2019 Hyundai Accent Review, Ratings, Specs, Prices, and Photos

Do you want a new car? The 2019 Hyundai Accent is just a car, and its appeal lies entirely in its devotion to the basics.

It has a decent set of standard features, acceptable performance, and enough interior space, but the 2019 Accent shows up every day for work, backed by a superlative warranty.

It won’t catapult you into the next ZIP code at launch, won’t satisfy some vague notion of “cool,” but it’ll get the transportation job done, and it won’t whine about it. Much.

We give the 2019 Accent a rating that sets the midline for all our car ratings. It’s a 5.2 out of 10, perfectly middle of the road on our charts. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

The 2019 Hyundai Accent—whether it’s an SE, SEL, or Limited—puts a strong family resemblance to work. It’s a happy homage to the bigger Sonata and Elantra. Its six-sided grille, eager stance, and roofline drape don’t mind if you compare them to Audi’s lines. The cabin’s a straight-up knock-off of the bigger Hyundais and that’s a good place to be.

The Accent weighs about 2,500 pounds, and with just 130 horsepower issuing from a 1.6-liter inline-4, it needs to stay trim. Foot to the floor, it manages acceptable highway passes but gets thrashy. Its 6-speed automatic deliberates before it shifts cleanly, but a Sport function clears its head. The Accent rides with decent absorbency, but like any short-wheelbase car with a strut and torsion-beam suspension, it takes a second to recover from craters and speed bumps.

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Four adults fit easily inside the Accent, and head room in particular suits taller passengers. The seats don’t have much in the way of bolsters and the fabric would rather slide than grip. The rear doors don’t allow for graceful entry and exit but the back seat itself can hold two adults, or fold down to open more space from the Accent’s large trunk.

The current Accent has performed reasonably well in IIHS testing, but the NHTSA hasn’t crashed one yet. Only the Accent Limited can be fitted with automatic emergency braking, which makes it the only trim we recommend. It comes with heated seats, a sunroof, LED headlights, a 7.0-inch touchscreen for infotainment, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, and 17-inch wheels. Leather upholstery, navigation, and power seats are off the features list entirely, but at $20,000 the Accent Limited steps in where expensive used cars sit idle on dealer lots.

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