Tomorrow marks three years since I took home the Kia. I had no idea if it would be a good car or a giant Korean pile, but I took the plunge either way.
So, where are we at? Some stats:
-I've logged just over 36k on it. That's 12k a year. Not awful.
-Aside from the purchase cost, it has cost me $5568.14 in fuel and maintenance costs.
-I'm averaging 27.3MPG. This is down from last year. I am in temporary housing now a little closer to work while my house is being rebuilt, and it's nonstop bumper-to-bumper traffic at all hours around here.
-Best tank MPG: 34.8. Worst tank MPG: 22.4. Again, nonstop traffic around my current place. I recorded that low a few weeks ago.
The car still remains engaging to drive, especially since I did that delete pipe. I still can't believe that did anything. That said, if there's one thing I can lodge a complaint about, it's the interior. While it's still comfortable enough, you can see where they cheaped out.
This is the horn badge. It's delaminating and getting all weird. I have to stare at this every time I drive the thing, and as dumb as it is, it drives me nuts.
And then there's the driver's seat. I've talked about it before, and it's getting worse.
I was told all of this is "normal wear and tear" and none of it was covered by the bumper-to-bumper warranty. While my prior DD Mazda 3 did have a seat issue where a weld broke, it was recalled and if I didn't weld it back together myself, it would have been fixed by the dealer. The rest of the seat was in better shape than this at 187K miles with virtually no wear and tear. Aside from the fake leather cracking and tearing, the cloth parts of the seats have faded and gotten weird. There seems to be stains in them, and cleaning them actually makes them worse! I've tried upholstery cleaner, steam cleaners, and more, and the result is the same. This is the kind of stuff that reminds me that the car is a Kia. I know seat wear is relative, but when something that's 3 years old looks like a clapped out MN12 Thunderbird that's on Marketplace for $800 inside, it's annoying. It's all about that "initial quality", and not if it holds up down the road.
Other than the interior stuff, the car is doing great. It's almost time for brakes and possibly plugs, and everything else is holding up fine. It still gets compliments from random people wanting to know what it is, and when I tell them it's a Kia, they look at me like I have two heads. I do see a lot more of them around here now, probably because it's damn near impossible to get a Civic Si and these are 9/10ths one of those while saving nearly $10k on the purchase price. Overall, I still like the car a lot, and I still don't regret buying it.
They ditched the hybrid cloth/pleather seats for after 21 I believe. 22/23 are all the syntext pleather. It'll be interesting to see how those hold up compared to yours.
More "Kia Quality" I noticed yesterday:
Door weatherstripping is toast at just shy of 37k miles and about 3yrs of ownership. Again, my 2012 Mazda 3 I owned for 9 years from new and had 187k on it didn't do this. Hell, it took my Power Wagon about 40 years to do this. Again, "normal wear and tear", not covered. I don't even touch this getting in and out. Still like the car, but this is getting annoying.
Speaking of cool old Mopars.......
Tony Sestito said:
More "Kia Quality" I noticed yesterday:
Door weatherstripping is toast at just shy of 37k miles and about 3yrs of ownership. Again, my 2012 Mazda 3 I owned for 9 years from new and had 187k on it didn't do this. Hell, it took my Power Wagon about 40 years to do this. Again, "normal wear and tear", not covered. I don't even touch this getting in and out. Still like the car, but this is getting annoying.
do you drag your ass across that weatherstrip as you enter or exit, that maybe you didn't do when you were younger and/or more limber? i know that i push myself up out of the sport seat in my E92 in ways i never did in other cars, and the outboard seat bolster shows some wear as a result.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
See, I thought about that. I am a big guy, and that's something that could be happening. Definitely a contributing factor on the seat wear. But getting in and out, I don't seem to be touching it.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:
Tony Sestito said:
More "Kia Quality" I noticed yesterday:
Door weatherstripping is toast at just shy of 37k miles and about 3yrs of ownership. Again, my 2012 Mazda 3 I owned for 9 years from new and had 187k on it didn't do this. Hell, it took my Power Wagon about 40 years to do this. Again, "normal wear and tear", not covered. I don't even touch this getting in and out. Still like the car, but this is getting annoying.
do you drag your ass across that weatherstrip as you enter or exit, that maybe you didn't do when you were younger and/or more limber? i know that i push myself up out of the sport seat in my E92 in ways i never did in other cars, and the outboard seat bolster shows some wear as a result.
that was what happened with my 02 Elantra. Same seal, bigger guy and a ton of in/out.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :
Man, that's a cool one. And reminds me a lot of my great uncle's old '78 Ramcharger.
Back around 2010, I could have had this for FREE and I turned it down because I didn't have the bandwidth at the time to take on a big project. Thing was complete, mostly original, and had low miles. Factory Meyers plow rig, too! He bought it solely to plow his car dealership lot and later his property in NH. Had some body rust, but nothing terminal. I still have all the paperwork from it. I think it got junked. 
In reply to Tony Sestito :
There was an older one near me for sale that I passed daily then one sad day she was gone.
