Hyundai has done a masterful job of self-rehabilitation - when the Hyundais first showed up in the U.S. in the mid-80's, they were merely a punchline to any joke about vehicle reliability. There was a large universe of things that went wrong with Hyundais; one example was the fact that the cars would often catch on fire if the AC units were engaged on the "high" setting.

Now, they're somebody important, and they're about to give Toyota a tast of their own medicine (same or better quality at a lower price point) in several segments. Should be fascinating to watch.

B Moore - Autosavant.net

These people are fearless, and they make better cars each and every "cycle". Now if they could just kill that pesky image problem in the US, they'd probably have to raise prices to reduce demand...

Hyundai will probably never have the sporty handling of Honda.

On the other hand, they compete very well against Toyota in terms of handling, power and comfort, at a substancially reduced price.

Hyundai has taken the concept of continuous imrpvement and made themselves a case study. Take a ride in a 80's Hyundai, a 90's Hyundai and a current model and you can see the leaps they have improved.

in the under 20k segment they have a lot to offer and effective competition on a like-value/feature basis is almost impossible to find.

I wish they would consider adding more upscale options on their entry level lines (accent and Elantra), however the bang for the buck factor is very high.

US automakers should be taking notes