Hyundai Accent Sucks after 5 yrs. Review on Hyundai Accent GVS

I have been driving several models like Pontiac, Chevy, Ford, Honda during my trips to US all these years. At home in India I bought my Accent GLS in 2000 the petrol version. It felt like a huge car like you drive in US, the looks are very good and the interiors are decent. Infact in east cost of US Accent is found in abundance, offcourse known as the cheap korean car as per US standards. (I still like the looks of Accent better than the new Hyundai-Verna) And while driving it is very stable, powerful, heavy vehicle. Infact in 2004, I met with some serious accidient (head on collision) on Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore trip but due to long bonnet and heavy car the damage was less. Only some front protion got damaged but most important all of us including kids inside were safe in the car. I cound infact make it back to Bangalore in the damaged car. I can't think of this happening in any other cars like Honda City, Ikon, esteem etc.

Overall I must say its a very good car in terms of smothness of ride, noise level inside cabin and has a powerful engine too. It could easily do 140Km/hr for several hours without break on highways. It has got ample boot space. It gives a good milage around 10.5Km/liter even at higher speeds & offcourse I always keep AC on.

Some of the reasons I did not like the car was - very low ground clearance, there has been no ride in and around Bangalore wherein there was no "loud thud" and car banged on some speed breaker or into a pothole - sometime front and mostly in the middle. The car is too low for a 6" tall guy and not good for long drive as I find it very irritating on my legs though there is enough leg space but the seats are low too and legs become tired easily. Also the low seating makes it very scary against a truck and bus while overtaking them while compared to SUVs.

Most important of all is, it has done some 75,000km and the piston rings are gone. In last 2 yrs got rack & pinion replaced, cluch plate got replaced once, rear wheel bearing twice, brake pad twice, all 5 tires bridgestone-radial replaced once, one of the original car-remote is gone, the seat belts at the back are not functional - all these maybe because of Bangalore bad road and traffic. As of Oct-2006 my car is in garrage and getting piston ring changed. It is costing me Rs27,000/-. I have finally concluded that these cars are not meant for Indian roads and the kind of fuel you get in India. Most probably I could conclude that the piston rings could have got spoiled because of bad petrol. As of Nov-06 the bearing and pad on right front axle shaft is gone and making lot of "Tak-Tak-Tak" noice while turning, it will cot me Rs7000/- to replace. All original speaker are gone bad, I replaced with good Pioneer spekers. There could not be any other reason as I regularly maintain my car, spend lot of money and keep it tip-top. It is a very expensive car to maintain after 5yrs when things start wearing out.

Now I am tired and sick fixing this car but however decided to keep it and use it locally, but for my outdoor adventure I decided to buy Scorpio SLX the new model wherein lot of things have been fixed by mahendra and now it is a decent SUV so to say.