2007 Hyundai Accent GS review from North America

Since the car is under 1000 miles, nothing has malfunctioned.

My wife woke up at 2am & asked for a new car. After test driving a Pontiac Vibe & Toyota Yaris, I was going to drive a Honda Fit & VW with dual clutch transmission. On the way tho, I saw a Hyundai Accent hatchback. Without having to deal, the salesman sold it to us for $10,500 including 60,000 mile full & 100,000 mile drive train warranties plus lifetime oil changes. My wife had her car 16 hours after asking & loves it more & more each day. Never got to the Fit or the VW.

Tho small on the outside, the interior is fairly roomy. The Accent, Fit & Yaris are the same exterior width. But the Accent has 1 to 3 inches more shoulder width, both front & rear seats, than Yaris. Accent has marginally wider shoulder space than Fit. I love small cars, but it is nice to look across the car & actually see a bit more space. With rear seats up, the Accent has 60% more cargo space than Yaris & an equal amount to Fit.

There is an extra cost dealer installed short throw 5 speed shifter. Coupled with the nice clutch, this combo is the 2nd nicest combo I've ever driven. Excellent!

Hey, for a $10,500 car, Accent has a tachometer, 8-way adjustable driver seat making seating nice, manual folding rear view mirrors with interior adjustments, fold down armrest & console, & 2 trip odometers. Would have liked a rear window wiper to go with the rear window defroster tho.

Wind noise is OK, but the engine noise is moderate because the 5 speed close ratio transmission at 60MPH tachs at a high 2900 rpms. The close tranny ratios should make good mountain road gear choices, altho I've heard someone complain about the tranny in the mountains. Road & tire noise is average for a small car. None of the noises are objectionable, but all the noises together would make long drives tiring.

Seven tanks of gas have been 32, 32, 30.7, 29.7, 30.5, 30.2 & 32 MPG in mixed city, back road, & highway driving using lower energy winter mix gasoline & conservative driving. Expect MPG to rise when higher energy summer mix gasoline arrives. Acceleration is adequate for the MPG given.

Third party High Definition near CD quality radio w/CD player installed. Kept the stock Hyundai speakers. Tho they are not bass dragging deep sounders, they make the digital HD radio clean & sharp as a bell with excellent musical detail. Spectacular reception of immaculate quality, even across 50 miles distance! If getting a radio, get HD radio if HD stations are in your area. HD radio is the best free radio, maybe better sound quality than satellite.

No Hyundai problems yet with less than a thousand miles.