Kia -- Buy One, Get One Free!

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randomlinh

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,853
2
0
linh.wordpress.com
i have a rio as a rental.. they ran out of other things, and i'm not driving an f250. It's only for a few days, so I didn't feel like hunting down something else (end of the day). anyway, it's a POS. being a rental doesn't help either. the auto tranny is completely out of whack trying to figure out what gear it wants... rather annoying.
 

Gabornski

Member
Jan 5, 2004
191
0
71
Just my $0.02. I bought a hyundai excel new in 1990 and it was the most defect free car I have owned. Drove it over 100k miles and all I did was put on new tires and brakes and recharged the a/c. I have had 2 chevy's, a dodge intrepid and a t&c van since then and although I have enjoyed them more, there have been more mechanical issues to worry about. My blazer was on its third compressor before I sold it. Also had leaking oil lines and cooling system problems.The intrepid tranny went out at 70k and had many other problems before I traded it in. My wife was set on the t&c van but I would not buy it without also buying the extended warranty. I bought the Hyundai back when their quality was not supposed to be good. Maybe I just got a good one but I can't complain. I would love to stay american made only but my experiences have not been good. Seems like most companies are building there vehicles in factories here now anyway.
 

cubeless

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2001
4,295
1
81
what's the opposite of threadcrapping?

i bought a kia sephia for my daughter in 99. paid way used car price for a loaded brand new car with a long warranty. the first gen kia's were definitely rougher than this one... the only trouble it had was that it warped it's front rotors (took them 2 iterations to get the rotors right) (and i've had the same problem with a chevy) but the dealer was great and the fix was free...

oh yeah, the other thing that went wrong was that she t-boned some dumba$$ who ran a stop sign... totalled the car, but the airbag worked perfectly and she came out fine...

for the price the car was great... it ain't a lexus, folks... i'd certainly look at one again if i needed an econocar...
 

Necrosaro420

Senior member
Apr 24, 2005
576
0
0
I bought a used 2002 Kia Spectra over a year ago. Have never had a single problem with it. There good cars.
 

Tommyboy8

Senior member
Jun 4, 2001
296
0
0
that'd make 3 of us.

I don't remember if Ford ever finalize the deal to take control of Daewoo. But Ford definitely doesn't own Hyundai.

A few of the car magazines have rated the new Hyundai and Kia at a much higher reliability and believe that the Korean automaker will be up and coming in the battle for reliable cars.

I'd take anything over american cars, japanese, european, korean, ... but I'll take american cars over a Skoda!
 

smaky

Member
Jan 1, 2005
119
0
0
Kia? never owned one, but I would check this deal out if I was buying a car/van or what ever just to go to work. On the weekends I drive my Olds 442 to the 1/4 mile strip.
 

tlam617

Senior member
Jun 24, 2003
369
0
0
Just finished EC 101. Yeah. "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Thats 4 credits right there. haha
 

aswedc

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 2000
3,543
0
76
Originally posted by: Tommyboy8
that'd make 3 of us.

I don't remember if Ford ever finalize the deal to take control of Daewoo. But Ford definitely doesn't own Hyundai.

A few of the car magazines have rated the new Hyundai and Kia at a much higher reliability and believe that the Korean automaker will be up and coming in the battle for reliable cars.

I'd take anything over american cars, japanese, european, korean, ... but I'll take american cars over a Skoda!
GM owns Daewoo. It's now called GMDAT and some of their cars are sold under the Suzuki brand in the US.

Hyundai has owned Kia for a couple years now. Since the takeover, Kia hasn't been doing much R&D on its own - although this is starting to change back.

Most Kia cars are based on Hyundai platforms. For example the Elantra and Spectra are basically the same, as are the Accent and Rio. The Sedona is probably being used much like a beta test for Hyundai's planned introduction of a minivan in the next few years.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean Kia's are now as reliable as Hyundai's. The JD Power reports still show more problems per hundred for Kia than Hyundai - probably because of manufacturing differences.
 

Tommyboy8

Senior member
Jun 4, 2001
296
0
0
thanks for the info...

now did Ford ever buy any stake on any Korean automaker?

I still think this is a good deal for someone who's in the market for a minivan and also needs to replace their daily driver... that is if Kia is their cup of tea.
 

d3n

Golden Member
Mar 13, 2004
1,597
0
0
If i was looking for a Van I'd get a Kia over the windstar I think . As it is I own a 04 toyota Sienna. Rides like a lexus. Not as sporty as the Ody but the trim and interior are certainly top notch.
 

WT

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
4,818
59
91
You dumb schmucks busting on Kia probably aren't old enough to drive, yet you obviously know ALL ABOUT Kia and their absolutely horrible product line.

You can read here how poorly Kia does these days, finishing just barely behind Toyota and Honda in an initial quality survey.

Educate yourself just a bit before trying to dump on this deal, it makes you appear more intelligent than you are. And I bet you'd give your left nut to drive a free car if your parents gave you a Rio for free.

Unless you own a Kia, shaddup, since your opinion is based on nothing but your ignorant rant. Go back to your PC hardware bashing, its something you can afford to buy at least.
 

Spg

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
214
0
76
Originally posted by: WT
You dumb schmucks busting on Kia probably aren't old enough to drive, yet you obviously know ALL ABOUT Kia and their absolutely horrible product line.

