(first posted 8/23/2016) How do you build a brand and raise it from a fledgling budget line to a global juggernaut? It takes patience, perseverance and some canny business decisions. Hyundai showed the world how to do it.
They started small, with a keenly-priced subcompact, the Excel/Pony. They improved it, before replacing with something slightly larger, more refined and yet still priced to sell: the 1995 Accent. The Accent surged to the top of the sales charts in Australia in the mid-1990s on the back of its attractive styling and an AUD$13,990 drive-away price that rattled Japanese automakers struggling with a rising yen. Everybody seemed to have an Excel, as this generation of Accent was known here, and when they sold their Excels a generation of young used car buyers bought these surprisingly well-built, reliable vehicles.
My sister was one of those buyers, purchasing a used, white 1998 Excel 3-dr in the early 2000s. It provided several years of faithful service, with no mechanical problems to note. Not all Korean automakers were as dedicated to quality and reliability, however. My sister swapped cars with her mother-in-law when my first nephew was born. The Excel’s replacement was a more practical, first-generation Kia Rio wagon. It was rubbish and soured my sister on Kias for years. This year, having only one car that could fit car seats became too much of a hassle for my sister’s family. They wanted a second car, so they bought a brand new Hyundai i30 (Elantra GT).
So did my friend Betsy. And my friend Iggi. The i30 is at the end of its generation but is still a competitive and crowd-pleasing compact with excellent build quality and impressive refinement. And although Hyundai is expanding upmarket with well-specced Santa Fe crossovers and Genesis sedans, they still now how to price a car sharply. The streets of Brisbane are littered with i30s as a result.
Now, there are cheaper cars out there. Malaysian automaker Proton has been peddling bargain basement cars here since the mid-1990s. Chinese automakers Geely and Chery have introduced compacts to the Australian market. But none of those brands are having any success, while the pricier Hyundai sells like hotcakes. Why?
Because Hyundai is no longer seen as just a value brand, that’s why. It’s not the brand you go to when you want the cheapest thing with a new car warranty. Cars like this Excel laid the groundwork for Hyundai to become one of the most popular brands in the world and the 3rd best-selling brand in Australia. People may have bought this Excel because it was cheap but they liked what they had bought. And now, those buyers are returning to Hyundai for a mid-sized sedan or a 7-seat crossover. Some of them are even returning for a luxury sedan.
Automotive journalists worldwide had praise for the 1995 Accent. Even British publications, notoriously critical as they were (and remain), begrudgingly admitted the Excel was an excellent value car even if they argued it wasn’t terribly fun to drive. Autocar said it had the “space of a [C-segment car], the build quality of a Toyota and the price of a [B-segment car].” That Toyota comparison was telling: here was an upstart Korean offering the driving excitement and size of a Corolla for much less money and with more style. Still, Hyundai has taken longer to find acceptance in Europe and the Accent was outsold more than 4-to-1 by similarly-priced if smaller rivals like the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo.
Although the B-segment was flatlining in 1990s USA, the Accent came to dominate the segment, beating the Chevrolet Metro in the sales race and continuing to increase its sales figures even as other automakers introduced rival subcompacts. The Accent was a faithful warrior and helped create loyal customers. In the second last year of this generation, 1999, Hyundai sold 164,190 cars in the USA, mostly its bread-and-butter Accent, Elantra and Sonata models. Last year, 761,710 Hyundais were sold in the USA.
While the Accent made an impact in North America and Europe, it was Australia where it truly shone. In fact, the Excel was briefly Australia’s best-selling car, managing to beat both the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon. In 1998, the Excel had a 5.5% share of the entire passenger car market. Hyundai was brutal with its pricing, offering rebates and driveaway deals that had rivals scurrying to match. At the end of last century, the B-segment in Australia was a hotbed of free air-conditioning and three-year warranties, with Hyundai truly having created a buyer’s market. It’s worth noting, however, that most Excels sold were base model three-door hatches; higher-spec four-door sedans and five-door hatches (the latter of which were not sold in the US) were decidedly less common albeit still keenly-priced.
