2018 Hyundai Accent vs Kia Rio

What's the difference?

It might be getting harder and harder to hide its age, but there is still plenty to like about Hyundai's cheapest car. Those who really love to drive need not apply, and nor should long-distance travellers, but the Accent Sport's alloy wheels, true smartphone integration and plenty of power and USB points will thrill its younger owners, while its long-range warranty and cheap servicing costs don't hurt either.

Still, if you think you can stretch to an i30, you should definitely drive one first.

The Rio GT-Line is the penultimate Rio experience, and honestly the only one in the range I’d consider. 

The changes under the bonnet and to the standard safety offering are ones that the car has desperately needed since it launched in Australia and help push the Rio back to the forefront as one of the best-equipped, well-priced and most entertaining to drive small hatchbacks on the market.

If it was just a little faster and sharper it would reach beyond itself and into hot hatch territory, but there’s still room for a fully-fledged ‘GT’ grade… Are you listening, Kia?

It looks good, the Accent, just not quite as good as its bigger Hyundai brothers. And that’s got to sting, if only a little bit. 

Words like "subtle", "restyled” and “enhanced design” pepper the Accent’s media information, and so we’re not talking massive changes. But the exterior of the Sport looks sharp, especially in the 'Pulse Red' of our test car. Other colours include 'Chalk White', 'Lake Silver', 'Phantom Black', 'Sunflower' (yellow), and 'Blue Lagoon', but there’s no green, orange or grey paint available.

First, though, don’t let the whole 'sport' thing fool you. You’ll find no Fast and Furious body kit, nor is there much in terms of a rear spoiler, side skirts or a rear diffuser. Instead, a silver-framed mesh grille (a smaller version of the one that adorns the i30) blends into the headlights that then sweep back into the body, while subtle power lines create a little dome in the bonnet, starting at the edges of the Hyundai badge and getting wider as they sweep back across the bonnet. 

Side on, the alloys are clean and simple, and a single style crease runs the length of the body, intersecting both door handles on each side. At the rear, though, the concave body styling doesn’t quite work so well, ending up looking busier than the rest of the car, and leaving it with too much body and not enough rear window.

Inside, as you can see from our interior photos, there is plenty of hard plastic, but there have been some design flourishes that give them a nicer texture and go some way to disguising the fact they’re hard enough to be used as a weapon in a roadside road rage dispute.

But it’s a simple and clean design, with patterned cloth (what, you were expecting leather seats at this price point?) seats, an uncluttered centre cluster and a sparing use of silver highlights that break up the black of the dash and doors.

You can also option everything from tailored floor mats to interior lighting, forming a kind of personalised premium package for the Accent Sport.

Fittingly, the Rio GT-Line looks like an angry little car with a lot to prove. In this ‘Mighty Yellow’ (love it) shade, it looks like it’s ready to hunt down cars in the segment that own the whole ‘fun’ thing. 

Specifically, it looks ready to take on the Suzuki Swift Sport with its flared side-skirts, black highlights adorning the front and rear bumpers. And the little gloss-black highlight spoiler round the back which looks like a nod to its distant cousin, the i30N. There’s even a gloss-black highlight diffuser and a peppy-looking dual-exhaust.

For what it's worth, I think it looks fantastic. It’s aggressive, but not overtly so and strays away from using tacky carbon-look trim on the outside. But it’s more than just sporty bits. The GT-Line maintains every bit of the excellent spacious design of the Rio range on the inside.

Present are low, comfortable seats, although there isn’t a shred of sportiness about them. The cabin features lots of nice leather touches, and setting the GT-Line apart is the carbon-look dash, which surprised me by being more than just a plastic insert and having a half-way decent texture on it.

The flat-bottomed GT-Line-specific leather steering-wheel is just the right size and has nice ridges for sitting your hands on as well as ergonomic controls for the multimedia and drive information functions.

There are some cheap bits which tarnish the look and feel though. Unlike its direct competitor, the Mazda2 GT, the Rio GT-Line misses out on leather trimmed seats and door trim. In fact, there’s no door trim at all and a basic pad for resting your elbow on, which is hardly comfortable… 

The GT-Line also has basic-looking air-conditioning controls which are the same ones you get in the base-model car, although this isn’t unusual for a car in this class.

