I was lucky enough recently to be looking for a new car after the whole family decided that it was time to get rid of my beloved Ford Escort (OK, it didn't always start and had no power steering but I liked it, it was my home from home) and I happened upon our local Hyundai and offered the dealer the following requirements:
1: Under ?10,000 total price on the road
2: Dual airbags (Driver and passenger)
3: Anti-lock brakes (ABS)
4: Power Assisted Steering
5: Remote central Locking
6: Spacious enough boot
7: General size ample enough for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children)
After a look around the showroom we happened upon the Hyundai Accent, the three-cylinder diesel to be precise. Yah! Diesel I thought, even more savings.
But it was to get worse before it got better (did it even get better at all though).
At face value, I'd seen the Accent as a Golf equivalent, only much cheaper, it was after all about the same size and shape but with a price difference of about ?3,000. Great.
I slowly began leafing through a showroom brochure of the accents, hmm 0 - 60mph in fourteen seconds certainly not the quickest off the mark now is it? Speed isn't everything though is it, so let's see what it performs like out on the open road, after all that's what it was built for - driving.
Another penny dropped, well more like a huge clanger. The handling was awful, completely non-responsive and heavy you simply had to cling to the steering wheel for grim death as you cornered at any sort of speed. Pulling off the forecourt onto a small cobbled road was like hell, every bump, every crevice rang straight through my back and out of my ears. Steering wasn't much better it handled like a Rover 404 I'd owned in the mid 80's and yes that was before they'd thought of power steering, or rather it hadn't yet become mainstream in vehicles.
After a terrible ride sat back in the showroom we looked at the con's (and there where plenty) and the pro's (there weren't any). Perhaps the servicing was cheaper, the parts...anything. I'm clutching at straws here as you can tell.
In fact servicing wasn't actually cheaper at all, a recent Magazine article shows that Malaysian cars can lose around 75% of their value in the first three years compared to a 45% drop on European cars.
Needless to say, that's one car firmly scratched off our list and next Saturday it's off to look at a Ford Focus and perhaps we'll have a little more luck with them.