If Hyundai had lazily engineered the Accent, the bloom may have come off the rose and buyers would have chosen rival subcompacts. But the Excel’s all-independent suspension allowed for a pleasingly smooth ride, even if it wasn’t the sharpest handler in the segment. The standard 1.5, 12-valve four-cylinder produced 87 hp and 96 ft-lbs and had a 0-60 time of around 12 seconds, competitive for the segment. A smaller 1.3 was offered in European and Asian markets, and some critics found this little mill to be a more pleasant engine.
For 1999, a twin-cam, 16-valve 1.5 replaced the existing 1.5 and produced 99 hp and 99 ft-lbs, reaching 60 mph in 2 fewer seconds. The Accent was available with either a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual, the latter of which was chided for having a notchy shift feel.
The previous Excel had been handsome enough, but the 1995 Accent represented a visual departure as Hyundai embraced a more expressive aesthetic. Curves abounded, including on the wheel covers and in the taillight elements. The color palette was vibrant, appealing to young buyers; pinks and turquoises were common selections. The interior featured a center stack canted slightly towards the driver, with good fit-and-finish but hard plastics. In Australia, airbags were always an option on the Excel and one many buyers didn’t see the point in shelling out money for. Anti-lock brakes were also only an option, and all Accents featured front disc and rear drum brakes.
The Accent was screwed together much better than its predecessor, and proved to be a fairly reliable little car with a solid powertrain. Common maladies are mainly electrical in nature, although there was a significant recall for suspension defects during the car’s run. Despite this recall, the car continued to sell well and many remain on the roads today.
In 2001, Hyundai introduced a new Accent (Australia finally ditched the Excel name). The styling was more angular and conservative and sales dropped considerably in both Australia and the US, although Hyundai would return to A-grade sales in the B-segment with later Accents and, in Australia, the Getz. Hyundai may have upmarket pretensions but it still offers a keenly-priced Accent line.
It’s easy to think Hyundai wants to shake its image as a purveyor of drive-away priced subcompacts, but that ignores one crucial part of the brand’s history. This Accent introduced a whole generation of new buyers to the brand, and their ownership experiences have encouraged them to return. Hyundai gave buyers exactly what they wanted and the Accent was enthusiastically received. There are many reasons Hyundai continues to grow and grow, and this Accent was one of the earliest and most prominent building blocks.
Related Reading:
Cars Of A Lifetime: 1997 Hyundai Accent – The Unlikely Romantic
Curbside Classic: 1988 Hyundai Excel – The Damn Near Deadly Sin
A good feature on a car that was everywhere. William, has Hyundai ever had such a successful car here in the years since?
Sure have: two punch i30 + Elantra on C-Cars, the discontinued i20 + Accent on B-cars.
Didn’t Hyundai start out selling the Pony ? I remember it wasn’t available in the U.S. but was sold in Canada,. During the 80s, they started selling them in the U.S. At the time , I had a Dodge Colt Mitsubishi, and remember hearing that the Hyundai had the same engine. I went to our local auto show to check it out. According to Consumer Reports, they weren’t very reliable at that time.
The Hyundai Pony was their first entry into Canada. They were cheap to buy but had poor fit quality and rusted very early in their lives. You had to be no more than three feet tall and double jointed to get into the back seat. Mechanically not bad and more reliable than the imported Chrysler UK products of the time. They then introduced the Stellar in Canada. A larger car but outdated technology and styling. It still had a manual choke. I know a few people who started out with Accents and now drive Genesis and Santa Fe’s because they were delighted with the quality and reliability. I rented a Sonata Sport Tech when I was away a few weeks ago and it drives as nice as any Accord or Camry I now drive.
We never got the Pony or the Stellar in the US, though Canada had both. Hyundai’s first foray into the US market was with the Excel in 1985 or 86, which sold mainly on price. I remember them advertising the car for $4995 USD which was less than any other new car on the market at the time.
And they seemed to be everywhere for a long time…..
like roaches…ok maybe ants….maybe
Well, second cheapest – the Yugo was introduced at $3995 at right about that same time. The Yugo made the Hyundai seem like a smart buy – for another $1000, you get something at least made somewhere in Asia. 🙂
For another $1000 over the Yugo, you got something that was at least MADE, not just a pile of substandard parts in loose apposition (and I do mean loose)!
