1996 Hyundai Accent: What to look at / for when purchasing one.

My daughter has found one that she would like me to look at (she is thinking of purchasing it)

What I /we know about it:

Standard Trans (I raised her rite as she hates auto trans cars) 2 door coup about 130K just had a new clutch done.
Needs an 02 sensor. Needs a door Handel Cost's less than $600

What should I look at when purchasing one of these?

Rust? Any typical mechanical things that we should be aware of look for?

I know absolutely nothing about these cars sony insight is appreciated!

Back to the standard trans. My daughter was taught to drive on my 924s. Needless to say with the cost of clutches in that car I was darn sure to train her correctly. She is now a wiz at standard tran vehicles. She prefers them to auto's. Another benefit to it is that most if not all of her friends can not drive her car. She has come to realise that this is a very good thing!

She asked me to teach her to heal-and-toe the other day. I made the mistake of showing it to her while in the 924s the other day going into an off ramp "at speed" with her in the car. She thought it was the coolest thing!!!! She has been a passenger with me for many a test drive and been around sports car racing all her life so I look at this as a natural progression

I can see father daughter autocross in the near future.

Wait. .. . Can a 96 Hyundai Accent be made in to a respectable cone killer?

Again Any help inside in to this car is greatly appreciated!!!

talk to Skierd (on this forum) about AutoXing an Accent. He did it for years until a freeway accident put it on it's side (or roof)

Honestly, they are VERY durable and dependable little cars. Not to mention safe. Other than the name, there is very little common between them and the Excel that both put Hyundai firmly on these shores and gave them such a bad name at the same time.

My sister had two. The big issue she had was the auto trans on both went, but that won't be a problem with a stick. If you need a headlight assembly, I have a brand new one (I don't remember which side) that you can have for the cost of shipping. She crashed it and half way though repairing, decided to get an integra.

I was the other, less memorable (for no good reason) guy who autocrossed a homemade turbo 99 Accent.

Super great car. Basic, and rock solid. Only issue I ever really had was a grinding second gear syncro. Synthetic Lucas oil fixed that up. Wheel arches can get rusty, but overall the car has held up pretty well.

Car is still out there, racing (about 70K hard miles on it by now).

Video: http://teamziptie.com/misc/06-03-07%20Hyundai%20Cumberland.wmv

IMO, the 00/01 Accent is a much better car as far as durability. Our 00 Sedan 5-spd has 164k miles on it now and runs great. Still knocking down 38-40mpg for the wife.

Check lower control arms for rust. There is a recall, but doesn't mean they haven't rusted out. Check for smoke on start up. THe Alphas like to burn oil with age. Listen to the Diff. Diff pins like to walk out and destroy the trans. Been there, done that.

Wheel bearings.... and that's typical with any 10+ year old car. Teh older 95-99 Accents have a 4x114.3 bolt pattern making wheel selections a little more tricky and have an odd size tire IIRC. the 00-06 have the honduh standard 4x100 and the right sizes for tires/offsets making wheel purchases CHEAP.

A 1998 Accent GT 5-spd was #2 on my list when I went looking for an ST auto-x car (Swift GT was #1). Good little cars, just realize they are a cheap car from a car company that still hadn't (at that time) realized that cheap only goes so far and quality will get you farther.