In the parlance of rental-car companies, cars are classified using the alphabet, from least to most expensive. Therefore, the least expensive class of car you can reserve is the A Car. And that’s exactly what the 2019 Hyundai Accent is: A Car.
For a recent weekend trip to Austin, TX for the purposes of sampling local barbecue, I broke even on my reservation and got this Accent in a color best described as “pavement gray”. I will never understand why people want cars that blend into the background, but that’s neither here nor there.
So what is the Accent? As described above, it’s a car. The ride sits reasonably well on the balance between handling and comfort. It feels solid and well put together. All told, the car feels competent for the task.
The controls fall easily to hand. However, the buttons are mushy with little tactile feedback. The column stalks do feel cheap, both in operation and touch. Seriously, Hyundai, how much more would it cost to make the back of the stalks smooth and not full of mold lines? The HVAC controls are absolutely perfect – three knobs and a couple of buttons do everything, exactly the way HVAC controls were meant to be. There’s a radio with Bluetooth for phone calls and audio streaming, and pairing was simple. No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, though.
The Accent is certainly not fast, but has all the oomph you need to keep up with traffic. Big compliments to the transmission programmers. Unlike most modern geared automatics, the Hyundai is not in a hurry to upshift, nor recalcitrant to downshift when the pedal is mashed. The transmission also downshifts smoothly through the gears when coasting to a stop light.
Fuel economy is pretty good, too. The onboard trip computer (which is pretty good for this price class) told me I got 41.1 MPG in my mostly highway and back road driving, which is well above the EPA’s figures of 32/38.
In short, the Accent SE would qualify as the least expensive car I could heartily recommend for someone who just wants an inexpensive new car. Want something cheaper? They do exist, but neither the Chevrolet Spark, Mitsubishi Mirage, Nissan Vera, nor Fiat 500 is anywhere near as adequate as the Accent. There’s the Kia Rio, which I’m sure is equally as good, yet retails for a few hundred dollars more. It would just come down to personal preference and what sort of haggle room each dealer would give a buyer.
But… “for only $25 a month more”, as car salesmen are fond of saying, there’s the Elantra SE. It’s bigger and roomier. It has a larger and more powerful engine, yet better EPA numbers than the Accent. Rebates are fatter on the Elantra as well, making the price difference around $1600. Judging from online dealer pricing, there’s more negotiating room on the Elantra, potentially making the price difference even smaller. My local dealer’s website shows the Accent SE (with auto) for $14,555, while the Elantra automatic is priced at $15,715, a difference of only $1,160. “For a few dollars more per month” there’s almost no reason to choose the Accent over the Elantra.
Shame. It’s a decent car.
You left out one word, “generic”, as in “a generic car”. I actually rented one for a couple of weeks and it was a decent enough car. Drove well, comfortable enough, controls were not too complicated. Was not bad at anything. Beyond that? Yawn….
Another reason to think Elantra is that one woman drove hers over a million miles in 5 years. At least that what I saw on Jalopnik. It really is quite unbelievable, even Hyundai was surprised.
https://jalopnik.com/woman-becomes-high-mileage-hero-by-driving-her-hyundai-1831217446
I read the same article this morning. They verified that it still had the original drivetrain, and Hyundai gave her a new car – another Elantra, naturally. She said that she’ll try for 1.5 million miles on this one. I also read an article about Irv Gordon, the owner of the ‘66 Volvo P1800 with 3 million miles – he just passed away.
Did she ever shut the thing off? Or did she have a partner driving? Jalopnik claimed 24 miles per hour all day every day to reach this mileage; I’m calculating 23, so all is good there.
Of course, since it was rarely shut off helps explain a lot toward the longevity since it was longer drive cycles and less frequent cold starts.
Regardless, it’s impressive.
She delivers auto parts for a living. I imagine most of the miles were done while on the job.
Yes, I know. But let’s suppose she works 12 hours per day, 7 days per week instead of the 24 hours per day calculated. That raises her average speed over those five years to 46 to 48 mph. The stops for her deliveries plus loading plus any driving in town plus bathroom stops plus fuel stops plus oil changes plus traffic delays (even in rural Kansas) plus holidays will all conspire to lower her average speed if working just 12 hours per day.
Thus my question about how many people were driving it. I don’t question the validity of this car having traveled that distance at all.
I guess it’s possible. It works out to something like 550 miles per day, 7 days a week.
If she made eight, one-hour runs of 69 miles each leg, per day, 69 x 8 = 552,
So, I’m going to say she had some sort of daily route between a distribution center and store in some far-flung outpost. On top of that, she was able to make the multiple drives overnight when traffic was extremely light. Rather than use a larger vehicle to haul the same cargo in a solitary drive of 138 miles per day, she went a different route of making multiple runs with an Elantra, carrying the same items piecemeal. Seems kind of foolish and extremely time-consuming, but she did get notariety for her efforts.
