8,535 km – The ‘Cent comes home

A belated, final entry on my not-quite-a-week with the ‘Cent:

After a short visit to our Nation’s Capital on Monday, I turned the little burnt orange car westward to return it to its temporary home in the Star’s parking lot at Once Yonge Street.

Instead of the back road route I took on the way up to Ottawa last Wednesday, I decided to see how the littlest Hyundai was at dodging 18-wheelers and keeping up with traffic upon my return. That meant Hwy 416 from Ottawa to Prescott, then a straight shot on the 401 to the DVP.

I have to admit: a trip to a racetrack may have been helpful to drop the ‘Cent’s fuel consumption numbers a titch.

Try as I might, after nearly 1,000 km I couldn’t get worse than 7.4 L/100 km.

So the ‘Cent is a sipper. Not much a surprise there, eh?

What else, then, stood out about the Hyundai besides it’s miserly fuel economy and lowball cash price?

Forget about the obligatory “for under $10k” qualifier. The ‘Cent’s cloth driver’s seat—with the ability to adjust your thighs AND bum—was more supportive and adjustable than some vehicles I’ve driven costing five times as much.

Then there’s Hyundai five-year warranty. Not insignificant if you want to stretch payments to 60 months.

You already know I think the steering wheel and shift knob could use some cowhide. But at least the tiller was of the proper three-spoke kind.

Before sounding like too much like a whinger (its only $9,9995! It’s only $9,995!) I had a long each to the left side of the centre stack controls, especially the audio volume control.

That shouldn’t be the case in such a small car.

And you could lock the car’s driver door from inside before exiting.

“Honey! I locked the cars in the Hyundai again!”

Plus, there’s no ABS, or stability control available. That, for someone who’s embedded in the industry, would make the Hyundai a “no sale” for me.

But for you?

If you are looking for a new car that was cheap to buy and run, and you can live with only two/three doors, the ‘Cent should be at least be on your short list.

Financially, does the ‘Cent makes, er, cents?

Plans to take the kin to a friend’s cottage this weekend were rained out.

So instead, I decided to go do a little online car shopping.

As one may have already guessed, the big reason Wheels.ca’s Accent Chronicles exists is the ‘Cent’s headline-making $9,995 cash price.

But what if one is in the majority that doesn’t have that particular amount (plus taxes, freight and PDI) lying around under your mattress?

What if one needed to get factory purchase financing or leasing? Does the Hyundai’s dollar store price still make financial sense?

We’ve already compared the Hyundai against the only other under-$10k car in Canada: Kia’s Rio sedan. 

But what about other small, five-passenger three-door hatches are out there?

With only four seats and priced at $24,800 and $27,695 respectively, we can forget about the Mini Cooper and Volvo C30. Vee-Dub's Rabbit starts at $19,975. And the $14,990 Smart ForTwo has only two seats, so it gets scratched as well.

If we stick to apples to apples, though, the only other new cars that compete with the three-door Accent is Toyota’s 2008 Yaris CE.

With a cash price of $13,165, the Yaris obviously loses out to the ‘Cent for those with the dough.

Even if one included the fed’s $1,000 EcoAuto rebate the Toyota’s 6.3L/100 km fuel rating qualifies it for.

But based on calculations from each of the automaker’s Web sites, the Toyota wins if you need factory financing and you include the $1,000 rebate as a down payment.

(Keep in mind: one would need to upfront the $1,000 as (funnily enough) it can take some time before the government sends the rebate cheque.)

So, based on 60/month purchase financing, the Accent L is $249.00 (plus freight and PDI and applicable taxes), whereas the Yaris CE is $223.49.

Even on a 48/month/96,000 free km lease, the Yaris is cheaper: $174.55 versus $241.44.

In fairness, the Toyota doesn’t offer a split rear seat, an audio AUX jack, or Hyundai’s two extra years of factory warranty. And if one considers one's self a bit of a pilot, one may not mind spending the extra money for the Hyundai.

From my time in the ‘Cent, I think it’s interior build quality is higher, handles better and feels more solid overall than the Yaris.