You can read here how poorly Kia does these days, finishing just barely behind Toyota and Honda in an initial quality survey.

Educate yourself just a bit before trying to dump on this deal, it makes you appear more intelligent than you are. And I bet you'd give your left nut to drive a free car if your parents gave you a Rio for free.

Unless you own a Kia, shaddup, since your opinion is based on nothing but your ignorant rant. Go back to your PC hardware bashing, its something you can afford to buy at least.

I guess that would not include my friend who had to hire a lawyer to force them to take back their P.O.S. car under the LEMON law.

 

C42

Senior member
Dec 6, 2004
367
0
0
Originally posted by: WT
You dumb schmucks busting on Kia probably aren't old enough to drive, yet you obviously know ALL ABOUT Kia and their absolutely horrible product line.

You can read here how poorly Kia does these days, finishing just barely behind Toyota and Honda in an initial quality survey.

Educate yourself just a bit before trying to dump on this deal, it makes you appear more intelligent than you are. And I bet you'd give your left nut to drive a free car if your parents gave you a Rio for free.

Unless you own a Kia, shaddup, since your opinion is based on nothing but your ignorant rant. Go back to your PC hardware bashing, its something you can afford to buy at least.


Yes since I deal with kia's in my line of work and all...

As for the other folks, I don't blame you, ford and gm's econo cars are as bad if not worse than kia. Honda and Toyota are where it is at for econo cars. Nissan isn't too bad either, but I'd buy a yota or honda before them on the econo line.
 

JWade

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,273
197
106
www.heatware.com
i had a kia that i bought new in the mid 90's, it was the sephia. i had alot of problems with it. main being the brakes, they used smaller brake pads than the card should have had. but the late 90's model, it was fixed, i would go through a set of break pads in about 23k miles. dealership told me it was normal for that size car, yeah right. anyways, i traded it in on a saturn. Wife likes the car alot better than the kia. Dont get me wrong, for the price of the kia (at my time it was the sephia, now its the rio) i dont think you can go wrong, All the problems i did have were fixed by the warranty and didnt cost me anything. I wasnt happy with the dealership i bought it from, but i found a dealership that was a lot better and they are the ones i went to for the warranty work.

i think its a hot deal if the mini-van isnt marked above MSRP. Would be good for someone getting a mini-van anyways that has a family and a teenager, the rio would be a perfect grad gift for someone fixing to go to college.
 

all168

Senior member
May 16, 2001
500
0
0
I am not sure if this is hot, 'cos Kia has alot of lost lead ad, like the one in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Sedona LX ad for $14999 lot of times, and Rio basic for $4999. MSRP for sedona LX are $20K, if you buy Sedona LX and RIO from this ad, it will be $20K, of course, car of lost leader ad will have no addition optional equipment that you may want them. I own both cars, I like the sedona, it is not as good as odyssey, but for sure it worth much more than its price.
 

aswedc

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 2000
3,543
0
76
Originally posted by: WT
You dumb schmucks busting on Kia probably aren't old enough to drive, yet you obviously know ALL ABOUT Kia and their absolutely horrible product line.

You can read here how poorly Kia does these days, finishing just barely behind Toyota and Honda in an initial quality survey.

Educate yourself just a bit before trying to dump on this deal, it makes you appear more intelligent than you are. And I bet you'd give your left nut to drive a free car if your parents gave you a Rio for free.

Unless you own a Kia, shaddup, since your opinion is based on nothing but your ignorant rant. Go back to your PC hardware bashing, its something you can afford to buy at least.
Hey...lets not be calling names. Especially when you're a dumb schmuck yourself.

If you worked on your reading comprehension you might have noticed that article was talking about Hyundai, not Kia. You might also have noticed I stated earlier in this thread Kia's quality was lagging Hyundai's.

In fact, the initial quality survey your article references (JD Power) reports Hyundai with 102 problems per 100 vehicles. On the other hand, Kia comes in with 153 problems per 100 - worse than Ford, GM, or Chrysler.

Kia's aren't bad cars these days - almost every manufacturer has improved significantly over the past decade. But they aren't for everyone, especially those looking for rock solid reliability found on a Toyota, Honda, or Hyundai.
 

aswedc

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 2000
3,543
0
76
Originally posted by: JWade
i had a kia that i bought new in the mid 90's, it was the sephia. i had alot of problems with it. main being the brakes, they used smaller brake pads than the card should have had. but the late 90's model, it was fixed, i would go through a set of break pads in about 23k miles. dealership told me it was normal for that size car, yeah right. anyways, i traded it in on a saturn. Wife likes the car alot better than the kia. Dont get me wrong, for the price of the kia (at my time it was the sephia, now its the rio) i dont think you can go wrong, All the problems i did have were fixed by the warranty and didnt cost me anything. I wasnt happy with the dealership i bought it from, but i found a dealership that was a lot better and they are the ones i went to for the warranty work.
Not really. The Rio is a sub compact, the Sephia was a compact. The Sephia's equivalent in Kia's lineup today is the Spectra. However, starting in mid 2004, the Spectra has nothing to do with the old Sephia. It is now based on Hyundai's Elantra platform.