Kia -- Buy One, Get One Free!

[Freewolf]

I've spent more on my gm made car in 10 months then I have my Hyundai in 3 years and it has twice as many miles on it as the GM car ( 166k and still going )

 

[ECartman]

I'm stickin with my Lexus and 2 Infiniti's (G35 coupe and sedan -- awesome!)

Seriously.

 

[Lithan]

Neon's ain't bad. Gearing is ass but handles tight and brakes are awesome.

 

[Monotaur]

Originally posted by: ECartman
I'm stickin with my Lexus and 2 Infiniti's (G35 coupe and sedan -- awesome!)

Seriously.

Ahh, welcome to the VQ35 club. I own an 04 Maxima... only complaint so far really is the brakes - the rotors tend to warp.

 

[ntdz]

I'd rather die than drive a KIA.

 

[DaFOBulous1]

Originally posted by: ntdz
I'd rather die than drive a KIA.

I guess like 50 cent said...love it or hate it.

 

[WT]

I agree I sounded a bit pissed off in my post, but I'm sick and tired of people thread crapping on Kia or Hyundai threads on here. Someone's brother had a Kia or a Hyundai in '98, and they rag on it for the POS that it was. Thats fine, but that was years ago and has nothing to do with todays models. I still think posters can stick to PC hardware if they wanna debate quality or a hot deal, unless they own a newer model Kia and can give other posters reliable info. My wife owns a 2004 Sedona and it was $6k less than the comparable model, a Toyota minivan. We've had it into the shop for an interior lighting glitch in the 2+ years we've owned it and nothing else, save for regular maintenance.

 

[kuritadelta]

If someone has money to spend, I am sure they'll buy Toyota, Honda..
If someone has lots to spend, I am sure they'll go for Porshe, Ferrari, etc..

I think Kia is a very good bang for the buck for those on a budget.

Kia and Hyundai improved alot. They certainly raised the bar on warranty.
Been noticing that many buy their suv line: Sorento and Santa Fe also.

I remember Hyundai Excel.. first car that was introduced.
I still remember Rodney King supposely going like over 100mph uphill on it being chased by the cops, and people were joking about that.
It was crappy, but then it was actually using Mitsubishi engine and etc.. Mitsubishi actually had a twin car.. forgot the name.

I personally like the Toyota and Hondas myself. Last year I bought Acura TSX.. Just because I find Honda's design to be better. But I actually trust Toyota more.

Anyhow as someone said, this deal can potentially be very good for those family who need a minivan and a car for their youngster.

 

[Monolithic]

Hyundai was a formidable car and steel company lead by Chung Ju-yung. If I remember correctly his solution to a family sqaubble between his two boys, was to create a new division(KIA) and let the younger son take over the new division letting the older son keep Hyundai. They shared manufacturing space and KIA got a few contracts from Ford for their econobox cars Festiva and Aspire.

Its been years, so I could be wrong. There is always a first time for everything ;P

I would think the quality between the two companies would be very similar due to the fact they used to be the same company and shared manufacturing space for a bit.

 

[Banana]

|
Kia is not as bad as some of you think, and not as wonderful as the others say. I was seriously considering getting the new Kia Sportage. The Sorrento looks pretty good too. Hyundai/Kia is smart by copying successful brands. Why reinvent the wheel?

Damn smart Koreans are going to take over AmeriKia!

 

[RichardK]

As Hyundai shares more of their technology with Kia, Kia's quality and reliability will continue to improve. For example, the new Kia Sportage is mechanically identical to the Hyundai Tucson. Hyundai makes some of the most reliable cars you can buy these days. Consumer Reports recently rated the 2004 Sonata THE most trouble-free car sold in America.

 

[Dpsypher]

Buy them both and imediately go trade them in on the car of your choice at any dealership and bank the 10K in equity as your down payment.

Probably more like 8K when its all said and done... but still.

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: the eephus
Yeah, Hyundai is an above average car company in build quality and reliability that continues to get better.

They'll be eating into Honda and Toyota's profitability very soon. And it wouldn't surprise me to see both quality and price jump exponentially in the next two years or so.

Japan should watch their back in the economy market, while eating up the American market for trucks/luxury vehicles and giving the Germans a reason to stay on their toes.

Kia? Eh, not so much.

Err Kia *IS* Hyundai. In fact, the Sonata and the Kia Optima are the exact same car, except when you get upgraded seats in the Optima you get the ones from the Hyundai XG350!

In another 1-2 years the entire Kia line will be platform shared with Hyundai, they're probably just dumping the older stuff like the Rio now. The Sedona is a newer design so it's actually a Hyundai design.

Anyways I would take the Freestar over the Sedona over the Town&Country...the Freestar seemed very well laid out to me when I rented it-but the brakes were whacked out already and screeched like crazy so I had it exchanged for a T&C...

The T&C is...not up to modern standards. The engine is laughable and the layout and controls for the thing are just ridiculous. Seriously, the Freestar's interior is a work of art compared to the T&C's, and the engine felt MUCH less crappy.

The only bad thing about Kia/Hyundai cars is that sometimes there's just something that's "not quite right" about the layouts, although I do notice drastic improvements in the logic of the layouts by each generation. I actually think the Sonata's cabin layout is quite confusing compared to the more revised Elantra's (at least the 2003 ones...haven't seen if they've changed it lately). But they learn fast, which is more than I can say for Chrysler.

That's the reason why Toyotas and Hondas are great...their interiors just freakin' make sense on a very easy, simple and intuitive level...no surprises. No weird dials you have to push in to pop out to turn to adjust the bass, no confusing as hell dials hidden underneath the console to control the cabin lights...etc. The T&C was a nightmare in terms of easy use.

