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 mywife's potential car,expecting a week or two would go by beforemy wifeprobably 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 drivethem,just to see what I missed.

Anyhow, I like thisAccent 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 memberof Caliberforumz.com.Have mentioned my Festiva lots of times on the Caliber site & am sure the Accent willget plenty of mention on the Caliber site too.

 

Hi Folks,
I have a 2003 Accent GL. I bought it near new with just 2800 on the odometer.
I now have 212,987 on the odometer, and am replacing the transmission.I mad the mistake of listening to the Autozone computer that recommended an import tranny fluid. I have always changed the oil as close to every 3000 miles as I could. I have not done the timing belt, but am going to have the mechanic do it while they are putting in the used tranny.
The only thing I have changed on this car is strutts (rear), plugs and wires. I had to bypass the power steering lines in front of the radiator due to rusty lines. Oh, and the rotors have been replaced once.
I am pushing this thing to 300k! I know it will make it. I sure will buy another when that happens.
Dennis