I was on the highway over the weekend and had to stop suddenly due to some vehicular shenanigans happening in front of me, and I started hearing some thumping/grinding from out back. After a bit, it went away. This has happened once before, same circumstances: traveling at highway speed and had to stand on the brakes due to people in front of me driving terribly, and the same thumping/grinding happened. Under normal driving and braking, and even moderate braking, everything feels fine.
After I got to my destination, the first thing I thought to do was to look at the rear rotors to see if it was metal on metal back there. Both rotors looked fine, but I am guessing it's time to do the brakes based on the weirdness under panic stops. It's got 38k miles on it, and I do mostly stop-and-go driving with it, and with the day job sending us mostly full time back in the office, they need to be replaced ASAP.
I haven't done brakes on this thing yet, but I'm guessing it's straightforward enough. Assuming the rear calipers have the twist-out cylinders for the e-brakes, so I should have everything to do the job. It's almost time to switch over to winters up here, so maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone.
Quick Update:
Just performed an oil change at 40k miles. Oil looked decent, and it looked like it may have used about 1/4 of a quart, but that's probably normal for one of these. The seats aren't getting any better, but I'm not alone here. Lots of posts in the FB Forte GT groups on cracking bolster pleather, so hopefully they do a recall (but unlikely). I still need to do the brakes and switch to my winter wheels. I'm hoping to do both at the same time. Everything else is good.
Another curious thing I've noticed: when driving at night, I constantly get people flashing their high beams at me because they think mine are on. The lights are at the correct, factory-set height, so I'm not sure if it's just people confusing the lows for highs (the "Porsche-style" quad daytime running LEDs stay on when the headlights are on) or they just hate LED lighting. It's annoying. Also not alone on this. as I recently posted in the FB group and about 90% of people have the same issue.
My work is sending me back to the office 4 days a week in January, so watch for the mileage to skyrocket in the coming months. Yay.
I get flashed occasionally as well and my light setup is a little different than yours. I think its got to do with the harsh cutoff on the leds and as you hit bumps/go over small rises it flashes into peoples eyes making them think your brights are on. I see this a LOT with the newer Honda pilots and Accords. IT always seems like they have their brights on.
In reply to bobzilla :
Good point. The newer Hondas and Acuras drive me NUTS with their LED setups, so it could be the cutoff.
Hi Tony. Just discovered this thread.
I bought a 2021 Forte GT exactly like yours almost exactly three years ago after an accident totaled my 2019 Veloster R-Spec. Mine came with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4's though. The Kia is basically the R-Spec drivetrain in a bigger sedan package. At that point in the pandemic the pickings were slim. I too drove a Mazda3 and decided I didn't love the lack of midrange punch it's motor had compared to modern turbo motors. Just like you I discovered the Forte GT somewhat accidentally. Loved it from day one even though it was a tad less quick and nimble than the Veloster. I currently have around 44,000 miles on it. I haven't had any of the wear and tear issues you're encountering. The only anomaly has been an intermittent issue with the lock button on the driver door. Fuel economy average is around 29mpg but I think I do significantly more highway miles.
In reply to Msterbee :
Welcome to the party, and glad yours is holding up well! All things considered, this one is doing OK. The minor annoyances can happen with any car.
Another thing that I forgot to mention:
One thing that has been driving me insane since day one is that when you shut the car off and get out, all the doors stay locked unless you hit the unlock button on the way out. When I commute to work, I throw my backpack in the back seat, so this was driving me crazy for the past three+ years. Turns out, there's actually a setting in the Driver Convenience menu that will unlock all the doors when you shut the car off! I enabled that, and immediately liked the car a little more.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
You didn't know that? I'm used to the poors version of Hy/Kia and they all unlock when you pulled the key out or shut the car off. There were no options. Luckily both the Seltos and the 23 GT were set to unlock at shutdown. The wife has her dog and back pack in the back seat every day so she would have been a wee bit upset if she had to unlock every time.
As I've said before I really enjoy the updates here and i know people considering one of these as a used car will refer to this thread for many years to come.
With relation to the seat issue, no manufacturer stands behind trim/seat issues beyond 12 months or 12,000 miles. Because they have no way to know if a 5' tall 110 lb driver is using the car or a 6'7" 450 lb driver is, they generally stay away from trim issues unless it's safety related. That's not the dealer being lazy, thats the manufacturers policy. The only exceptions are "good will" where the dealer goes to bat on your behalf and both the dealer and factory eat some of the cost. When you service the car yourself rather than paying the dealer to do it, you disincentivize them from helping out as they frankly have made $0 from you via the service department.
All that being said, you should darned well expect the seat to hold up better than that and I don't blame you for being disappointed. It never hurts to complain to the manufacturer directly, but the wise path is to say "the dealer has been great but I know your factory policy is..." to make the dealer your Ally and hopefully get some good will help in the process.
While I'm not in the car business any more, I thought this input from an industry veteran might help you in your quest. Out of curiosity, have you priced out new factory seat coverings through the parts department? I'm wondering how much the skins actually cost?
