Hyundai's Poor Accent

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Up Front

The idea behind this new Made-in-Korea Hyundai Accent is a good one: Offer a hatchback version of the Accent sedan, which was revamped for the '06 model year, giving it a sportier suspension and steering to endow it with some driving flair. Then load the car up with standard features and keep the price under $15,000.



Can't beat it, right? Trouble is, there are tons of better new Japanese subcompact cars hitting the market right now, including Toyota's (TM) Yaris [see BusinessWeek.com, 6/14/06, "The Judgment of Yaris"], Honda's (HMC) Fit [see BusinessWeek.com, 8/21/06, "Nice Fit"], and Nissan's (NSANY) Versa [see BusinessWeek.com, 9/25/06, "Nissan's Nice Versa"]. General Motors' (GM) revamped and much-improved Aveo is just out, too.



Little wonder that that sales of the Accent, which had seemed destined to be a hit, are far from booming. Some other Hyundai models, such as the Elantra and the all-new Santa Fe SUV [see BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/06, "Hyundai's Santa Fe is Coming to Town"], are doing very well this year, with October sales up 13.5% and 22.2%, respectively.



But Hyundai only sold 2,010 Accents in October, down 30% from October, 2005. For the first 10 months of this year, total, the Accent's sales dropped to 30,099, down 19.3% from the same period in 2005. Even in a transition year for the model, that's a pretty weak performance.



On the surface, the Accent is a lot like its main rivals. It's a front-wheel-drive car with a stubby front end and a relatively roomy interior that yields considerable cargo capacity when you fold the rear seats down. It gets good mileage, too, of course. My test car, an Accent SE with a manual transmission, was rated to get 32 mpg in the city and 35 on the highway. In a stretch of 112 miles of mixed driving I only got 25 mpg, but I did a lot of heavy accelerating.



The Accent comes in three formats. The budget model is the GS two-door hatchback which starts out at just $10,995 with a stick shift and $11,995 as an automatic, and comes standard with eight-way adjustable seats, a tilt steering wheel, and halogen headlights.



You can either add options a la carte or move up to the SE two-door hatchback. It starts at $14,495 with a stick shift and $15,495 with an automatic, and comes with air conditioning, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, power windows, doors and locks, a CD player, sports-tuned suspension and steering, antilock brakes, and 16-in. alloy wheels. The third format is the GLS, a four-door sedan version that starts at $13,145 with a stick shift and $14,145 with an automatic.



Hyundai offers one of the best customer-protection plans in the business: A five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and unlimited free roadside assistance for five years. And even the low-end Accent GS also comes standard with front, side, and roof-mounted side curtain airbags.



To compare, side curtain airbags -- an important safety innovation in small cars because they protect you from head injuries in an accident -- come standard on the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa, but are only available as an option on the Yaris and aren't available at all on the Aveo.



Feature-laden as it is, though, the Accent seems to be competing mainly on price. According to the Power Information Network, the Accent is selling for an average of $13,543, vs. $13,718 for the Aveo, $14,383 for the Yaris, $15,512 for the Versa, and $16,668 for the Fit. [Like Business Week and BusinessWeek.com, the Power Information Network is a unit of McGraw-Hill (MHP)].



Yet, despite its price advantage, demand for the Accent isn't as high as for its main rivals. According to the Power Information Network, the Accent spends an average of 33 days on the lots before selling, vs. a mere eight days for the Honda Fit, nine days for the Yaris and Versa, and 23 days for the Aveo.



Behind the Wheel



Why isn't the Accent selling faster? It's a decent car, but in my opinion it just doesn't match up to the Japanese competition once you slide behind the wheel.



For starters, there's the Accent's only available powerplant, a 1.6 liter, 110-horsepower inline four-cylinder engine. Hyundai likes to point out that the Accent's engine is slightly bigger than the 1.5 liter engines in the Fit and Yaris, which deliver 109 and 106 horsepower, respectively, as well as more powerful than the 1.6 liter, 103-horsepower engine in the Aveo. But the Nissan Versa has a 1.8 liter, 122-horsepower engine, if more power is what you want.



In any case, the Hyundai is even slower than its rivals. My fastest 0 to 60 time in the Accent was a glacial 9.7 seconds, and I had to pop the clutch and really jam the transmission to get it that low. That's slightly slower than the Versa [9.5 seconds] and noticeably slower than the Fit [9.0 seconds]. [I didn't get a 0 to 60 in the Yaris, but it felt quicker than the Accent. I haven't driven the Aveo yet.]



The Accent's acceleration really starts to fade once you pass 35 mph or so. And the car lacks oomph when you need passing power at 60 mph and above. Worse, if you accelerate fast or cruise at above 70 mph, the engine sounds like a tractor. The noise became so loud at times that I got out and checked the muffler to see if something was wrong with it. There's also a fair amount of whistling and tire noise at highway speed



The interior and instruments are nondescript. The dash is well-designed, curving back from the center console and flowing nicely into the door panels. But the bins at the bottoms of the doors are cheap plastic, and the windows in back don't open. I also found the driver's armrest flimsy, poorly positioned, and uncomfortable to use.



Even by subcompact standards, the Accent's rears seats are cramped, and the lack of rear doors makes it very hard for an adult to get in and out. I couldn't get in or out at all without moving the front seat all the way forward, and even then it was tough. The rear seat bottoms fold up against the backs of the front seats, making a large, flat cargo space in back when you have no passengers. But the Honda Fit's numerous seat configurations make it more versatile.



On the plus side, the upgraded steering and suspension systems in the Accent hatchback really do make a difference. The steering is tight for such an inexpensive car. And one of the distinctive things about the car's ride is the way it smoothes out bumpy roads. The suspension is hard enough to feel sporty, yet manages to absorb bumps much better than in many small cars.



Buy It or Bag It?



The Accent's main appeal is its low price, standard safety features, and excellent warranty. Hyundai's quality is also reasonably good: In the latest J.D. Power and Associates Customer Satisfaction ratings, announced on Nov. 15, the company came in just below the industry average, a notch above Honda and a several notches above Toyota. If you're looking for an inexpensive commuter car that gets good mileage, the Accent is a good choice.



However, there are wiser choices, if you can find one on the dealers' lots. I'm not a huge fan of the Yaris, but it's a better car for about the same money. So are the Versa and Fit if you don't mind spending a little more. If you want a domestic model, check out the Aveo, or even the Chevy Cobalt, a bigger car that can be had for about the same money. The bottom line: comparison-shop before buying an Accent.



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