During my recent trip to Los Angeles, I decided to rent a subcompact car from Hertz. Although I was hoping for a Ford Focus, I ended up with a 4 door Coastal Blue Hyundai Accent GL with only 2800 miles on the odometer. I was able to appreciate the practicality of this car for the three days I was there.

Basic Features
The Accent GL I drove had a 1.6 liter 105hp twin-cam 4 cylinder engine, 4 speed automatic transmission, air conditioning, tachometer, and remote trunk release. Everything else was manual, including windows, mirrors, and door locks.

Exterior/Styling
Although the Accent isn't ugly, its styling is quite unremarkable - definitely not a car for showing off. I thought the lines of the car made it look tall, especially with the angle of the windshield steeper than most cars in production today.

Interior
The strength of the Accent is with its interior, very roomy for its size. I was quite comfortable for 3 days, with a manual but easy-to-adjust seat which included lumbar support. Hyundai took the time to design the interior - the door panel has a very pleasant looking cloth trim, and the door handle is made out of rubbery material different from the rest of the door panel, making the door easy to grip.

There was also plenty of head room (I am 5'9") even in the back seat, good to seat 4 people comfortably. The trunk is very spacious, enough room for full size luggages for all of its occupants. Perhaps, the Accent's tall-ish exterior is to make the interior more usable - form follows function.

Driving the Car
The Accent GL has plenty of usable horsepower, as I was able to maneuver around traffic without worry (L.A. freeways can have speed differences of up to 20 mph from lane to lane, and there are lots of stop and go). I rarely had to use full throttle, and braking is responsive. When cruising at 70mph, the engine revs at just under 3,000 rpm (GL comes with a tachometer), which is right for a car of this size. I even had a chance to take the Accent up windy roads in Hollywood, and felt safe and comfortable with its solid steering/handling.

In my opinion, I thought the automatic transmission tended to upshift late, making the car rev up to 5,000 rpm even though I was nowhere near full throttle during accelerations. It also liked to downshift a little early when going uphill. I have no problems with this, except that the engine gets very buzzy/noisy above 4,000 rpm.

Conclusion
With plenty of interior room and 34 mpg (9.05 gal in 311 miles), the Accent is probably one of the most practical cars in the market, especially considering its MSRP of $8,999 - $9,899 (GL).
Amount Paid (US$): 18/day rent
Condition: New
Model Year: 2001
Model and Options: GL, Automatic