Great gas mileage

Overpriced, unreliable, unsafe, horrible customer service, no power, very basic (no power windows, locks, cruise control, etc.), no pickup, no legroom in the back, cheap material (I ran over a raccoon and a big chunk of plastic flew off in the front), expensive to fix and hard to find someone to work on it outside of the dealership, NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY OR TIME!! STAY AWAY!!

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. Bought my Kia new in October 2002, attracted to the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. No problems for the first two years but it was all down hill after that. First, it was the breaks. I've had to replace the pads and rotors 5 times and got a complete break job once. I would say I've spent over $1100 on breaks alone. In 2006, the rear axle broke while I was driving. Thank God I was on a side street and not a highway. That was covered under the warranty. This past January, the wheel fell off. Yes, you heard right. Not even at the nuts and bolts... from the inside. I had to replace the spendel, drum, everything. That one ran me about $500. They told me it was outside of the warranty, even though they could not explain to me what exactly happened and how a wheel just falls off of a 4 year old car. Even the mechanic at the dealership said he had never seen anything like that before. The last straw came at the beginning of March when my timing belt broke, causing me to need a new engine. Now, I do take partial responsibility because I was due for a timing belt change at 60,000 miles and was at 87,000 when it happened. I didn't realize it was required so early. For some reason, it is required at 120,000 miles in California... too bad I don't live there. Anyway, I decided it was not worth putting $3600 into fixing the piece of crap so I'm going to take that money and buy a more reliable used car to get me through the next couple years until the Rio is paid off. I went back and forth with customer relations about all the problems (particularly the wheel issue) and they were very nasty with me and flat refused to talk to my attorney anymore. I cannot wait until this company goes bankrupt. They should be ashamed of themselves for putting people behind the wheel of these dangerous, overpriced, unreliable vehicles. I will be sure to let as many people as possible know about my problems with Kia.

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2000 Dodge Neon

Great gas mileage

Overpriced, unreliable, unsafe, horrible customer service, no power, very basic (no power windows, locks, cruise control, etc.), no pickup, no legroom in the back, cheap material (I ran over a raccoon and a big chunk of plastic flew off in the front), expensive to fix and hard to find someone to work on it outside of the dealership, NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY OR TIME!! STAY AWAY!!

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. Bought my Kia new in October 2002, attracted to the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. No problems for the first two years but it was all down hill after that. First, it was the breaks. I've had to replace the pads and rotors 5 times and got a complete break job once. I would say I've spent over $1100 on breaks alone. In 2006, the rear axle broke while I was driving. Thank God I was on a side street and not a highway. That was covered under the warranty. This past January, the wheel fell off. Yes, you heard right. Not even at the nuts and bolts... from the inside. I had to replace the spendel, drum, everything. That one ran me about $500. They told me it was outside of the warranty, even though they could not explain to me what exactly happened and how a wheel just falls off of a 4 year old car. Even the mechanic at the dealership said he had never seen anything like that before. The last straw came at the beginning of March when my timing belt broke, causing me to need a new engine. Now, I do take partial responsibility because I was due for a timing belt change at 60,000 miles and was at 87,000 when it happened. I didn't realize it was required so early. For some reason, it is required at 120,000 miles in California... too bad I don't live there. Anyway, I decided it was not worth putting $3600 into fixing the piece of crap so I'm going to take that money and buy a more reliable used car to get me through the next couple years until the Rio is paid off. I went back and forth with customer relations about all the problems (particularly the wheel issue) and they were very nasty with me and flat refused to talk to my attorney anymore. I cannot wait until this company goes bankrupt. They should be ashamed of themselves for putting people behind the wheel of these dangerous, overpriced, unreliable vehicles. I will be sure to let as many people as possible know about my problems with Kia.

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2000 Dodge Neon (should have kept it)

none

Rude customer service from the dealership, not enough Certified technicians ( ASE) not enough repairs shop . I had to go out 21 miles from where i live to get my car Fix. True Story

I had my Kia since june 2001 , My problem with Rio is the horse power you dont have enough speed . Very cheap car and realiable but is what you paid for a car . The dealership makes a lot money for repairs and they dont have enough Certified mechanics because no one's wants to put with a junk cars in the lot. I recently had my aircondition fix cost me time and money 4 times i was in the dealer and some one profesional told me about the leak is under warranty so i dont have to pay but, when it said and done it cost $650 for the parts and labor 95$ times 7 hours=665 dollars grand total cost is $1,315 Im not sure thats all the cost A/C i learn my lesson never again go back to the dealership lesson learn .

