2006 Hyundai Accent Preview

Competition in the subcompact sector has grown remarkably over the past few years, with entries from GM-DAT (Chevrolet Aveo,

Increases in dimensions make for best-in-class interior volume, with more headroom, legroom and shoulder room for both front and rear passengers. (Photo: Hyundai Auto Canada)

Pontiac Wave, Suzuki Swift+), and Toyota (Echo and Echo Hatchback), all direct competitors to the Accent. In order to get the upper hand and to maximize the amount of money put into the project, the new Accent and Kia Rio are mechanical twins, sharing platform, engine, suspension and the majority of major components. This isn't any recent business model either; Hyundai and Kia have shared general architectures for quite some time now. The Elantra and Spectra, Tucson and Sportage, and the Sonata and Magentis are all sets of twins under the skin.

Compared to the outgoing Accent, the new car is 46 mm (1.8 inches) longer, 25 mm (1.0 inches) wider, and 76 mm (3.0 inches) taller, and rides on a wheelbase that's 58 mm (2.3 inches) longer. Overall, that means that the 2006 Accent sedan is 4,282 mm (168.6 inches) long, 1,694 mm (66.7 inches) wide, 1,471 mm (57.9 inches) tall and has a 2,499 mm (98.4 inch)-long wheelbase. These increases make for best-in-class interior volume, with more headroom, legroom and shoulder room for both front and rear passengers. Trunk space has also grown significantly to 351 litres (12.4 cu ft), which can be attributed to the better structure and to Hyundai's decision to switch to a space-saving torsion beam instead of a fully-independent rear suspension.

Like the Rio, the Accent uses a basic strut-and-torsion beam suspension layout to

The Accent uses a basic strut-and-torsion beam suspension layout to deliver solid handling with decent response. (Photo: Hyundai Auto Canada)

deliver solid handling with decent response. It will be interesting to see how Hyundai's engineers have tweaked the springs, dampers and power steering to make the car drive differently from the Rio, but seeing as both cars are pitched towards an audience that seems impartial to the way a vehicle performs at the limit, it's unlikely that the Accent will be able to charm its drivers like the Mazda3 or VW Golf. As for stopping power, Canada's smallest Kia comes standard with front discs and rear drums, but if it is equipped with optional ABS brakes the rear brakes are upgraded to discs.