Oddly Clean Korean Econoboxes: 1998 Kia Sephia vs 1999 Hyundai Accent

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Good morning, and welcome back to another week of scraping the bottom of the automotive barrel! Today we have a couple of cars that will make you wonder, “How the hell are those still so nice?” But first, we need to finish up with Friday’s cruisers:

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Looks like the Ambassador got some love, but not enough. But I mean, come on – we’re talking about a straight-eight Roadmaster, in green! Nothing stood a chance against that. Congratulations, Buick. Long may you run.

“Long running” is not a trait often associated with some other cars, like early South Korean imports, for example. Hyundai’s early efforts have almost completely vanished from the landscape, and if you see an early Kia, it’s almost certain to be on its last legs. Yet somehow, here are two low-mileage examples of Korean econoboxes that still look almost new after a quarter of a century.

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Almost, that is.

I need to give a shoutout to Sam Blockhan on Opposite Lock for finding these two cars for sale. Sam, like many young members of Oppo, loves posting what I struggle to think of as “old” cars: vehicles from the ’80s and ’90s that they’ve never seen, but I recall vividly and not fondly. Still, it’s always a fun trip down memory lane, seeing what forgotten gems they’ve unearthed. Let’s take a look at a couple of them now.

1998 Kia Sephia – $4,911

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Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Fort Pierce, FL

Odometer reading: 41,000 miles

Runs/drives? Yep

Kia’s first entry into the US market was a dowdy little sedan called the Sephia. Designed in-house by Kia, but using license-built engine and chassis designs from Mazda, the Sephia was meant to be cheap, reliable, and a good value. Well, one out of three ain’t bad.

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But it was enough of a success to give Kia a foot in the door, and that’s all they needed. This is Kia’s second-generation Sephia, a little roomier, a little more refined, with the same Korean-built variant of Mazda’s twin-cam BP engine. A Sephia with a manual is actually kind of a fun little car to drive. This one, tragically, is not a manual.

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It is, however, practically new, with only 41,000 miles on the clock, and only minor blemishes. It’s being sold by a dealership, so history is going to be hard to come by, but with the condition this thing is in, I’m not sure it matters. It is a little pricey for what it is, even with the low mileage, but dealer prices on cars like this are usually pretty flexible. Just wave some cash in their faces.

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It’s a dull, uninspiring little turd of a car, frankly, but damn, do I miss plain silver steel wheels on economy cars. There’s just something wonderfully unpretentious about them.

1999 Hyundai Accent – $3,993

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Engine/drivetrain: 1.5 liter overhead cal inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Poquoson, VA

Odometer reading: 49,000 miles

Runs/drives? Sure does

Hyundai and Kia were rivals early on, but in 1998, Hyundai became part-owner of Kia, so now they’re kind of on the same side. Hyundai got off to a rocky start in the US, with the Excel subcompact earning a reputation for unreliability and disposable-ness. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw a Hyundai Excel on the street.

But you do see its replacement, the Accent, here and there, and the nameplate is still in production.

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Where Kia licensed designs from Mazda, Hyundai got their engines from Mitsubishi in the early days. This 1.5-liter motor is all Hyundai, however, and it actually holds up pretty well. It puts out a thundering eighty-eight horsepower through a four-speed automatic in this case, making on-ramps exciting in the wrong way.

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This little Hyundai is in remarkably good shape, and clocks in at just under 50,000 miles. The seller (a dealership again) says it’s a one-owner car that runs well, and has functional air conditioning, though with that tiny engine I bet switching it on makes it feel like you’ve dropped anchor.

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The upside to the small engine is fuel economy – you can flog this thing for all its worth and still pull 35 miles per gallon out of it.

I do find it funny when the young’uns start waxing nostalgic about cars like these. But it’s all relative: either one of these is as reliable as a Camry and as luxurious as a Rolls-Royce compared the economy cars of 20 years earlier. You could probably get a great many trouble-free, boring miles out of either of these. So which one will it be?

(Image credits: Autotrader.com sellers)

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44 thoughts on “Oddly Clean Korean Econoboxes: 1998 Kia Sephia vs 1999 Hyundai Accent

  1. Hyundai all day and twice on Sunday.

    Kias of that era were absolute garbage. They were pre-Hyundai designs that got cost-cut as far as possible. They were meant to be essentially disposable cars. Hemorrhaging cash from their awful cars is how Hyundai got the stake they did in Kia.