But if you have the cash, the ‘Cent certainly makes cents.

Mea culpa! Mea culpa! – ‘Cent not a gas guzzler after all

After a short run for take-out last night (3 chicken shwarmas and a pita/hummus platter), I took the Hyundai for my first fill up.

Instead of the 9.41L/100 km I guesstimated yesterday, based on 35.905L used to drive 471 km the last two days—ta-da—the ‘Cent actually sipped at a rate of 7.62.

My apologies for all the Hyundai engineers who worked so hard to get the ‘Cent to be the fuel efficient little critter that it is...

8,163 – Mrs. Crank gets the ‘Cent

Today was a day stuck at home in the bunker making up for late-as-usual deadlines. That meant Mrs. Crank got a chance to take the ‘Cent back and forth to her Kanata offices.

"So, how was it, honey?"

First off, unlike myself, she has normal hearing. And like most of the Wheels team, the Hyundai’s excessive road noise was her first complaint.

“It felt like an angry sewing machine, and it didn’t really like to get much past 120 km/h.”

She also noticed the different vibrations the 110 hp/1.6-litre four-banger has through its rev range.

“Between getting up to speed and then backing off, it kind of felt like I was going into orbital re-entry.”

I felt the same raucous on the drive home from TO yesterday. But I’ll give the ‘Cent the benefit of the doubt and assume a front wheel may just need a balance job.

In the end, the ‘Cent reminded Mrs. Crank of her mother’s yellow former ’72 Plymouth Cricket.

“A 'little second car' for a family of five that she could make sure she could get to her part-time job in.”

'Nough said.

So if there are any other '70s Cricket owners looking to trade-in, Hyundai has a car just for you.

8,118 – Picking up the ‘Cent in Hogtown

Yes, thank you Mr. Meeson.

Not only did you pick me up at the Toronto Island Airport this morning, you also topped off the ‘Cent’s 45-litre tank. With an afternoon’s drive back home to Ottawa—via Westport, Ont., left—staring me in the face, much appreciated.

But before jumping on the DVP and getting east of Dodge, I sat down and broke bread with the godfather of the $9,995 Accent, Hyundai Canada sales & marketing veep John Vernile.

You’ll have to wait to read the story, but Vernile answers the question: How can Hyundai sell an under-$10k new car in Canada and not go out of business?

After the chronicled ‘Cent experiences from Bleakney, Rich Guy Herjavec, Johnson, Law, Kenzie, Meeson (twice!), Renwald, Richardson, Sommerfeld and Young, I’m anxious to lend my cranky voice.

I’m not, though, a ‘Cent virgin.

I already found the Hyundai three-door more practical and fun-to-drive than the other under-$10k new car in Canada, Kia’s four-door Rio sedan. But the next week with the ‘Cent will allow a more thorough examination.

Anyway, after my first four hours and over 400 km in the happy little Hyundai back home in the Nation’s Capital, some first impressions:

• The existing petroleum-based wheel and knob don’t do the rest of the car’s well screwed-together cockpit justice. If an owner, the first thing I would do is add some kind of leather steering wheel wrap and a Momo shift knob;

• The Hyundai is actually quite a competent car for bombing along empty backraods. It’s no Mini Cooper; but upgrading this base model’s greasy 14-inch 185/65 all-seasons to the GL’s grippier 205/45 16-inch rubber would help;

• Other Wheels’ ‘Cent reviewers have complained about excessive road noise. It seemed OK to me. But then two years driving a 1976 Saab 99 with a bum exhaust means pretty much any new car I drive sounds good;

At the very least, I managed to get from the Star’s 1 Yonge Street HQ to Ottawa on one tank of fuel.

That may sound impressive.

I haven’t filled up yet. So this is just an estimate looking at the fuel gauge. But it looks like I managed to use up about 42 of the 45-litre tank driving 446 km today, which equals 9.41 L/100 km—or only 2.0L/100 km average less than a Chrysler 300C Hemi I recently drove...