Should I Buy an Accent? are they Reliable

Im going to be starting an electrician apprenticship, apprenticeships start at very little pay so I need a car that is very reliable and wont give me any trouble for at least 2 years, what Im looking at is a used 1999 Hyundai Accent with manual transmission and 50,000 kilometers. Does anyone here think an Accent will last that long trouble free or is there another car you would recommend in the same price range? ($5000 canadian)

go for it mine is a 99 and runs great

Unless you're paying cash, I would say it depends on the finance rate. I know that sounds wierd, but new Accents are so cheap and new cars are being financed for next to no interest (if any at all), a lot of times you'll end up paying close to the same amount. Plus you'll get the warantee if you buy it new.

Don't get one. I have no faith in my 99 Hyundai accent. I trust it about as far as I can throw it which is farther than I can drive it.

Don't get one. I have no faith in my 99 Hyundai accent. I trust it about as far as I can throw it which is farther than I can drive it.

Considering this is your first and only post, I believe your comment falls in the STFU bin of life. And, no, that's not a learning establishment.

I would say no. You would be better off getting a civic with 130K or so.
I've got a 94 civic 162K. Not one problem with it. I changed the timing belt and other maintanence stuff.


My fiance has a 99 accent. I've been posting about it all over this board the past 2 weeks.

Her's get poor gas mileage for a vehicle that size. avg 32 or 33. The civic gets 40 avg.

The accent just feels cheap when you sit in it. Feels like a newer version of the first metros

Had alternator problems with it (which i was told here is common with these cars), the alternator ended up damaging the radio and air bag system. I also went through several head lights before i found out the problem


It is not a bad car, but I would say there are better alternatives out there as far as cars go. And much worse of course.

After giving it way to much thought I have decided I will not be buying a Hyundai Accent and will instead be buying a 1999 Toyota Tercel. Thank you for your time

good choice, toyotas are good cars.

Considering we were talking 99's, I think I would've opted for the Tercel as well. :)

mjbreese, you are asking wrong people. ofcorse a honda owner will tell you that his car is better or a toyota.

i have had 2 accents and loved both

make a post at hyundaiperformance.com and people will tell you what problems they really are having or not

PS: 40mpg in a civic? you're either smoking crack or drive like one of them old sh!tbags shifting at 1500rpm

I don't post here much either, I just read.

Anyway, my sister has a 2000 Accent, she bought it new, it now has a little over 50,000 miles on it. It does give her many problems. In the last month, she had to get a new O2 sensor, Muffler, and Cataliyc Converter, and the month before, a Throttle body. She also has problems with the transmission sometimes, but the above listed parts were all fixed for free because of the warranty. The Car has never stopped before, just a few problems. With the 100,000 Mile warannty, its kinda of a good deal. You should see about getting a brand new one, there cheap this time of year.

My brother has a 01 accent, the new generation, Extremly cheap car, buy a new with a warrenty. His car has some idle problems but he just stands on tha gas pedal when it starts and it goes away after a few secounds, thats on a 25k motor. My dad has a hyundai sonta 01, it runs very well, not a problem with 45k. How ever we bought a Kia sedona, thats the minvan, the most unreliable car ever, that engien light would falsh at us every 3,000 miles or so with a an urgent problem. That car was a lemon.



buy a new one with a warrenty.

ive got a 98 accent and the only thing that went wrong was the clutch. i absolutely fried it down to the rivets, but that was my own fault

I had a 1997 GS hatchback with 5-speed and 95K. Unfortunately I only had it for a month before a Jetta driver ran a stop sign and totaled it. But in that time I had no mechanical problems and drove it about 3500 miles for courier deliveries. It's a terrific little car. I'm about to buy another Accent, a 2000 GS hatchback, automatic with 89K, from the same dealer. If I don't wreck it I expect to get a year's use or more out of it (I drive 60-70K a year). Then I'll find another black Accent hatchback to replace it with. Hyundai and Kia have come a long way since 1995 and 1996. A 1999 Accent was the last year for that body style and has most of the bugs worked out. $5000 CDN is about what, $3500 US? That's not a bad deal but you can do better! A 1999 Accent should sell for under $4000 CDN ($2500 US). I'm about to pay $1800 for this 2000 model, but it has body damage on the left door and fender, not salvage though!

I have a 1997 accent base model

at the time i bought it (1996) i wasn't making much cash and it was the cheapest car i could find new and i loved the space inside.

it's april of 2004 and i still have the car and still like driving it. I drive it like it's a go cart and it's a fun little car. I take it up to 175 km/hr once in a while :) i don't drive like ms. daisy.

anyhow.. it still has original brakes and original clutch (will probably have to change it soon) I've changed o2 sensors, fan belt and the timing belt and the spark plugs once. i had to fix the alternator bracket once too.

fairly dependable car... only once did it not start in the winter (at minus 45)

you get what you pay for... i'll get rid of it in 2006 :)

Owned for 4-1/2 years. Minor problems including a problem with spark plug wires which triggered engine light. I am replacing them and hoping for the best. I'm new to this site. Am hoping it's better than the rest of the sites out there which "in a word" "STINK!" Buy the new Hyundai or buy someone else's used nightmare be it made from the Gods of Toyota or some other Japanese minion. Peace all. Quitting time. Time to smoke a big fatty and pick up the car for a cruise. :smokin:

i bought a 01 accent took it off the lot with 14 miles on it ran it till it had 14,000 miles on it and started delivering pizza with it in oct 01 and just traded it in for a mits lancer and NEVER had a probelm with it. it does not really have any power but if your looking to just have a highway car to drive to work there is nothing better i traded it in with 125,000 miles in 3 years and i only had to put on a timing belt and fuel filter. plus if you buy brand new and with some money put down you can help your credit with the low monthly pymts. my 2cents