OT: Kia Sportage

[neilster]

I'm looking for a new vehicle (totalled mine a couple of weeks ago) Anyone have any experience with a Kia? Thanks

[musicjunky]

DO NOT BUY. oh man, i had one. it was problems problems problems. First, the window seals never sealed right, even after having the dealer "fix it" several times, so i always had window noise. second, i have never gotten rid of the exhaust rattle. it has NO power... hm...lets see. the first few times i tried to use the 4 wheel drive it didnt work, and the door panels kept falling apart. this is a bad bad buy

[Zeromus-X]

Some of them can be pretty on the outside, but every Kia that I test-drove when I was car shopping a year ago just felt ... cheesy on the inside, for lack of a better way to put it. Everything seemed to be of the lowest passable quality inside. If you've test-driven one and like it, maybe this won't bother you. They do have the 100,000 mile warranty if I remember right, so when things break it's easy enough to get them fixed. But spending a little more might mean not having to take the time to get it fixed!

[J.]

Consumer reports put it like this "it's like buying a new used car."

 

I would suggest a Scion xB, but that's just me.

[Perfessor]

Kia was at the bottom of all car brands in quality in a recent article I read.

[filterthing]

man, I hear the kia sportage has a place for you to hide your doobage!

 

ha, I have been savin' that one...

[Zebra]

My mom has one. I don't know what everyone else is talking about. It's been around several years, hardly any problems with it that I can think of. The only real thing that's an issue is that one of the fuses for the windows keeps blowing, but that's probably a freak thing. Small, good storage, nice stereo, pretty good milage. I don't know what feels "cheap" about it. I guess it's not like cruising around in a BMW or something.

[zachoff]

I dunno man... Yes, Kia has sucked in the past but every time I read about Kia or Hyundai in Car & Driver the results get better. Just read about the new Hyundai Sonata and they loved it.

 

Anyway, if you're set on that, so be it. I'm of the mind that if you take care of any car it will last as long as you wish to maintain it. Still, for an inexpensive pseudo SUV, look at the Suzuki XL7. My folks almost got one not too long ago until they drove a 4Runner.

[xdamagexx]

bump for the 4runner... i got one and its got like 140000 miles on it and no problems or any signs of slowing down.. i love it.. go Toyota.... but theres the price tag.... guess i got lucky and bought mine from my grandparents for 7grand its a 96 and at the time i bought it, it had 30000 miles so i stole it basically.. but its a killer ride..

but back to the topic.. the scion seem to be killer for the $. but i have some friends that got kia's too and love them.. Every car maker has lemons... go with what u want.. PERIOD

[xzachtgdx]

i used to sell those. i dont sell them anymore for a reason, and that's not because i fell in love with them.

 

doing callbacks of previous customers, i got more people saying, "i'll never buy another kia." and haning up on me than people saying they liked theirs...in fact, i dont remember one person saying they liked theirs.

 

the new sportages are leagues ahead of the old ones. they might be worth looking at, but you'd be better off buying anything used.

 

used honda/toyota (the two most reliable car makes) >>>> new kia, no matter what the ads say. about the same cost, too.

[Crusher]

My wife has a 2000 Kia Sportage, it runs OK but has been in the shop quite a few times. We are holding onto it because it's paid for, but if we were still paying on it, it would have been traded in a long time ago.

[james on bass]

My sister-in-law had an'01 Sportage that was nothing but troubles. I have a friend at work with a Kia Rio from '01 or 02 and he says it has a lot of frequent electrical mysteries. My sis-in-law brought the car back and demanded a new one - they broke the lease and she got an'04 Rio. This car has been trouble free for her for over a year so far.

My neighbor has one, and she has not had any problems.

 

I know the latest Hyundai product has a very good quality rating - they've obviously come a long way since the old Pony. Looks like Kia wants to take over the world and they have started paying attention to their quality.

 

The new Sportage looks quite nice.

 

Zachoff said it with "Anyway, if you're set on that, so be it. I'm of the mind that if you take care of any car it will last as long as you wish to maintain it."

Every manufacturer has their issues, and every car has their quirks. Proper maintenance and paying attention to your vehicle are the key!

[pbass_groovin]

Forget the Kia. Avoid it unless you want migraines. Honda CRV will save you plenty of stress

[J.]

 

Originally posted by zachoff I dunno man... Yes, Kia has sucked in the past but every time I read about Kia or Hyundai in Car & Driver the results get better. Just read about the new Hyundai Sonata and they loved it.

 

 

I believe Hyundai now owns Daewoo and Kia. Hyundai used to be one of the worst cars available in the early 90's but now they're one of the best. Consumer Reports found that the most reliable car last year was the Sonata. I had a 97 Hyundai Elantra that I loved until some jackoff totaled it while it was parked on the street. My parents bought a 2003 Sante Fe brand new and have since put on 100k miles without a single problem or expenditure aside from regular maintenance.

[fintucfin]

I have an '05 Kia Sorento that's eight months old. Only two gripes are that the "4WD" is not how you want it to be. Sharp 90 degree turns lock up the drive train. As long as you avoid tight turns, it's just fine. Fortunately, dirt roads are always straight as a die. Whew!

 

And the gas mileage hurts at $~$2.65 per gallon. 14 city/20 highway is expensive. Tbh, it has plenty of power. Too bad you have to pay for it!