Hyundai Accent Car Review

Overview

The Hyundai accent is yet another small car that hit the market. The five speed manual transmission gearbox was pretty impressive and easy-to-use. The manual and automatic transmission Hyundai accents both have a four-cylinder engine that produces about 82 kW at 6000 RPMs. If you choose the manual Accent sedan the price starts at around $17,490 and the automatic transmission sedan is priced a little higher, starting at $19,490. The manual transmission Hyundai accent can take some time to master the clutch and gearbox.

Details

With the Accent priced at $20,000, I wasn't expecting the interior to be absolutely spectacular. Although the interior is quite simple, it isn't as bland as I initially thought it would be. The dashboard has a dual tone theme using black and beige colors. The simple layout of the interior is followed by easy to use features such as the cooling and heating dials. Some of the more expensive cars often get more complicated with their features, and I was glad to see such simplicity used with this vehicle. The seats are beige in color and offer good seating position with a sufficient view around the car and inside of it. Unfortunately, the seats are not very comfortable when traveling long distances. Even when adjusting the seat, it's a pretty hard task in itself to stay relaxed. The steering wheel is a decent size, but the material that covers it is quite slippery. Although this doesn't pose a big problem, it can get a little annoying after awhile. On a positive note, you are treated with a set of audio controls on the steering wheel. This makes it easy to operate the radio and CD player without having any problems. As far as legroom goes in the Hyundai Accent, you'll find that it is actually very sufficient. Of course it is not up to the standards of an SUV or anything, but provides enough room for even a 6 foot tall passenger. Taller drivers and passengers are also sure to enjoy the 75 mm rise in the height of the vehicle.

The Hyundai accent is yet another small car that hit the market. With Hyundai boasting that this car will have a refreshing style and have described it as a sophisticated vehicle. When they designed this car, they were attempting to broaden its range of appeal to the older age groups. While enhancing the vehicle they wanted to add more room, enhancements, and features for the price. In this article, I'll discuss the Hyundai Accent automatic transmission versus the manual transmission as well as the cars features.

The system in the Hyundai Accent does the job very effectively and efficiently. Providing you with plenty of bass and a balance of treble you are sure to enjoy your ride while listening to music. For the price of this car I was actually shocked at the quality of the stereo. With an MP3 and WMA compatible CD player combined with six speakers you get a stereo system that is beyond most of its competitors for the price.

When you're looking at the exterior of the Accent you will notice that it doesn't have a very aggressive look. This is certainly not a bad thing, unless of course you are looking for that style of vehicle. The Hyundai Accent was mainly created for the older generation, so they went with a more practical approach rather than extreme looks. Combining fuel efficiency with interior and trucks is they were almost guaranteed a hit. The trunk in the Accent is actually very large and has a 390 L capacity, while keeping enough room for a full-size spare tire. The younger generation probably won't find this vehicle to be very appealing, though in Hyundai's defense they were not attempting to market his vehicle to this demographic.

The five speed manual transmission gearbox was pretty impressive and easy-to-use. When you are shifting you will notice that everything is very close together. This provides you with much smoother and quicker transitions.

On the other hand, the automatic transmission Hyundai Accent was much more of a delight to drive. The gearbox appears very smooth and stayed in the correct gear at all times. One major noticeable difference between the manual and automatic transmission, is that the automatic provides you with a much quieter ride. The one downside to the automatic is the pause between actions out of the cogs. You often find yourself with a multi-second to delay before seeing a significant amount of acceleration.

Although when reading the statistics of the engine it may seem average, it actually has good amount of 'get up and go'. The car only weighs 1100 KG, so with very little weight to move you find yourself in go-kart mode. That is of course until you come up to a curve. When turning in the Hyundai Accent, you'll see that a lot of the weight is thrown over to the inside wheel, which can be attributed to the soft suspension. As a result of this, you will lose the general stability of the vehicle. With the seats offering very limited side support could find yourself sliding around the cabin of vehicle. As long as you keep the car away from winding and extremely curvy roads, you should be just fine.

If you decide to go with the manual transmission you will see better fuel efficiency. Although there is only a slight difference between the automatic and manual transmission fuel economy, even the slightest difference saves you money in the long run.

The manual and automatic transmission Hyundai accents both have a four-cylinder engine that produces about 82 kW at 6000 RPMs. The different transmissions offered are either the five speed manual or the four speed automatic. If you do with the four speed automatic you'll enjoy the features of the Hyundai intelligent Vehicle electronic controls, otherwise known as HiVec. This is basically a system that will adapt to the style of the driver.

When you compare the two versions of the Hyundai Accent, the only actual differences between them is the gearbox in terms of features. They both come with standard features such as air conditioning, ABS brakes that also feature EBD, airbags, electric windows, heated door mirrors, six speaker stereo system that is MP3 and WMA compatible, electric door mirrors, sunglasses holder, and a full-size spare tire. If you choose the manual Accent sedan the price starts at around $17,490 and the automatic transmission sedan is priced a little higher, starting at $19,490.

The manual transmission Hyundai accent can take some time to master the clutch and gearbox. In fact, it can take quite a bit more time to master than normal. The accelerator is very sensitive and even the slightest amount of pressure could send the revs quickly to the red line. The accelerator is not the only thing that was sensitive in the Accent; the brakes were pretty touchy as well. Being completely opposite of the accelerator, a small amount of pressure can bring you to a screeching halt. With that said, you have to be careful when using the accelerator and the brakes. When driving the manual transmission, it will most likely take a lot of time to get used to even for more advanced drivers.

With a 0 to 100 run only taking a little over 10 seconds, I was pretty impressed. Stopping the vehicle was very impressive as well. The Antilock Brake System (ABS) definitely does its job and keeps the car in line. One bad thing about the manual transmission however, is that it can be extremely noisy when traveling at high speeds

In conclusion, both versions of the Hyundai Accent sedan have their ups and downs. In my opinion, which one you decide to go with a will fall greatly on the driver's preference. If you enjoy manual transmission and louder engines, then you would of course go with the manual. If you like cruising down the road with minimal tasks and a much quieter engine, then I would definitely recommend that you should go with the automatic.