One thing that struck me when I was working in Australia in 2010 was that unlike in the UK, Hyundai was seen as just another car, whereas even today they are probably seen as a little substandard here.
I rented one of these from some backpacker/beater rental place in Perth when my inlaws visited, so I could get to work and they drove my EL Falcon. It was old and rattly but actually quite good fun to go back to a small manual car after becoming accustomed to my first and so far only big automatic. Ran great, despite its abused state. The cost of renting it was probably half what it would cost to buy it in the UK!
It’s interesting how well Hyundai has taken off in Australia. In the US, although they’re quite successful and definitely one of the major players, there’s still a slight odor of “couldn’t afford anything better?” or “couldn’t afford a Toyota (Honda)?” about it. Unfairly as hell, they’re still being pilloried for the first generation Excels sold over here (just like GM is unable to shake the stench of a few of its turkeys from 30 YEARS AGO ALREADY!)
Meanwhile Toyota remains God’s Own Car, even though their stuff has been no better than any of the competition for 15-20 years now.
I have to admit, the line has never particularly appealed to me, being just another Toyota alternative. Conversely, Kia’s on the other hand I find quite appeals for both their style and execution. And have had a series of good ones, going back to that first Ford Festiva back in 1990.
Comment of the day, right here.
Perceptions die HARD. If only someone at the General would’ve taken a longer-term view 30 years ago they might have a far higher market share today. IMO their current lineup is their strongest in decades.
Hyundai’s upcoming Genesis line may be the final tide that washes away lingering old perceptions for good.
Co-worker of my wife’s loves…LOVES Festivas. She has some mechanical ability and a trusted mechanic, and is able to keep them on the road far longer than one might initially think.
What a coincidence of sorts, just yesterday I had to rent a car and was “given” a Hyundai….though in this case a 2015-2016 Elantra.
Of the generation Excel pictured, there was only 1 year and 1 body style I liked: the 4 door sedan and whichever model year the silver (?) car pictured is. The 2 door coupe looks hunchbacked and the “greenhouse” looks to tall for the size of the car. Style-wise, that has been my problem with older Excels: it looks a bit too much like it was assembled from parts made for a slightly larger car.
Hyundai? My impression from my (short) exposure via the rental car is that compared to a Honda….Hyundai is not quite “there”. The steering (electrically assisted) didn’t have a natural feel, it was bordering on vague straight ahead and almost twitchy when turned quickly. The A/C worked pretty good on the highest speed, almost gale force, but dialing the speed just 1 notch back and the A/C seemed to be barely blowing. I don’t know if the dashboard padding and the padding over the gauges was a different pebble grain and/or slightly different in color….but it looked like they were. BTW, part of the dash reflected nearly constantly on the windshield. The inside door handle also felt like it was a bit flimsy, like it could easily break. And of course, the panel surrounding the door handle reflected onto the side window and side rear view mirror.
When I got home I read some magazine comparison tests of the Hyundai and Honda and others. The Hyundai is still, usually, cheaper than other cars, but is rapidly closing the gap.
AND, Car&Driver says it appears Hyundai sets design goals when designing their new cars and does very well meeting them….but never surpasses them or any other brand of car.
Whatever may be lacking vs. Honda, the value proposition will help most American buyers, esp. young people, forget that. A coworker, the sort who normally Buys American & had an F-150, got one & told me only its dash software has any irregularities. I don’t trust •any• carmaker here.
FYI, Hyundai USA has factories in Michigan & Alabama, & one design center, in CA of course. For those worried about Trade Imbalances, S. Korea is a better market for American cars than Japan.
Yes, Hyundai has really taken off. And it has done so by providing a good and reasonably durable car. You don’t get people buying new expensive ones if the old cheaper ones were no good. Really, I had no idea that Hyundai was that big in Australia.
It is all the more impressive that it’s rise has been during an era where standards and expectations are higher than ever.
As someone that doesn’t buy new cars, the issue for me is – will it be a reliable used car when it’s 10 – 15 years-old, and will parts still be easily availible?