    The Hyundai, on the other hand, is from the era when Hyundai started caring about quality. Well, they tried. The intent was there but the execution could be spotty. The Alpha engine in that Accent is a Hyundai design, although greatly inspired by Mitsubishi. They’re generally pretty reliable engines, if a bit crude in places. That Accent is a prime candidate for a Beta 2.0 liter/5-speed swap. Or turbo the Alpha. Either is good for about 138 hp or so but the Beta will do that on 87 octane. May as well put a light flywheel on it, and one of the rare lightweight billet crank pulleys if you can find one. Then it’ll rev pretty quickly. These engines aren’t screamers like a Honda. They much prefer to live between 2500 and 4500 RPM. Parts are still out there for the Accent. Good luck finding pre-Hyundai Sephia parts…

  2. Was overseas teacher at international school in Republic of Georgia from 2009-2015. Needed a car to get from the city to school in the country. School person sold me a 2004 Hyundai Getz ( same as Accent but Getz name used in UK). Red color, manual transmission, hatchback, everything in kilometers. I think before I left the school I got another 40,000 km out of it. It ran like a little sports car and small enough to deal with city traffic. Only problem I had was clutch went out, but school security guard bought parts and put it back together. I sold it to someone else and to my knowledge it is still going!
    Great little run around, my vote is for the Hyundai.✅

  3. I’ve actually driven both, and the Hyundai wins by a lot. The Kia feels like it’s barely screwed together. The Hyundai of this era seriously isn’t bad. They were well ahead of Kia at this point in time.

  4. “Either one of these is as reliable as a Camry”
    Ha ha! Best joke of the day!!!
    I know, I know…supposed to be compared to 20 years ago…but still…good line

  5. Not honestly sure which one I just voted for, not that it matters. I attempted to go for the Hyundai simply because it is located in a better location, and if I have to travel to get one of these junkers then I would prefer to avoid Florida Man while doing so. Though the Mazda engine is probably the smarter way to go. Oh well.

  6. Uffta, both of these are dull as dishwater. I’ll take the Hyundai, simply because they made a lot more of them, so you stand a much better chance at being able to find parts for them (see barrel bolt being used as a glove box latch in the Kia, because you know that part is unobtanium).

    1. I had to laugh at that latch, because it’s exactly the sort of thing I would do. Hell, there are wood screws holding together parts of my truck’s dash.

  7. I’m pretty sure my aunt’s last car was a Hyundai Excel of this era. Or it may have been a Kia Accent, not that it makes much a difference. Getting driven somewhere by her when I was a kid was terrifying because she was the least attentive driver I’ve ever been around (rest her soul, but everyone in the family knew she probably shouldn’t have been allowed to drive even before she had dementia) and because the car constantly felt like it was going to come apart at the seams and toss us all onto the highway. Now imagine all that while being driven on Texas roads surrounded by lifted pickups and Suburbans.

    I can’t recommend either of these cars at any price today. They were deathtraps in the 90’s, and all of the vehicles around them have since put on a lot of weight and height. For $4k you’d be better off buying something newer and more substantial regardless of mileage.

  8. Gimme that Rocket 88 (hp)!

    I have a 2019 Kona and it’s not half bad. Driveability is OK, reliablility is darn good. I’m only @ 82K miles, and it’s maintained, but my son runs around in it, and it always gets him home.

  9. Canadian MIL had a Sephia 5 speed (“Sophie”) she beat into the ground driving up and down Vancouver Island. We don’t get to visit very often since we’re East coast but I’d always cringe looking it over: ashtray on wheels, 3 quarts low on oil, metal on metal brakes. Would fix what I could with the household tools and my leatherman.

    Was replaced by an early 2000s Civic last time we visited. Think she literally drove the wheels off that Sephia. Begrudging respect for the abuse it took.

  10. Just finished shopping for my 18 years old’s first car this weekend. The $3400-5k price point is a tough market at least in my city. I hope some of it is the continuing influence of the effects of COVID on the used market. I feel like we got him a good car though, a 2006 Toyota Solara(camry 2-door) with 197,000 miles for $4k. I looked at 5-6 others and all were in worse condition than I believe warranted a $4000ish price tag. The used car market is tough right now.

  11. Silver painted steel wheels!

    Remember on The Price Is Right when they’d open the curtain and the announcer would shout “A NEW CAR!!!”, and the crowd would go crazy. Then, he’d list off the features, and you KNEW it was a base model stripper when he’d call out those “Argent wheels”, aka silver painted steelies!

  12. Sephia, hands down. My brother had one of these in Baby Crap Green/Yellow and it just ran, and ran, and ran. I can only think of it needing one actual repair over the 300,000 miles they used it. It lasted so long, my first brother got tired of it and handed it down to my brother in law when he upgraded to a Lexus RX300. My brother in law used it to go between Wisconsin and Arkansas until his family grew and they needed a van for the kids. He then passed it on to my other brother who put on a lot more miles. As I recall, it finally required a more costly repair, at least in his eyes, and the engine started burning some oil, so he sold it off.

    Loud, basic, somewhat unrefined, gutless cars that will literally last longer than you want to own it. But a damn good choice.

  13. Accent all the way. There’s still a few of these limping around here of that vintage. They don’t suck quite as much as you’d think, and when your expectations are low, that’s all you need.
    I would not want to endure an accident in one though.

  14. My sister had one of those Sephias. She and I drove it from DC to Boston once when the car was only a year or two old. What an astounding pile of shit that car was. Frankly, I’m amazed the one we’re talking about today made it to 41k miles. I wouldn’t give anyone a single dollar for it, and would not wish it upon my worst enemy.

