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Hyundai's established Accent small car nameplate will stand for much improved standard features from now on.
For added amenity, Accent now boasts power windows with driver's glass one-touch lowering, electric door mirrors and alarmed remote central locking─with its controller integrated into the key rather than on a separate pad, all three items having previously been manually operated.
On the safety front, Accent adds a front passenger airbag to that already supplied for the driver, augmenting its already standard front seat belt pre-tensioners and load limiters and a host of other safety features. This recognizes Accent's popularity with many young or first new car buyers who often take a friend or partner, and with 'empty-nester' couples.
Accent's Extra Safety Pack option brings ABS (anti-lock brake system) as before but is now linked with alloy wheels.
Additionally, Accent's driver's seat cushion gains adjustability for height and forward edge tilt─via two separate knurled wheels, door trims now incorporate bottle bulges in their dual-cavity pockets, cloth door trim inserts add a touch of warmth and a delayed interior light off switch is a battery-saver like Accent's existing headlights-off/key out feature.
Flagging these feature improvements and enhancing Accent's looks to a surprising degree is an upgrade to body-colour from matt black for the four exterior elements of door mirror scalps, door handles, body side protection mouldings and the rear rego plate light cover garnish.
Tranche of treats
"As well as being the sub-$16,000 small car performance leader with its big, 1.6 litre engine, Accent is now fully feature and safety competitive with this tranche of treats," said Theo van Doore, Hyundai's director of sales and marketing.
"Accent is now a near-unique package in its price class, its punchy performance pairing well with its sporty long'n'low styling as nearly all others become short'n'tall.
"Its enhanced safety package is important given Accent's user demographics.
"And unlike Echo hatch, Jazz, Barina and other bobtailed hatchbacks, Accent can still stow a stocked golf bag and folding buggy out of sight in its big boot with no security-compromised rear seat gymnastics required," Mr van Doore added.
Accent recommended retail pricing now aligns with its prior campaign sticker price from $15,490, with on-road costs extra, accounting for the cost of the new standard features while Accent's optional ESP pack adds $2500.
Continuing standard equipment in Accent includes air-conditioning, a four-speaker security PIN-coded CD/FM/AM audio, tachometer, immobilizer, heater ducting to the rear footwells, 60/40 split fold rear seat backs, three cup holders and two hanging hooks in the boot.
Other safety features include anti-submarining front seat pans and rear seat ramps, five adjustable head restraints, two side impact beams per door, three child seat anchor hooks, a rear fog light, a full-size spare wheel and tyre and a cabin safety cell protected by a separate front end perimeter frame and longer crumple zones than usual in this price class. Accent's rare-in-class fully independent rear suspension also brings handling stability over uneven surfaces as well as superior ride comfort.
Accent 1.6 debuted in March with crisper front and rear styling, a higher tail profile and wider 185/60 tyres on larger 14" wheels with attractive dress trims.
Accent is one of the top performing affordable small cars thanks to its 1.6 engine. Peak power is 78 kW at 5800rpm but more usefully for everyday driving, its top torque of 143 Nm arrives at a low 3000 rpm.
Quite sporty gearing gives both manual and automatic Accent strong acceleration for a small car, even at highway speeds and its automatic transmission adapts its shifting to driving style.
Accent owners benefit from Hyundai's industry-best 5-year/130,000km new car warranty.
Over 50,000 Accents have been sold in Australia since its mid-2000 launch and the 1.6 has outsold its initial 400 per month sales forecast every month from May.
In 2001 and 2000, Accent was 'Australia's Best Small Car' as judged by all the state motoring service clubs like the NRMA and RACV.
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