I have a mid ’90s Camry and Altima as my daily drivers. While I won’t say they’ve been absolutely bullet-proof, they’ve had no major problems. The Camry especially, has been very easy to find new or used aftermarket parts. The Ford Festivas were fairly simple and reliable new cars, but Kias after about 10 – 15 years were junk. Many American makes and Hyundais of around that vintage weren’t that much better. Now that Kia and Hyundai have merged, we’ll see.how well they age.
Meanwhile, after some of Toyota’s recent goofs, I fear their newest models won’t be so durable.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Our son has a ’93 Accord as his daily driver. Our DIL, a ’96 Civic. Both are reliable and fun.
The 1990s were Japan’s golden age as far as I’m concerned. Today, they’re all Just Another Car Company. I don’t see any advantage in Honda/Toyota/Nissan in 2016.
And in another 10-15 years it could be Hyundai/Kia whose offerings from today are revered then for their durability. Ditto GM and Ford.
The American experience with Hyundai started out terribly. The earliest Excels had some serious problems. My secretary (hey! I’m old, okay?) had one in 1989, as did a woman in our Accounting office. Both had engine failures. Hyundai tried to deny the warranty claim for both cars claiming failure to perform regular oil changes. The accountant, being an accountant, promptly produced receipts for all required maintenance, but it still took the threat of legal action to get the car repaired. My secretary had just swallow the loss; she was not amused. Their experience was not uncommon. The resulting public relations disaster forced Hyundai to offer 10 year warranties in order to sell their cars, and to approve dead cats for credit for many years. However, they stayed the course and kept improving their cars until they achieved the success they have today. They’re now quite a respectable choice, and I see a lot of them. The Genesis hasn’t caught on yet, but the fact that Hyundai even offers such a car and that it’s a serious contender in the marketplace is amazing considering where they started in the U.S. market.
When they offered the 10 year warranty the CEO at the time went all over the company preaching quality and flatly told the press: Our quality will improve or this warranty offer will bankrupt us.
That’s pretty brave and ambitious. Can you imagine a brand currently at the bottom of say Consumer Reports ranking publicly saying the same thing?
The subject car looks a hell lot like the ’97 Accent that I owned, minus the spoiler. I hated mine. It was ugly, ratty and had none of the things that I looked for in a car at the time (Cruise, A/C, a decent stereo). It wasn’t really my choice anyway.
Just glad to see that Hyundai has come as far as it has.
As far as that 10 year warranty goes, that never made me think I should seriously consider a Hyundai over any of the Honda products I’ve owned. To my way of thinking, you offer a seriously long warranty when your products are crap….or the public perceives them as crap, and/or your dealers are of a mind to dodge honoring your warranty at any/all opportunities….which the internet says is the case with pretty much every brand of car.
While driving my rental car home yesterday all I could think was: this is pretty good but I wonder how much better a Civic or Focus/Fiesta are….much less a VW?
Like others here, I prefer the looks of the related KIAs, but all the dealers in my area make the ownership experience about as attractive as getting the plague.
It swayed me when I was looking for a minivan five years ago. I had really liked my 99 Town and Country right up to where it ate its transmission. Mrs. JPC was tired of my cheap old minivans and wanted something shiny and new. Mr. JPC was trying to keep the price down. We stumbled on the Kia Sedona when the Mrs. went in to test drive a Sorento. Lots more car for the money. I thought about shopping a Grand Caravan or T&C, and probably could have gotten a good price after rebates and such. However, the Chrysler 3.6 was still pretty new in 2011 and their reputation on new engines was rather uneven. I knew nothing about Kias but did know that they had a 10 yr 100K powertrain warranty and a 5 year 60K bumper to bumper. It was the superior warranty that convinced me to roll the dice on the Kia. So far (55K later), it has been a good choice.
I have since driven other minivans. They all do nicer interiors than my base Kia, but I have not found one that I like driving better. It is far superior to the Grand Caravan I rented in Colorado last summer. And it’s not like Honda Odysseys of recent years have been paragons of reliability the way they were in 1996.
One side effect of that warranty was pointed out to me by my mechanic a few years ago, when he told me that used Hyundais and Kias just out of warranty tend to have lots of issues from deferred maintenance. The demographic who buys the cheapest new car is evidently not the demographic that will spend the bucks for good maintenance. Go figure.