Completing the package is a classic four-dial instrument cluster and a colour LCD screen in the centre which presents relatively basic, but welcome, trip information.

It’s every bit as practical as you might expect, the Accent Sport, given that you’re unlikely to be using something this size as a pseudo moving van anytime soon.

The 4155mm long, 1700mm wide and 1450mm high (the sedan is 4370mm long) Accent Sport's interior dimensions feel spacious up front, and while the front seats are a little too flat, the cabin feels airy and light. There are two cupholders up front, too, and there’s room in the front doors for extra bottles. 

Like all Hyundais, the little Accent boasts most of the technology options favoured by younger buyers, like a USB point, an aux connection and two 12-volt power outlets all housed in a tiny storage bin underneath the centre console. There’s a sunglass holder, too, integrated into the roof. 

The backseat is sparse but spacious enough, with enough room for adults to sit behind adults in comfort - at least in the two window seats. That’s about it back there, though, with no technology options, vents or air-con controls.

Boot space is a useable 370 litres in hatch guise, but luggage capacity grows to 465 litres should you opt for the sedan, with both of those figures measured in VDA. Optional roof racks and rails (and other offical accessories like a rubber cargo liner, mud flaps or dedicated bike, snowboard and surfboard carriers) help increase the pint-size Accent’s load-lugging ability.

As does a handy (and optional) cargo liner that helps separate your groceries, sitting neatly under the cargo cover that shields you luggage from prying eyes outside. Perhaps unsurprisingly, you can’t get a factory-offered bull bar.

There are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat, as well as three top-tether points across the back row.

The GT-Line loses none of the practicality from the rest of the Rio range. The cabin feels spacious, thanks to a low seating position and high roof, and there’s decent legroom for all occupants thanks to the boxy design and wheels far to the edges of the Rio’s chassis.

As mentioned earlier, the steering wheel and multimedia system offer excellent ergonomics, but there’s nothing to rest your knee on in the tight foot-well. While this was a little awkward, it was no where near as irritating as it was in the manual version of the ‘S’ I tested last year.

Front passengers benefit from a deep storage trough in front of the shift lever and under the air conditioning controls there's a little shelf suitable for phones and wallets. The USB, 'aux-in' port and two 12-volt outlets are also located here.

There are two deep cupholders in the transmission tunnel and a small top-box providing some extra storage.

Like all current Hyundais and Kias, the door inserts for both front and rear passengers have huge cupholders which will hold almost any bottle you throw at them, as well as deep hollow troughs for tidbits.

Aside from those storage bins and a single 12-volt outlet, rear passengers don’t get much, there aren’t even any air vents back there but I found the leg and headroom excellent (I’m 182cm tall) for a car this size.

The boot remains the same as the rest of the Rio range, at a decent 325 litres VDA. That’s good for the segment, although it is bested by the flexible Honda Jazz (354L), Suzuki Baleno (355L) and distant cousin, the Hyundai Accent (370L) which is the segment leader.

Under the boot is a space-saver spare. It’s no full-size, but better than a repair kit.

Surely, the GT-Line is a pricey car then, right? Well… surprisingly, no.

The GT-Line comes in at $23,090, or just $4070 more than an entry-level automatic Rio S, but in terms of features there’s not too much difference. 

Apart from the already mentioned interior and exterior trim, the GT-Line also scores LED DRLs, fog lights and rear lights, a stop-start system and the same 17-inch alloys available on the ‘Sport’ grade that sits beneath it.

Available across the range is the same easy-to-use and well-laid out 7.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as Bluetooth connectivity and a rather good reversing camera.

It would be nice at this price point to have built-in nav, DAB+ radio, push-start, and leather seats like the Mazda2 GT, but it still outclasses most of the mainstream competition like the Honda Jazz and Suzuki Swift.

