Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 23:44
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - galileo

Just helped one son find a cheap car, a year 2000 Accent.

Owned from new by (I guess) elderly driver who meticulously had it serviced each year, all receipts carefully filed in original folder. The car is generally like new.

According to the receipts it has had a full service each year and alternate years new spark plugs and air filters as well as oil and oil filter change.

Total mileage over 12 years? Just over 36,000. How many plug and air filter changes did it really need? Would you be able to tell if they hadn't been changed?

Edited by galileo on 03/10/2013 at 23:44

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 00:01
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - gordonbennet

Good find, one of motorings best kept and cheapest secrets.

Together with the Coupe F2, the only cars my son failed to break.

Worth getting down and dirty and rustproofing it and keeping up that good care, it should last him years.

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 08:35
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - johnnyrev
We had a 2000 Accent 1.3S for nearly 5 years. We bought it at 2.5 years old for £3800 from a Hyundai dealer who seemed very glad of the sale. It had 28000 miles on it and we put another 40000miles on over the next 5 years and is was very reliable.

The only real problem was with the gearbox, it got stuck in 2nd and cost a couple of hundred to fix. When we part exchanged it for £1000 in 2008 it was getting a bit tatty (dents and scratches from driving around Birmingham!) but showing every sign that it would go on for many more years (unlike our two subsequent Fiats which we got rid of at 2 and 3 years for fear of mechanical failure!).

It wasn't the fastest or best handling car ever but it was comfortable and roomy. Apart from the gearbox issue it never let us down, and even with the gearbox stuck in 2nd it still got me home!
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Fri 4 Oct 2013 08:50
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - Collos25

To answer your question it should require no change of plugs and perhaps two air filters.

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 12:07
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - primeradriver

One thing I would say is that it's probably overdue a cambelt by now.

These engines are not known for throwing belts to the best of my knowledge (I had a 2001 Accent for a while -- they're essentially slightly redesigned Mitsubishi engines) and the tensioners are metal rather than plastic, but 13 years is a long time if it hasn't already been done.

They are very solid little cars these though, although I echo the comment about the transmissions being the weak point, specifically the linkage which isn't the best (the box itself seems to be pretty good, other than the fact that they tend to whine -- again, rather like the Mitsubishi boxes they're based on).

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 12:44
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - galileo

I should have added that I got my trusted indy to fit a Gates cambelt and idler pulley the day after we bought it. I should also have said that the receipts for the last 7 years (with the plugs, air filters, oh, and an annual set of wiper blades) were all from the same non-Hyundai garage.

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 12:08
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - Andrew-T

Total mileage over 12 years? Just over 36,000. How many plug and air filter changes did it really need? Would you be able to tell if they hadn't been changed?

The previous owner was probably just doing what the car handbook advised. In the 'old days' plugs were changed quite frequently because oxides would build up from using leaded petrol. One could economise by cleaning and regapping the plugs a few times.

Nowadays plugs can perform for a long time. I have just changed a set after 14K miles (several years) though there was no performance reason to do it. Driving in a dusty environment will require regular changes of air filter, but I suspect there are lots of cars being happily driven with pretty old ones.

And you could probably tell if either plugs or filter changes were seriously overdue, but perhaps not after only 2 or 3 years on a little-used car - unless they carried a date somewhere.

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 16:55
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - daveyK_UK
I have had a few of the Mark 2 Accents.
3 Main problems with them;
Gear Box syncros are not great - some people think they are too tight and it must be a fault but its actually the characteristics of the box, they are all the same.
Rust - they do rust, non of the components under the bonnet are galvanised so you can have some problems getting things off to replace them.
Cam belt - get it done. The belts tend to last for 100,000 miles or more but they do snap eventually.
I know this from experience! (original belt went at 132,000).

The only downside with this car is the safety - its not safe at all.
The most lightest slow impact front end crash will cause damage.
Have a decent accident and I doubt you will walk away from it.

Again, great car provided you treat the rust, accept the box for what it is, ensure the belt gets changed and dont have a front impact crash.

Also, I have seen a few of these going through the auction with headgaskets problems.
Never happpened to any of mine but I can recall a good 3 or 4 this year at the auction that have head gasket problems.

Edited by daveyK_UK on 04/10/2013 at 16:56

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 18:19
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - primeradriver

The 2000 onwards Accent was marked as a 3-star car in the Australian NCAP (which is done to the same standard as the Euro NCAP). That is broadly competitive with every other Fiesta-class car of its time.

I smacked mine into a post at 35mph and walked away without a scratch.

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Fri 4 Oct 2013 23:13
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - galileo

Davey, as per my post above the cambelt has been done, the car this replaced was a 2001 Accent, the lad ran it into a tree at 5 mph all that broke was the front number plate!

No body rust, I've already advised him to treat underbonnet screws etc with Dinitrol/Waxoyl.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 11:48
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - daveyK_UK
As I said,
I had a few of these.

A qucik bit of research seems to suggest the head gasket is more common than I thought on high mileage examples, not sure of the cause (suspect its lazy owners).

Great runabout for the money.

I promise you, you would not want to crash in one of these, the safety aspect is frightening.
Open the bonnet and take a look for yourself!

Edited by daveyK_UK on 08/10/2013 at 12:01

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 13:35
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - primeradriver

And as I said, I *have* crashed in one of these. Quite hard. And I'm still here.

They are absolutely no worse than any other small tin box from the early 2000s -- this is not to say that the Accent is particularly good, more that any silly little tin can from this period is the same.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 14:21
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - RT
I promise you, you would not want to crash in one of these, the safety aspect is frightening. Open the bonnet and take a look for yourself!

I wouldn't want to crash in any older car, standards move on all the time - good reason for never buying older cars, but some, perhaps many, people don't have that financial luxury.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 16:17
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - gordonbennet

Crashing never crosses my mind in my old car, if i'm buying a vehicle to crash in it'll be a Landcruiser, or something ex MoD used to flail minefields.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 16:18
Hyundai Accent - One-owner purchase, service history - Andrew-T
I wouldn't want to crash in any older car, standards move on all the time - good reason for never buying older cars,

It is a reason, but fairly well down my list. A better reason for buying an 'older car' is that it may have better all-round visibility, making a crash less likely. The stylist's bug has infected almost all makers since about 2000, so that it is hard to see over that high fat bonnet or out of those poky rear windows. Those are standards that I wish would stop moving on.

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