2012 Hyundai Accent First Drive
We're ardency inspired as soon as we floor the throttle on the I-515 freeway on our way out of Vegas. The 2012 Hyundai Accent's new, all-aluminum 1.6-liter four-cylinder machine is as smooth and free-revving as we remember from our first tyrannize in the Veloster .By far the most sophisticated engine ever offered in a flat Hyundai, this 1.6-liter features direct injection and mutable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust side. Hyundai has raised compression to 11.0:1 (versus 10:1 on the old iron-plan b mask 1.6-liter engine in last year's Accent), and the results look in point of fact good on paper: The 2012 Accent is rated at 138 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 123 pound-feet of torque at 4,850 rpm.
Although the upcoming Chevrolet Sonic will top that torque silhouette, right now nobody else even comes close. The Ford Fiesta is closest with 120 hp and 112 lb-ft of torque, while the Honda Fit is movables for 117 hp and 106 lb-ft. The Mazda 2 has just 100 hp and 98 lb-ft at its disposal. The 2011 Accent was down there in the trenches with 110 hp and 106 lb-ft.