You’re probably wondering where the rest of your $4k goes, given the rest of the Rio range gets most of the same features – but stay with us – because the GT-Line more than makes up for it in the safety and engine departments.

The one Accent on offer is powered by a single engine; a petrol-sipping (there’s no diesel, LPG or turbo), 1.6-litre motor that will produce a solid-sounding 103kW (138 horsepower) at 6300rpm and 167Nm of torque at 4850rpm. They are good specs, and it stands up to most competitors in an engine vs engine models comparison. It pairs with a choice of six-speed manual transmission or six-speed automatic transmission.

There used to be a fairly underwhelming 1.4-litre engine size paired with a CVT auto in the now-axed Accent variant, but this bigger engine is much, much better, and makes for much happier reading on the specifications sheet.

The Accent is front-wheel drive only, with no 4x4, AWD or rear-wheel drive options available. It will serve up a 900kg braked and 450kg unbraked towing capacity, with an optional tow bar/ball fitted. Kerb weight is listed as between 1070kg and 1170kg.

The Accent Sport uses MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension (no sophisticated air systems on offer), and Hyundai doesn’t quote any 0-100km/h, acceleration or speed figures.

The big news is here. The GT-Line is the only Rio to score a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine which produces 88kW/172Nm. 

The rest of the range has the holdover (and critically-panned) 1.4-litre 74kW/133Nm engine which has hampered the Rio’s score in the past.

Even though you only score an extra 14kW, the three-cylinder is a much more modern and punchy little unit packed full of character. It allows you to actually explore the better properties of the Rio’s chassis with the solid dollop of extra torque (39Nm) making all the difference. 

At this price, you can also say farewell to the archaic (and also critically-panned) four-speed automatic, as the GT-Line gets a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, a first for Kia in Australia.

While not as slick as a VW offering, the Kia dual-clutch is still a pretty quick-shifter and can be placed in manual mode by tilting the shift-lever to the right. Frustratingly though, there are no paddle-shifters which would really help extract a little more fun out of the combination.

There’s also a start-stop system on the GT-Line which is better than the irritating Volkswagen ones, but still not quite as intuitive as Mazda’s ‘i-stop’ system.

For fuel consumption, Hyundai claims 6.3 litres (6.6 litres for the sedan) per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle. But as with all of these manufacturer-supplied figures, there’s always a some sort of variation in the real world km/l fuel economy.

Just how much variation is dependent on how heavy your right foot is, but after my (admittedly city-based) week with the car, the trip computer had my mileage at 11.0L/100km. If you were to adopt an eco mode driving style, that would surely improve, though.

The Accent’s fuel tank size is fairly small, with a fuel capacity of just 43 litres - perfect for the city, less so for long-distance cruising. Emissions are a claimed 146g (154g in the hatch) per kilometre of C02. 

Kia claims the Rio will use 5.8L/100km on the combined cycle, and although the little engine is a modern turbocharged unit, it will happily drink base-grade 91RON petrol and E10.

On my week of fun-packed driving, I extracted 8.9L/100km.

Understandable, given I was pushing the little engine to see what it was capable of, and frequently turning off the stop-start system. Still a miss if you drive the car how it really should be driven, though…

With its sharp design and gleaming alloys, the Accent Sport doesn’t look like an entry-level model, and nor is it immediately obvious that it’s the cheapest way into the Hyundai family. The downside, though, is it does feel that way from behind the wheel.

A little harsher, a little more road noise and a little more gruff than Hyundai’s more expensive models (including the very good i30), it’s the unfair victim of the brand’s staggering success, which has left the Accent feeling a bit old-school by comparison.

That said, it's perfectly suited to inner-city life, and if you’re cruising around using minimal inputs, it does it all smoothly and quietly. The steering feels a little slack at slow speeds, with plenty of dead air when you first start turning the wheel, but none of that bothers you much in the city.

With its sharp design and gleaming alloys, the Accent Sport doesn’t look like an entry-level model.

The grunt from that engine is refreshingly ample for a small car, and provides plenty of punch to get you moving from traffic lights, while the seating position is high enough that vision is great out of every window (except the rear - you’ll be using the reversing camera for that one).

