2014 Kia Forte?

[280plus]

Who likes or dislikes Kia? Other than it's not American made? After much searching and multiple test drives my wife just leased a 2014 Forte. Newly designed motor, 2.0 173 HP, 6 speed auto. They gave her $800 more for her trade in than anybody else so the deal they gave her was getting bigger HP for LESS money than all the other 140 HP models out there.

We drove a couple different VWs, a Honda civic twice, Nissan, Toyota and the Kia. The only thing that compared in power and acceleration was the VW Passat with a 5 cyl 170 HP motor for $70 more a month than the Kia. The Jetta with the 2.0 was a dog.

The Honda was first runner up with 140 HP and good response but it was about $25 a month more than the Kia which has it beat on power with similar gas mileage. The VWs had rather poor mileage numbers too so it was like, less power, uses more gas? What's up with that? Plus there's the whole 10 year / 100,000 mile warrantee thing Kia offers.

Finalnote,never negotiate with the missus. She is TOUGH! She tells the Nissan guy, poor Abdeul, "I gotta be honest with you, I don't like the way the Nissan drives." I mean, OWCH!! 

[grampster]

Got some friends with a Kia.  They like it.

[280plus]

The Jetta said 115 HP on the sticker but the guy was telling me, "Oh noooo, it's 140 HP". Obvious BS once I got into the Civic with 140 HP on the sticker. Night and day. The Passat was a nice car and they offer the Jetta with the bigger motor but both were a little above her price range. Plus, apparently VW was at the bottom of the list of problems per 100 vehicles in 2012 with 124 Problems per 100 Vehicles.  

[280plus]

I just hate that we had to buy foreign. We'll never buy a GM product again, she don't like Dodge etc and the damn Fords are expensive, not to mention where they all really come from anyways. I wonder what Henry would think of all this? Meanwhile, so far I like the car. it's got "pep". 

[zahc]

I rented ford fusion for a week last month. I thought it was pretty impressive for something that gets 35mpg at 70mph.

[Tallpine]

I had a Kia Rio rental for a couple weeks.  It was a nice simple little car, good for dodging murdercyclists on narrow winding roads.

The clock display etc was already mucked up at <20K miles.

[MillCreek]

I have a 2011 Kia Soul.  Based on that experience, the missus bought a 2012 loaded Kia Optima.  We are so far quite happy with our choices.

[280plus]

We looked at the Fusion. Sticker price was $4000 higher than everybody else in the comparable model so we didn't even drive it. Cool, nobody is coming up with any nightmare scenarios. That's encouraging. 

[280plus]

I do question the lifespan of all this digital display stuff. Honda's dashboard looks like something right off of the space shuttle.Time will tell I guess.

[BlueStarLizzard]

2002 spectra.

I am mean to it. I'm horrid about maintance. Lot's of miles and I tell you what, despite the abuse, that little car just keeps going.
:)

Kia is good.

[Tallpine]

The Kia that I rented had these weird handles to make the windows go up and down 

[Brad Johnson]

Seeing that Hyundai owns Kia they at least have some industrial know-how behind them.  I can't recall hearing anyone bad mouth them to any memorable degree.

Brad

[Nick1911]

Roommate has a 09 or 2010 Kia Rio.

It's a very basic little car, but has been generally reliable and overall exceeded expectations.  It does have an interference engine with a timing belt; a design I don't care much for, but shouldn't be a problem with appropriate PM.

[White Horseradish]

Had a friend bought a KIA. I think it was 5-6 years old.

Two weeks into it his airbag light went on. Not wanting to get a pillow in the face going 65 down an interstate he got it fixed. $900 out of pocket.

A little less than a year into his ownership he had tranny troubles. No independent shop would touch it. Dealer quoted $3K for a used tranny.

I think it may be model dependent, and even then kinda hit and miss.

[lupinus]

Some of the older models were cheap, and seemed that way for a reason imo.

However I think the newer ones are quite nice and you get a good value for your money with them. If you like it and are paying a good price I'd go for it.

That said, iirc, I do seem to remember some folks I know mentioning maintenance was a bitch and it was basically dealer or be sol on....just about everything. But, also seems like a lot of cars are like that these days.

[280plus]

We shall see... First day with the new car she has to go into Hartford late afternoon for some meeting. 

[BryanP]

We own a 2009 Kia Rondo (sadly they only had that model in the US from 2007-2010 - it's still on the foreign market).  It replaced the 2007 Rondo my oldest stepdaughter wrecked (not her fault, everyone including the other driver agreed).   A collision at 55mph totaled the vehicle, but the passenger, a teenage girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) suffered nothing worse than a bloody nose from the airbag and a seatbelt bruise.  That's one of the reasons we went to Carmax and picked up a 2009 to replace it.

I don't have a lot of experience with other models, but the two I've driven have proven safe, reliable and low maintenance so far. Worst thing I can say about it is that the key is an odd size they couldn't duplicate at Lowes or Home Depot.  Had to take it to a local Ace Hardware to get keys made.

[Tallpine]

We own a 2009 Kia Rondo (sadly they only had that model in the US from 2007-2010 - it's still on the foreign market).  It replaced the 2007 Rondo my oldest stepdaughter wrecked (not her fault, everyone including the other driver agreed).   A collision at 55mph totaled the vehicle, but the passenger, a teenage girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) suffered nothing worse than a bloody nose from the airbag and a seatbelt bruise.  That's one of the reasons we went to Carmax and picked up a 2009 to replace it.

I don't have a lot of experience with other models, but the two I've driven have proven safe, reliable and low maintenance so far. Worst thing I can say about it is that the key is an odd size they couldn't duplicate at Lowes or Home Depot.  Had to take it to a local Ace Hardware to get keys made.

You can get a key made for it     

You can make a key for our Chevy but if you unlock the door with it, the alarm goes off.  They say if you try to start it with the hardware store key that it will lock up the computer and it cost thousands to get it reset 

[280plus]

This one has a key with a chip. I said to the guy, "So this key must cost about $200 right?" Guy, "Yup, that's about right." 

[dm1333]

A little less than a year into his ownership he had tranny troubles. No independent shop would touch it. Dealer quoted $3K for a used tranny.

I must still be 12 but this made me laugh out loud.   

[Gewehr98]

$240 for replacement Jeep Liberty key. 

[Marnoot]

You can often save a huge chunk of money by getting the appropriate transponder key blank off of ebay, and taking it to a locksmith shop that has the appropriate dongle to plug into the car to tell it the key is a friend. Sometimes it takes a couple years after a new model with a new type of programming needed comes to market for the locksmiths to get the equipment. Definitely worth calling around. There's a shop in Salt Lake I've gone to a couple times for this service, saved over $100 each time.

[lupinus]

Hundred and some odd bucks for a new key on my ford. More if I want the one with the fancy buttons.

[K Frame]

Brother has a Kia Sorento, a 2005, I believe. It's been bullet proof.

[Lee]

I didn't think I'd ever say this...but my 85 year old mother bought a Kia a few years ago. It's been a really good car. She drives the dealership crazy though...she always thinks the transmission sounds funny. She's thought that for years. She sorta "adopted" an international (S. Korean) college student a couple of years ago. When her family visited the US to see her, they expressed great delight over my moms choice in cars.