Beauty, it is said, is only skin-deep. That means ugliness is too, which is good news for these two cars. Let’s try to ignore their unattractive exteriors and see if they have any redeeming qualities beneath the skin.
Yesterday we looked a couple of fun green machines, and a few of you wanted a “Both” button. But there has to be a winner, and that winner, by a narrow margin, was the Saab 9-3 convertible. Sorry, air-cooled Volkswagen fans, but I think Friday is going to be a second-chance Showdown, so you’ll get another shot at it.
I think the Saab would be my choice as well. The Type 3 is just a little too primitive for me to deal with; it’s the kind of car I admire, but don’t actually want. The Saab would make a great weekend toy with a little work, without all the old-car hassle.
For today’s choices, we’re putting the “Shitbox” back in the Showdown. These things are ugly, rusty, beat to hell, and yet supposedly still run and drive just fine. And they’re both under our original $2,500 price cap. So let’s kick it old-school and check out a couple of absolute clunkers.
2008 Hyundai Accent – $1,950
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Chicago, IL
Odometer reading: 105,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Despite all its recent moves upmarket, when I think of Hyundai, this is still the car I think about: the humble Accent hatchback. Hyundai doesn’t make these anymore, and nobody else really makes anything like it anymore either, at least not for US consumption. It’s not much to look at, even in good condition, but it’s an honest little car, built to a price and unashamed of it. Looking for style over substance? Look elsewhere.
This Accent is a one-owner car, with only 104,000 miles on its odometer. It’s powered by a 1.6-liter engine paired with a four-speed automatic. Yeah, I’d rather have a manual too, but at this price, you take what you can get. It’s in great mechanical shape, from the sounds of it, with lots of new parts, including brakes and tires, so it shouldn’t need anything right away. The tire-pressure monitor light is on, though, so I’d check with the shop that installed the tires and make sure they installed the sensors right.
I wish I could show you more of the interior, but this is the best view we get. It’s dirty inside, and there’s heavy wear on the radio buttons, and that’s about all I can tell you. The seller does say that both the heat and air conditioning work fine, so that’s something.
The seller, amusingly, says that this car “could use some TLC” on the outside. Let’s be honest: It’s trashed. It has damage all over, occasionally repaired with duct tape, including what I think is a big hole in the right side. The left front fender is either completely wadded-up and straightened back out, or it’s a mass of duct tape too; I can’t tell which. Nothing against the seller, of course, but I’m not sure I’d brag about this being a one-owner car.
2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback GTS – $2,497
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline 4, CVT automatic, FWD
Location: Farmington, MN
Odometer reading: 237,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Now this is a car I didn’t remember at all. I’m familiar with this generation of Mitsubishi Lancer; I’ve even rented one, but I had forgotten the Sportback version even existed until I saw this ad. I know the previous generation Lancer came as a wagon, and they’re as rare as hen’s teeth, but this might be even rarer. It’s a shame this one is in such rough shape, actually; a nice clean Lancer Sportback might be quite a find.
It’s a GTS model, featuring a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with Mitsubishi’s MIVEC variable valve timing system. It sends 168 horsepower to the front wheels through a CVT automatic. I know a lot of you hate CVTs, and there is some question about their durability, but this one has made it to 237,000 miles, so someone did something right taking care of it. It’s being sold by a dealer, so any other information about its previous care is purely speculative. I should note that both the check engine and TPMS lights are on, in the name of full disclosure.
It’s pretty fancy inside for a Lancer, with leather seats and a bunch of power goodies. It looks like it’s in decent shape, but I don’t know how many of the power features still work. The ad is no help; it reads like AI or, at best, boilerplate. You’ll just have to push all the buttons and see which ones still do something.
Outside, it gets ugly. Not only are the hood and front bumper mismatched, likely as a result of a minor accident, but the tin worm has been snacking on this car. The bottom of the left front fender is completely rusted out, and I shudder to think of what’s lurking under those side skirts.
Unfortunately, these are about as cheap as running cars get these days. You can still find better deals, but you have to be in the right place at the right time to grab one. This is what you’re more likely to find. So take a good look at them, warts and all, and decide which one you’d rather take a chance on.
Yesterday was both. Today is NOPE!
I like a crappy little car as much as the next guy, but both of these have been ridden hard, put away wet, crashed through the barn wall, fell into the gulch, abandoned, recovered, rinse and repeat.
Since I’ve gotta pick one, I pick the High and Dry Accent.
It looks like a great urban traffic merger and nobody will park within 10 feet of it.
There’s a certain beauty that is not immediately obvious. (-:
Nope.
Never seen a car with a dryer vent before. The mitsu 2.4 is a great durable engine (a derivation of which is still used in Outlanders etc today) but let down by the CVT. Mechanically, I’d bet the Hyundai would typically last longer at this point.
HOWEVER….Homemade sheet metal patch aside, the horrendously mismatched stick-on trim from side to side (how hard is it, really to even get it close?) tells me the Hyundai has been absolutely knackered. How many oil changes do you think it has actually seen in its 100k life? I’d bet you can count it on one hand.
A couple rattle cans or a wrap and the bumper/hood colors can get close enough. Realistically these are both awful buys but of the two, I’d take the mitsu.
