8th Jun 2008, 22:28

Another small update; the car now has about 700 miles on it, and the gas mileage went up to 34 miles per gallon, despite the fact that it is 90 degrees here right now and I've been running the air conditioning constantly when driving it. Also, for those of you who do your own maintenance, I changed the oil at 500 miles, as you should with a brand new car and the initial fill of factory oil. The filter and the drain plug are easily accessible on this car, once you jack up either side of the front end a little to give enough room to lay under the car. No problems there. For all of you comparing compact cars, I'm guessing the gas mileage will settle in around 36 miles per gallon once the engine finally breaks in fully, and the weather cools off enough so that I'm not running the a/c constantly.

21st Jun 2008, 11:56

I have had the car for a week and I am very pleased with it so far. The only thing that concerns me is the gas mileage. But that may be due to using the air. But I love the amount of space. I rode with my husband and a (larger) friend in the backseat, and each of us had an adequate amount of space. The car appears to be smaller from the outside than it actually is. I love how everything is within reach. I am not cramped but can still reach everything.

26th Jun 2008, 08:03

I wrote this review. I've been through 5 tanks of gas so far, and the mileage has been 31, 33, 35, 34, 34. No trouble with the car at all in 1600 miles or so; no squeaks, rattles, nothing.

7th Jul 2008, 13:28

I now have a little over 2000 miles on the car, and am consistently getting 36 mpg. The mileage has gone up from 31 to 36 as it breaks in, I hope this trend continues! I'd be thrilled with 38 or 39 overall. We'll see when it levels off.

7th Jul 2008, 21:06

We bought my wife's 2008 Accent just before winter... not a good time to get good MPG right off the bat. My wife averaged 32+ & rising a bit thru the winter months in slow heavy highway, city, country & some speed limit highway commuter traffic. Finally, I got to feather foot drive it to 1400, 3000, 4000, 5500 foot mountain passes, 101 degree E. Washington, & Mt. Rainier. Got 41.5, 42.6, & 45.1 MPG. Accent loves the mountains!

16th Jul 2008, 07:16

Dude crawling under a jacked up car is DANGEROUS!!! Never crawl under a vehicle that's lifted only by a hydraulic or mechanical jack. You should only go under the car when it's securely lifted up on jack stands, and when you do put it on jack stands you need jack it up behind both front wheels, rear wheels or all 4 wheels.

Even better buy some ramps. That's the easiest way to lift your car up to do an oil change.

And an oil change after 500 miles when the cars new? That makes no sense...

18th Jul 2008, 11:41

I think commenter 22:28 meant 5000 miles, not 500. At least I HOPE he did. Factory oil should be left in for 5000 miles because it is designed to help with the break-in period. The exception would be if you only drove very few miles, and you reached 6 months before you reached 5000 miles. You should change every 6 months, even if the mileage is lower than the recommended change interval.

Also, 07:16 is right. NEVER crawl under a car supported only by a jack. Driving after you get your head squished is much more difficult.

31st Jul 2008, 17:42

To the above commentor: Most vehicle manufacturers recommend the first oil change at 500 miles.

2nd Aug 2008, 17:17

I'm a mechanic and I have never heard of ANY car manufacturer that recommended an oil change at 500 miles. Ford specifically says NOT to change the oil for 5000 miles unless 6 months has passed. Even in the 1940's oil changes were only recommended every 1000-2000 miles. My recommended change interval on my car is 7000 miles. Imports tend to require far more, and far more expensive maintenance than domestic cars, but to my knowledge none of them has such a small interval before the first oil change.

3rd Aug 2008, 07:02

Original commenter here. I have ramps, but the narrow approach angle on the car prevents me from actually using them. And I neglected to mention that I used jackstands also, I would never trust just a hydraulic jack to support a vehicle. Also, I did mean 500 miles for the first oil change. You should change the factory fill of oil on any new vehicle between 500 and 1000 miles because it gets all of the contaminants and small metal dust, etc. that accumulate during the break in of a brand new engine out of there. Never leave factory oil in for 5000 miles; 1000 at most.

I now have 3600 miles on the car, and am ready to do my second oil change today. The car has been perfect to date. I have been running the a/c almost constantly as it is around 88 degrees here in PA lately, and the gas mileage has topped of around 35 even with the use of the a/c. I truly have very few complaints about the car, and those are extremely minor. The first being, when you fold all the seats down to increase cargo room, the panel on the floor that covers the spare tire etc. underneath is really thin and flimsy, so that even if you make all of that room, you still can't put any real weight on it or I assume in would collapse. I have to put a piece of plywood over it to haul anything heavy that would rest on it. The only other thing I can even think of is that when you are in the driver's seat, the seat belt isn't right there for you to grab; you have to kind of reach back well behind the side of the seat to get you hands on it. Very minor issues; all cars have them. Mechanically, and as far as build quality goes, I am impressed all around. This car feels just about as solid as a Honda, and drives just like one. I've had it up to 85 or 90 just to see how it handles, and the grip on the road is solid, no squeaks, no chatter, the engine sounds very happy at over 4000 rpms, doors and hatch shut precisely and tightly, control knobs and levers are solid, steering is tight and solid, this is a good car, especially for the low price. I've gotten 3 phone calls from the Hyundai dealership asking me if I'm happy with the car and offering to help with any issues I might have. I'm satisfied all around. And most of all, gas mileage is above EPA estimates, and will increase when the weather cools off and I don't run the air conditioning as much.