Well, I've got my 2000 Hyundai Accent LS from my mother, who *sold* it to me (kind of got rid of it because she bought another car) about 9 months ago, and I guess I pretty much know it by now.

Being this my third car, last on a list started by a 1980 Suzuki Fronte and preceeded by a 1990 Renaut 19 GTS.. I must admit, even though I had some prejudice about korean cars.. that.. I LOVE MY HYUNDAI. Yup.

The first owner (Dearest Mother) lives in Santiago, here in Chile, and it is a quite polluted city. You can tell it, because, me living in Valdivia, almost by the end of the city (next to the woods and countryside) first time I cleaned the interior, an obscure and evil grease came out from everywhere. It still does today, but fewer everytime.

Anyway, that doesn't seem to have bothered the engine, which feels quite crisp and responsive, even in high gears (I've got a manual gearbox. I personally hate automatic transmissions, because I like to play with the car sometimes, while driving by dirt roads) and, while it has NO ABS, the brakes are quite good and you know that it will stop in a very short distance. Steering (mechanic, not hydraulic. Hydraulic is for "litte girl with skinny arms" :) ) is very precise and the feedback is good. Get to a supermarket basement's parking lot and you'll see.

The car is quite comfortable in the inside, but if you are too tall and ride in the back you may have to ask the driver or front passenger to move the seat a little forward.

The trunk is big enough for my son, my woman and me to travel quite heavy loaded, but I miss the 60/40 folding rear seat when buying stuff for home sometimes.

It has 60000 Kilometers when I've got it, now it's about 70000 and it has no strange noises, no rattling sounds, it passed the technical revision FLAWLESSLY.

At this point, it has no leaks whatsoever, and best of it all, it came with factory original... AIR CONDITION!!! YESS.. it really cools the car down after a few minutes, enough to start thinking in hot coffe during summertime, but the 1.5 Engine feels that it's working, but not giving the impression that you are not moving.

The car is quite fast and agile in city traffic and in highway too, in higway speeds you car hear the wind, but not at the point of having to shout or turn the radio volume at its full.

Equipment in the car included cassette radio, fastly substituted by Kenwood CD player, added 2 front Sony Xplode front speakers. Surprinsingly, the back speakers, from the factory, were ALPINE. What I really like is that the car hast built in speaker cover, so you can't actually see the speaker, but they doesn't fool with the sound.

A very good car, very cheap maintenance, I started asked in the proper stores for car parts about the typical replacements (timing belt, suspension components, spark plugs and it cables) that tend to fail/need replacement first. Original parts are cheap, and.. I haven't got to fix anything yet. Only oil change, spark plug and cable replacement (due to mileage, not fail), air filter, gear box oil.

The car still rides like new.

Not a luxury car, don't expect the ride of BMW or Merc, but for the price of it.. It is really a great car.


Amount Paid (US$): 4500
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2000
Model and Options: Accent LS