Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I use this site to research vehicles I am considering the purchase of, and am considering buying an '08 Hyundai Accent. As there are not yet any reviews for them on this site, I will give my opinions about my test drive today of both the automatic and manual transmission models.

Today I drove both, and these comments apply to both the standard shift and the automatic. I like the car a lot. For its size, it's roomy, the controls seem to be arranged nicely, it's comfortable, it drives and rides very well for a compact car, feels tight going down the road, the doors and hatchback open and shut precisely, the rear seats fold down nicely to allow for hauling cargo.

I live in PA, and test drove the car on the highway as well as hilly secondary roads. The 1.6 liter never felt strained or inadequate, especially with the manual shift. I would imagine that the standard shift, as usual, will get much better gas mileage than the automatic, as that eliminates a lot of unnecessary shifting.

If you enjoy driving a standard, as I do, this car is fun to drive. The shift pattern is tight and precise, just plain fun to drive. Reverse is before first gear, and requires you to pull up the lever on the shifter, just like the older VW's. I drove it and was looking for reverse at the end of the shift pattern, like I'm used to, and then noticed that it's on top, and is slightly different than a standard H pattern.

I do have one complaint about the standard shift: at 60 miles per hour, the car runs at about 2900-3000 rpm's. The car shows the redline at around 7000 rpm's. I'm just concerned with long trips at 75 or 80 miles per hour on major highways; I didn't have the chance to get the car up to that speed to see what the tachometer reads, but I surely will if I buy this car. That was the only issue I had with the car during my brief experience with it in a 15 mile test drive. This car seems to be well worth the price, at first glance, and I probably will end up buying it.

Faults:

Since the car is under 1000 miles, nothing has malfunctioned.

General Comments:

My wife woke up at 2am & asked for a new car. After test driving a Pontiac Vibe & Toyota Yaris, I was going to drive a Honda Fit & VW with dual clutch transmission. On the way tho, I saw a Hyundai Accent hatchback. Without having to deal, the salesman sold it to us for $10,500 including 60,000 mile full & 100,000 mile drive train warranties plus lifetime oil changes. My wife had her car 16 hours after asking & loves it more & more each day. Never got to the Fit or the VW.

Tho small on the outside, the interior is fairly roomy. The Accent, Fit & Yaris are the same exterior width. But the Accent has 1 to 3 inches more shoulder width, both front & rear seats, than Yaris. Accent has marginally wider shoulder space than Fit. I love small cars, but it is nice to look across the car & actually see a bit more space. With rear seats up, the Accent has 60% more cargo space than Yaris & an equal amount to Fit.

There is an extra cost dealer installed short throw 5 speed shifter. Coupled with the nice clutch, this combo is the 2nd nicest combo I've ever driven. Excellent!

Hey, for a $10,500 car, Accent has a tachometer, 8-way adjustable driver seat making seating nice, manual folding rear view mirrors with interior adjustments, fold down armrest & console, & 2 trip odometers. Would have liked a rear window wiper to go with the rear window defroster tho.

Wind noise is OK, but the engine noise is moderate because the 5 speed close ratio transmission at 60MPH tachs at a high 2900 rpms. The close tranny ratios should make good mountain road gear choices, altho I've heard someone complain about the tranny in the mountains. Road & tire noise is average for a small car. None of the noises are objectionable, but all the noises together would make long drives tiring.

Seven tanks of gas have been 32, 32, 30.7, 29.7, 30.5, 30.2 & 32 MPG in mixed city, back road, & highway driving using lower energy winter mix gasoline & conservative driving. Expect MPG to rise when higher energy summer mix gasoline arrives. Acceleration is adequate for the MPG given.

Third party High Definition near CD quality radio w/CD player installed. Kept the stock Hyundai speakers. Tho they are not bass dragging deep sounders, they make the digital HD radio clean & sharp as a bell with excellent musical detail. Spectacular reception of immaculate quality, even across 50 miles distance! If getting a radio, get HD radio if HD stations are in your area. HD radio is the best free radio, maybe better sound quality than satellite.

No Hyundai problems yet with less than a thousand miles.