When I had my 2010 Forte, the local dealership(Laurel Kia) bent over backwards to assist me with any issues my Kia had. Even thought I bought the Kia at CarMax, they did not try to get out of any warranty repairs(I had 2 which were related to trim and door seals)
The car was fun to drive and drove very nice.
Contrast that with the arrogant Toyota dealerships in my area (there are 6 in a 100 mile radius) when dealing with my Scion XB
I will buy another Kia one day, but I will never buy another Toyota.
The Fiesta is very nice, and I am a fan of the Focus.
VW’s are junk. They are the highest costing car in each segment and the least reliable. Over priced, arrogant dealers, unreliability and now the emissions scandal. I bet VW folks up its tent and leaves the USA in the next 10 years.
This generation of Accent were, in the US at least, still seen largely as cheap disposable transportation–and yet there are still more than a few on the road. Hyundai suffered a *lot* of bad press for the 1st-gen Excel, which was cheap and unreliable, and the 1st-gen Sonata, which was rather attractive but still cheap and unreliable. (It’s probably 10 years since I’ve seen an example of either on the road). Then they had to spend many years afterward counteracting that.
The way they did it was rather sensible though. First they improved quality. The Hyundais of the late 90’s and early 2000’s were generally well screwed together, if low on the desirability factor. Then, once they’d gotten the quality issues in line, they stepped up their design game. Now? They have the whole package. Once they acquired a controlling share of Kia in the early 2000’s, they pulled them along the same path.
Currently? I’m sure some folks still see them as a lesser make than Honda/Toyota, but generally speaking I think they’ve about caught up. Not only in perception but in dynamics–granted I haven’t driven a new Civic. But when I was shopping in 2012, I drove a Civic, an Elantra, a Forte, and had driven a Corolla as a rental fairly recently. Granted, the 2012 Civic may have been a bit of a low point, but I thought the Elantra and Forte were every bit as good as the Civic and Corolla. Ended up buying the Forte (Kias and Hyundais being essentially different flavors of the same dish anymore) and have been extremely happy with it.
Very well said and I agree 100%. At least for me, it was the release of the 2010 Sonata for Hyundai, and the 2011 Sorento for Kia, that elevated my opinion of the two brands as equal to that of Toyota and Honda.
Hyundai ‘has’ done remarkably well since those first Excels hit US shores for $4995. The only vehicle worse was the Yugo, selling for $3990. Both were classic examples of “You get what you pay for” and they routinely appear on ‘Worst Cars Ever Built’ lists. As someone else mentioned, anyone who got tagged with an Excel from those early years has never forgotten the experience and, to this day, won’t go near not only a Hyundai, but a Kia, as well. Like people who will never buy another GM product after owning something like a Vega or Citation, I can’t say I blame them.
As to that 10-year warranty, anecdotal evidence suggests that Hyundai, to this day, is still quite sleazy about not honoring it when major things go wrong, with the also mentioned excuse of “You didn’t have it serviced at an authorized dealership”. To add insult to injury, even if you do have your Hyundai serviced at a dealership (which, BTW, isn’t legally necessary), the prices for service are quite high.
Still, today’s Hyundai vehicles have come a long, long way from those 1980’s horror stories. But they’re still in that bottom-feeder, bad-credit group that includes such dreck as Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Dodge. One of the common complaints is that the new car smell of the interior in a new Hyundai or Kia is akin to some weird, obnoxious chemical.
Yup, these were transportation that got the job done. When my grad student cousin and his wife were looking for a used car for him, I helped them look at a few.
We checked out one Accent, but it was horribly rusted and had electrical problems. Unfortunately this was typical for these in Canada, I can see why they did much better in Australia.
He wound up with a Mazda 3, which also became horribly rusted with electrical problems but it took an additional 5 years for that to happen…
I bought a 1998 3-dr Accent GT in 2002 after I was laid off. My new job was an 80km drive each way, so driving our 1999 Caravan was not a viable option.
The Accent was a fun little car. It didn’t have much power, but the 5-spd woke it up a bit. Fuel economy was what I was after, and it delivered. It used half as much gas as the Caravan and paid for itself quite quickly. I think I only paid $3500 for it or something.
