I shall have to have a word with the appropriate authorities. The Hyundai Accent MVi is the "sporty" (a relative term, as we shall see) version of the range, and Hyundai is of course making a decent attempt at making a name for itself in top-class motorsport. None of this, however, was enough to justify what met my gaze when I came across the test car for the first time.For whatever reason - pure and simple devilment, I suspect - the Hyundai press office had decided to festoon this machine with the same array of stickers found on the more specialised examples with which Alister McRae and Kenneth Eriksson are contesting this year's World Rally Championship.You might think this made it stand out somewhat, and by golly you might be about right at that. The Lads' jaws dropped when they saw it. Other road users of a boy-racerish description followed it at a distance of rarely more than three feet. Generally, whenever the MVi was visible, it dominated the landscape. I would have made less of an impression if I had been driving a Ferrari. I might even have made less of an impression if I had been driving two Ferraris at once.When reviewing a car one has to compare it with others of its type. Your ordinary Accent is a modest little chap, with an emphasis on economical motoring. If, however, the Accent in question looks like it is on its way to the next rally stage, it's difficult even from the inside to consider it in anything other than high-performance terms.And that's slightly unfortunate, given that the MVi is nothing more than what it appears to be when nobody has stickered it to smithereens, namely a slightly hotted-up version of an inoffensive hatchback. A four-wheel drive, 200bhp version, possibly with input from WRC team Motor Sport Developments, will be along in due course, but that will be in a different league altogether.The MVi's 1.5-litre twin-cam engine sounds pleasantly rorty - deliberate policy on Hyundai's part, I have no doubt. It isn't as powerful as your ears suggest it should be, though, producing a fairly modest 101bhp which provides useful if not jaw-dropping performance.Handling is a different matter. There is a great deal of body roll, despite the sports suspension, with the result that the MVi is harder work to place accurately on corners than you feel it should be. I had driven it for many miles before I found an environment in which it felt anything like an enthusiast's car.But I did. Not far from base camp there is an extraordinary stretch of road which, for more than ten miles, contains almost nothing that could be described as a straight. Instead, it's a constant series of challenging corners and very much more challenging bumps. The worst of these bumps are on the very few straightish bits, but there are plenty more on the corners too. A well set-up car is terrific on this road. A badly set-up one is a nightmare.Well, the Accent went along that road as if it had been built for the purpose. Beyond a certain point the bumps confused it, but up to quite respectable speeds it would take them in its stride, recovering very quickly afterwards and settling itself down in readiness for the next obstacle.In fact, it behaved very much the way a rally car (rather than a race car) would be expected to, which gave me a sneaking suspicion that it might have more in common with the WRC cars than simply half a ton of stickers.Let's not be rash, though - the MVi is just a warm hatch which will do the job for a young enthusiast before he or she can afford something a bit more serious. Not great, and not a classic, but not bad company either.I had only one minor problem with it, when I parked it late at night and discovered that the brake lights had stayed on. I couldn't find a way of fixing this (I didn't want to disconnect the battery in case I confused the ECU), and the next morning the brake lights were off - not because the problem had fixed itself, but because the battery now contained about the same amount of electric charge as the carpets.Such an event would not normally merit a mention in a road test; these things happen, after all. But the reaction of the people looking after the car was along the lines of, "Oh, no, not another one". This turns out to be a fairly common problem with Accents, which is worth bearing in mind if you are tempted to make that purchase.Second opinion: Yes, I think this is a modestly sporty (rather than sporting) car with a probably well defined market niche. I took a previous-model MVi on a long haul out to Spain and back, and thought it went pretty smartly. This one didn't seem as much of an improvement performance-wise on the standard Accent, but that's maybe because the standard Accent has upped its game. Noticeably roomier in the back seats than some other superminis. It's worth bearing in mind that there's a £700 cashback on this car until the end of November, which makes it a better bargain. Just below five figures seems a more realistic price. Sensible insurance grouping, too. Ross Finlay. Engine 1500cc, 4 cylinders Power 101bhp Fuel 32.8mpg Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.5 seconds Top speed 112mph Price £10,699 Details correct at publication date
