Hyundai Accent

Just $10K for a new car – and not a bad one either. At the time of writing, Hyundai has a deal available that means for about $350

Hyundai's Accent hatch is lot of car for the money! (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

a month, over three years, you can own a competent little hatchback. All you get is a base Accent with no power anything and no air-conditioning. If you are willing to give up what we now consider the bare essentials, you can save a good chunk of money on what is still a perfectly livable new car with a warranty.

Normally under the scope of a car review one ignores current promotions when talking about price. But when something is selling for 27.5% off, it significantly changes its overall value proposition. A lot of the time, deep discounts are only offered for cash-purchases, but Hyundai will still give you a zero percent loan over three years. I am really not trying to push the deal here, as I’m supposed to be reviewing the product itself. But it’s just too damn cheap not to mention.

The car I

Cool, upscale rear styling hardly makes it look cheap. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

drove was actually worth $16,295, or, according to the Hyundai website, $13,695 under the current promotion. It was a 3-door GL with a 4-speed automatic. It had just the basic add-ons being keyless entry, power windows and door locks, plus air-conditioning.

The Accent sedan looks positively sterile, but the 3-door hatch manages to have some spunky charm to it. The wheels are just 14-inch steel jobs with hubcaps, but the car still manages to look sporty with its small spoiler atop the rear window, body-coloured door handles and mirrors, and big bug-eyed headlights. The rear taillights fit in with the small shoulder above the rear wheel, giving the car’s hind end some definition. With tinted windows, my Blue Onyx Accent

Interior is basic, but straightforward and well built. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

certainly doesn’t look like one of the cheapest cars in the land.

On the inside it looks pretty basic, and generally is. Everything is made out of black plastic, but is quite solidly constructed. There are lots of storage spaces, but they are quite small. Only a few CD’s will go into the door-pocket, and the rest are good for things like wallets, cell phones and smokes. The MP3 CD player sits atop the dash and has a 1/8-inch mini auxiliary input jack.

The seats are well formed and supportive. In the front you get a little minivan-style armrest on the drivers seat. Two average sized adults can ride contently in the rear, as long as they’re under 5’9” or so, where headroom will become an issue.

Those rear seats fold forward, creating a substantial cargo area thanks to the rear hatch. They don’t fold flat with the rear cargo floor, or even line up. Still, no trunk can take as much gear as a hatchback.

Sitting ahead of the driver is a 1.6L inline 4-cylinder engine driving the front wheels. It puts down 110hp and 106 lb-ft of torque. Pretty much every subcompact car in Canada has a similar powertrain layout, and this one suits the Accent fine. Paired with the 4-speed automatic, it gets you up to highway speed in an amount of time that is not embarrassing. It doesn’t feel at all strained to cruise well

Ample storage room. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

over my local highway’s highest speed limits. If you put four adults in it, you may see some beads of sweat appear on the hood as you go uphill, but such performance issues really don’t matter for this car, do they?

What does matter are its low fuel consumption numbers at 7.9L/100km city and 5.6L/100km highway, with the automatic. With the 5-speed manual the numbers shift to 7.4L/100km city and 6.0L/100km highway.

One should never purchase a new vehicle purely based on price, and you don’t have to with the Accent. It is a great little car. Any notion from the distant past of Hyundai building anything less than first-rate quality cars can be utterly forgotten, which is why this little thing is such a good deal.

Interior

Exterior

Mechanical

Safety

Dimensions

Misc

(J005) Standard Gloss Paint

(J003) Standard Metallic Paint