If things keep going the way they've been, I might have to get rid of my Colorado (piece of crap anyway) and pick up one of these.

The Versa is a LOT more car, though. 2 extra doors, a lot more space, and a little more cachet (and probably resale value). Sure, Hyundai makes terrific cars and have great warranties, but this just seems like apples-to-oranges bragging rights.

"The Accent gets 27/33 mpg city/highway."

That's rather pathetic for such a small car. My 1994 four-door Saturn sedan w/ a 4-banger at one time got about 24-32 MPG.

@blackmage439: The new EPA numbers underreport real life experience, especially highway (at least for people who know how to drive for economy). Their testing methods bowed under the pressure of the leadfoot constituency ;)

Aw, I had an Accent in high school. It was a little white tin can; I called it "the Marshmallow". Puttered along and looked kind of ridic (wasn't a hatchback, but still, silly), but was reliable and easy to take care of.

The good news is "Hyuandai Accent Cheapest Car In Amerca"

The bad news is "You Drive One"

I'd pay the extra $20 for a Versa. My first car was an Accent, and the engine blew up with only 20k miles on it. It wasn't covered under that "amazing" warranty, either.

@parkavery: Loved the car. Hate the company, FWIW.

@blackmage439: I get 40 mpg around town with my Accent, and around 38 on the highway.

Why wasn't the engine covered?

@blackmage439: I get an average of about 29-32 with my much larger 4-cylinder elantra.

I do have to admit though, the new 3-door Accents look hot, especially considering I don't really need the extra space on my Elantra.

@parkavery: Seriously? The drivetrain has the 100k warranty on it. The only reason I'd see them not covering it is because during that entire 20k you never changed the oil or something...

They've already replaced a window motor and headlamps for me under warranty and I'm about to ask them to replace my steering wheel too (the vinyl is falling apart).

@jzief128: It was a faulty water pump, which HMA covered after three weeks of arguing with them. The rest of the engine ($1,000+) that was fried by their faulty water pump wasn't covered.

Engines isn't considered part of the "drive train"? What did the warranty cover?

Still, it's more of a care than the Chevy Sprint I used to drive.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I wish I was kidding. I learned the hard way that it depends a lot on your dealer. It's impossible to get anything out of HMA corporate, but if your dealer is nice they can do whatever they want. My dealer was not nice, unfortunately.

(I changed my oil as required, btw)

I'm sorry, every time I hear "Nissan Versa" I hear it in Hiro Nakumara's voice.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: Terrific cars? I'll give it to them they've come a long way, but I still wouldn't touch anything Korean.

@blackmage439:
i bet your 94 saturn had less hp and did without the requisite airbags, stability control, and reinforced frames that add a lot of weight to modern cars in the name of safety.

@smrtypants44: True. It is one of the classic Saturns with the plastic doors and bumpers.

@downwithmonstercable: Not even a "masseuse"?

@downwithmonstercable: These entry-level econoboxes are much to behold, no matter who makes them. But the Sonata is already the best value among all midsize sedans (I'd take it before Camry or Accord, at least).

And the Genesis is doing right now what Lexus was doing in 1990, amid plenty of criticism that "the Japs will never match the Germans in luxury cars"

I have about 32k on my 3-year-old Elantra, and so far I have nothing but good to say about Hyundai. I easily get 35 MPG hwy, and it's a plenty spacious car.

I don't imagine I'll keep it through the life of the warranty, but who knows, I just might. And if I continue to have no problems with it and decide to sell it, I'll probably buy another Hyundai (the Genesis is rather sexy).

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: We should probably compare the cheap models feature to feature. I can't speak on the Hyundai, but the $10k Versa is lacking such things as air conditioning and a radio and only has 14" wheels, and choosing the automatic option (requirement for the majority of America, sadly) requires also adding the AC, making the $10k stripper closer to $12k.

@EndlessMike: Good points, all. I haven't seen a US-spec car without A/C in my lifetime (even my grandfather's old late-80s Mazda 323 with no radio and no passenger mirror). I always heard rumors that manufacturers would sometimes strip A/C for Canada, but my young mind could not comprehend any place that didn't hit at least 90 degrees in the summer.

Anyway, $12k Versa vs. $10k Accent sounds like more of fair comparo.

I've had 4 Accents, and every single one of them was awesome. I put over 100k miles on two of them without any problems at all. I rolled a 2001 Accent (4-door) end over end going 60 mph on the highway, and walked away with out a single scratch. That, plus the 35-40 mpg I got resulted in taking the insurance check to the nearest Hyundai dealer.

Hyundais have improved immensely in the past few years. My daily driver is an 8 yr. old Sonata and I don't really have all that much to praise about it. Conversely, I've had the opportunity to drive several newer Sonatas this year (the most recent being while my car's alternator crapped out last weekend) and absolutely love them.

I have also driven a friend's Elantra a fair bit and it's a decent car. Right now, I'm torn between a Yaris and an Accent for my next purchase.

I currently own 2 Accents(a 98 and an 03) and had an 01 before that. Love them, they run great, last forever as long as you change the oil and perform basic maintenance(fluid changes, belts at 60K, etc) the '98 I turboed and it runs excellent even with boost and 146K, and the 03 has 115K on it and again, runs excellent(and I own both of them flat out = no payments!)

@blackmage439:

Remember that the new MPG figures are based on the new standards, not applicable to your '94 Saturn.

I'm still driving a 2001 Accent that I got when I was in college. The price was almost the same in Nov 2000 that a new one is now -- I guess I actually paid more when you factor inflation. Great warranty -- it's had a few minor problems over the years but nothing unusual. I guess I've gotten more than my money's worth out of it, and the MPG is better than decent.

Although I'm ready for something better now.