Not much to do in Kansas.
I’ve had a few as rentals over the years, and that pretty much describes them. A Car. The last time I had one a few years ago my wife found the seats uncomfortable, so I’ll probably ask for something different if I get offered another Accent. An Elantra is actually a better choice – I’d take one over an Accent (or some other cars) any time.
I rented an Elantra about 15 months ago, it was an okay car, and yeah it was dark grey. The day before the Elantra I rented a Dodge Dart, a car I liked just a bit better.
Accent or Rio? Kia dealers, at least in my area, don’t have a great reputation….one step above Mitsubishi dealers. And if you believe what you read on the internet, Hyundai dealers are more likely to honor their warranty than Kia dealers are.
I wouldn’t touch another Kia Rio with a ten foot barge pole being held by someone else. I don’t care how good they’ve gotten in recent years. If I want a boring car, I’ll get a Corolla, the deathknell of automotive passion. (In my opinion.)
“I’ll get a Corolla, the deathknell of automotive passion. (In my opinion.)”
Oh how true! I bought a 2007 Corolla during a period of necessary frugality. It lasted just over three years before trading it in on something fun to drive. That car was the equivalent of eating a baked potato without sour cream or butter. MEH!
‘That car was the equivalent of eating a baked potato without sour cream or butter. MEH!’
You win the internet for today, sir!
I rented a 2018 Corolla and the only thing that stood out about it was the standard LED headlights, which were pretty damn good IMHO.
And despite Toyota’s efforts to liven it up, the Corolla’s still firmly stuck in “plain oatmeal without sugar” territory.
It would’ve made more sense to cut the sedan version of the Accent and go hatchback-only, rather than the opposite; it’s a bigger step up to an Elantra GT and it seems like car rental companies are the only ones who actually *want* sedans in this segment.
Nice- “pavement gray”. Reminds me of the “Blacktop” package offered by Dodge and the “Midnight” edition Nissans. I know that black and gray can be sinister, but why would you want such a non descript paint color?
Had a rental Elantra GT this past spring. Nothing grand touring about it. Felt very cheap inside although a hoot to drive if rev’d out.
Put me down as not much liking grey cars, either, particularly when they don’t have DRLs. They just blend in way too much with the background, ratcheting up the probability of other drivers not seeing you.
I suspect the whole grey car thing began with the Germans, who seem to be the ones with the most affinity for that color. So, everyone else jumped on board, thinking it has ‘class’. Personally, though, I think I’d rather have something a little more noticeable.
I call it “German Leasing Silver”.
Good one!
🙂
Not to forget its less shiny cousin, “eastern European warship gray”.
Ha, good one! Second only in popularity to German Leasing Black.
My buddy and his boyfriend both got brand new cars with the sale of their house, downsizing to an apartment. One got a Ridgeline pickup, and the other got a Civic sedan, both in gray. I can’t stand the color, because it’s such a non-color. So lifeless and dull, at least to me. My Mazda is black, which is more of a color to me than gray.
Though I was speaking to a someone from my car club who was buying a BMW, and they wanted a gray car so they could “blend in” with traffic while doing some “spirited driving”. Ugh. If you’re going to get a sporty car, and you plan on driving like an a**hole, why not get another color? Restraint is clearly not a concern.
Perhaps I was spoiled (or “sperled” as we say in some New Orleans neighborhoods) by my 3 years of my 2011 Camry LE ownership?
I recently rented the same car as this article car, in refrigerator white. My driving impressions mirrored Evan’s.
I realize that the Camry and Accent are not exactly in the same class/size of cars; but the Camry was the last “small” foreign car that I had driven; all I have to compare with.
Automotive pundits labeled the Camry as “dull”, “boring” and “generic”. But when compared to this Hyundai, it felt more like a Lexus to me.
Just MY opinion.
Ha, you were “sperled” (yup I know dat word!) with the Camry. It’s a favorite for bashing as “dull,” but it sure sets a nice benchmark for how to deliver a superior mass market car.
“Yeh-You-Rite!”
You say “sperled” in Nawlins? We would say that back in Brooklyn NY, where I was born. Just like “check the earl in ur caw”.
A Brooklyn-ite would “Fit Right In” in certain neighborhoods of New Orleans.
There are at least 4 different, distinct accents goin’ on here in the Big Easy.
Every time I hear the “New Orleans” accents that Hollywood dialog & voice coaches inflict on the movie & television audience I want to bellow out loud some guttural and obscene comments.
