'09 Hyundai Accent GL Sport opinions and knowledge kindly requested.

I recall Pete Gossett owning one of similar vintage, but IIRC his was an auto. So, thanks to Pete, I know BMW bottlecaps will fit.

I have been searching for a smaller American hatch or sedan for a while (I have since branched out to other nationalities. ) and this one recently popped up so I have to investigate further. I owned a '98 Sonata many moons ago and I hated the automatic but loved pretty much everything else. On the surface it seems to be just right with it's lack of modern electronic E36 M3.

So, what's the poop on these?

Are there any failure prone components?

Horrible driving experience?

The car in question is a 5-speed manual, 3 door hatch and I have yet to lay eyes on it in person, though that's the plan today. From what I've gathered so far on teh webz the fuel economy for the manual is under-rated and (I think) the throttle body is cable actuated. That's a big + in my book.

This will be an A to B daily driver.

Forgot to mention it has 71,000 miles.

Depending on the price, it's a great little car. It's due for a t-belt at 60k, likely not been done yet. Takes about 2 hours. IT still uses the DOHC alpha, very durable engine. Chassis is pretty decent, fairly light etc. The wife's Rio is the auto and she sees 34-36mpg regularly with some stop-n-go mixed in with 75+mph running.

H&R springs and a set of replacement struts/mounts really wake up the handling. Civic bolt pattern/offset makes wheel and tire choices unlimited. Easy to work on. Can't see how you can get hurt with one to be honest, especially at that mileage.

I like them. But for the record they are Korean not American

In reply to Nick (LUCAS) Comstock:

Whoops. Edited OP to say what I meant to say.

In reply to The_Jed:

Mine was a 5-speed, and it survived ~100k of me beating the crap out of it. The suspension bushings can wear out and require replacement of the control arm...but they're like $40 on Rockauto, so it's not really a problem. The timing belt was a little tricky to do, but again the parts are cheap - that one is due for a change soon if it hasn't already been done. The only other problems I had were the a/c compressor locking up(never bothered to replace), the CD player didn't like to eject CDs(so I quit using it), and the blower resistor pack would sometimes turn on/off on its own.

I'll also add that it did surprisingly well airborne, and loves to slide around in the dirt & gravel.

It's low geared, so expect it to be buzzy above 65, and unless you baby it you'll never see much above 30mpg. Buy one of these and one of these then enjoy both the glorious noises that little 1.6L makes, as well as the noticeable boost in acceleration.

Thanks!

Wow, I was shocked at how unslow it felt!

I really liked the purity and lack of refinement. It was unapologetic about what it was. I also liked how it drove, it felt like a softly sprung go-cart. Throw on some stiff springs and dampers and it would be a hoot to drive.

On the way out there I spotted an '09 Focus Coupe so I stopped and looked at that one too. It's a 5-speed manual with 70,000 miles for $1,000 more than the Accent...scope.creep.

So on one hand I have a stripped down econobox hatchback with manual everything that I know the wife would hate. I assume it needs a timing belt.

On the other I have an well appointed coupe that has a slightly rattly throwout bearing, so it's going to need a clutch. Also the tires are down to about 60% tread. But it is SO much more car for the money.

But, of the two, I liked how the Accent drove much more than the Focus. I felt much more connected to the road and plugged in to what the car was doing.

The_Jed wrote: I really liked the purity and lack of refinement. It was unapologetic about what it was.

This is the most perfect way to discribe how I felt about my Elantra.

I've had Pete's Accent for a couple months now, and am seeing 29-30 mpg regularly around town the one long trip I've done I got 33 all highway.

Bob's recommendation of H&R springs and good dampers are on the list. Only issues I've had were a blown power steering hose (mostly my fault) and the alternator died on me. Fun with the alternator is in order to change it you have to remove the oil filter. So it got an oil change last week, too.

Overall, I have to say I like it, and thanks again Pete.

I never had an accent, but I did have it's older sister, the excel. I had my 1st gen up to 167,000 miles before I traded it in. Over all, all it needed in that time was gas, oil, tyres, brakes, and Tbelt. This was a car my 20 Y/o self abused terribly in the dirt and woods.. I even bit a bridge with it and creased the passengerside from headlight to taillight.. and it kept right on chugging.

Really fun cars to drive. I almost bought one back in 09 with manual everything, black interior, no radio and no a/c for $10,200 otd brand new.

Wife's 08 Rio is almost 110k and after I finally found the right bushing to replace it's a ball to drive save the auto-tragic. This car, with hte H&R's would be an absolute hoot with the manual trans.

Have an 09 myself. Not much to be said that hasn't been said already. Super easy car to work on and super reliable. I've averaged 34-37 mpg

Mine is an SE which has firmer dampers and I've been on megan lowering springs since 12k miles. At 133k miles now and it still feels good. Not sure there are aftermarket dampers that are firmer than base spec OEM.

Someone on Hyundai-forums put Tiburon koni inserts with adjustable damping in his stock front strut housings and I think e46 rear konis in the back.

failboat wrote: Have an 09 myself. Not much to be said that hasn't been said already. Super easy car to work on and super reliable. I've averaged 34-37 mpg Mine is an SE which has firmer dampers and I've been on megan lowering springs since 12k miles. At 133k miles now and it still feels good. Not sure there are aftermarket dampers that are firmer than base spec OEM. Someone on Hyundai-forums put Tiburon koni inserts with adjustable damping in his stock front strut housings and I think e46 rear konis in the back.

Fronts I wondered.... rears is cool. These things are LOOOOONG in the rear though! Belive it or not went with Monroe struts/shocks on her 08 and they work quite well.

In reply to 92dxman:

In reply to Bobzilla:

Monroe's really? I have been looking at the Sachs, but Monroe would definitely be cheaper.

In reply to griffin729:

I'm pretty sure it has (old, obviously) KYBs on it now. They were great until I had to swerve to miss a car on River Road between West Point & Attica and dropped the right-rear into a crater on the edge of the road.

No pics of said car yet Jed? And please please don't buy a Focus over the Accent!

In reply to sethmeister4:

Lol, I'm not buying the Focus. I was all set to work a deal but the salesman at the stealership that has the Focus reinforced my determination to not make a deal until they come to my terms. Which will never happen. This goes back to that whole "why do we let stealerships have so much power?" question I posed in another thread. berkeley 'em, I'll just keep driving my beater(s).

Here's the Accent on the other dealership's lot:

I found the interior to be surprisingly roomy:

The one gripe I had about the Accent was the pedal placement. I would have to extend either the brake pedal or gas pedal to make heel-toe downshifts a bit easier. Other than that it was fun to drive. Group 2, MAXIMUM ATTACK!!!

I quite liked the one I test drove before my civic, but lack of CC and 4K(?)rpm at 70 was a deal breaker. Fun car.

Definitely some deep gears on the thing. When I pulled out of the dealership lot I accidentally took off in 3rd. Lol

In reply to The_Jed:

I never had a problem w/heel-toe, though I have small feet, so the 1st thing I usually do is bend the two pedals so they're closer together.

I have wide feet so.... not much of a problem for me lol

griffin729 wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: Monroe's really? I have been looking at the Sachs, but Monroe would definitely be cheaper.

Yep. Shocking. They had larger pistons than the stock struts.