NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

A family member is seriously considering purchase of a 2007 Accent. I went along for a test drive and the car seemed like a decent vehicle.

I do have a few questions though. Let me just say the first salesman we encountered did not know the product very well, could not answer my questions, and we left the dealership after receiving a VERY poor trade-in offer.

From what I can tell, the 07 Accent uses a timing belt. Can anybody verify this? As a former auto technician, mostly GM, but with a few years at Mitsubishi, 60,000 miles is a general recommendation for replacement. The salesman claimed that was covered under the 100K warranty, which I have a hard time believing.

How long has the current Accent engine design been in use? Is it dependable, provided it receives proper maintenance?

The automatic transmission (what she will likely choose) appears very similar in designto what has been used in late-model Mitsubishis such as the Lancer. Does Hyundai also use the SP-III fluid? Is this fluid offered by any aftermarket manufacturer? I know that Hyundai and Mitsubishi have shared quite a bit of engineering.

Are there any plans to offer a 5-door hatchback Accent? We actually spent (wasted) a considerable amount of time while the salesman searched the lot for a 5-door until he realized it was not offered.

Is the Accent not available with a factory-installed cruise control? The ones I have seen so far do not have it. The brochure I have read does not mention it.

I will probably be doing the maintenance on the vehicle for this family member. Does Hyundai allow the use of synthetic oil? I am a believer in synthetic, and have never had a mechanical failure in any of the vehicles that use it. I never go longer than 3000 mile intervals regardless of the kind of oil used.

To sum it up, I am impressed with the design of the Accent, as well as the current Sonata (which I am considering purchase of for myself later this year). However, I am so far not impressed by the dealerships.

My family has owned nothing but domestic brands, however, the quality of domestics, Ford in particular, leaves something to be desired these days, and we are currently looking at several import makes. So far, Hyundai has the best small car we have looked at.

As luck would have it, I stumbled across this site after Hyundai's main site was not working tonight.

I am looking forward to learning more about Hyundai.

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

If the new Accent hatch had been available a little earlier, I may have bought one instead of my Elantra.

First, I think you were right to run away from that salesman; he didn't know jack.

I'm not intimately familiar with the new Accent; I'll tell you what I know, what I think, and will try to confirm the stuff I'm not sure on.

60,000 miles is the recommended interval for the timing belt. I think it's an interference engine, and if you don't change the belt and it fails after 60k, the engine is toast and will not be covered warranty. The timing belt is part of normal maintenance and needs to be replaced at 60k.

Yes, Hyundai ATs use SP-III. They are pretty robust transmissions, as long as you use the right fluid. I have 30,000 miles on my Elantra and just had the AT serviced at a dealer. (Recommended interval is 60,000 miles, but 30,000 under severe conditions which seems to include just about everyone.) The AT flush, coolant flush, oil change and rotation cost about $180, which I thought was very reasonable. Their "recommended" package ran $330 but included things that are not called out in the maintenance schedule like "fuel injector cleaning" and "emissions system maintenance". I went through their list line-by-line with my manual out, and we cut out all the fluff.

I'm not 100% sure, butI think the current Accent uses basically the same engine as the previous generation. Provided the maintenance is done, I think the car will be dependable. My previous car was a Ford Aspire (built by Kia, a division of Hyundai), and most people consider it a piece of junk. Mine lasted me until 120,000 with proper maintenance. I sold it to a friend's son, and it is up to almost 140k with no problems. The one thing I've learned is maintenance and not abusing a car are keys to longevity.

If you want a 5-door, check out the Kia Rio5. The Accent and Rio are based on the same platform, although the Rio is just a little bigger and has rear doors.

As far as cruise control goes, check out http://www.hyundaiusa.comto see what is offered on the car. (If interested in the Rio, check out http://www.kia.com. Also, Car and Driver did a writeup of that segment last year; here is a link to that: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...ap-skates.html

Synthetic motor oil is fine, but for the AT, stick with SP-III. I have heard of some people using synth in their Hyundai ATs, butif you do that and the AT fails before 100,000, you're out of luck.

Your car history is similar to mine; I've had several Fords and like the brand in general, but when shopping in late 2005, I just didn't think the Focus was anywhere near the Elantra. Would I buy another Hyundai? Probably.

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

all i know is my good friend got a older (95-97) (not sure)wagon hyundai its got the 1.8L and its had normal cheack up, oil change/fuilds/branks
got the same trans and engine, its at 385 000 km's i was impressed!

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

Like Doohickie mentioned, use only SP-III for auto tranny.

