefully it will increase over time.

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  best ever - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By chuckyb42 - May 29 - 9:37 pm

  I have owned Hondas for the past 10 years The main reason was that I was a Honda salesman during that time Also Hondas comfort, cost of ownership and reliability were buying factors. My lease was up on my CRV so I started to look for a replacement. After reading all the positive reviews for the Elantra, I decided to give it a try Years ago I would look at a Hyundai vehicle After driving the Elantra I was blown away by its quality appearance and ride Ive had my GLS for 3 months and LOVE IT Great gas mileage great features outstanding vehicle. Run dont walk to your Hyundai and try one

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  Time to trade in - 2008 Hyundai Elantra
  By sweed2 - May 28 - 12:23 pm

  I bought the Elantra new in 08. The windshield wipers were never connected. I found this out on the highway in a torrential downpour with no breakdown lane. A couple of weeks later I got a flat took it to Pep Boys and they asked when I had patched the tire? I never did I thought it was new. Recall after recall. Cd player stopped functioning, window was slowly going down, and we kept having the problem. We just received the airbag recall notice. I decided to trade it for a Volvo S60 with the premium package. I totally broke even with everything! The mileage (very low), price, and a good trade-in value. Now I have a safe luxury car that is awesome!

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  Its ok... - 2007 Hyundai Elantra
  By cmariol - May 27 - 1:20 pm

  I bought this car new. It was perfect for me then, but now i have a 2 year old. With a car seat in the back and a stroller in the trunk, i have no room for anything. It drives me crazy that i cant even fit a full load of groceries in it, let alone a single item bigger than one seat. Mostly because of this, i am currently looking for an suv. If you dont have kids, its a good little car, but if you do, i would highly recommend looking for something bigger. Also, the check engine light has been on practically since i got it. I took it to auto zone and they stuck that thing in it that tells you why its on. I cant remember what they said it was exactly, but he said it was no big deal...

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  Awesome car!! - 2007 Hyundai Elantra
  By ucinn - May 25 - 10:29 pm

  I bought this new in Dec. 2006. I now have 83000 care free miles on it. All that Ive had done is routine maintenance, tires, and brakes. Most reliable car Ive ever had. It handles like a dream, has plenty of pep. Get 30 MPG with mostly city driving and have had no problems in the snow. It has a very roomy trunk to go along with lots of legroom for front and rear passengers. I dont see how you can go wrong with this car.

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  Dont trust Hyundai Warranty - 2006 Hyundai Sonata
  By kd_singh - May 25 - 6:31 pm

  Despite all the claims by Hyundai on having a great warranty..the Hyundai commitment to service is not trust worthy.. The general guideline to the dealership is avoid accepting the faults in the car..till the warranty runs out..Once its run out they start pointing out faults that you have always been asking them to repair... simply the Hyundai approach is to avoid acceptance of any fault in the cars..temporary fix the problem when customer insists or adamant. Buy it if you just want to keep it for 60, 000 miles..after that it is your risk..no matter how well you kept your car..it will haunt you! whatever was fixed once will break again!

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  Great looking car, questionable paint quality. - 2011 Hyundai Elantra
  By bhamcarshopper - May 25 - 2:08 pm

  There were 4 paint deficiencies when I took delivery. The worst were on the bottom of the car on the left and the right sides of the car between the front and rear doors. The paint did not match in these areas...I did not notice until a few days after when we had a sunny day. The clearcoat around the bottom sides of the car is splotchy also. The local dealer will be repainting, repairing the problem areas. Hyundai will be covering a loaner vehicle.