2003 Accent

I recently purchased a 2003 Accent GL 2dr hatch following the death of my 2001 Dodge Neon, which was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. (which is actually quite a feat) I bought this car without knowing anything about the Accent, but am finding it to be economical and very fun to drive. This car has just over 50K on it and seems to have been treated well as the interior and exterior are immaculate. The other day I received a lecture from the quick lube guy on the fact that the Accent is disposable junk and not to be considered otherwise, and I was hoping for some words of advice on ownership from someone who actually owned one and liked it. So, I am here to see if anyone might have any advice for a new owner on the care and feeding of my new baby?

krouac

Hey krouac ! Welcome to the forum.
I am also a former neon owner and I can certainly confirm your dislike for the neon. My experience was not as dramatic as yours, my 1996 neon
got me to 170,000 miles and went to the boneyard in June. It was a painful trip to that mileage.

Anyway, I just got an 03 Accent 4dr with 80k miles. I am the second owner and it has been treated well, had the timing belt replaced etc and
runs great. It has become my daily commuter for 80 miles per day and its great. Easy on the gas, too.

I was carpooling with a buddy from work with an 2001 3dr for two months. He let me drive it a few times and I was sold.

It may not be as much fun to drive than the neon but it sure has a lot for an economy car.

Best of luck with yours and take care!
Make sure your Timing belt gets changed every 60 k miles with regular maintenance and you should be good to go!
Charlie

Is the timing belt an expensive repair? I haven't been through that in a while.. it seems I did one on an 83 Honda Civic many years ago, but I don't know how much that kind of thing costs now. I do make it a habit to get my oil changed regularly, and to keep up with the suggested maintenance and tuning guides, so I am hoping to get a few miles out of the Accent.

As for the Neon, I know many people who have had great experiences with them, but the one I bought was just a dog from the word go. The electrical system was always malfunctioning, and every time I repaired something something else went wrong that cost even more. By the time the thing was totalled, it was running like a Yugo with a bad cylinder, and about the only thing that still worked was the horn.

The Hyundai is definitely not as heavy or solid as the Neon, but there is far less to go wrong with it so that is a good thing. The fact that I have found so many Hyundai people gathering on the net and swapping information about their cars tells me something as well because it seems that people are very much loving their cars.

krouac

Hey,
The timing belt itself is about $50.00 USD and there are a number of threads on the forum on how to do it. There is one step as I read, where you may need to loosen one motor mount and jack up the motor for clearance. Its about 3-4 hrs to do it. I HAVE NOT done it, only repeating what I have read on this and other forums.
 
Another thing you want to do if you do your own work is to register @ Hyundai U.S.A. they have provided a free online Workshop Manual for all the Hyundai models that are sold in America.

To use this click :-
http://www.hmaservice.com/
Register (Internet Explorer required).....log-on, using the password they email to you, click `Service Information` & enter your car`s details & click the `Shop` tab.

Enjoy !
CC

hey guys im 18 i just got my first car a 2003 hyundai accent hatch my dad was the first owner and he did a number on the body lol but for the most part its in good shape i love this car im lookin toward makin it a little less of an economic car and puttin more muscle into it with a 2.0 swap if it all works out it will be a fun little car lol ive done all my own maintenance i get a lot of crap for havin a hyundai instead of a honda or sum other jdm car but if u ask me with the right amount of tlc any hyundai can be just as good as a honda and with the swap i will be destroying hondas in my 1/4 mile lol i seen the link bout the service info sounds good gunna chek it out and to the new guy u will love these cars my dads been drivin them since 95 and he loves them

quote:

ORIGINAL: krouac

The other day I received a lecture from the quick lube guy on the fact that the Accent is disposable junk and not to be considered otherwise,

 
Well, your first mistake was taking it to a quick lube place.  There is one issue you should be aware of that is relevant here:  Some aftermarket oil filters can cause a knocking in a Hyundai engine due to the bypass valve pressure being too high.  The filter base for the Hyundai and Honda filters are the same, but the internal specs for the Honda include a higher bypass pressure which can cause oil starvation in a Hyundai.  I like to stay with OEM filters myself.  I know that in the past Fram was rumored to be the worst offender; I don't know if they've fixed the issue.  I think Purolator and Wix are good aftermarket brands for Hyundais.  If you look up on Purolator's website (PureOil.com) you can see the difference in bypass pressures between typical Honda and Hyundai filters.
 
A lot of lube shops try to cut corners by stocking the minimum number of filters.  You may want to check with the place that did your oil change to see that they used a filter specifically for a Hyundai (and not a Honda-specific or Honda/Hyundai common filter).
 
Also, if you have an automatic transmission, when you get it flushed, make sure you ONLY get SP-III AT fluid (which is specific to Hyundais, Kias and Mitsubishis).  Don't let a shop talk you into using "universal" or "synthetic"; Hyundai transmissions are very reliable as long as you service them with the right fluid.

