Another surprise was this little car's big cargo area. At 15.9 cubic feet with the rear seats in place, the Accent far surpasses the Yaris' 9.5 cubic feet of cargo volume, and it's not far from the larger, four-door Versa hatchback, which boasts 17.8 cubic feet. The Honda Fit, though, is pretty huge, with 20.6 cubic feet.

I was also able to squeeze two large baby gates into the back — upright, with the backseat down — along with other bulky items filling the rest of the cargo area while running some errands. Later, it swallowed a rather expensive grocery-store run ably, with no need to lower the seats.