A Cautionary Tale - Don't Buy A KIA!

Wow! What a smart aleck reply. Thanks for your help

There is a tire warranty, a roadside hazard warranty and a (quote) bumper to bumper warranty. Note the dripping sarcasm

Oh how I wish I hadn't been such a tightwad. I wanted a Honda but thier base car was three or four thou higher than KIA. I thought I was being 'oh soo thrifty and smart'.

I did have the two tires from the back moved to the front and put the mis-matched tires on back.
Funny thing about tires. We had brand new tires put on the Toyota two weeks before the transmission went out. So I have four new tires I can have put on this car. The more I think about it. The more I am inclined to do just that.
Next week I'll have the front end checked out locally.
I have indicated that I would complain long and loud to everybody, on every forum and blog possible.

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Keep a record of all of the problems and then see if the "lemon laws" apply.

http://www.carlemon.com/

I know you have to have a list of problems and the law varies from state to state. Couldn't hurt to keep track though and see if you have any recourse.

Huh ~ I'm sorry to hear this, we just bought a KIA Optima and we LOVE it!

I do think the Rio's are their bottom of the line car, so maybe they aren't built as well

If I were in your position though, I would contact my pre-paid legal service and find out my rights...lawyers do tend to get further than us little people

Ricki

I have a 2002 Sedona and except for the fact that I'm not thrilled about needing a minivan,(I need the seating), it has served us quite well. I have teen-age drivers that have beat the living daylights out of it. I wasn't happy with the service I recieved from the dealership that sold it to me however, so I peeled their sticker off it(made me feel better!) and now take it to the other local Kia dealership on the rare occasion I've needed to and they have been wonderful. My husband does all the maintenence service on it. My dad recently purchased their higher end car, don't know the name and a friend of mine has a Sportage a year older than my van. All have been quite happy with their vehicles. I think you need to consider the dealership and the fact that Kia IS a 'cheap' vehicle.
I have another friend who bought a used Hyundai, he loved it and turned around and purchased a new one. He's very sorry about the new car purchase.
I think you can get a bummer no matter what you get.

Oh yeh, I commute 50 miles a day also, so the Sedona has gotten heavy use for the past 4 years.

I have an 04 Kia Optmia. I have had no problems what so ever.
My mom has an 02 Sportage that she drives 80 mils a day and it has been good to her. She's rough on a vehicle because of all the commuting.
I looked at the mini van befor I decided on the Optmia. The Rio was too small for my saftey factor but my neighbor has one that has not given her any problems.
I would just find a new dealer/service dept.
Sorry they were so hateful to you.
Shelly

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I bought a Toyota Tercel (only available in Canada for you American folks) seven years ago. I put 150k miles on it, without ANYTHING on the car EVER breaking. I did maintenance (tires, break pads, oil changes) but when I sold the car it even still had the original battery.

I sold it because it was too small for my growing family.

Toyota builds a good car.

Pete

First a Kia is no longer a Kia, its a rebadged Hyundai. The real Kia Corp went bankrupt back in the late 90's. Hyundai bought up what was left. My '89 Ford Festiva is a real KIA and darn tough one based on Mazda components/engines. Hyundai's are and always have been based on Mitsubishi components/engines. Anyway the Festiva begat the Aspire (Festiva with few more curves). The Aspire didnt sell too great and Ford dropped it. KIA itself by this time had dealer network and sold Aspire and changed to the RIO and exported it with bigger engine so you had tiny car that only got low 30s mpg so nobody wanted it. Hyundai bought KIA Corp, continued selling the actual KIA Rio for couple years, but now Rio is just rebadged low end Hyundai.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I might mention that for new car, the dealership standing behind the car is everything. I personally wouldnt buy a new car, but have to give little story. Once long ago I had an '85 Cavalier that I gave $500 for. Little plastic retainer dohicky on drivers window had broken and window wouldnt roll up and down properly. I went to small Chevy dealership, the parts guy looked up number and said I would have it in two days, well I thought, since Cavalier was cloned and sold under all GM divisions, I would first check other dealers on off chance they had the $2 bit of plastic in stock. The parts departments in the other GM dealerships actually laughed at me. I went back to the Chevy dealer and ordered the part. Now this wasnt surpising way other dealerships treated me. I hadnt got great treatment at Ford, Dodge, etc either before this. Well the Dodge people finally did do their job but bit like pulling teeth. Guess who I'd buy a new car from if I were in the market? Yep, even if I didnt particularly want a Chevy, I would have went to that small Chevy dealer willing to go the extra length to order my $2 bit of plastic in a friendly professional manner. Sorry to say that small Chevy dealer is long gone now. Have some mega dealer that bought it and lot of other dealerships to. Dont know anything about them. But first and foremost look for a good dealer of whatever brand local to your area to deal with. You might not get rock bottom price, but you might get better deal in long run. If parts dept is on ball, the rest of the dealership probably is also.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I did the same thing you did. Went onto the lot and said show me the cheapest car you have. The Rio had a great writte-up and Car and Driver and decent reviews in mags like Consumer Reports. I got the basic hatchback that they couldn't sell because it was white, manual transmission, no power windows, no frills expect the AC and CD player that were already in it. Got it CHEAP. That was in Nov 02 - I have put just over 70k miles on it. Had a tuneup, brake pads replaced, 2 new tires and I just had the flex coupling replaced to the tune of $112. That's it expect for Oil changes. Reliable, gets over 40 mpg on the highway (driving 55), didn't break the bank to buy it. Granted, the ride is not as smooth as my wife's Odyssey or my father's new Civic, but their cars cost quite a bit more than mine.