What’s really cool is you could get the lancer sportback in ralliart trim. In this generation the package included a turbo, awd and the twin clutch auto out of the evo MR. Unlike earlier raliarts that just included an appearance package.
I drove one of those once back when I worked at CarMax when I was in college a decade ago. It was pretty spunky!
You’ve broken my love of hatchbacks today.
Buy both, slam one into the other at 50 mph, and make the world a better place.
Edit- Looking closer at the Lancer’s structural integrity 10 mph might be all it takes.
Yeesh. This is payback for yesterday. How about Neither or “Hey that VW from yesterday isn’t so bad now, huh?”
Mitsubishi if I have to, those Hyundai’s were not good.
I’d take Mitsubishi over Hyundai, and also, a 4-door hatch is more useful than a 2-door hatch. Cooler color, nicer inside too
My brother in law had an accent of that era. Even 15 years ago, it was one of the worst glued together piles of dog shit that ever existed. And that one had like 40k on it.
I wouldn’t trust this one around the block. Lancer by default.
I know that I joke about Red Green quite often, but sealing what seems to be a large hole in the sheet metal with The Handyman’s Secret Weapon might be a step too far. Especially as the car hasn’t been converted into some other device or equipped with some form of convenience through the force of creativity, ingenuity, and duct tape. Unless that taped-up hole contains a hidden device that makes trips on I-55 north of Joliet more convenient. Not sure what that would be, but I’m sure those of you who live up there have ideas.
In any case, gone with the Lancer. Maybe if the CVT blows up someday a Ralliart or Evo X drive train can go in. At that price I can Winter Beater it without fear of it only lasting one season.
Gonna make the not-unreasonable assumption that the Mitsu’s powertrain is more or less used up at 240,000 miles. And if it isn’t, the sheet metal and structure are. Shame, this would be a desirable car if in better shape.
Offer $1600 for the Accent. $1700 if they’ve got a good story for why it looks like a small cannonball went through the rear panel. Then beat the ever-living-hell out of it every single time you drive. Redline all the shifts. All of them. The body is going to give out soon, so catch that drivetrain up on the abuse.
A girlfriend had a one generation earlier Accent. I was shocked that the spot for the clock on the dash was just a small black hole. That’s because: a digital clock (like the one in a kitchen timer that costs $4) was OPTIONAL .
The dash on this Accent looks like it belongs in a Bentley by comparison.
We all joke about Altimas being the cockroach of American roads, but from a survivor-rate, I still see quite a few Lancers still on the roads in reasonable shape – considering that they didn’t have near the sales numbers that Nissan has, it speaks highly on the durability scale. And, in contrast, that era of Hyundai doesn’t get any better.
So it’s an easy for on the Mitsubishi.
That Hyundai seems to have left quite a few Accent marks on other vehicles.
When I think about Hyundai, most recent not-awful models notwithstanding, I think about the grossly misnamed Excel that let me down many, many times. I don’t want anything to do with Hyundai even now, when those memories are over 30 years old. It was an economy car to buy, but damn near a luxury car to keep running. It wanted parts and labor and it wanted them all the damned time.
As much as I’d rather NOT go for someone else’s CVT with over 200K on the clock, I’m probably going to hate it a little less than the Accent. Maybe.
My parents had a 1988 Excel around 1990 or so. It went through four engines in the two years that they had it.
The only place that would take it off their hands advertised “If you can drive it through the gate, we’ll pay CASH for it!”
It caught on fire before they could make it through the gate.
OOOF, talk about a day for neither.
I’ll take the accent. It has half the miles and that drivetrain is rock-solid reliable.
Today needs a third option. Either “Keep shopping” or “Buy a used motorcycle”.
Option four: “I’ll walk.”
Some of us contend with winter half the year. So maybe I should invest in a Ural or Dnepr.
Neither would be the most popular option, were it there.
The Hyundai is just so beaten up, I’d be depressed just walking up to it each day. I don’t want either of these, even my shittiest car is a mint specimen by comparison, but at least the Lancer has zero tape on it, VS tape on nearly every panel of the Accent.
So Lancer it is for me, would make a fine Rally Cross beater until the rust causes it to snap in half.
Mismatched color panel vs. duct tape. Hmmm…..
The mismatched panels and rust might be related – if the front end was bent enough to leave gaps where there shouldn’t be gaps it might cause water and mud to build up. Although it looks horrendous the Accent is pretty low miles and the AC works, so there’s only one winner for me.
The Hyundai, just because it costs less of my imaginary monies.
Is the door closed on the Hyundai? I want to like it for a cheap winter beater but man there are so many obvious things going on.
Neither are in great shape, but I’ll go Mitsu today.
Eesh! I kind of like the Mitsu–it’s at least the kind of car where mismatched body panels subtly suggest “Drift repairs–because I’m a cool drift guy,” and I do trust their quality control better. It’s also a significantly more serious car, I think. That being said, the CEL could be bad, and I don’t think I could get something that rusty through inspection, so I guess the Hyundai wins by default
The Mitsu is an interesting body style, but hoo-boy. That thing is BEAT. Rusty, probably wrecked, higher miles, a CVT, AND it costs more? I’ll take my chances with the Hyundai.
2-door hatch for me.
Between the rust, CVT, mileage and the 4 doors, hard pass on the Mitsubishi.