    1. Those are definitely not the same. The Kia is a pre-Hyundai design and a pile of rolling garbage. The Accent is one of Hyundai’s first in-house engineered cars from the era when they started caring about quality. Well, they cared but didn’t always execute. Given that history the Hyundai is the clear winner. IDK how the dealer polished that turd of a Kia without something falling off.

  15. A few friends have had accents of that era as winter beaters. Always started and ran and most people got a few years out of them before they went from unsafe to massively unsafe due to rust and off to the scrapper they went. So based on that I’m voting Hyundai.

  16. “Where Kia licensed designs from Mazda, Hyundai got their engines from Mitsubishi in the early days.”

    Back when I was a broke college student I had a ’91 Eagle Talon TSi AWD (the wrong car to own when you’re broke) and I could buy replacement parts at the Chrysler/Eagle dealership or the Mitsubishi dealership for about the same price at either. Or, if you’re resourceful enough, you could go to the Hyundai dealership and with enough searching find a matching part for 1/3 the price of the other two.

    1. When I was looking for my first car, I almost bought a turbo AWD talon. I was too late, as another guy snapped it up before I could look at it. I was pretty disappointed. I told my dad about it, and he told me to stay far far away from those cars. Likely dodged a bullet, there. I ended up in a ‘95 Saturn SL2 with a manual which I traded in with 180k miles with very few issues.

      1. I loved that car. Don’t get me wrong, Mitsubishis kind of like motorcycles. They’re unbelievably fun when they’re running but you shouldn’t use one as your primary car because they’re not that interested in making it to work every day. I still miss it though, after it died the last time I kept it in my garage for years and years before I finally gave up on it.

        You really don’t see them anymore, at all, which is sort of due to the Fast and Furious effect modding them within an inch of their lives but otherwise it’s just typical Moparbishi reliability and support failing to keep them on the road.

        1. I find that more than a little funny, because to me, Mitsubishi was always the “reliable cars” version of Chrysler. If you wanted something to tinker with, you bought the Chrysler built Chrysler product. If you wanted something to get you to work every day, you definitely bought the Mitsubishi built Chrysler.

          I did almost 750,000 miles spread over four different Mitsubishi made Chryslers with very little wrenching outside of ordinary maintenance. And halfshafts. Mitsubishis of the 1980s and 1990s eat CV joints quite regularly.

          And I only got my first Mitsubishi made Chrysler because an older sibling had two prior to me with no issues. Several other family members and friends with similar experience.

  17. For that money, if I’m forced to buy something Korean, I’m taking my chances with a ratty Genesis coupe that’s likely wearing the current owner’s Instagram tag and smells like a Phish concert.

    I had a second gen Acccent with the 1.6 and auto, and my lifetime average was about 26mpg, 35 would only happen with sustained highway. It was also a pretty miserable car – peppy enough off the line, but gutless at speed, no joy, no charm, just 2300lbs of questioning the decisions that got you to this point in life. Of the pair, I’ll take my chances with the Kia for the Mazda connections, but expect disappointment.

    1. There’s a Genesis coupe that shows up at the Cars and Coffee my dad and I attend periodically that literally has an Arizona green tea can wrap. I don’t think the vape smell will ever come out of it…

  18. As a 90s kid I do enjoy some of the trips down memory lane that these well kept shitboxes provide…although I don’t have personal experience with either of these, they still evoke strong emotions. Much like I said about the Shitbox Showdown Expedition a few weeks ago, I can hear Shimmer by Fuel blasting over the speakers as me and the boys get driven from a soccer game we lost 11-1 to get some consolation ice cream.

    Would I buy either? Hell no, and to be honest the last thing I want to do is get caught up in the 90s kid nostalgia car market. It’s not uncommon to see pristine examples of late 90s/early 2000s family cars get swooped up for illogical sums of money these days. I’ve seen super nice Tahoes and Suburbans from this era sell for prices in the mid 20s recently…which is absurd.

    Nostalgia or not, shitboxes they be….and if I had to buy a $3-4000 car I’d go Japanese rather than early Korean, and I say this as someone who owns a Hyundai. But regardless it’s fun to window shop.

  19. I’ll take the Kia – southern car (no rust?) and old enough to be Historic tagged in MD so it doesn’t matter that it’s not in a CARB state

      1. I saw a historic plate once in Virginia on the most beat to hell early 90’s Accord you have ever seen. It really was as far as you could get from historic in any definition of the word other than “old.”

      1. Really, either one of these would’ve been more interesting if pitted against a high-mile luxury car. For the same money, would you rather have a low-mile Hyundai/Kia econobox or a 300,000 mile Lexus/Acura?

    1. I’d take either one of those over the Kiundai twins (or siblings, or cousins, or whatever their inbred relationship is). Slapping Mustang performance parts into the Fox-chassis Fairmont/Zephyr twins would be a hoot.

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