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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  06 Elantra - 2006 Hyundai Elantra
  By rosegaliana - November 14 - 4:40 am

  This is our 4th Hyundai. What can we say, we keep coming back! Our first was a 93 Excel, then an 01 Accent, and an 02 Elantra GT. We bought this car a few days ago for my husband and so far he loves it! We had a Forenza and the Elantra is way better. Good styling (a bit like my old Elantra), comfy seats, fun to drive. My Elantra had no problems, but the Accent had transmission problems (but it also got driven into the ground) so we arent worried. Looking forward to many good years with this one. We paid 11,300, so cant complain. Oh, and by the way, there are rear cup holders! Just below the rear bench, in between, push in and they pop out!

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  can it get any sweeter? - 2002 Hyundai Sonata
  By blaine mason - November 13 - 3:30 am

  my wife and I had our 92 Buick LeSabre catch fire on the way to work and lost the car.We went on line and looked at everything that might meet her tastes. The Sonata was the one for her. After the test drive we bought the car in less than 10 minutes, there is not a better car when it comes to style, feel and performance. Its a Lexus-Jaguar all rolled into a Hyundai price.Power and speed-a Ferrari it is not;bang for the buck-can it get any sweeter?

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  5 Days of Ownership and Loving It!! - 2009 Hyundai Genesis
  By BrooksLovesThisCar - November 12 - 3:25 pm

  Wonderful car, Im very happy with my purchase. Makes it seem like a waste to purchase a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus or Infiniti for thousands more! I have the Genesis badge/wing on the trunk, and people ask me is that a "Bently". Looks and performs stride for stride with the premium luxury automobiles mentioned before. Well worth the $42K..BMW 550 will perform better but at a $25,000 premium. One of my co- workers owns one, and it is not worth the extra $$$. I took him for a ride in the Genesis, and he couldnt believe it was a Hyundai and the price I paid for it!

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  longshot buyer - 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By longstrk9 - November 11 - 10:00 am

  i took a longshot on this purchase, ive only had it a week not much to complain or compliment on at the this time. i own a 2002 trailblazer for 2 years and thats what i traded in for the santa fe. now being that i just left a 300 hp suv its hard to critized a smaller suv at this time but i am amazed that gas milelage only differs about 2 to 3 miles the santa should give more gas milage. so far so good first 400 miles hope the next 400 is something to brag on. (hello shreveport la.) LOL

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  Buy this car! - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Jeremiah - November 10 - 11:13 pm

  After driving this car for over 8000 miles, Im still pleased with what a tremendous value it is. GLS has all the options you need with popular equip. pkg. Pretty powerful for a 4 cylinder while getting great mileage for a car this size - 27 mpg mixed city/highway. Originally thought about civic/corolla/elantra, but this car was a class up for the same price (with incentives). Great interior! Very quiet car. ESC works great in the snow. Manually shifting the automatic works OK, but upshifts are slow. Also, it tends to downshift from 5th to 4th on even the slightest hill in cruise control on the freeway. Oh well. Seats could use more lateral support when cornering.

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  Great car for the money - 2007 Hyundai Azera
  By MistrBackgammon - November 10 - 1:23 pm

  Overall this is a great car. Big comfortable well appointed interior. Great performance and mileage for such a large car. Wonderful seats, sound system, climate control, etc. Enormous trunk but opening designed to leak in rain. Mushy suspension which appears to be unfixable. Metal trim in console marginal, fake wood trim peels oddly. Warranty covered halogen foglight bulbs repeatedly, but when plastic panel under car falls off for no reason this was alleged to be "body damage" uncovered by warranty. Overall fit and finish excellent but Hyundai seems unwilling to support and stand by car at level which would expect with such a luxurious vehicle.

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  value, value, value. - 2006 Hyundai TUCSON
  By Corey - November 10 - 10:56 am

  Hyundai has attempted to do what honda and toyota have done for years with the RAV4 and CR-v: which is sell great "crossovers" to an ever growing market. weve had our Tucson for over a year and are still enamoured with it. The only reason we would get rid of it is to move up to the Santa Fe to accomodate our growing family. As other have mentioned, price, standard features, and build and ride quiality are the main reasons to by this car. All Toyota/Honda give you is 20 more HP in the engine at a cost of thousands. We have the 4 cyl. and it is perfect for what we need: mostly city driving. We did take it from home - Toronto- to Cape Cod and with the car packed got 25 mpg.

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  Love this car... - 2009 Hyundai Genesis
  By Bobson - November 9 - 7:42 pm

  After 9 months of ownership, I have found this car to be everything promised. The interior and exterior styling are suburb. I have experienced no mechanical or other type problems. The car is very comfortable on long trips, although I sometimes prefer a cushier ride to the more stiff sport suspension on this vehicle. My only 2 complaints are the Lexicon sound system is not as good as it is cracked up to be in my opinion and the blue tooth interface is not as compatible as it claims to be with certain phone models. Nonethless, I receive weekly compliments on the car and believe it is one of the best values on the market today.

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  Beeping Blind Spot - 2017 Hyundai Sonata
  By sonata2 - November 9 - 12:13 pm

  Bought this car because it doesnt just light up, but beeps when a car enters your blind spot, as you try to change lanes. An essential for us "active adults"

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  Love My Santa Fe - 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Leslie - November 9 - 10:00 am

  I have had my Santa Fe for 3 weeks and am still in love with her. It has easy access to air conditioning and radio controls and the ability to shift manually. The Santa Fe has beautiful lines and styling and has a very smooth ride. I tried the Honda CRV and the Toyato Rav and they didnt hold a candle to the Santa Fe in terms of looks, standard features, roominess and price. The 5 year/60,000 mile warrenty was a great added feature. Beats them all.