It had the manual sunroof and the yellow fog lights. I have missed those fog lights ever since trading it in.
Mechanically, there were a few issues, but I did put 60,000 kms on it during the year I owned it. During that year, it went through 3 coil packs. Luckily it was easy to access and the local junkyard had them for $30.
That car was also the one that taught me that not all cars like platinum plugs. I replaced the plugs with Bosch Platinums when I did a tune up. After a 20 minute or so highway drive, one of the plugs blew apart, denting my hood from the underside. What a fireworks show. After that, I went back to the copper NGKs and had no problem.
I traded it in as soon as the exhaust manifold developed a leak. By that time, it would have cost more to fix than the car was worth.
My ex girlfriend has a ’98 Accent 3dr. A really solid, well built car I will admit. My only complaint with it was the horrific road noise. We went to the beach one weekend in it. That was enough for me, we took my car on any road trips after that!
Nicely-written article Will, and I appreciate how much positive you managed to say about this car. That being said, I still cringe at the sight of these early Accent penalty econoboxes. Along with the Kia Sephia, they were cars in which I would prefer to walk over driving or riding in. No offense meant towards anyone who owned one, but they’re one of the few cars it hurts me to think of anything nice to say about.
Hyundai and Kia have come a long way though, and I guess they had to start somewhere.
I always had a bias against Hyundai since I am old enough to remember the ponys that we got up here in Canada. But a few years ago I helped my friend find a replacement for his sirocco and we stumbled upon an early 2000 tiburon. It checked his wish list as a hatch back coup with a 5 speed and 2 litre 16 valve motor. It was at least $1500 cheaper than anything from Honda or Toyota. So far he has had good luck with just normal wear and tear items he has had to repair. One of my co workers has a 2002 Elantra which I helped change the radiator on last month. I was impressed with the ease of the repair and the general layout of the engine bay. And a new rad was just over $100 CDN.
I don’t think I will ever own a kimchi burner myself but I have changed my opinion on this brand and would recommend them in the future.
HYundai Accent 3 door and Mitsubishi Mirage 3 door are the same car visually, I quite like these Excel/Accents, as for not being fun to drive, really! I hired one from Rent a Dent at Auckland airport and drove it into my driveway in Hastings Hawkes bay four hours twenty eight minutes later, it was great thru the Napier Taupo road the little mill sang at its redline happily any time it was asked to yes it was a little lurchy at the limit on tight turns but it was a beaten up cheap rental and yes my the Amon tuned Corona would have eaten it as would my current ride but absolutely nothing kept pace or overtook it the whole way home and I only cruise at or near the legal limit( something you cant do onHWY5 in a Falcon). I’m seriously considering a Sonata diesel when I change cars next time, they seem capable of huge mileages as taxis so should be reliable as a daily drive.
Did Hyundai do parts sharing with Ford? The dashboard shown above looks remarkably like a 1998 Ford Escort my son once drove.
Interesting that this model enjoyed such success in Australia, as you really don’t see these much in most of the United States. The 2001-2005 version is reasonably common but these late-1990s models didn’t sell well or last very long, so there are very few left and weren’t that many to begin with. At the risk of being cynical I’d hazard a guess that the only reason you see so many is because of the massive local sales when new (the same reason there are so many terrible, poor-quality old GM cars clattering around Michigan – people just bought loads of Corsicas and Luminas when new!)
I struggle to find anything positive to say about the first few generations of Accent/Rio, besides the fact they are extremely cheap, and sometimes turn out to be relatively reliable if you’re lucky and get a decent one. An aunt bought a 2005 4-door sedan as a one-year-old used car, and while I think she still has it, that thing is about the most unrefined, tractor-like 21st century sedan I’ve ridden in. Crude, loud, cheap and tinny to the extreme, horrible smelling Korean interior, horrendous NVH worthy of a farm tractor (the coffee-grinder little buzz-bomb engine vibrated and rattled the entire car noticeably at idle, in nearly-new condition with 30K miles on it).
