At the press event, every journalist in attendance kept commending the Accent's size. While it's true that the interior is quite spacious for a subcompact (the EPA rates it as a compact), the Accent still drives like a small car. The short wheelbase -- and relatively stiff suspension of our SE model -- makes the car crash over highway irregularities and skip like a stone on a lake over expansion joints. In the city, the Hyundai performs much better.
Although the Accent may be powerful for its class, it's still rather slow. On the highway this results in tense times when it comes to passing, but around town the little car feels peppy enough. The important thing to remember while driving this car is that the six-speed gearbox is really a five-speed with an extra overdrive. This means you often need to drop down one gear lower than you think you should. For example, if you expect a downshift to fourth to be enough to pass another motorist, think again -- you'll need to downshift at least to third.
Overall, the 2012 Accent is a rather nice small car, with plenty of room and a relatively high-quality interior (although the hard door armrests still suck, and the dash is showing a hairline crack already). But it's still a small car and a bland one at that. Personally, I couldn't justify choosing this over plenty of better used-car alternatives, but if you really want a new car, it's not a bad choice.
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