Calling all Accent owners..?

So i was doing a bunch of work to an early 2000s hyundai accent today, and i came to the conclusion that i MIGHT really like one (2dr 5spd, possibly swapped).

I just really like the size of them. I like the view over the hood, i like the front end styling, i like the engine bay (easy to work on). I like the simplicity of the interior. I like that they are cheap.

I am into weird stuff, i admit. But there are things about small, simple cars that really appeal to me, and i think i could build a really neat (by my standards) accent if i were inclined enough to try. Namely, a beta 2.0 swap, some handling mods, wheels, and not much else.

So, do we have any past or present accent owners here and what do you think about owning them? Im mostly concerned with the ~2000-05 ones although im sure there are similarities across generations.

Wife's first car was a frog green 2000 base model Accent. Last car I drove that didn't have power steering. I have good memories of it. It held up pretty well. Only had one problem, but it was a big one: one of the shift forks in the manual tranny broke, killing the transmission. I think it was a fluke, but...Light, basic, good mileage. Sporty? no. It was five years old when she totalled it (she rolled it) and it was already showing signs of rust.

Its been a long while since I thought about Hyundai stuff...

If you're going to keep the motor thats in it, get a 1.6L DOHC car. Decent peppy motor especially considering how light the cars are, and cheap to run and maintain. Beta swaps require a new motor mount (I think the passenger side only, especially if you keep the Alpha transmission) and some wiring changes. The beta motor will run off the Accent ECU if I remember correctly, but not terribly well. You could always megasquirt it. If you start with a 1.6L car, you want a 2001+ Beta2 motor with a MAP sensor.

Wheels are 4x100, and a 7" wide wheel with 205's will rub pretty noticeably in back if the car is lowered.

Suspension, shocks are the same length, and the upper and lower mounting point bolt patterns are the same across the board between Accents, Elantras, and 2g tiburons. Sway bars are unique to Accent's. Hubs and spindles can be swapped between the three as well, meaning there's an easy bolt-on big brake kit with factory parts, but you'll go from a 4x100 to a 4x114.3 bolt pattern.

I still think it could be competitive in ST and/or FSP if someone wanted to really work at it. The weight and horsepower are there, and the handling is surprisingly decent.

I have an '07 Accent hatch, 5-speed, base model, that I bought dirt-cheap used. This version of Accent is a refined version of an A2 VW Golf. Yes, I completely mean that, and in as flattering a way as possible.

I treat mine like a pseudo-rally beater - full-throttle launches & gear changes from every stoplight, sideways through the dirt/ice/snow whenever possible, airborne whenever possible...I generally drive like a total E36 M3head. It makes its share of squeaks & rattles, but no problems.

The only potential issue is that it has a low 5th-gear/final-drive, so once you hit 70 its spinning almost 4k buzzing down the interstate, and fuel mileage suffers at those speeds. Speaking of mileage, I find its much like my Miata, only a bit better. It doesn't really matter how I drive it, on the low end I get 29mpg, high end 33.. But considering all the good qualities about, and the fact I can buy a lot of gas for the $10k I saved vs new, I can live with the mpg.

having owned a 1st gen excel and a 1st gen tib.. and driven a recently accent.. I have always wondered what the Beta Swap would do for waking up the accent

Wife's car is a 2000 1.5L 5-spd with 210+k miles on the ticker. It won't die. I've tried. She ran it with less than a quart of oil for a couple weeks. Still great. The AC still blows cold. Body is mostly rust free for a car that has spent 12 winters and 210k miles in the rust belt.

The 1.5L Alpha is a beast. Not because it is fast (90hp), it's not. It hates to rev (5k is pushing it), it has no power and it's indestructible. The shifter is the floppiest pile of crap I've ever used, the brakes are soft and mushy. The headlights are horrible when they cloud up and if you have the AC on don't try to merge onto the highway.

The good part is it will run forever. With a simple set of GR-2's and Vogtland springs it is truly a momentum machine that loves corners. You never have to lift or brake. It gets 38-40mpg for the wife EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. IT's super easy to fix. Parts are cheap. Nothing breaks.

As as "toy" car, it would have to be Beta swapped for sure. The brakes are pretty crappy in stock form and need some help. visibility is great out of the tall greenhouse and it's light (4dr is about 2200lbs stock).

For me, a beta swap would have to be in the plans from the start for the Accent to make sense. So, the merits of the 1.5 or 1.6 mostly come down to which makes it easier to swap to 2.0. Rust is also a non-issue down here.

The easy brake and damper upgrades sound great. Since the swaybars are accent-specific, are there decent and reasonably cheap aftermarket pieces?

Having a too-short 5th gear (especially for a 2.0 in a 2000lb car) could get extremely annoying.. Any options at all there?

I have an 03 accent. 1.6. I had it on the track within days of leaving the dealer. Probably voided the warranty. But is didn't matter I never needed it. I did have a mysterious hard starting issue when the engine was hot this past summer. But was able to solve it on here (grounding wire under dash).

Other than that, very little maintenance other than normal stuff on a car that sees track days and backroads that would make some ATV's think twice.

In total I have replaced one front wheel bearing and both outer tie rods. Rod ends are under 20$ apiece and can be changed in 20 minutes without an alignment if you do it carefully. My car still tracks straight.

Wheel bearing on the other hand (front) you need a bearing press and it can take awhile to do yourself. Not worth my time if it happens again. The price to do it myself and the shop rate was similar If I valued my time and frustration at 20$ per hour.

I watch this with interest...

You can up the size of the tires. The alpha and Beta use similar gear ratios for the final drive. Both turn ~3000rpm at 70mph. You'll run out of power long before you run out of gear.

I was planning on this swap for my 2000 until the rust on the Elantra was too much and it was time to get a new car. My original plans were to do the basic swap, rebuild the 1.5 trans, delete the mani-cat with a header, cam swap and standalone ECU. That would put the beta at ~150@ the wheels in a 2200lb car with ~140tq @ the wheels.

Your other option: boost the crap out of the alpha. the 1.5 can handle ungodly amounts of boost on the bottom end. There was a gentleman in Korea (and another in Puerto Rico) that was putting 30psi through the stock bottom end pushing 700whp. They were getting a full season of drag racing per bottom end.

At ~210k miles hers the list of what's broken on our 00:

-trans @ 123k (in all fairness, the fluid had NEVER been changed in its life) -both front wheel bearings @ 140k -both rear bearings/shoes/drums/hardware @170k (appeared to be original) -struts/springs/mounts @ 190k (all original) -front pads @190k -2 timing belts w/ water pump and acessory belts (one at 119k, the second ant 185k) -2 sets of wheels (original 13's bent to hell, aftermaket 15's turned square) -3 sets of tires.

We purchased this in August of 2007 with 116k miles. So in 5 years it's racked up almost 100k miles for us and still keeps going strong. The AC is still ice cold, everything works (except the 2 rear door windows, regulators were broken on purchase) and it is superdependable.