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 - 1999 Hyundai Elantra
  By Will S - June 19 - 2:00 am

  Ive had a great experience with this car.

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  44000 miles and no problems - 1999 Hyundai Sonata
  By EDISON - June 19 - 2:00 am

  This has been a wonderful car... I have owned more than 18 cars in my lifetime,and I have really enjoyed this one. Not one problem with this car (2000 GLS V-6) I enjoy the sunroof and the feel of the leather seats ... the quiet and smooth ride have been a real pleasure on road trips... just a few months ago we drove more than 3000 miles on a road trip and my car achieved 27-28 mpg - with the Air on and driving between 60- 80 mph. I receive positive comments on the looks of the car quite often (silver w/gray leather). I have placed 16 inch chrome wheels in place of the stock wheels.

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  8 months so far so good - 2009 Hyundai Sonata
  By Billy - June 18 - 6:06 pm

  The car is doing well for my driving. It is easy to get 25 mpg or better while around town and 30 to 35 on the highway depending on wind and temp.

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  Very Good, but not quite there - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By larmo1 - June 18 - 5:54 pm

  Overall, this is a very good car. I like it better than the Honda Accord. But after driving it for a year, it has lost its appeal. There is a slightly cheap feel that does not improve over time. The plastic parts of the seats and dash scratched easy and made the car look kind of trashy. Same with the paint and finish outside; and I really take care of my vehicles. Rear visibility is not very good. It is easy to overlook when sitting in a new car, but over time it really gets annoying. We traded the Sonata in after 13 months and 25,000 miles. It took a $6,500 dollar hit. Overall, it is a very nice car. Perfect for a young family. But I am old and want something better.

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  No Problems with My Santa Fe - 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe
  By Stephen Gons - June 18 - 4:50 am

  I bought my Hyundai new as my first car and other than routine oil changes and 30 and 60,000 mile services....I have had no problems at all. It runs great and drives well in all types of weather conditions. I would love to get a newer one, I love the new body style better.

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  Totally Impressed - 2011 Hyundai Sonata
  By B777 - June 17 - 10:50 pm

  Smooth comfortable ride, plenty of power, and very sedate on the highway. Many people are asking me about the car. They rave about it more than I do! Striking Good Looks, and Great Hyundai Reliability and Warranty

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  Hyundai Used to be Awesome until 2010 - 2015 Hyundai Sonata
  By Unlucky Lady - June 17 - 4:56 pm

  Ive owned 4 hyundais now. 1 2003 Accent, 1 2005 Elantra and 2 Sonatas (2010 and 2015). The first car was a lemon that I bought in Fall River, MA... Empire Hyundai... and I had to fight with the dealership hard because it needed the same repair over and over again. I got an elantra as a substitute and that car was fantastic. No complaints. in between 2005 and 2010 i owned many used and mostly new cars. I decided to get back into Hyundai again so I got a base model sonata in Virginia. I should have never traded it in, it was great. Bought a Cadillac which was great but i was hitting 100k and driving 140 miles a day, the repairs were adding up. Went back to Fall River thinking that the same money hungry jerks werent there, well they werent... just a new set of them were. Somehow, they managed to add an addition 5-10k to the loan, running me in circles because i was asking the same question "I dont see the trade in value for the car" to which they consistently answered me back saying, "we paid the loan off, its here" that wasnt my question. I called a lawyer and finally found that they added some charge that i would have NEVER agreed on if they had asked me if I wanted the service... some how they got away with it. They wanted me to go back to the dealership to talk about it, i said no, i didnt want to be taken advantage of for a third time in 1 month (i had gone back two days later and resigned paperwork for lesser service fees etc... stupid... i was stupid...). So im already sour because I hate this dealership but I love the car, its awesome, adaptive cruise control was worth it. The idea of driving 140 miles a day with ACC was like the highlight of my life. Up until a week ago. Im trying to get on the highway, i sped up (its on a slight hill) and the car starts to jolt. Ive seen this before, ive felt this before in my first hyundai, the accent. My heart drops. Here we go again. I press my foot down on the gas hoping it will just go away and stop jolting... no. 2 miles away from the next exit Im shaking like crazy and get to a stop light. Turn the engine off and turn it back on... now its shaking worse and not only that i can barely accelerate. Ok good now were going but were still shaking and jolting every which direction. I some how make it to work even though some idiot in front of me is stopping in places they shouldnt stop in the road (because why not, that WOULD happen). 2 hours later I tell myself im not going to let this sit im going to go to the dealership. I call and make an appointment. OK be right there. Get in the car, turn it on in hopes the shaking is still there but not there at the same time ... the check engine light comes. good grief. the nav display asks if i need help i said heck yes please. i get connected to hyundai assistance and within 3 minutes into the call, the car engine shuts off but the battery is still going so i can communicate to the guy. I get towed away for free. What a monday. I get to the dealership around 5:30 after waiting for 3 hours for a tow. Im tired, I havent eaten and I just want to eat, go home and pass out. I get to the dealership and they say to me oh, the last shuttle left for the day but you can always call an uber. What is wrong with you? I just bought this car July 7th, 2015 and it only has 25k and you want ME to pay for an uber? I dont even know where the hell I am. Im from southern MA not northwest of boston. He sends me to the waiting room. 20 minutes later, "has anyone replied back to pick you up?" i bite my tongue trying to be nice, "no, im not from here, everyone is about 2-3 hours away". "oh." yeah, oh. I walk out without anyone seeing me and go to chilis next door and vent. My friends come and pick me up and drop me off at home. I call the next day. "Can I have a rental" "Well we can hook you up with a 55 dollar a day rental from enterprise" "look, I didnt cause this issue, I didnt get into an accident, I did not ask my engine to jump around like a Mexican Jumping Bean in the chassis... I am NOT paying for a rental and I am NOT paying to use uber. I already have a daily expense for a car and its sittng in your garage. why would I want a second one...??" he said thats the best he can do. This started Monday, the call i just did happened tuesday. I didnt call Wednesday. I call yesterday asking for an update... well your cars engine is outside of the chassis, we asked for an overnight on the part we believe will fix the problem but the part is back ordered nationally." are you kidding me? he offers this rental again for 35 dollars I said i wasnt paying a dime. Not one single dime for a problem i didnt create. The only problem i created was involving myself with hyundai. ill never EVER buy another hyundai as long as I live. Never. Unfortunately before of the jerks I bought this car from added additional debt, Ill never get myself out of negative equity. ever. There is no ETA. Im disgusted.

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  Reliable Car - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By Great Elantra - June 17 - 2:00 am

  Bought my car new. In 3 1/2 years, I racked up 110,000 miles. Only problem I had so far was with one spark plug cable going bad, causing the engine to run rough. It caused me $60 to repair. Other than this, I spent money on regular maintenance such as oil&filter change (3-4K miles), one set of tires, and spark plugs.

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  fours years old - 2000 Hyundai Elantra
  By gjens - June 17 - 2:00 am

  Since I purchase this car in March 2000 Ive had zero problems. I change the oil every five thou, had the tires replaced at 30,000 and one tune-up. I couldnt be more please. Naturaly the air filter,oil filter and other regular maintance items have been replaced.

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  Great Basic Transportation! - 2004 Hyundai Accent
  By jti - June 17 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car for my teen age daughter. Im normally a Honda guy, but with reasonably-equipped Civics pushing up into the high-teens-$, I decided to give the Accent a look. So far, I have been very pleased with this car. The Accent may be one of the best "bang for the buck" cars on the market.