2005 Hyundai Accent

The second generation Accent is a fine car, don’t let the fact that you might be unfamiliar with Korean cars discourage you. Remember, when Honda and Toyota first came to the U.S. they were initially looked down upon as inferior and cheap but proved themselves to be quality. I see the same thing happening with the Korean cars now. The first, inexpensive generation got their foot in the door. Now they are coming out with genuine, good cars and the second gen Accent is one of them. I’ve seen tons on the road, but not many through my shop not looking for regular maintenance, that’s a good thing for a prospective owner.

I will give you 2 cautions and ways to maybe talk the seller of a prospective car down a bit. The Crankshaft Position Sensors on these cars tend to go bad; all four cylinder engines are affected. You’re only looking at about $80 to replace it, the bad news is if/when it goes bad, it’ll either not start or stall on you while you are driving, more than likely with ½ gallon of ice cream in the trunk in August!

The other issue I hear complaints is about the timing belt breaking. I’ve had some seriously irate customers complaining about this belt failure (usually after they get the bill). Well, if you go buy a belt to hold your pants up and wear it every day it will eventually start to show signs of wear. What do you do then? You replace your belt. If you let it go, it will start to look worse and worse until it breaks and everyone points and laughs, or is that laughing just at me??? Anyway the point here is this; belts wear out and eventually will break. That’s why the owner’s manual tells you how often that belt should be replaced. If you are looking at a used car I would ask the owner about the belt. If it has more than 60,000 miles on it I would assume it needs to be replaced…..TOMORROW. If they say it’s been replaced, ask for receipts or assume it has not and you must replace it………..TOMORROW. Why the urgency? Well, it that belt breaks it will cost you $500-600 if you are very lucky. More than likely it will cost 2 or 3 times that amount because it will damage internal components of that engine.