It gets you to the grocery store and your cubicle without taking the bus, and she enjoyed paying $150 per month for a basically new car. But for anyone with even a modicum of interest in cars, the Accent makes a base model Corolla feel like a Lexus LS. Worse, I doubt many Accents see 200k miles judging by used car classifieds (don’t even ask about resale value), and I shudder to think what the driving experience would be like at that point if it was that bad brand new out of the box. I’ve rented numerous 2006-2010 models when new, and they are only marginally better.
The current generation Accent is surprisingly improved and decent – not something I’d trust until 200k, but a pleasant enough appliance that is worthy of consideration as a cheap commuter scooter. But these older models are pure automotive purgatory and just about the worst vehicles you could purchase in the US short of a Metro/Aveo (depending on which era you’re referencing).
My brother bought a new Excel in about 1999-2000. It was a base 3 door and he had it for about 10 years. In that time the only thing that went wrong with it was the drivers side window came off its tracks, something that was easily fixed. That’s it, literally nothing else
broke or wore out in all the years he had it. He traded it for a Geely MK about 5 years ago and so far has had a similar trouble free run, although admittedly he covers very few miles in a year.
These are pretty sturdy cars. Even here in Iceland, where cars tend to lead a nasty, brutish, and short life due to the climate, salt, and rough roads, there are still beater ´95-´99 Accents seemingly everywhere.
Regarded as cheap nasty here in the UK. I got a 98 base model, still in warranty, ex boy shop loan car for £3500. Bares up on the old adage ” You get what you pay for” .Engine vibs through the pedals . Bare metal in the trunk where the paint did not quite reach in the diip tank Bare metal tags holding the main wiring loam in the trunk as well. Drove like an1980s car which it really was. Hyundai had competition from 3year old Ford, GM and PSA cars for the same money and that’s were car buyers on a budget went. I put up with it and drove it to Euro Disney. Brave…
These were also very successful in Israel but did not survive as well as older Subarus for example. Utterly boring, generic vehicle. But it was cheaper than the established Japanese.
I was searching for a winter car in 99. Found a base 2 door hatch Accent, new, that was cheaper than a 2 year old, high mile, low trim, Civic.
The car was an early 99, so lacked power steering (OK by me) and lacked a rear wiper (not so OK). with a 5 speed and the 12 valve engine. I found it a pleasant car to drive, with better midrange torque than my 98 Civic hatchback and a butter smooth clutch.
The bad: headroom a bit tight, a salesman who managed to irritate me as no other salesman ever did (demanded I drive on a route of his choosing, not where I wanted to go and refused to quote a price unless I filled out a credit app). All that came on top of doubts about Hyundai reliability at that time, which the bearing knock on startup (remember, this was a new car) did nothing to dispel.
Being a new Hyundai, at the end of the test drive, I was also treated to a cloud of fumes from the cosmoline burning off the exhaust system (think burning tennis shoes).
Passed on that Accent, but there were things about it I liked.
I never understood why anyone would buy one of these little tin cans in the US, other than that 10 year warranty. Compared to a new Hyundai, almost any other newer used car was a better proposition to live with on a daily basis. And as a used car, every Hyundai and Kia I ever saw was a disposable beater: wrung out, trashed, poorly maintained and ready for the junkyard at the first sign of trouble. My neighbor was an early adaptor who picked up a blue Excel to replace his aging VW Beetle. He was not happy with his choice.
However, by the time my brother bought a used Elantra in the early 2000s, it was a thoroughly modern and reliable car. In some ways it was a step down in quality from the ’90 Corolla that it replaced, and it had about as much personality as a microwave oven, but it was never less than competent. I would not hesitate to buy a Hyundai today. It has really come a long way
My daughter in law is on her second Hyundai. My son is on his second Kia. I plan to consider either brand when it is time for me to go car shopping next time.
Having said that, my eldest son is on his third or fourth Subaru. That’s his preference.
And the Excels provide some fantastic club level racing. Sneer all you wish, but when you have a field of 49 cars, three wide into corners, lead changes almost every lap, you have a great series.
There are more log booked Excels than any other race category in Australia. And the racing is generally clean- possibly because the driver is usually the car owner.
I’d strongly consider a Hyundai for our next car.