The Accent comes belatedly to SA, but packed to the
gunwales with luxuries to take on other hatches. ALWYN VILJOEN took it for a
quick drive.
Stanley Anderson, marketing director at
Hyundai Automotive South Africa, explained the only reason the Accent hatchback
had not been launched earlier in South Africa was a supply and importance issue.
In global distribution rankings, South
Africa ranks only 11th among the countries importing Hyundai’s
vehicles. We buy 50,305 sedans, hatches and bakkies, compared to China’s
1,010,086 (nr 1) and 7th-placed Australia’s 97 006 vehicles.
But now, he said, the time is ripe to launch
the two-year-old Accent hatch locally for a slice of the B-segment pie against
the Mazda3,
Toyota Auris, Chevrolet Sonic and Cruze, Opel Astra and even its stable mate,
the Kia Cerato.
Among these, only the
Sonic can lay claim to be a newcomer.
Anderson said he is so confident about
the Accent’s pricing and specification that he has already advised his competing
importers at Kia they may want to order less Cerato hatches in the coming
months. He does not expect the Accent to cannibalise sales from the Hyundai
stable either.
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| The Accent hatch has all the mod-cons available to a parent today as standard. |
“The Accent hatchback fits in very well in the local Hyundai
range between the i20 and i30 hatchbacks – not only in terms of price, but also
when it comes to interior space for passengers as well as luggage storage,”
said Anderson.
Retailing for just under R235,000 for the six-speed
manual and R245,000 for the long-geared four speed auto (not tested), the
Accent hatch aims to present buyers with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get option
in the prices range between R225k and a quarter of a million rand. In this
segment, the Ford Fiesta is king, with over a 13% market share, followed by the
Toyota Auris (12,7%) and and the Ford Focus (11,9%).
To take on the market leaders, Anderson
priced the Accent to come with everything a young commuting family could
possibly need, from a multi-function steering wheel up front to lots of legroom
in the rear. Everything is also ergonomically placed. The electric side mirror
and automatic up/down window controls that are integrated in the driver’s door armrest;
while there is a sliding armrest in the middle of the seats up front. The centre
console houses iPod/USB/Aux ports where the multimedia devices won’t get bumped
and shoved.
Of note is how idiot-friendly the Accent’s
integrated Bluetooth is, linking as it did within seconds to any of the phones
with Bluetooth in the car. Compare this to the “linked but not paired” results
which was all Witness Wheels could achieve with the new Ford and Chevrolet
systems, which are reportedly both excellent – if you are of the Selfie
generation and not born on the wrong side of the first moon landing.
In the Accent, we paired the phones to make
phone calls and stream music wirelessly though the audio system. Another luxury
now considered a standard option and often overlooked is the aircon. The Tata
and Etios models set the bar here, with very efficient cooling systems designed
to cool a sweaty passenger after a humid day in Bombay. The Accent’s four-speed
air conditioner did a good job to cool the rear of the cabin quickly after a
short drive.
The Accent’s boot swallows 370 litres with the 60:40
seats extended, which is a carry-on bag less than the Kia Cerato and a whole
117 litres bigger than capacity of the smaller Chevrolet Sonic. The Accent
hatch can do dirt roads too, riding 14,7 cm high (only the Chevrolet Sonic and
Kia Cerato is higher among its competitors) although this is not enough to take
on a farm road.
Rear coil springs mounted
independently over modiļ¬ed shock absorbers and placed on the ends of the
torsion beam create more space in the cabin and ensure a pliant ride over
Gauteng’s tar roads and a short section of washed-out dirt.
Down Under, the Accent
Hatchback scored a five star safety rating in the Australian New Car Assessment
Programme (ANCAP), coming as it does with Driver and passenger airbags, complemented by
side and curtain airbags and seatbelt pretensioners for the driver and front
passenger's seatbelts. The rear bench has two 3-point safety belts with a lap
belt in the middle seat.
Stopping is courtesy of disks all round, with
Active safety Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brake-force
Distribution (EBD) standard, which active safety features are only equaled by
the Kia Cerato and the Opel hatches.
When it comes to power, there is very little
to choose between the 1,6 mills in the Hyundai Accent (91 kW/ 156 Nm) and the Toyota
Auris (97 kW/ 160 Nm), although both these hatches have to stand back for the
Chev’s impressive 1,4 turbo, which makes 103 kW and 200 Nm. Worthy then to note
that the Accent has a timing chain, which with careful driving can last as long
as the engine and does not require to be changed as often as a timing belt.
In terms of price, the Accent offers a lot of
standard features, but so does the Chevrolet Sonic RS, which is at this stage
R18,600 cheaper and a decent little hot hatch to boot, while the Kia Cerato
saves the buyer R9,905 on the Accent’s retail tag and the Toyota Auris XS
leaves R4,500 change for fulling up the fuel tank. But Anderson points out that these prices among the 1,6 competitors will
change in the near future, as he expects the interest rate to slowly creep up
after the elections.
“Buy now and save, in fact buy two and save
even more,” he advised.
Meanwhile Hyundai boasts 5 year/150,000 km warranty (with a lot of fine print
worth reading), a 5 year/90,000 km service plan and 5 year/150,000 km roadside
assistance is part of the Accent Hatchback package Service intervals are 15,000
km.
Manual Hatch Competitors
Chevrolet Sonic 1,4T RS
|
R225300
|
Kai Cerato 1,6
|
R233995
|
Toyota Auris 1,6 XS
|
R239400
|
Opel Astra 1,6 Essentia
|
R243700
|
Hyundai Accent 1,6 Fluid
|
R243900
|
Chevrolet Cruze 1,4T LS
|
R247000
|
Mazda3 Sport 1,6 Dynamic
|
R247100
|