Oh - oddly enough, I had a tire issue shortly after I bought it - went flat. I checked the warrenty and talked to the dealership. The warrenty was quite clear about the tires beign covered by the tire manufacturer. I ended up having it patched for $15.

You want a good, reliable car without droppng a bundle - go with the Kia Rio.

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You may have gotten one of last of the real KIA Rios before they became a rebadged Hyundai. Vague in my memory, but think 2001 model year may have been last of real Kia Rios. If its Mazda engine then its a KIA, if its a Mitsubishi engine then its a HYudai. Some have said they really like Hyundai but in my past experiences, Mazda engines held up better than Mitsubishi every time. And I really like the little Mazda engine in my Ford Festiva made by KIA.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Buy American....well, as American as you can get since half the components are made in other places. Just got a 2007 Mailbu to replace the one the township road grader totaled backing into it. My other Mailbu had 112,000 before its untimely demise and never a repair. Our Chevy dealer is tops; third car we've bought from them. Locally owned and operated and we KNOW who to complain to to get results! DIL was looking at trading in her Malibu for a KIA until she actually filled it up and realized she was getting 31 mpg and it was PAID for. Quickly changed her mind. Better to know the car you have...and hers had never had anything needed but routine maintenance either....a factor that many,if not most people sorely neglect. MY DH gets spastic if my car goes over 3000 miles without its oil changed. His Neon has 260,000 on it and still getting 35 mpg. DEE

I happen to love Toyotas...right now I'm driving an old 1994 Corolla and I love it. Even after the engine blew, went out and bought another refurbished one. Can't beat it for sharp driving (quick response) and it's cheap on gas. Small trunk, but I can live with that.

When my Toyota blew, I rented a Kia for 2 weeks, I believe it was called a Solara? Or something like that. Drove like a dream, I almost didn't want my Toyota back.

As luck would have it, the hubby's van went in for serious service about the same time, and he rented a Honda Civic. I hated driving that thing! That huge LED spedometer over top of the regular dashboard drove me crazy. Glad I didn't drive it much at that time. I found it very boxy inside, everything was set up weird on the dash. Ick. And I generally like Hondas, but the Civic sucked.....lousy pick-up on it, too. I was dissappointed with the driving, esp. in light of earlier models that drove nicer. I expected better.

My FIL owns a Camry. Owns 2 actually, one is new, the other a 1994. Verrrry nice......Think that might be my next car.

LCB, I wouldn't be too quick to judge a car company just because you got a dud. I think that can happen with any car brand, and some dealers are better than others. But then again, it sounds like you wanted a basic cheapo car.....did you maybe buy the demo or something? That can be cheap (you think), but it is also riskier. My dh bought his second Civic as a demo, and lucked out, but I've heard of people getting the shaft. You never know what was done to the car before you've bought it.

And as for griping about driving in the heat, well.....you shoulda got the A/C, that's not their fault! I would never buy a car without A/C....although my Toyota doesn't have it now. It doesn't work anymore, and according to Canadian law, cannot be refilled....unless I get it retrofitted for $800! No way! I'll wait til I buy my new car.

Just curious: there were a couple of comments about buying white cars. Are they hard to sell just because they look dirty a lot or show scratches? Certainly the paint would be easier to match, right? You would think they would stand out a bit (except in winter) making them easier to spot? I got a laugh out of this story though:

My niece and her dh were convinced by a salesman to buy a new car. It was white. The dealer said, "Oh you will see this car a mile away EVEN IN WINTER. Actually because of the white, they stand out in winter." What the ???? Anyhow, they believed this story. Now that is a dealer who knows how to make a sale, if you can convince someone of that. My response to their story: "He saw you guys coming a mile away, you're both blonde, so you guys stand out in the winter, too!" LOL

I would never deliberately buy a white or grey car. White shows rust too much, and grey (silver to the dealers, LOL) is just too plain (owned 2 already).

DD

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"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

I don't believe this is exactly a "tire" problem - it's a KIA problem and just the tip of the ice berg. A KIA is a "disposable" car - there will be NO resale value when it's soon to be "used up".
If you got a good KIA you're the exception, not the norm.