I have 07 sonata manual. It's very smooth with A.C. onat 70mph and easy to pass 18 wheelers on the highway going from 70 to 80 mph.

I heard that Hyundai might come out with elantra hatch again if that interests you.

Go to another dealer if you don't like the dealer that you went.

I use mobil1 synthetic 5w-20 on my sonata.

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

The Elantra hatch will actually be a wagon this time around, I think for 08. It's already being sold inEurope as the i30:

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.au...0wag_small.jpg

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

I did finally visit Hyundai's website, and there is no mention of cruise control being available there either. A minor thing to some, but it seemed like this new of a design would have it as an option.

In my time at Mitsubishi, I encountered several trans issues caused by the wrong fluid. I would use the SPF-III only. I do not use synthetic ATF, only engine oil.

As for the Kia Rio, The nearest Kia dealer is part of the dealer group I used to work for as a tech(and am not a fan of) and is 40-some miles away, where the Hyundai dealer is local.

So far Hyundai is the frontrunner, and the Sonata is now being considered for her as well. We'll see what happens...

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

i have owned 2 accents a 95 base model with absolutly no options and we drove that for a year and a half and put on 45,000 miles then we got t-boned in it and car was totaled i worked at the dealer at the time and did all the maint. myself with factory parts. after that car was totaled we got a 97 accent gt loaded except with a manual trans we loved that car but after a few years we had a couple kids and it was a 2dr hatchback and was very hard to put 2 car seats in the back. i also recommend SPF-III
i saw a car come in our shop that a customer had added a half quart of dextron to and it mad the fluid turn into this jello looking sludge and he only drove it 100 miles like that he came in cause it started slipping. i worked with hyundai for about 7 years total and the only problems i saw with transmissions was failure due to poor fluid conditions/maint. i would stay on a 30,000 mile trans flush and make sure the also backflush the cooler completely if you do that you wont have any problems. there is definatley a T-belt on the engine im pretty sure that cruise is not available for the accent but i could be wrong it may be only avalible on the high trim level but not to sure on that.if they are still useing the 1.5L engine which i think they are it sould be pretty much the same as the older ones since its introduction in 95 however the emisions system will not be the same the 07 laws were muchtighter on the 07 but this is emisions only change but the basics are the same i believe.the sonata is a different desigen there is manylittle changes for the new body but i am not familiar with them as i never worked with them much i do know that they do not use a timing belt and use a chain instead when i went to the hyundai PDC inAurora for parts & servicetraining they said that they were going to eventually phase in the timing chains to all their enginesbut thats about all i remember on the new sonata. i hope i was some help to ya.

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

This seems to be the same information I recieved that DooHickie gave out here ;)

WheelBroker1[sm=americanasmiley.gif]

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

Unbelieveable to me that they would not offer cruise control, but apparently they don't. Ask the dealer about installation of aftermarket cruise; I know when I was looking at theScion xA and xB, neither of them had CC from the factory, but the dealer said they could install the Toyota ECHO CC at the dealer. There are three levels of options on imports: factory installed, port installed, and dealer installed, and a lot of the dealer installed options will not show up on the corporate website.

Still, I'm surprised to see that neither the Accent nor the Rio5 offers CC.

RE: NEW TO HYUNDAI WITH QUESTIONS
 

My personal experience with aftermarket accessories such as alarms, cruise control, and air conditioning has not been positive. I have a 1970s Chevy Pickup with aftermarket A/C (installed long before I got it) It operates differently and is not as well-designed as the GM factory A/C systems. And some replacement components are very hard to obtain. It works, but not as well as a factory system.

Aftermarket electronic components, in my area, tend to have people installing them that do not know what they are doing. I have seen cars come in to the shops I worked at where wires would be run in spots that would short out HVAC controls, stereos, and other components, and even cause multiple short circuits. I have also seen cases where holes were drilled into fuel tanks, and into floorboards causing water leaks.

On the other hand, I have personally installed cruise control in a few older vehicles. These had a GM-type setup that attached to the turn signal lever. I am not aware of an aftermarket cruise control for theHyundai, or any airbag-equipped car for that matter,that would install the controls on the steering wheel. I have also installed stereo components in many vehicles, I personally do not like the design of most aftermarket stereos. Lots of little buttons, and on some, no button clearly labeled "POWER" There are some that require the use of special adapters, such as on late model Taurus that incorporate the A/C and radio into a single panel. On a modern car, regardless of brand, I prefer to stick with factory-installed options wherever possible. They generally are easier to use, and in the long run they seem to hold up better.