Used Cobalt or Accent

I have a chance to purchase either a 2006 Chevy Cobalt or 2006 Hyundai Accent for the same amout of money. Both cars are used but are both in excellent, like new condition. I will primarily use the car as a commuter vehicle. Overall cost of ownership including gas mileage, repair, durability, etc. are important to me.

The Chevy is bigger and feels relatively more substantial. The Hyundai gets better gas mileage.

Which one is likely to have a lower cost of ownership in the long term (ten years)? My apology for cross posting.

Reply to
Jack
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Whichever car was treated better by the original owner. Ask for the maintenance records. Whichever car has better maintenance records, buy that one.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Jack wrote in news:1180030916.632282.256950 @h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

OK! first...what are the milages of each car? second...is there a complete service history for each car? third....What warranty is there for each car?...is there a 5year warranty unlimited milage for the accent for example?

I like driving in my car

Reply to
I like driving in my car

All things being equal...go with the Cobalt. Bigger, better resale, both are good vehicles.

Reply to
Rob

It also depends on what you do for a living. If you work on a Union job site or in construction some people can get very nasty toward buying a car not made in the U.S., even if the U.S. doesn't make a car worth buying and a lot of the "American" cars have less domestic parts and assembly then others. Bill

Reply to
billyboy24d

It is hard to predict what will be in ten years but right now gas mileage is a big factor to consider. My choice would be the Accent, for durability and mileage. If resale after ten years is a factor then the Cobalt MAY be a better choice. I have a 05 Accent that I purchased new as a commuter car and IMO it was a great choice, After 30,000 miles it has been completely trouble free, something I cannot say about my last two new car purchases, A

1999 Ford F250 and a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis.

Jack Cassidy

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

I'm not much of a fan of GM cars, but the Cobalt is an exception. I rented a lot of cars in the spring of 2006, and the Cobalt was the only one of them I really liked. I drove it thousands of miles, and never had any problems with it. It was comfortable, almost fun to drive, and got amazing fuel economy, consistently.

Reply to
Tom Y

CR gives the Cobalt dismal ratings, esp. reliability, and overall mpg of only 23 for the 4 cyl. They like the Accent better, altho apparently it's too new to rate fully. But CR listed 28 mpg's--big diff vs. the cobalt.

Not really a fan of CR, but shit, they are about the only show in town. Don't know how accurate their mpg ratings are, but hopefully they are at least correct on a *relative* comparison basis.

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

Yes, in ten years it may be worth $15 while the Accent is worth only $12.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Yeah but that $30

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

Yeah but that $3.00 may be important to some people. :c) If my Accent gives me good service for 10 years I won't care if it's only worth 12 cents, I'll put it in the trash and go buy another. When I purchased mine they literally took it off the truck, took off the plastic protecting the paint, washed it and filled the gas tank and I drove it away. It has not been back to the dealer for anything since. No adjustments, no tweaking on anything, Made a believer out of me.

Jack Cassidy

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

Interesting. I test drove a Cobalt before buying my Sonata and it was the most uncomfortable car I've driven since my 79 Chevette. Actually, it was worse than the Chevette. The seat was hard as a rock and the car road like a buckboard.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

I keep cars until they are used up. I've had a couple towed to the junk yard but I "traded in" my 91 Regal. The book value if in good condition was $850 according to KBB. Problem is, I'd have to spend about $1200 to get it to be worth that. Dealer gave me $100 for it. I figured it was just transportation to go pick up the new one. I managed to even work out the gas so that the warning light for low fuel came on about two miles from the dealer.

Sonata now has 15200 and still perfect.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

They are two different size classes, hardly comparable to each other. But I wouldn't get the Cobalt. Consumer Reports' reliability ratings say that the Cobalt is horribly bad in this department. It's so bad that the defect rate is literally off their charts. Absolute rock bottom. In the basement. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole for fear the pole will melt.

The current Accent is unrated, but at least you got that 5yr/60K bumper-to-bumper warranty.

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Wong

Edwin:

So tell us the rest of your life story you A.H. Do you really think we all care about your problems.

Reply to
p

Since you took the time to reply, you must have enjoyed reading my post. Thank you for your interest. Chapter 2 will be posted later today.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Hyundai = 10 yr bumper to bumper warranty to original owner - they do it to show the quality

GM - 5 year drive train to try to convince us they are getting serious about quality if they are still here to cover the warranty.

Reply to
nothermark

If I HAD to pick between an Accent and a Cobalt, I'd take a Cobalt.

I test drove an 06 Accent with my mother when she was car shopping. It drove and felt and sounded a lot like her old 86 Excel, right down to the door chime. Considering how much of a turd that car was I cannot recommend a Hyundai to anyone. (and yes, I'm using the same logic that people use who once drove an 82 Chevette and deduced all GM's were crap.)

Frankly, if you're looking for an econobox commuter car, I'd suggest a Corolla or Civic. Neither car has anything resembling a personality, but generally seem to run for about 10 years with minimal investment. And I'm a GM guy...I'm yet to be convinced the Cobalts will hold up.

If you want a car with a personality... that's a different question.

TCO is tricky - when I was car shopping in the fall for a family car I spent a lot of time adding up fuel costs, insurance costs, and estimated repair costs for a lot of cars... and ended up buying the car that had the features I wanted anyway. (Subaru Legacy wagon with a manual transmission and AWD.)

FWIW, in Manitoba, here's a comparison of insurance rates for basic coverage for your cars (base cars, base coverage)

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06 Cobalt: $1612 06 Accent: $1504 06 Civic: $1707 06 Legacy Wagon: $1504

Ray

Reply to
Ray

Fortunately, there has been major improvements by Hyundai over the past 20 years. The old Excel certainly was a turd but if they kept making cars like that, they'd not be in business today. It is not easy to overcome those early impressions though.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

fwiw, I still have it in my back yard. My mom finally parked it in 2002 when it was consuming equal amounts of gas and oil. I'm going to start it up this year so I can laugh one last time and then recycle it. It is the car I took my driver's test in...

So, if anyone wants parts off an 86 Hyundai Excel GL, let me know... you pay shipping...

Reply to
Ray

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