You’ve come a long way, Hyundai (and Kia and Genesis): Unprecedented J.D. Power findings rank 3 Korean automakers at the top of the quality scale.

Photographed in the UK, this 1986 Hyundai Pony is an example of
the model that Hyundai marketed in the U.S. as the first-generation Excel.
Photo by Charles01 (posted in Wikimedia Commons).

If you’re old enough to have been around and aware in 1985 when the first-generation Hyundai Excels started arriving in the U.S with a bargain-basement sticker price of $4,995—incredible even then for a brand new car—you’re well aware of what a long way Korean automakers have come in the last 30 years. 

Horsepower, Storage Space Losing Ground as Automotive Purchasing Decision Drivers, Survey Says

Muscle-car V8s boasted impressive power for their day. But

thanks to engineering advances, some 4-cylinder engines of

today can rival their power.  Photo: Christopher Ziemnowicz 

(released to the Public Domain).

For the past several years, the automotive media has been packed with commentary about a "horsepower renaissance," with four-cylinder motors of today boasting horsepower figures that could embarrass ginormous V8 engines from the peak of the muscle-car era.

Driven by advances in automotive engineering, horsepower has been touted as a selling point, at least to consumers with "enthusiast tendencies."

But is interest in horsepower now on the wane?