2003 Accent GSi

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/05/2003 (8158 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TRUTH be told, the Accent I really want to be driving is the one I saw the other night on Speed Channel — the 300-plus-horsepower, all-wheel-drive, World Rally Championship factory entry in the Rally New Zealand.

The snarling ferocity of that little stormer is in direct contrast to the garden-variety, front-wheel-drive Accents available at Hyundai dealerships — the ever-cheery, uber-economical, mild-mannered-as-Clark Kent runabout for the in-debt masses. I consoled myself with the thought that the bright red GSi I was testing was almost as sporty-looking, cost about 1/40th of the rally car and, judging by the way the WRC racer was being thrashed, was going to prove far more reliable.

As the Japanese automakers have moved their products slowly but inexorably up the price ladder, budget-based transportation has become almost exclusively the purview of the South Korean manufacturers such as Hyundai and Kia — the former’s Accent the top-selling subcompact in Canada. But, unlike its Pony, the car Hyundai started with in this country 20 years ago, which proved to be as disposable as it was cheap, the two-door Accent hatchback seems to be made of sterner stuff. Sure, with a starting price of $12,395 for the base GS and $14,495 for the GSi, nobody should expect Lexus-like quality or refinement. However, it is an entirely livable little car for those whose needs are simple or whose budgets simply won’t take the strain (lease payments for the Accent are ridiculously low).

Simple does not mean anonymous, though. A facelift this model year (hood, headlamp and grille) has strengthened the Accent’s profile into something bold and sporty with strong lines and creases. And, for once, the spoiler — standard on the GSi — does not look like some sort of dorky add-on. A couple of female friends even gushed about how cute the GSi was.

While the GS is powered by a diminutive, 90-horsepower, 1.5-litre SOHC four-cylinder, moving up to the GSi improves things. Its engine is still a smallish 1.6L, but the DOHC unit pumps out 104 hp, and, thanks to 106 pounds-feet of torque reached at a low 3,000 rpm and the hatchback’s feather-like 1,000-kilogram weight, decent performance can be had. Mated to a five-speed manual with well-matched gears, the Accent is more than willing to build speed in an orderly, if not dramatic, fashion. The engine, while miserly in the fuel-consumption department, is not one of the smoother-sounding motors out there and it takes on a distinctly harsher tone as it approaches 4,000 rpm. Some recent college graduate dumping Mom’s eight-year-old Cavalier for his first new car might not notice or care, but I think another 15 kilos of carefully placed sound deadening would work wonders. And, though the manual box is a vast improvement over past Hyundais’ mop-in-pail shift actuation, nobody is going to mistake it for the slick-shifting unit of a Honda or Mazda. Buying a budget-priced car still means compromises.

The Accent’s four-wheel independent suspension — MacPherson struts and coil springs with an anti-roll bar up front, dual-link design with coil springs and anti-roll bar in the back — provides acceptable ride quality. A limo ride was not expected or received, but I never felt as if I was getting worked over by the road surface during short to medium-length drives. Body roll is moderate and the tires supply middling grip before the car begins to progressively understeer. Power rack-and-pinion steering is standard on all models but the base GS and the hatch proves nimble in traffic.

All Accents are fitted with ventilated disc brakes in front and drums in the rear. Braking felt OK with not much dive, but I wonder about the lack of ABS, even as an option. Cost is often the most important factor in shopping this class of car and ABS can be pricey. Still, given our slippery winter climate, I would prefer a choice in the matter.

I have long held the opinion that the cheaper the car, the cheerier its interior should be. It would be nice to be offered another interior colour choice other than grey, which, considering the preponderance of vinyl within the Accent’s cabin, imparts a particularly stark, institutional aura. And despite the hopefully named sport cloth trim and its bits of multicoloured flecks within the dark fabric, it isn’t very sporty at all. The cool, Indiglo-like blue instrument gauge lighting is a pleasant surprise, though, and easy on the eyes. Not that there are a lot of them, but the various buttons and controls are laid out in a fairly logical pattern. Finding the dinky power button for the stereo is a pain — you don’t really see it, you just point your finger at the stereo and take a lucky stab. A driver’s side air bag is standard; no passenger bag is available.

I thought the GSi’s front seats, though not overly generous in the foam-padding department, are comfortable enough. My teenaged daughter, whose posterior padding is significantly less than my own, offered a dissenting opinion and declared the seats hard. The driver’s seat does offer dual height adjustment, with one knob controlling the height of the forward portion of the seat and a second knob controlling the height of the rear portion. Same daughter volunteered for back-seat duty, sliding her 5-foot-4 frame into the rear area, behind her five-foot mother in the shotgun seat. She found enough legroom for reasonable comfort although she refused to even try to squeeze in behind me (I’m 6-foot-2). The rear seats have a 60/40-split folding feature for extra cargo room.

Though the GS exists for those really hoarding their pennies, the extra couple of grand to spring for the GSi is not money poorly spent. Along with the bigger engine and tires, the GSi offers a rear spoiler, alloy wheels, sunroof, bodyside cladding, fog lights, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear-shift knob, sport-tuned suspension, rear wiper and washer, the cool instrument cluster and a CD player. (The only option on the tester was dealer-installed air conditioning — approximately $1,276, depending on the dealer.)

The extra dosh is the difference between pretty bare bones (and joyless) transport and a friendly little car that works hard to bring a smile to your face.

Now, if Hyundai could only figure out how to bring in a production version of that WRC car for under 20 large…

2003 Accent

Type of vehicle: Front-wheel-drive subcompact hatchback

Engine: 1,6L DOHC four-cyl

Power: 104 hp @ 5,800 rpm; 106 lb-ft of torque @ 3,000 rpm

Transmission: Five-speed manual

Brakes: Front disc/rear drum

Tires: P185/60R14 all-season

Base price/as tested: $14,495/$15,771

Destination charge: $380

Fuel economy, L/100 km: 8.1 city, 6.5 hwy.