2007 Hyundai Accent Sport 1.6 gas from North America

Summary:

Good value

Faults:

Check engine light has come on three seperate times.

General Comments:

I bought the car new after researching all the other subcompacts around, because it was different from the cookie cutter cars of other manufacturers and seemed to be a good balance of useability, fun, reliability and efficiency.

Going on 34,000kms I've have no big problems with the car.

There are a few things that could use improving though.

1-Why does the drivers seat have an armrest and the passengers does not?

2-Why isn't cruise control standard?

3-Why isn't ABS standard?

4-The interior plastic trim is not very hard wearing. My door panel is all marked up from the seat belt retracting.

5-There is lots of room with the rear seats folded down, but the load area should be flat. The large bump makes loading large objects difficult.

6-Dash lighting should be a different color, the neon green can becoming tiring on long night drives.

7-The stereo isn't bad, but could stand to be of a little better quality.

All these points are small thing for the most part, but could make a very good car into a great car.

The car has preformed great as a daily driver. performance is more than adequate, but the car tends to struggle on bigger hills.

Fuel economy has been good, but not amazing. I usually get between 475-600kms per tank which is good, but with those numbers I feel like I should have 130-140bhp to play with rather than 110. The tank is a pain too. If you top up all the way you can get another 7 litres of gas in which means an extra day or two before filling up.

The cargo area is spacious and can move a suprising amount of stuff. (I've manged to fit a set of 35" truck tires with wheels in)

Rearward visibility isn't very good so parallel parking and reverse parking is more of a hassle then need be, but than seems to be a trend in current cars.

The ride is fine, a little stiff with the sport package, but the trade-off is you get very good handling.

The interior is nice and comfy, but after a long drive it feels good to stretch out.

Overall the car has been a great buy and I plan on keeping it for years to come. If I had to I'd definitely buy it again and I would reccomend it to anybody wanting a good, inexpensive little car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd November, 2007

5th Nov 2007, 18:56

I'm aware that the rear seats fold forward, the seat bottom flips up, you take the headrests out and fold down the backs. I don't deny this, I just said that the cargo area with the seats folded down is not flat. There is the normal flat loading surface and then about a 4 inch bump onto the back of the seats.

And I'm aware that the top level SE has ABS, etc. but I think it should come standard, as it now does in many other new cars, and that not only the top model has it. My car is the third highest of the four sub-models, and does not even have these as options.

2007 Hyundai Accent SE 1.6L from North America

Summary:

Stiff ride, strong handling, but has a lot of room for improvement

Faults:

Not a lot has gone wrong with my car other than the difficulty I have had with local Hyundai dealers on getting my first service done. The car has held together so far, but the tires that come with the "Se" model are more of a touring tire rather than a performance tire.

General Comments:

The car has a very stiff ride and often has lots of road noise. It is a fun little hatchback, but has room for lots of improvement. The 0-60 travel time is not too much of a pain, but the car does lack the ability to easily pass on the highway due to the 1.6 litre motor's cvvt system being managed by an electronic fly by wire pedal system. You get a lot of nice little features in the car, and the electronics are well done. The gas mileage is far worse than the EPA reports. I average about 25 miles per gallon. This is very common among Se owners due to the fact that you have to constantly hit CVVT in the car to accelerate to keep up with traffic.

The interior of the car isn't horrible, but the seats are very stiff and cause me to have lower back pain after driving for more than 20 minutes. I cannot take this car on long trips, but it is great for day to day city driving. For someone looking for a cheap hatch back with moderate performance just get a Mazda 3 rather than wasting your time on the accent. The 3 has more power, better handling, and overall better styling. I just wish I would have listened to the reviews rather than just running to the first place that approved financing.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 26th September, 2007

1st Nov 2007, 11:12

A helpful review. I used to own a 2004 Santa Fe and also had a lot of trouble with the local dealer when it came to any sort of service. That was too bad, as I was very satisfied with the vehicle, but client service put me off to a considerable degree.