The evolution of an economy car
I wasn’t really your average teenager when I was growing up. By the time I turned 20, I owned one pair of sneakers, two pairs of jeans and three cars.
I didn’t have a lot of money. For whatever reason, I tended to prioritize quantity over quality back then. I learned to appreciate cars that weren’t necessarily flashy or fast, but fulfilled my needs and with a reasonable price tag.
It was long enough ago that Hyundai hadn’t yet arrived in Canada, and when it did, it started with its bargain-basement Pony. Today, it squares off against the German and Japan luxury brands with its Genesis division.
But for 2018, Hyundai holds up the other end of the scale with an all-new Accent. It’s a popular enough model here that this newest edition made its world debut at Toronto’s Canadian International Auto Show last year.
Like the outgoing Accent, the new model comes as a hatchback or a four-door sedan.
Four trim levels are available, starting with the base L, which costs $14,599 and comes only as a hatchback and strictly with a six-speed manual transmission.
In all other trims, the hatchback and sedan are priced the same, starting with the LE that sells for $17,349 and comes only with an automatic transmission.
The trims top out with my tester, the auto-equipped GLS that sells for $21,099. The hatchback can be ordered with a manual transmission at every trim level. The sedan can only be equipped with one in GL trim, starting at $17,549.
The Accent follows the usual new-and-improved upgrade of being slightly larger and wider than the previous model, with a longer wheelbase, but with the same overall height.
It still carries a direct-injected 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, but surprisingly for an update, it’s less powerful than before: 130 horsepower and 119 pound-feet of torque, versus the outgoing 137 hp and 123 lb-ft. The payoff is a slight improvement in fuel efficiency.
That powertrain is where the Accent reveals its entrylevel personality; the engine is gruff and buzzy, and the six-speed automatic’s shifts can be harsh.
There’s enough acceleration to get you moving in the highway merge lane, but you get a serious helping of engine noise along with it. That said, raspy-sounding engines are pretty much the norm in this category, and the Accent’s horsepower matches that of the Honda Fit, while outweighing that of competitors such as the Toyota Yaris, Ford Fiesta or Chevrolet Spark.
Handling is pretty good, with smooth cornering and a fair bit of feedback for an economy car. Despite the company’s claims that it has improved the ride in this new model, you still feel and hear every bump over uneven pavement.
For me, the Accent has made its biggest strides in its appearance and comfort. The rounded nose of its predecessor has been traded for a sharper-edged grille that bears more resemblance to the next-step-up Elantra, along with a more chiselled-looking rump and smoother body lines.
The cabin also undergoes a handsome makeover; the dash styling is sleeker, the centre screen is larger and controls are focused toward the driver. There’s still a lot of hard plastic — and I expect to get that in this price range — but it becomes a lot more livable when it’s part of a decent design as here.
Little-car seats often have shortened cushions (it helps make the cabin look more spacious), but the Accent’s chairs go right to the back of my knee and provide more support than expected. The rear seats also provide more leg room than you might think. The trunk is well-sized; you don’t have to lift too far over the lip to get your goods inside, and the 60/40 split-folding rear seat goes down almost flat to accept longer cargo.
Hyundai always throws on lots of features for the price, and the list on the Accent is impressive. That ultra-base L hatchback is basically just wheels and an engine — about the only thing it gets is power locks and a backup camera — but everything else includes standard air conditioning, heated mirrors, Bluetooth and power windows with driver’s-side auto-down. The GL level also includes three-temperature heated front seats (that get really hot), automatic headlamps, cruise control and both Android Auto and Apple Car Play.
At the GLS level, you add a heated steering wheel, fourwheel disc brakes, fog lights, push-button start, automatic climate control, a hands-free trunk, forward collision emergency braking and a sunroof.
All of this is key: Throw in that much, and despite its run-of-the-mill econobox performance, my tester felt like it cost much more than $21,099. Perceived value is an important consideration at this level, and the Accent delivers on that.
This fifth-generation version of the Accent feels like more of an evolution over the last model: A bit roomier, better-looking and with a nicely improved cabin. It’s fairly even with some of its competition for performance, but what you get above that for the price is more than enough to make the Accent a must drive on your shopping list.