1999 Hyundai Accent LS review from Chile

Dashboard cracked after recharging the AC due to an extreme and sudden temperature change.

Door cover's plastic looked cheap.

Small trunk size if carrying more than 1 big suitcase.

Driver's seat started to wear at an accelerated rate last year of ownership, causing the foam on the left side to thin and metal was quite noticeable after a short while of driving.

Was noisy while in the highway.

Even thou it is a cheap car, it looked quite good and was extremely reliable (past, as I sold it).

Had timing belt change twice, not for failure but for mileage, as changed when owned and 70.000 km after. just to avoid any issue. Car always ran perfectly.

Same with clutch, changed it at almost 150.000, and only because it started to had a little noise, which is quite expected at the odometer amount.

The 1.5 engine was quite brisk and powerful for such a light car. Was always able to overtake whatever was cruising in front in the highway.

Size became an issue as my kid grew up, as the trunk space was not enough for 3 people's luggage, and legroom at the back is not that much.

But this is a small car.

I really enjoyed and liked this car a lot, had many good times while in the highway (car "got used" to trips over 2000 km for holidays) and it never let me down.

I used to live in the south of the country and water, humidity and cold were never a problem. Car always started immediately and never had "life" growing anywhere.

Changes I did to it: bought a used instrument cluster with tach and replaced original one without a tach.

Added "almost original" fog lights.

Installed aftermarket power windows in the front and had the alarm wired to close them when locking.

A little before selling it, a noise started in cold mornings. After some checks, it turned out to be cylinder / piston wear causing a knock while pistons "danced" inside cylinders till warm up. Considering the age of the car, which is 10 years at this time, 150.000+ KM in the odometer, and that such a repair would be a not cheap, I decided to sell it.

Really loved the car. Please share your experiences with it or leave a comment.