Take it out of town, though, and the refinement begins to vanish. The engine sounds harsh under heavy acceleration, the transmission can be confused - especially around 80km/h, where moving your foot a fraction can force continual changes up or down, like it's wrestling with a big life decision. 

The only other question mark is over the suspension set-up, which for some reason favours sporty firmness in a car unlikely to be asked to achieve anything more dynamic than sitting at 50km/h. The result is a ride that can feel noticeably firm over bad road surfaces.

The Accent’s 140mm ground clearance (not to mention the fact it’s a front-wheel drive city car) should be enough to persuade you not to test its off-road performance. And its turning radius is 10.4m.

The Rio is awesome to drive compared to it's lesser 1.4-litre versions. The little turbo three-cylinder engine has small amounts of lag to contend with, but generally shoots up the rev range and into its power band with gruff enthusiasm.

After my initial drive, though, I found myself desperately searching for a ‘Sport’ mode. The GT-Line is loads of fun… but if it were just 15 per cent better the Suzuki Swift Sport (the only hot hatch left in this price segment) would have a serious competitor on its hands.

It would be as simple as adding paddle-shifters, upping throttle response and sharpening each shift. It’s that close to being something truly great.

This is thanks to the Rio already having fantastic locally-tuned suspension, responsive - if a little stiff at low-speed - steering, and wheels that sit way out to the edges of the chassis.

The GT-Line rides super-flat, dispatching corners with ease, and despite the large alloys with slim rubber allowing quite a lot of road noise into the cabin, impacts with potholes or imperfections are smoothed out reasonably well.

I’m sure the Continental ContiSportContact 2 tyres (costing just under $1000 for a set…) on our test car helped with the feel… I don’t doubt most examples will end up with much cheaper rubber after a year or two on the road.

Sure, the GT-Line could benefit from fully-independent rear suspension, bucket seats, maybe a bit more power and a sporty manual gearbox… but at that point you’d be talking a car costing north of $25k.

Make no mistake - the Rio GT-Line is nowhere near a track-ready hero like the Clio RS, Peugeot 208 GTi or soon-to-arrive Ford Fiesta ST, but it’s such a warmed-up improvement over previous Rio offerings it proves little Korean hatchbacks have the potential to be a lot of fun.

All current-generation Rios have a five-star ANCAP safety rating as of 2017, but the GT-Line scores extra points as it is the only one in the range that comes with city-speed AEB and Forward Collision Warning as standard. It also scores Lane Keep Assist (LKAS) which is speed-dependent with Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Driver Attention Alert (DAA). A nice set of inclusions which put the GT-Line ahead of most of its competition. 

Missing features are Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) – both available on the Mazda2 – as well as active cruise control, but realistically it’s hard to expect the full suite of active safety features on a $23k car.

It’s a very strong ownership picture, with the Accent Sport covered by Hyundai’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, and requiring a trip to the service centre every 12 months or 15,000km.

A capped-price servicing plan helps take the guesswork out of your service cost, too, with guide prices at between $245 and $345 per year for the first five years.

For known Hyundai Accent issues and common problems, complaints and faults - including any known clutch, suspension, gearbox, engine, battery or automatic transmission problems - head to CarsGuide's dedicated Hyundai Problems page. 

One of the most common mechanical questions asked is whether the Accent uses a timing belt or chain, and the Sport uses a timing belt. Check your owners manual for recommended durations between changing  it.

Hyundais traditionally score very well in international reliability rating surveys, which helps protect its second-hand ratings.

The solid ownership promise of a seven-year/unlimited km warranty has always been a strong point for Kia, and it’s no different in this segment for the Rio. It outclasses the five-year warranties on the Mazda2 and Honda Jazz, and makes the three-year offerings on the Toyota Yaris and Suzuki Swift look comical.

The GT-Line requires a service once a year or every 10,000km and the brand provides costing for each service for the first seven years, ranging from $285 - $778. 

It averages out at a really quite expensive $484.57 over the seven years, though. The Mazda2 costs an average of $301 over the same period. Worth considering.