2nd Gen Hyundai Accent? (Paging Bobzilla!)

(Title should have "Generation" added to it)

What would you say about a 1999-2005 Accent manual trans and Alpha 1.6 as a daily driver?

And if one were to have any just-for-fun sporting intentions... so, good aftermarket? Junkyard upgrades etc.?

Ill have to do a little more specific engine research regarding interference/non-interference etc...

I actually like driving those as manuals. Hate driving them as autos, though!!

They're so simple and unpretentious. I'd rather have an Echo but i like those Accents a lot for what they are. 

In reply to Vigo :

Good to hear, thanks!

In reply to ebonyandivory :

I have no experience with the 2nd gen Accent, but I’m seeing 3rd gen ones right around Challenge budget & they’re great cars fwiw. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

yeah, that was my thought too.  3rd gens are probably not much more expensive than 2nd gens.  I know people were putting Betas into 2nd gens, dunno about 3rd gens, though.

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to ebonyandivory :

I have no experience with the 2nd gen Accent, but I’m seeing 3rd gen ones right around Challenge budget & they’re great cars fwiw. 

Seriously? I'll be checking into that pronto.

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

I saw plenty of Beta's swapped in place of Alpha's with 20+ lbs of boost pushing 400-700hp!

It's actually 2000-2005, the 2000 and most 2001 have the SOHC 1.5 with 90hp. the 2002-05 will have the 1.6L DOHC Alpha with 110hp. Either are fine and are like cockroaches. The 1.5L is stupid simple, cast iron block aluminum head. It needs a few drops of oil and maybe a quart of water to not die. We put 250k on the wife's and she almost averaged 40mpg weekly with that car. 

Like all Korean cars of the 2000's rust is the killer. Check LCA's and the engine cradle up front and the rear trailing arms in the rear. If those are fine it'll run until the world ends. Interior will rot with age and start rattling. The speakers at this point will be a cone attached to a magnet with nothing past that. 5-1/4 fronts and 5x7 rear IIRC. past 200k miles it will start to burn a little oil with extended drain intervals but it only holds 3.5qts so who cares. Oil changes are cheap. 

For a DD that you care zero about that is super cheap to operate and return great fuel economy, this is the car. I will say a set of Vogtland springs on KYB struts and some decent 195/60/14's make it handle like a slot car on the road. It'll never be an 89 Civic Si on an autox course but it makes the DD more entertaining when you NEVER have to lift. My wife used to yell at people on onramps for slowing her down.... it was fun.

ebonyandivory said:

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

I saw plenty of Beta's swapped in place of Alpha's with 20+ lbs of boost pushing 400-700hp!

NA power swap i get it. I don't get it for a turbo though. Those alphas will take some serious boost. 

In reply to bobzilla :

Great stuff, just what I expected. The Vogtland site shows nothing for the Accent, are there other models that will work?

And given a limited budget, what would be your ideal car aside from "the newest one you can afford."?

I googled up an old GRM thread to get this picture... 

Those are Mini Cooper rims and I think the look great. 

Its fun to see what was being said in that thread back in 2009.  Seems that the SE model is the one you want.   

In reply to ebonyandivory :

If fuel economy was the primary reason, stay with the 1.5L car. That extra 20hp costs fuel. If you're OK with 33-35mpg highway, newest, lowest mileage you can find. 

I think H&R still offers some for that generation and are also a good option. 

If I was going this route for me, I'd likely pick an 05 sedan with AC. Find some form of lowering springs/struts, new brakes, decent stereo, pull the resonator again and call it a day. 

In reply to bobzilla :

Wonderful! Thank you sir... and of course, the other contributors!

In reply to John Welsh :

Thanks for the link!

Keep in mind the 3rd gen is heavier and uses a torsion beam in the rear instead of struts. The weight is definitely felt over the second gens. But they are a nicer car. 

EDIT: the nice thing is that the 2nd gen and up all use Civic/Miata bolt pattern and offsets. So wheel choices are uber plentiful. 

Absolutely loved mine.

you guys can be / are a very evil group.  So after reading through the previously mentioned thread, and this one I did a quick search for the 2nd Generation Accent and found this. 

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/ottawa/2009-hyundai-accent-5-speed-a-c-power-group/1454882145

I think Per and the gang should grab this Canadian car, and make it a project to test stuff on.  Who's with me?

Gimp said:

 

Absolutely loved mine.

and yours had that horrible 4x114 bolt pattern

Mike924 said:

you guys can be / are a very evil group.  So after reading through the previously mentioned thread, and this one I did a quick search for the 2nd Generation Accent and found this. 

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/ottawa/2009-hyundai-accent-5-speed-a-c-power-group/1454882145

I think Per and the gang should grab this Canadian car, and make it a project to test stuff on.  Who's with me?

Would make a great project car, but Per is no longer with GRM

In reply to ebonyandivory :

At $2k this one looks damn tempting. 

A little whiskey bump on the front fender, slight scuff on the rear arch and some parallel parking damage to the rear plastic, but...  Asking $2k and quick to comment to " offers" could mean as low as $1.5k and that's a killer deal. 

New Orleans is easy to fly into! 

In reply to John Welsh :

And we’re only an hour away, and probably not much out of his way on the drive home, if he needs a place to crash for the night. 

Is this the old Gimp Ride?

I've always been attracted to the 3rd gen because something about the bodystyle just looks "right".  Yes, it's kinda like a jellybean, but it just works in my head.  Plus, it's still in the years that manufacturers were offering cars with a manual transmission regularly. 

When I'm looking for a nicer DD next year, these are on my short list.  I'm planning on doing some junkyard diving and figure out what can swap over for handling/fun gains.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

the 3rd gens are definitely nicer cars, but the aftermarket completely forgot them and that chassis was all alone. the rear beam/shock setup is different than all the other Korean rear beams.