The Cantankerous Consumer:

A splendid addition
to small-car ranks

By David Cobain

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Superb! Even in a world saturated with shallow superlatives and heavy with hyperbolic horse manure, few terms fit more precisely the qualities of Hyundai's redesigned 2007 Accent hatchback.

This is a machine, I discovered during a week-long test, whose designers aspired passionately to meet today's demands for comfort, power and safe self-projection in an economical sub-compact.

And they succeeded in their purpose - superbly.

My first impression of a GS Premium version, which brightened for me one of the slightly dismal early weeks of fall, was of taut toughness, well mannered eagerness and overall excellence.

Eye-catchingly attractive, in sparkling red livery, with alloy wheels and its increasingly familiar H insignia, this is a car that will turn heads as readily as it boosts its driver's self-esteem and confidence.

There is the quietly commanding twin-cam l.6L engine, the splendidly supportive bucket seats, an admirable fit and finish more reminiscent of a high-priced European sports coupe than an Asian economy model....

And there is the Accent's less easily defined appeal, as attested not only by Hyundai's soaring sales figures but also by the contentment and passenger pride on the face of my wife during our test.

"It's VERY nice," she murmured, running her hand appreciatively over a door panel while reclining in her bucket seat to the strains of Vivaldi from the six-speaker sound system as we cruised a busy highway.

This is, in fact, a car - not alone in its field, but very much a leader in its price range - that one can delight in driving fast over long distances, as one might a BMW or Mercedes sports machine costing four times as much.

Classically more attractive than Toyota, Honda or Nissan's competitors, with a high-tech specification at least their equal, this is yet a machine somehow reminiscent of the magnificent grand tourers of the past.

But, unlike the brutal leviathans of those long ago days of steamer trunks and letters of credit, the Accent - a combination of deftness and durability - is a car for the daintiest of damsels, as well as the most macho of men.

It was a pleasure around town, as well as on an otherwise dreary dash down the 401 to Point Pelee - where we were just in time to learn that the Monarch butterflies had taken flight for the south the day before.

Disappointing as that was, the enjoyment of our return trip in the new Accent hatchback was dampened only by the knowledge that it would soon have to go back to the friendly, dedicated people at Hyundai Auto Canada.

To them, go my thanks. And I offer, to their design and engineering colleagues, the congratulations of an ordinary but perceptive driver - not, thank God, a professional reviewer - on a truly superb accomplishment.

Ever wondered how those outfits that advertise on television that they'll refund your money, if you're not satisfied with their products, can do that? Of course, you have. How, you ponder, can they make money on those terms?

Well, those 'shipping and handling' charges, which can come to $8 or $9 for the smallest of items, represent at least as much as the profit they'd make if you kept the product. And you don't get a refund of them.

One noteworthy exception is the Computer Professor, that agreeable middle-aged fellow who's always on our screens, offering us one of his lessons free - except, of course, for the 'shipping and handling' charges.

He, at least, guarantees that, if you don't find the lesson as useful as he claims, he'll refund those charges. He's also, very recently, taken to offering a bonus of $10, just for trying his product. Well done, Prof!

Bread was regarded, in days of yore, as 'the staff of life'. These days, it's more mundanely a component of the ubiquitous sandwich. Either way, it has not been improved by the onrush of modern manufacturing methods.

In fact, some examples - and particularly those sliced and wrapped in colourful packaging, emblazoned with the legend 'Wonder' - are barely recognizable as even remotely related to the stuff of which Christ spoke.

But appreciation of this staple of the human diet for more than two millennia is changing.

This can be seen most clearly at neighbourhood supermarkets, in which racks of fat-and-sugar filled loaves are little touched, while the store's own, more wholesome, bread flies from the shelves like leaves from an autumnal tree.

This is good news - except for those of us who find ourselves so often disappointed in our search for nutritious bread at our local supermarket. It shows, I believe, that good sense is, in some respects, becoming more common.