@uncooperative: Oops sorry, I didn't mean to rule out ANYTHING korean :)

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: The difference that I see though, is that Lexus was create as a premium luxury brand, designed to compete with the Germans. Hyundai is a brand that markets themself as "we give you the same features but a 3/4 the price". The Lexus LS was priced similarly to comparable luxury models with similar/slightly better/more features. Hyundai is trying to do too many things with themselves. They need to market themselves the same as Honda/Toyota did, and then create a separate brand for their high-end models like the Genesis.

Kia on the other hand, is a lost cause.

@downwithmonstercable: The Lexus LS when introduced was priced significantly less than competitive luxobarges. It was only after Lexus built their reputation for high-quality vehicles and butt-kissing service that Lexus raised their prices to be similar to their competitors.

@dorsia: "wasn't a hatchback, but still, silly" means that you think a hatchback is necessarily silly? Actually the little tiny-sedanlet form factor for small cars looks silly to me (the base Versa being compared to the Accent, for example), the trunks are uselessly small and the small opening makes it even worse.

I was looking at the Accent's a year or two ago and they were up above 10k for the basest of base models. I couldn't believe it.

But, for 9970 I can drive a stick and deal without AC and a radio. That's what they make Ipods for. Even for that, I only drive 4 miles each way to work, so I wouldn't be in the car that long.

@GearheadGeek: The LS was priced at $36,000 in 1990 when it debuted, which was only a few thousand less than a 7 series. I think that's pretty similarly priced. In comparison to the Genesis, which MSRP is $32,000-$37,000, compared to a 5 series that's anywhere from $45,000-$80,000. Then again, the Genesis takes shots at the 7 series, so maybe they are trying to compete with that? Those bad start at $75,000.

@downwithmonstercable: *should have said "those bad boys" not "those bad"

@BuddyGuyMontag: Same thing here! I wonder if I can time travel in one too.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares:

Definitely AC is optional in cheap cars in Canada. I think it even cost extra for my 2001 Corolla. I love to joke about how the clock was $100, so I didn't get it (yes, it's true, I suppose it's not a joke). And I'm still looking for a junkyard Corolla that hasn't had the clock stripped from it...

Back then, it was worth it. Now, to be honest, I use it maybe 10 times in the summer. For the extra gas to lug around the AC unit and the gas to run it, I'd just leave the windows open. And no, I'm not way up North. About 1 hours drive from the border. Yes, it does get hot here, often breaking 30 C. I just don't care.

Wow, so much hate for Hyundai here. We've owned Santa Fe's for 4 years now (yes, plural; hubby and I each drive one) and they are awesome. Now that we're close to being empty-nesters, we'll look to downsize to one of their smaller cars. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy one. (Our previous cars were all Japanese: Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi.) Hyundai has come a very long way since those pieces of crap they first imported here.

@californiadude99: If you go to www.fueleconomy.gov you can see the "new" numbers for the old cars. In this case, the '09 Accent does 27 city / 33 highway (29 combined) versus the '94 Saturn's 24 city / 34 highway (28 combined).

My '01 Saturn SL1 (which has dual front airbags, but doesn't have the optional side ones) is rated 25/36 (29), and I actually manage to do about 30/39 (33).

Yeah, Hyundai's are great on gas but are a pain otherwise. A brake job on the rear brakes alone can cost nearly $1000. The transmission on my 2002 Accent died back in August at 90,000 and apparently the transmissions on Hyundai Accents are made pretty badly - the transmission guy had 4 other Accents at the shop waiting to be fixed, and Hyundai apparently won't fix them under warranty unless your maintanence records are impeccable. I've had more problems with mine than I can count, and as soon as I can afford a new car, I'm buying a Toyota or a Honda, to hell to with Hyundai.

@downwithmonstercable:

Don't forget it's stablemate - The ES250. Helluva car. I had one (with a 5 speed,2.5 L V-6) and could have driven it forever. Although heavily based on the Camry of those years, it still had a luxury feel and the best fit and finish I have seen before or since. I had a trick that I played for my gearhead friends that simply astounded them : After the car passed 250,000 miles ,I could start the engine and balance a nickel on the valve cover at idle - the engine was that smooth.

After owning one, I never even looked at an American brand again...

I hear they sell them by the 6-pack at Sam's Club.

My wife had a '98 Accent (w/ 120,000 miles on it) that we drove from south Texas to Oregon a few years back. Granted, its clutch cylinder needed replacing in California, but besides that incident it was an amazingly trouble free and solid car. It had been in several deer collisions before she'd bought it and had nary a dent on it.
We drove it from OR to Idaho several times after that trip before selling it to her parents this year, who then drove it BACK to Texas. Sadly, their neck of the woods is rather unlucky for cars, as it soon had its back window shot out and its AC fail.

When we were visiting a few months ago, the passenger door (thats handle had broken last winter when I yanked it trying to break up the ice stuck to it) finally broke from the inside. I suggested we weld the doors shut, paint it orange with the Korean flag on top and call it the General Tso. The in-laws didnt go for it, though.

@BuddyGuyMontag: Nissan Versa! Nissan Versa!!! Choice of time-and-space warping drivers everywhere!

Was Hyundai intentionally misspelled?

@uncooperative: Nah, at least not if i could have my choice of Korean or Japanese. ;)

Used, I've only ever owned Toyotas but new, I own Hyundais. Hyundais are FANTASTIC cars and anyone who refuses to see them as such are stuck in the 90s. They offer the best warranty in America and the most value for your dollar bar none. :D

@SimonDolon: " I rolled a 2001 Accent (4-door) end over end going 60 mph on the highway, "

That sounds awesome. Exactly how did you manage to do that?? I mean without the help of hollywood pyrotechnics and stuff.