Things Kia

Looking to replace SHMBO's mini van and she seems to be hooked on a (edit) new Kia Sportage.

I cringe at the name Kia is there something that has gotten better about them or is it a bad investment.

We usually drive cars well into 100k miles before thinking about replacing them.

New Kia? Decent Old Kia? berkeley no!

The original Sportage was a joke. The last two generations have been competent mini-utes comparable to the Ford Escape.

All of the new Kias we have sampled have been impressive machines.

I like the funky Soul, but the new Optima probably the most impressive car in their lineup. I've heard good things about the new Rio, but I haven't had a chance to drive one yet.

The turbo Optima is a hell of a car for the $$$. I'd buy one instead of a Camry / Accord / Altima / Fusion in a heartbeat.

Very much like Hyundai, they started out with bottom feeding appliances, but are moving upmarket nicely.

In reply to Joe Gearin:

New Kias hell yeah. Old Kias berkeley no. Hyundai and Kia are not the garbage they were 10 years ago. If you are worried about it being tawdry go sit in a new Kia Sorento. I was pretty blown away by how nice they were. But then again I drive older cars.

Wife and I have an '06 Kia Sedona, so if she wants another minivan, I can tell you about Kia's offering.

First, I'd say you absolutely cannot beat it for bang for the buck. We bought it for 17k out the door. Couldn't touch a new Sienna or Oddity for under 24k. Comes loaded with lots of nice little goodies. Three zone climate control, stability control, traction control, tons of storage cubbies, etc... We have 3 little kids, and it's been a wonderful family hauler. It's surprisingly quick off the line, it'll spin tires in a hurry. It's also very comfortable for long drives. 3rd row seat folds flat into the floor and the cargo area becomes huge. 2nd row captains chairs aren't the Stow n Go that Chrysler has, but they're fairly easy to remove. Handling is minivan like, which is to say sloppy. But it goes like stink in all weather, even snow. Fuel mileage sucks, about 18mpg, but it's a big tank with lots of power. I even tow with it.

Reliability? We've now got 67k on it. Until a few months ago, it was rock solid. Check engine light came on a few times, but just a simple reflash fixed it. It's needed some work the past few months. Both headlight bulbs ($25 each at the dealer...including labor), engine temp sensor that feeds the ECU. Check engine light is back on, we're thinking it's the ECU, which would still be under warranty.

Overall, I have to say for what we paid, it's been wonderful. Probably one of the best car investments I've ever made. We're going to keep on running it hard, we've gotten our money's worth out of it already.

Is it true the Optima turbo is not offered in manual and if so what were they thinking?

^ It's true. Same car as teh Sonata Turbo. Hyundai and Kia have been a Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus since the early 2000's.

Correct.

I have heard nothing but good things about the early Sportages. Mostly about them being capable and indestructible.

I'm sure people have noticed how much I talk up my '10 kia forte, we also have an 07 Sportage. It has been nothing but reliable for my FIL's 60 mile daily/6 days a week commute since 2008.
He hasn't had to do much else except change plugs and wires, and service the brakes.

my wife bought a 2010 forte koup. this is one really nice car.. loaded. leather cruise al the toys.. out the door at 17grand. handles like a roller skate very quick. she is going to start auto crossing it this yr.. warentee is great free oil changes and inspections for life.. i would go buy another one tomorrow.

Early Sportages with the SOHC motor were tough but bog slow. The later ones with the DOHC motor are much snappier. That old body style is like a Chevy: it will run damn near forever but sounds like a box of junk parts being shaken. The newer ones are much more upmarket.

The older Sephia was a turd, the Rio was a bottom feeder but tough. Kia got in a lot of trouble financially in the early 2000's and Hyundai bailed them out, when they did the quality for both brand took a quantum leap. It's pretty obvious they are looking real hard at the market currently belonging to Nissan, Toyota and Honda and are doing what they need to do to get a slice of it.

Bought my new '97 Sephia for $7995 and kept it two years without having to bring it back to the dealer for anything. They were going for as little as $6995 (maybe less) in other areas at the time. It actually scooted along pretty well. I did get a set of 14" wheels and tires to replace the 13s that it came with.

(Bad light and a lame 90s camera make the lower part of the car look dark, but it's the same as the rest of the car. Same problem with the grille.)

So far we have 20k mile on my wife's 2010 Sedona. Overall I been happy with the quality and performance. It spends most of it's time in town, so fuel mileage is only 17, but plenty of pep. The dealers been real good as well.

Only thing we've done is front brakes and oil changes.

The dealer turned the front rotors at 8k to get rid of a vibration. The vibration came back at 20k, and i had the dealer check it out. They said it was the rotors and the pads were getting thin. After some discussion the dealer agreed to cover the cost of the rotors and I paid just the pads and labor on the pad change. Cost me less than the pads and rotors from AZ, and I didn't have to get dirty.

My mother has a 2010 rio. She only bought it this fall with around 22k on it. So far it's been reliable and no quality issues.

Not what I expected at all. Thats why this place rocks!!!

See if you can find a certified pre-owned at a Kia dealership. I am not sure if its a dealer specific thing, or all of Kia, but the dealership we had talked to said the CPO warranty is still 100k miles powertrain. Aka if you buy a CPO with 30k miles on it, your powertrain warranty is to 130k miles. There were some other perks that made it a better warranty than what you would get on a new kia, I think you got a few more years of roadside assistance for free, among other things.

That said almost 54k miles on my 2009 Hyundai Accent (same mechanicals as kia rio), zero issues, great little commuter.

When/if I decide to ever buy a new car, Kia will definently be on the list. That CPO deal is more my cup-o-tea though.

My wife's '04 Sedona has been pretty darn reliable so far. There's a couple of small things starting to act up now with 66K on it; I'll be replacing the front brakes and the idler pulley for the serpentine belt this weekend. The motor mount is making noises again for the second time, but that's covered under the 100K powertrain warrantee. Drove it to Boca Raton and back yesterday - it actually makes a good highway car.

We tint Kia s for the local Dealership and let me say they are allways impressive , looks and quality and the gadgets are awesome . Plus they race the crap out of them

In reply to Karl La Follette:

Duke of Understeer from the forums is working at Kinetic now and will be at Daytona with the Forte.

I can tell that is Liefooghe in the BMW behind the Kia.

In reply to Karl La Follette:

One of those Kias won its class in Grand-Am Continental Tire series last year. I was impressed.

Gotta be embarrassing for BMW to get waxed by one of those Korean upstarts.

The newer Kias seem to be OK at best. The suspension is E36 M3. My 98 Escorts stock suspension was 10x better. Had a rental and it was scary as hell to drive in the rain. Cant remember what model, but it was a sedan.

N Sperlo wrote: The newer Kias seem to be OK at best. The suspension is E36 M3. My 98 Escorts stock suspension was 10x better. Had a rental and it was scary as hell to drive in the rain. Cant remember what model, but it was a sedan.

You're really comparing a 98 Excort to a new Kia and choosing the escort? How delusional is that?

In reply to Karl La Follette: Karl, is that Citrus Kia? If so, than I guess you'll be tinting one for me when I swap out my current Honda Civic in a couple of months ...