DON’T look now but after the i20, i30 and Elantra, there’s yet another new and not-so-compact Hyundai for light and small-car buyers to contemplate.
This time the almost-forgotten Accent badge has been exhumed, worn on an all-new set of clothes that brandishes the brand’s ‘fluidic sculpture’ design philosophy.
Better than that though, the RB-series brings five-star safety and a choice of two very spacious body styles, to give the Korean conglomerate a blanket presence in the sub-$25,000 classes.
However, the competition is fiercer than perhaps even Hyundai cares to admit.
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Hyundai MC Accent
Released: May 2006
Ended: Jan 2010
Family Tree: AccentA complete departure from the angular LC/LS series, the MC Accent introduced an all-new light-car platform that brought significant driveability, safety, and refinement benefits compared to the old car. , , An Asian and US-market focussed model, Hyundai did away with a five-door hatch for a rounded three-door and four-door versions, both powered by a 82kW/145Nm 1.6-litre twin-cam four-cylinder petrol engine driving the front wheels via a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual gearbox. , , Initially just the single model variant was launched, but from May ’07 the range was expanded to encapsulate the S and SLX nomenclature. , , However, like its predecessor, this Accent neither scaled the sales heights of its 1990s X3 Excel ancestor nor the smaller and cheaper TB Getz, and the facelifted model that appeared in Korea some 18 months before its RB successor was ready was never sold here.
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