Hey Doohickie,
 
Good advice about the oil change shop.
 
Q: What filter brand should we use if not the OEM, for theHyundai DIYers?
 
Q2: where can you get this SPIII trans fluid?
 
Thanks!

A:  Read toward the end of the first paragraph in my previous post.
 
A2:  Excellent question.  Most auto parts stores do NOT carry SP-III; it's pretty much only available at Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and some Chrysler dealers.

Thanks for answering both !!
(re-read the post -thnks!)
 
CC

Well, I have a 5spd transmission, so no worries about the fluid there, but I am definitely going to be checking into the OEM oil filter status locally. There is a Hyundai dealer down the street, so I should probably bring it in there for service to be sure that it is getting what it needs. I do not have a place to do any kind of service on my own at my residence, so I have to find somebody to do this for me, but I can assure you that I am done with Kwik Car and their nonsense. I am thinking that the Accent probably came from the local Hyundai dealership new, so I can just continue with scheduled maintenance and build a relationship there. Despite the negative opinion of inexpensive Korean made autos, this little car is just what I need, and I intend to do whatever I can to assure that it will be around for a while.

I really appreciate everyone's input, and am happy to find Hyundai owners sharing information that I can use to get the most out of my daily driver.

krouac

A couple of photos of my baby:


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My first Korean experience was with a Ford Aspire (made by Kia and ancestor to the current Rio and Accent).   I drove that car for almost 10 years/120,000 miles before buying my Elantra, and it was a very reliable car for me.  I sold it to the son of a coworker and last I heard it's still running fine two years later.  Don't worry about Korean stuff; they are coming up in the world.

My first experience was my sister's Ford Festiva, also made by Kia, which she bought new and drove for more than 12 years before selling it to a friend in 2001. As far as I know, the thing is still on the road today, and she never had to do any big repairs on it during her entire ownership. Amazing little car - not much to it, but a nice driving little beastie nonetheless. I like my Accent a little better, as it has more comfortable seating and a bit more cargo space, and with a similar lack of electric googaws and gadgets I am hoping for a relatively trouble free ride.

krouac

Sorry to enter the postings this way, but I'm brand-new to this site and can't figure out how to start a post. Can you give me some pointers? I picked your post because I'm an Accent owner also & have a question about a stubborn check engine light on my 1999 model. Thanks for any help you, (or anyone) can offer!

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum & have a question about my 1999 Accent. The check engine light has been on for a long time, but the car runs great. It actually has a new engine installed which didn't help the check engine light issue! My question is: if sensors are in proper working order, what could cause this? It seems unlikely that two different engines could have the same problem. Is there some glitch or computer problem I might be overlooking?

They really are good little cars.

I have a one owner '01 GS Hatchback that I got from the original owner.  It's an automatic, and despite what I've heard on here, he didn't have any problems and I haven't had any problems with the auto.  I now have 50,000 miles, up from 48K when I got it last month.  It's a solid little car, and I find the automatic perfectly geared to take maximum advantage of the 1.6L engine's powerband.  The little 1.6L DOHC loves to rev and I try to take it easy for maximum economy.  I have not taken it on any long trips, but I have best of 34MPG mixed city / highway driving, mostly highway.  The 51K service will be done at the dealer and I will have the ATF flushed, the Radiator flushed (For the cold season), and the oil changed.  The previous owner put brand new brake pads and rotors all the way around and 4 new firestone tires on the car at 46K miles.

Good luck with your car.  I love mine!

Like Doohickie & krouac, my first experience with S. Korean cars was a Kia, a Ford Festiva to be exact. The Festiva has a Mazda engine, early in its life averaged 45MPG, & I still love to drive it around. Know Hyundai bought Kia, so assume a little bit of Kia is in Hyundai.

Two days ago, my wife woke up at 2am in the morning saying she wanted a new car. When the sun was up in the sky that morning I was at dealers testing for my wife's potential car, expecting a week or two would go by before my wife probably would buy a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. Drove the Accent, I never made it to a Honda dealer & my wife now owns an Accent before 1 day past after making her remark. Love the 60 K full car & 100 K drive train warranties, & the life-time oil changes.

Having some buyer's remorse that I never drove a Fit or Volkwagen Twin Clutch transmission(spectacular tranny idea). But I may test drive them, just to see what I missed.

Anyhow, I like this Accent website & thank you for the ideas about the timing belt! My wife averaged about 30 to 33MPG with her 96 Saturn. Hope the Accent will beat that average over a year of driving. However, we are buying during the time of low energy winterized gasoline, so won't get the best gas mileage till late February when higher energy summerized gasoline returns. That's why people have to carefully drive & monitor MPG for a full year.   

Have a Dodge Caliber with CVT trannie & am a strong member of Caliberforumz.com. Have mentioned my Festiva lots of times on the Caliber site & am sure the Accent will get plenty of mention on the Caliber site too.