Tony Sestito said:
In reply to Msterbee :
Welcome to the party, and glad yours is holding up well! All things considered, this one is doing OK. The minor annoyances can happen with any car.
Another thing that I forgot to mention:
One thing that has been driving me insane since day one is that when you shut the car off and get out, all the doors stay locked unless you hit the unlock button on the way out. When I commute to work, I throw my backpack in the back seat, so this was driving me crazy for the past three+ years. Turns out, there's actually a setting in the Driver Convenience menu that will unlock all the doors when you shut the car off! I enabled that, and immediately liked the car a little more.
I need to enable that setting too. Drives both me and the various passengers I carry nuts.
Loweguy5 said:
All that being said, you should darned well expect the seat to hold up better than that and I don't blame you for being disappointed. It never hurts to complain to the manufacturer directly, but the wise path is to say "the dealer has been great but I know your factory policy is..." to make the dealer your Ally and hopefully get some good will help in the process.
I work in the car industry. Totally agree with this. Soft trim should last relatively blemish free for 5ish years. I have some marks on the bottom side of the steering wheel that happened very early on in the cars life. I carry a small bag with zippers and they dragged across the leather and damaged it. It's a very distinct pattern. I would say the leather is too thin on the steering wheel but you don't see the marks so I don't worry too much.
One thing I forgot to mention that the car has in common with the Veloster - The pedal relationship and clutch takeup. They are not good. The brake and gas pedal locations make heel and toe a mess. I basically had to relearn how to do it if i was going to do it at all. And the clutch engagement is way too far down in the travel. You have to really be conscious about pressing the clutch pedal all the way down or there's a good chance you will grind the gears.
In reply to Msterbee :
After 2 decades of driving hyundai/Kia manual trans cars, their clutch has always felt off. But at this point I'm more comfortable with the wierdness that is this clutch compared to anything else.
The pedals for my size 11EEE feet are perfectly spaced for heel/toe for me. The Rio pedals I can't stand. They're so far apart I feel like my foot would have to be horizontal to make that work.
In reply to Loweguy5 :
Look, I'm a big guy, and I get that seats can wear out quicker than other parts, but what I've seen is beyond what I think is normal based on my previous experiences with other cars, mainly due to subpar materials. Again, my old Mazda 3 had 9 years of me sitting on the all-cloth seats and almost 190k miles on it, and I didn't see wear like what I saw at 30k on this car. And I'm not alone, either; this is happening to a lot of Forte GT owners.
I haven't priced a new seat cover, because there's really no point in wasting the money if it will just happen again in 20k miles or so. I'll just deal with it until it gets really bad.
And part of it IS the dealer. I've had them look at other things on the car that they refuse to fix that they really should have fixed under warranty. Hell, they made me wait 45 minutes for a state inspection once, only to tell me they refuse to inspect the car because the "license plates require replacement due to wear". I took it up the road and the car was in and out of a local garage in 5 minutes. They said the plates were 100% fine. This is why I've been doing my own maintenance on the thing; they are terrible.
Meanwhile, my wife's Mazdas get serviced by their Mazda franchise next door, and they have been fantastic to us over the years. We actually had an issue with the rear seats in the car due to premature wear, which they replaced without hesitation under warranty. They even pulled the parts off a car on the lot to make us whole.
Tony Sestito said:
In reply to Loweguy5 :
Look, I'm a big guy, and I get that seats can wear out quicker than other parts, but what I've seen is beyond what I think is normal based on my previous experiences with other cars, mainly due to subpar materials. Again, my old Mazda 3 had 9 years of me sitting on the all-cloth seats and almost 190k miles on it, and I didn't see wear like what I saw at 30k on this car. And I'm not alone, either; this is happening to a lot of Forte GT owners.
I haven't priced a new seat cover, because there's really no point in wasting the money if it will just happen again in 20k miles or so. I'll just deal with it until it gets really bad.
And part of it IS the dealer. I've had them look at other things on the car that they refuse to fix that they really should have fixed under warranty. Hell, they made me wait 45 minutes for a state inspection once, only to tell me they refuse to inspect the car because the "license plates require replacement due to wear". I took it up the road and the car was in and out of a local garage in 5 minutes. They said the plates were 100% fine. This is why I've been doing my own maintenance on the thing; they are terrible.
Meanwhile, my wife's Mazdas get serviced by their Mazda franchise next door, and they have been fantastic to us over the years. We actually had an issue with the rear seats in the car due to premature wear, which they replaced without hesitation under warranty. They even pulled the parts off a car on the lot to make us whole.
I actually work for a Kia Dealership, if they are giving you that much issue, you need to get up with the General Manager or call Kia corporate and they will get it resolved for you. I hate you're having that experience, if you were local, I'd definitely extend a helping hand
In reply to MonstersHouse81 :
I did talk to the service manager. He said they basically deny everything unless Kia Corporate will allow them to do the service, and it's up to the customer to pursue that. At least he was honest about that. I need to carve out some time to raise the issue with Kia Corporate, even though I feel I shouldn't have to.