 

[jamesey]

if youre a college or high school student on a strict budget, you might want to look into this. Otherwise, stay away

 

[mdetz]

Originally posted by: C42
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.

I am sad to hear that these are econo line. Couldn't afford them, so we got a 2005 sonata gls v6 w/ 3600 miles for 11,900. 11,9 in toyota or honda would have fetched us an 00-02 w/ 50k miles.

 

[JHawk]

You can use the Rio as parts for the Sedona.

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Both KIA and Hyundai have to be the ugliest, dumbest, most terrible vehicles on the planet. You couldn't give me the van and car for free if I HAD to drive them and couldn't just turn around and sell them.

 

[ASkiBum]

Simply put - A used Honda, Toyota, or Nissan would be a much better car than the kias/hyundais could ever aspire to be

On a side now (slightly off topic) Has anyone ever seen a college graduate driving one of these?

 

[Vellmont]

Originally posted by: Tommyboy8

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

And that's actually where you're wrong. Click and Clack (call in radio show on MPR) were talking about this very subject this week in the paper. They pointed out that American cars are second in reliabilty behind Japanese cars. One of the best manufacturers is Saturn, a GM carmaker. The other point they made was that the Japanese cars, while reliable are also a lot more expensive. As far as european cars, they're crap these days. Consumer reports lists the VW Golf, Jetta, and Beetle among the lemon cars.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: lnguyen
i have a rio as a rental.. the auto tranny is completely out of whack trying to figure out what gear it wants... rather annoying.

I also used one from Enterprise as a rental. Besides being a gutless wonder compared to my Contour SVT (hahaha, SVT was "in the shop" at the time, being a Ford and all) it ran fine. And yes, the automatic transmission kept hunting gears, probably to keep the power levels up when you stepped on the accelerator and to keep fuel economy up when you let off, though I got terrible fuel economy for an econobox.

 

[kuritadelta]

Originally posted by: Vellmont

Originally posted by: Tommyboy8

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

And that's actually where you're wrong. Click and Clack (call in radio show on MPR) were talking about this very subject this week in the paper. They pointed out that American cars are second in reliabilty behind Japanese cars. One of the best manufacturers is Saturn, a GM carmaker. The other point they made was that the Japanese cars, while reliable are also a lot more expensive. As far as european cars, they're crap these days. Consumer reports lists the VW Golf, Jetta, and Beetle among the lemon cars.

Generally speaking, Japnese cars are more expensive than the American cars.
BUT do they also have better resale value/trade value/etc? Yes!
I've seen many American cars that go for dirty cheap prices after only 1-2yrs and they are norm condition(not salvaged).
Does Japanese cars cost more to maintain? well in terms of auto parts, yes.
But I would rather pick reliablity, resale value over such..
Now cars like BMW and such is different and just insane.. freaking arm and a leg for popping up the hood.
Generally speaking, you can say that Japanese cars are more reliable than American cars, but IMO not all Japanese cars are reliable.. as Mitsubishi and Nissan were subpar from Toyota and Honda before, and although Nissan improved alot, I still think they don't match up.
I agree with VW being one of the worst.. and they are not cheap either.

 

[kuritadelta]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: lnguyen
i have a rio as a rental.. the auto tranny is completely out of whack trying to figure out what gear it wants... rather annoying.

I also used one from Enterprise as a rental. Besides being a gutless wonder compared to my Contour SVT (hahaha, SVT was "in the shop" at the time, being a Ford and all) it ran fine. And yes, the automatic transmission kept hunting gears, probably to keep the power levels up when you stepped on the accelerator and to keep fuel economy up when you let off, though I got terrible fuel economy for an econobox.

Counting rental cars as "experience" or "test drive" isn't fair, I don't think..
People don't give a hoot to rental cars. they shift automatic like it was clutchless manual.
You know it's true! maybe not to the extent of abusing it like my friend, but taking good care of it is not on anybody's mind when driving a rental.
I have a friend who rents alot(some because he really needed it for car being in shop, etc and some for just leisure). Everytime he rents anything, he goes crazy with it.. doing 180/360, shifting from reverse to drive with no slow down, etc.. you name it, he's done it.
Now you don't have to be a mechanic to know that shifting gears like that will mess up tranny. Funny side story of this friend is that, he refuses to pump Arco gas even on a rental. LOL

 

[mdetz]

its great to see we have so many automobile experts here!

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Originally posted by: Joel Kleppinger

Originally posted by: JuicyLucy
Looks like people aren't dumb enough to buy a pile of korean dogshit car so they have to give them away :thumbsdown:

There we go. JucyLucy has spoken.

Offtopic: Is it possible to just go ahead and change JucyLucy's "member status" right now to "Official threadcrapper" ??

:laugh:

I agree.

 

[Tommyboy8]

Originally posted by: Vellmont

Originally posted by: Tommyboy8

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

And that's actually where you're wrong. Click and Clack (call in radio show on MPR) were talking about this very subject this week in the paper. They pointed out that American cars are second in reliabilty behind Japanese cars. One of the best manufacturers is Saturn, a GM carmaker. The other point they made was that the Japanese cars, while reliable are also a lot more expensive. As far as european cars, they're crap these days. Consumer reports lists the VW Golf, Jetta, and Beetle among the lemon cars.

2 guys on a radio show? Never said american cars were worst in reliability than korean.

Saturn is an exception.

IMO, american car mfg screwed up in the 90's, didn't inovate, didn't pay attention, and built crappy cars. I'll never ever buy any american cars because of that.

all i'm saying about the korean car mfg is that they will take a chunk of the market away from GM, Ford, Chrysler... as they are copying their japanese counterpart to try to match the reliability...