The car
I am not going to try and bore you with the details about the engine capacity, torque etc etc. See, this is the way I see it. Till the time I was living outside the country, I would not even dream of buying anything Korean, leave alone a car. But now, my house is full of Korean stuff, and I drive a Korean car. The Accent there was something that would be picked up only by poverty struck students at best. I didn’t drive European or American cars, but at least both my vehicles were Japanese. Toyota...perhaps doing the Indian thing. The only difference was that one of the vehicles was a nice SUV. But India seemed to be a different ballgame altogether. Like in the US, I wanted to buy a large sized car and thus either the Accord or the Sonata. Some sense was driven into my head about the useless expense and the road conditions in Mumbai...and thankfully so. One’s got to think about the dust, the grime, the weather, the roads etc. And how can I forget the miserable driving conditions in most parts and the autowallahs, the BEST boys, the myriad number of tempos, the pedestrians who want you to stop in the middle of the road.
The ProsHere is a no nonsense car with zero frills. Its cost effective, its a car lighter than the ones in its category and has a little more engine power. Implying that its good on gas, fairly okay power and thus cheaper in the long run. The cabin space inside is whatever. Fairly fuel efficient and outside noise is well reduced (for Indian conditions)There are two things that impress me:1) the tremendous turning radius2) The stability of the car at relatively higher speeds.
The consThe seats are not really too nice, but that holds for most cars in India except perhaps the Ambassador of yore and the Cielo. All these newer smaller cars give me a very plasticky feeling and I don’t like that. Holds true for the lancer, the accent, the civic (oops, the city).The spares are expensive and in most cases you know that your ’authorized’ service centre is giving you used parts anyways and charging you for new ones. The care that these guys take of your car is like zero. Problems get repaired and then come back within 6 months and then you spend again and the cycle continues.One interesting thing that I have heard from other accent owners is that the doors are not too well made or at least have a design fault. The cotter pins for the door hinges give way and the door makes a noise. Had it been the US, the cars would have gotten recalled...but this is Mera Bharat Mahan and the seller is the king. Unfortunate, but true. Love my country, but...
PricingWell, its the cheapest really in its category of cars, isn’t it? And that is actually one of its stronger selling points. For the cubic capacity, and the size of the car it has the most power, lightest and cheapest. So that makes it run well, guzzle less gas and overall lightest on your wallet as well. That is what makes it the tremendous value for money car that it is and hence the huge sales.
Final ThoughtsSo, if you are looking for a normal car which will not do anything fancy for you, will not make you spend too much...go for the Hyundai Accent. Otherwise, if you can afford it buy yourself at least a Corolla or perhaps an Octavia. If you can spend a bit more go Camry.