I had an 87 Dodge colt with a mitubishi engine. I bought it when I was in the marine corps in 1990. I was quite the speed demon in my younger days.On trips from NC to MI would hold the gas pedal right on the floorboard for most of the 18 hour trip. I ran the crap out of that engine. I was merciless. There is a main east west 4 lane road that runs throuugh town here in Traverse City. The speed limit is 45. I used to run that car down that road in 2nd gear with the pedal on the floor just to see if it would blow up. I was young and stupid, but I did it for a couple years. The road I live on out in the country is 6 miles long. When I came home from work I got on this road on one end, and I lived on the other end. I would get up to 4th gear then just hold the gas pedal on the floor board untill I got close to home. I bought this car with 30,000 miles on it, and it ran untill it had 112,000.

Mabey I got an unusually good mitubishi engine, I dontknow, but it sure took a beating for a long time.

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We had one and loved it. It was a Kia Sephia. The only problem we had was it started missing running on 3 cylinders. We took it to the dealer and they said as long as it was not the spark plugs it would be covered. It turnout to one of the spark plug wires they changed it and cost us nothing. The only reason we got ride of the kia wife decided she want a saturn. And know we have decided we should have kpet the Kia and let Saturn keep their saturn. Infact we are talking of trading the saturn in for another Kia.

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An emergency bag and no place to go makes you a refugee.

I worked for a KIA dealership about 8-10 years ago, when they just had the Sportage & the Sephia . . . . There was a running joke in the dealership about the third model that they didn't advertize, the KIA DOA - Killed In Action, Dead On Arrival

From my experiences with doing the warranty claims in their service department, I would not buy one, I'd never recommend one, and I'd probably tell anyone looking for a vehicle not to bother looking at one.

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Did it have it when you test drove the car ? How about it 2 weeks after ? Or did it just all of the sudden show up one day ? A bouncing basketball sounds pretty severe. Did you drive on it like that for a long time ?

Put yourself in the dealers shoes.. You bought a brand new car that you must have been happy with as you pulled of the lot and drove over 200 miles home with no problem or basketball bounce. Then one month later you come back in with a bad tire (worn bald spot). How are they to know you didn't chuck it in about 200 potholes along the way ? Being "brutal" to the dealer in the beginning and then.....
I would suggest honey instead of vinegar. Why would the dealer go out of his way to help you if you are a pain to deal with ? Because he has to ?
Ha.
Maybe if you would have bought the AC and been "cool" when you got to the dealer, things would have turned out differently.
Apparently, you don't know much about tires or front end alignments. If it look like it 'wanted to break free of your grasp', I sure as heck wouldn't let my wife drive it. Also ' refused to match KUMHO' ? Were the other 3 tires bad as well ? Or are you trying to 'blame the tire' for its wear ? Did the other front tire look good ? Sounds like you are shooting the messenger.
A bad alignment causes a bad tire, not the other way around. A tire going bad ? Unless it had a failure, I'm sure the tire just wore the way the front end put it on the road. IF you just bought another new tire and expect a different result this time...... what is that saying ... doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result ?

Sounds like you will be making another drive in 3000 miles. But on the bright side, your muscle development on you driving arm will be enormous.

Seriously, I know it probably seems like the man is trying to screw you. Try going to a different dealer, put your Mr. Nice guy face on and tell them your problem. Let them do a front end inspection on the rack. If it turns out to just be an alignment problem, get it fixed and save yourself tire costs every 3000 miles. If it is worse, it might be covered under warranty. Just get it fixed, not just treat the symptoms.

I think you have the 'I just bought a new car and I shouldn't have to spend any money on it for a long time syndrome'.

I would like to say I agree with where you are coming from, but everything isn't always black and white. And the squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease, sometimes they get the door.

I hope it works out for you.

We've been very pleased with our Kia Rio. It's an '01 and we have had no problems with it... knock on wood. It's got over 70k with nothing but new tires. And it gets close to 40 mpg!

I'm a huge Toyota and Honda fan, and those are still my first choice. But for an inexpensive second car, we've been pleased with the Kia. It was about $5000 less then a comparible Toyota or Honda at that time. It probably won't last as long as a Corolla or a Civic would, but it will come close enough for the savings. I don't think I'd choose one as our primary vehicle, but for a second commuter car, it's not bad.

SIL and BIL have the Kia minivan, about the same age, and have had very good luck with it too.

Sounds like your dealer totally sucks though. They should have made that right immediately!

This is getting more and more difficult to determine. My honda, bought new in 2002, only has 20% Japanese parts. The rest are USA (and some from Canada, it didn't give percent on that). And it was assembled in Ohio. Go figure, it may be more American than many cars we consider American Made such as Ford, Chrysler, etc.

Actually some Fords have Kia engines, my Aspire does, the only problem I had was one part needed to be ordered from Korea as, at least around here, the cars get beat into the ground, can't find one in the junk yard to save your life. I'd call around to another dealership sounds like the dealer/service manager was a bit shady

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