Faults:

There was one recall shortly after I got the car for something I didn't understand, it was never really explained fully, but they fixed it and there has been no problems.

The clock setting mechanism stopped working, but I don't know when. The clock kept perfect time, but I live in Saskatchewan and we don't have daylight savings time, so I've never had to set it. Found out when I had AC put in and the clock was replaced under warranty.

General Comments:

I absolutely love my Accent!

Handles great on the highway and in town, also in does pretty good on gravel.

Very comfortable, I'm over 6 feet tall and I find it has way more room than it looks. Even the back seat has more room than you would think.

Gas mileage is unbeatable!! Close to 50 miles/gallon in the summer.

Didn't come with AC or cruise control. I had AC put in for 1700.00 (Canadian) and I've gotten used to not having cruise!

Faults:

Two clutch failures in the first 47,000 miles.

General Comments:

My wife purchased the car new in 2000. It seemed like a pretty good little car. It ran well and was comfortable, even for me and I am over six feet tall. Then the clutch went out. The pressure plate broke in three places and destroyed the clutch disk. That was at 22,000 miles. We took it to the dealer and they charged 800.00 to replace it. They said it was her fault for riding the clutch and showed me the broken pieces and the burned patches on the metal. I pointed out that the metal looked porous and seemed to be a bad casting. They assured me it was just fine, it was my wife's driving. What choice did we have? We had it fixed. Then, a few days before Thanksgiving, it started slipping very badly. We took it in and sure enough, they wanted another 800.00 dollars. They told her she was riding the clutch. I am here to tell you that while her driving scares me, she does not ride the clutch or use it in any way that is not normal use. I am also here to say that in all my years of driving, and I have driven manual transmission cars for more than 35 years, I have only had one clutch failure and that was on a 1958 Chevy pickup that had 122,000 miles on its first clutch.

My conclusion is that Hyundai has built a substandard clutch mechanism and the customer can expect to pay and pay and pay until they unload the car on someone else.

This is the third and absolutely the last Hyundai we will ever buy. It may be a cheap car to buy, but not to own.

Faults:

Brakes have been squealing for some time now. Also, at times when I turn the steering wheel, I hear a moaning sound that sounds like it's coming from the front tires. This does not occur all the time.

General Comments:

I assume it's because the accent is only a 4 cylinder vehicle that the engine is pretty loud after I am going 50 miles per hour or faster.

I just found out that my auto insurance will increase over $300 a year because the accent has a bad ERG rating. I'm not sure what all that means, but my auto insurance should have caught the increase 3.5 years ago when I bought the car. This angers me that a newer, safer vehicle will raise my insurance, since the last vehicle I drove didn't even have airbags and it was 15 years old. I cannot find any information about this ERG rating thing, and I'd love to find other people who are in my 'boat'.

The accent does have an arm rest only on the driver's seat. This is a great feature for long drives.

I was very happy when I found out the accent had a lumbar support in the driver's seat. The dial to change the lumbar is easy to turn and easy to get to while seated.

The windshield wiper blades that came with the vehicle are bad; they don't work well at all.

While using the wipers, whether it be to clean the windshield of dirt, or while use in the rain, they throw water or washer fluid onto the drivers side window. This is annoying, especially if the drivers side window is open during nice weather. Also, in the middle of the windshield, where the wipers just wiped, there's always a little water/washer fluid left as a streaky blob.

When it's raining and I open the door to enter or exit the vehicle, water always gets on the running board (the step the is under the bottom of the door). This water never dries and, if I leave it, will make the whole car smell moldy. I always have to wipe it dry after the weather clears.

The accent does not have a button to unlock/open the hatch. I used to have a Ford escort that had a button, which was very useful. At times, I'd like to get into the trunk/hatch while leaving my car running. I cannot do this, since I only have the one key with me.

A good thing with the hatch is that it's a way to get into the car when you've locked yourself out of the other doors. One time I left the hatch unlocked (accidentally, actually), but locked the doors. I was easily able to climb into the hatch, and get into the rest of the car.