Far from cheap or plain, the Hyundai Accent looks elegant and substantial. The look starts at the front with integrated bumpers and large aerodynamic headlight enclosures that wrap around the front fenders. The Accent has a high roofline defined on either side by rain channels, while the windshield blends into the front of the roof without any visible trim. A sharp character line originates just behind the front wheel opening and slashes boldly across the doors, fading again just short of the taillights.

The back of the sedan roof sweeps toward the trailing edge of the trunk lid, giving it almost a coupe-like appearance. Unlike many modern cars, the Accent has a generous greenhouse with big windows; blacked-out trim both defines and unifies the side-window opening. This, coupled with a long wheelbase and relatively short overhangs, makes the sedan appear a tad bigger than it actually is.

The Accent coupe has a look all its own, though it shares its front fenders and defining character line with the sedan. The differences begin with a more aggressive two-slot air opening that replaces the sedan's fine-lined horizontal grille, and ends with a rounded tail that takes the tentative reverse curve at the base of the sedan's roof, boldly widens it, and fuses it with the horizontally curving quarter panel. The two-door Accent is unashamedly a hatchback, and makes no pretense to a separate trunk lid.

Not surprisingly, then, the coupe is as tall and wide as the sedan, and shares the sedan's 98.4-inch wheelbase, but at 159.3 inches overall it dispenses with a significant 9.2 inches of the sedan's rear overhang. The result is a short profile that looks like it should cost more than it does.

On both the coupe and sedan, a roof-mounted micro-antenna is aerodynamic, flexible, and said to improve signal strength.

Interior

One of the things we like best about the Accent is its interior. It has big windows that provide a great view which, from the driver's seat, is a commanding perspective. Accent cabins feature a conservative two-tone color scheme reminiscent of larger cars, and are trimmed out quite nicely, helping avoid the feeling of an econobox.

The dashboard wraps around to the door panels, and the center stack is nicely integrated, with large, well-positioned climate control knobs. The big speedometer and tachometer are located in a nicely contoured instrument pod in front of the steering wheel. Smaller fuel and coolant temperature gauges are set inside, along with a small LCD readout for the odometer and trip meter as well as gear-selection indicator for automatics.

The seats are contoured and finished in a classy cloth material that feels high quality. The driver's seat is six-way adjustable on all models.

We noticed several nice touches that kept our test sedan from feeling like a cheap econobox. Among them: Dampened grab handles, a thick roof lining, center folding front and rear armrests, a tilt steering wheel, a micro roof-mounted antenna, driver and passenger side-illuminated vanity mirrors, cabin air filtration, remote trunk and fuel cap releases, and a windshield shade band. There are decent-size pockets with a cupholder in each door. In addition, there are other storage places and a big glovebox.

The rear seat splits 60/40 for additional storage capacity. For better rearward visibility, the three rear-seat headrests slide down into the seatback when not needed. A fold-out center armrest with two cupholders is provided for rear-seat passengers.

Rear-seat legroom and headroom is not too bad unless the car is full of six-footers. Getting into the back seats is made easier by locating the rear wheels farther back, so the wheelwell does not intrude into the sedan's door opening as much.

Compared to the sedan, the coupe surrenders less than a half-inch of hip room up front, and less than an inch in the rear; otherwise its passenger-comfort dimensions are identical to those of the sedan.

Trunk volume in the sedan is a very respectable 12.4 cubic feet. Despite its shorter length, the hatchback coupe expands this to 15.9 cubic feet with the rear seats in place. Folding the back seats flat in either car greatly increases the total cargo volume and makes room for long and bulky items.