When I was a kid, my father replaced our 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a gray Nissan Sentra from the local Nissan dealer. It was duct tape gray four door sedan with crank windows. It was a downgrade.
Back when you could get an Accent 3-door and the dealership would sell you a B&M short throw shifter for the manual trans, there could be a “cheap and entertaining” case for an Accent.
But now it is more of a vehicle that exists to help sell Elantras.
Hyundai/Kia’s ability to turn out engine/transmission pairings that are not actively unpleasant to drive is something that should not be overlooked. Fewer and fewer of the competition is able to make that claim.
I kind of like the gray. Maybe it is because I was young during The Great Earth Tone Dynasty when a medium or dark gray car was like a breath of fresh air. Of course they are better with red interiors.
Thanks for this bit of info in a category I have not spent much recent time in.
When silvers and grays first became popular in the late 1970s and 1980s, they really did seem like a breath of fresh air after all the greens and browns. I just think that 30+ years on, they’ve grown stale and become way too common. I wish more makers would inject some color into their grays, as Subaru has done with some of the neat blue/gray offerings in their line-ups.
I like these colors when I see them, my favorite part is they’re non-metallic, which is another welcome departure from the norm.
I like grey much better than light silver or beige that I grew up with. I agree, bring back FULL colored interiors(not just seats and an armrest in an otherwise charcoal interior) and the blah of these colors disappears(unless you foolishly tint the glass)
I have nothing but admiration for what Hyundai/Kia build. Cars such as this one serve the vast majority of non-enthusiast drivers VERY economically and reliably. If GM could have figured out how to do this, they would not be up shit creek.
It’s a tough call on Hyundai/Kia. They’ve certainly made strides since the bad old days but there are still enough horror stories about them to give a prospective buyer pause. Toyota remains the gold standard for boring, reliable, appliance-like wheels for the long haul. Yeah, it won’t be equipped as well as a similarly priced Hyundai or Kia, but you get a little more peace of mind with a Toyota. I don’t much like auto leases but it might be the way to go for a Hyundai or Kia; if you get one of the bad ones, easy to just give it back when the lease/warranty ends.
I haven’t driven an Accent, but have driven an Elantra rental. And I have to say I thought it was well done for the type and class of car. Almost Toyota-like in its ability to be functional, competently executed and quietly capable. Thrilling? No, but a pretty good car nonetheless.
Also, the Elantra I drove in early 2018 was a 2017 with very high mileage for a one-year-old car (about 28K iirc) and I was really impressed with how tight it was–I almost couldn’t believe the odometer reading based on the smoothness and solidity of the rental.
Nothing much to say except these new Hyundai’s have become one of my favorite cars to follow at night for their taillight signature, just behind Chargers and Darts. I’m a sucker for three segment taillights.
I have a 2018 Hyundai Elantra SE in that same color. It is called Machine Gray. I got mine on Sept 30th 2018 and it was one of the last 2018 Elantra made (Alabama built on 8/22/18). It was bought for commuter car use.
I actually got it out the door for less then $16,000. It seems well built and fun to drive. It is also a bit deceptive when it is being driven. You think you are going 50mph but you look down and boom it is at 80mph.
Mine has the Apple Play/Android auto and I love the thing(no more stand alone GPS for me).
I have the satellite radio and the 7 inch touch screen and backup camera.
The EPA classifies the Elantra as a midesize car in regards to interior volume
You get a lot of car for the money. Plus I like the long warranty.
The local Hyundai dealership near me is selling a manual 2019 Elantra for $13600 out the door
I bought this over the Civic or Fit due to the local dealer not budging much lower then MSRP (in 1998 I might have paid MSRP for a Honda but not in 2018)
Somewhere on the Accent’s dash, there should have been a button marked Drive Mode. This allows you to select normal, sport or Eco options
“Somewhere on the Accent’s dash, there should have been a button marked Drive Mode. This allows you to select normal, sport or Eco options”
There was a button which only provided Sport Mode or what I assume is “normal” mode. Near as I could tell, all it did was change the shift points. And (probably for the benefit of the EPA) it reverted to “normal” mode every time the car was turned off. Ugh.
The only A car ever rented was an abysmal Chevy Aveo. Since I now use Costco for car rentals, plus weird supply and demand formulas, higher letter cars are cheaper per day, even midsize SUV’s, than A car.
Reliable transportation to be sure. If a car guy doesn’t normally have more than one passenger to cart around, I say buy an Abarth and have some fun.
Back in the 90s, I had a biz trip to SoCal in early summer. I flew into Ontario airport and opted for a Geo Metro convertible on the rental lot. Cheap fun, says I ! So I dropped the top on the Geo on a beautiful morning and was having loads of fun before my forehead took a junebug at 55 mph. That definitely left a mark.