Took the 'lil Runabout out on it's first road trip this weekend to a family wedding up in Denver.
Had my wife and enough gear that I had to fold down the rear seats to cram everything in. Quite a bit of weight compared to the daily commute with just me in it.

Couple of things I noticed;

Highway travel at 65 mph was about 3200 rpm - but the car would fairly quickly accelerate to 80 mph. at about 4000 rpm's. Could maintain 75 mph (speed limit) up any of the hills, even with the A/C on.

City driving with this weight and the A/C on was something different, though.
You really have to rev it before you let the clutch out from a dead stop. Stalled it a couple of times slow speed maneuvering in mall parking lots, etc. :whistling:
You have to wind out each gear to ~3500 rpm before upshifting, or it would dog right out in the higher gear.
Without the A/C on it accelerated stoplight to stoplight MUCH better.

Don't know what I got for mileage - haven't topped it off yet.
I left with a little under full tank and returned with a little under a half tank doing 185 trip miles.
Sounds good to me!

No comments??

Does anyone run their Accent with 4 adults in it?

How does it run and handle?

I just took a road trip this weekend (160 miles round trip) with two other adults in the car and the hatch packed with two cases of beer and a couple coolers full of food/ice/etc.

The ride on the highway was not a lot different than when there is just me in the car. I even had the A/C running. It didn't struggle on any of the smallish hills that I encountered...

I did notice that it was a bit sluggish on takeoff when I was sitting in some stop & go traffic on 695... Not really surprised though... the car was hot, the A/C was on and there were 400 lbs more weight than normal in the car with me.

I had less than half a tank when I left, and it was just under an 1/8th when I got back. I filled up yesterday and that tank got me a combined 34.9 MPG.

Yeah around the city at stoplights you really feel the engine bog with the a/c on it could cause me to stall because i dont want to be too hard on the clutch, i only use ac if im on the highway usually otherwise its driverside window down with no a/c.

If you can manage with just the windows down when driving in stop and go traffic it is better for your car since the A/C is harsher on the engine. I always keep my windows down if I'm driving city streets.

I also took a 900 mile roundtrip with 4 girls in the car and the hwy was no different. handeling was no different. Even on driving through the grapevine south on hwy 5, climbing the hill was no different then if i were making the drive alone. City driving stop and go felt a little different, even without the air on.

Even drove 200 mile round trip with my car packed to capacity. 5 girls and even that seemed to be okay, although those girls wore on me since they all like to be backseat drivers.

Even drove 200 mile round trip with my car packed to capacity. 5 girls and even that seemed to be okay, although those girls wore on me since they all like to be backseat drivers.


oh, i just shivered a little... i just have ONE to deal with... you poor poor soul lol

to add to the topic, we dont have a lot of low end torque(sp) so stop and go the weight makes a huge difference, i havent noticed any problems on the highway either with a car load of people and crap, or vice versa not decided ono a couple of them :whistling: but yeah around town, i can sprint faster on my bicycle then this car gets moving lol.... too bad the OP doesnt have the mpg, i would be curious if on that level it made any difference. i would specdulate not, minus the getting up to speed part.

I dont like it but Ive had 4 adults in my accent before. You feel the lost in power lol. Especially when you are in a stop and going area.