Great Gas milage, Low maintenance, Cheap.

Weird clutch and low power, expecialy with A/C on.

I have had no issues with my Kia Rio to date. Bought it used with 5000 miles on it, and have since put 70,000 on it myself. I get exceptional gas milage. Brakes have not been serviced, although they will need it sometime in the next 3 months. Lack of power is my only complaint, but with 31 City/36 Hwy I can't complain. The care is responsive and has great torque in 2nd gear wich makes it fun to drive, no takeoff power though and using the A/C is not too bad but very noticable. Using the heat seems to have no impact on power. The car cruises at 70/75 and has no issues with sastained speeds of 80/85. She'll hit 100 but it takes awile and doesnt like it too much. The clutch is funky though, in first gear it seems to double clutch itself and make the car jerk, 2nd - 5th is smooth.

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Chevy Cavelier, Toyota Tercel, Hundai Accent.

No strenghts. Please do not buy this car.

The whole car is a weakness. Need I say more?

I, like most of you have had a bad experience with my Rio. I bought it brand new in November of 2001 and have been suffering with it ever since. The first day I had my car I left home, turned the corner and it died. It did this to me three times and the dealer could not figure out what was wrong with it. The backseat driver side seat belt has not worked in years and we called the dealer and again were told that it couldn't be fixed. Hello, seatbelts are the law!!! The wheel bearings were a bad problem and the front breaks have been changed three times. Forget using the heat or the A/C. The car doesn't have enough power to run either one of these and drive at the same time. The gas mileage on this car could probably be compared to a huge SUV, it's terrible. Your lucky to get 16 miles to the gallon, very lucky. This vehicle has a terrible shake when you get it up to 40 on the highway and it makes a terrible noise. Of course, you're lucky to get it up to 40! I feel awfully unsafe in this car and I'm hoping to unload it tomorrow! And one more thing, just recently the same dealer I bought my Rio from was advertising them as buy one get one free!

None that I can find.

Bad on gas. Slow on the uptake. Paint is lousey. Parts are hard to find and very expensive. Warrenty is inadequate and dealerships are even worse.

One of the worst cars I have ever owned. The major beef I have with this car is the wheel bearings. Every set of wheel bearings have been replaced at least 3 times and some even more than that. It is so bad that KIA will no longer honor the warrenty. Yes, they can refuse to honor the warrenty. They say they feel like this car has had a hard life and that they think we are doing some kind of route work in it. This car belongs to my husband who hasn't worked in over two years due to health reasons and still almsot every 3 months the bearings have to be replaced. Most of the service people I have dealt with on this car have all been very rude. All of them. KIA actually sent out a factory rep to see if they could tell why the bearings keeping going out. They have done this twice and still can't figure it out. After the second time they looked at it is when the rep told the dealer not to honor the warrenty anymore. The CD player has been replaced three times and it still dosen't work right. The locks on the driver's door will lock you in the car and you have to open the door from the outside with a key to get out. It does this sometimes, not all of the time. This problem has been fixed three times and it still does it. The front passenger wheel broke off the other day when my daughter took a friend home in it. She pulled in the driveway and backed out to turn around and the front wheel broke. Had to have the car towed in to dealer and yet the car was warrented we still had to pay for it because they said she could have hit a pothole that made it break. No pot holes on the section of road she was at. The car has an awful lot of road nosie and when the bearings are going out they start out with a loud noise and it gets louder. So loud you cn barely hear the radio. The KIA is supposed to be good on gas but this one is not. I would say we do good to get 12 miles city and 16 highway. The paint chips very easy and also parts for the KIA are very expensive. Most of the time the dealers do not stock parts and you have to order them which takes several days to retrieve. All the while KIA dealerships will not give out loaner cars. Also, if you don't get the recommended maintenance done at a KIA dealership, your warrenty can become null and void. Even in the case of our wheel bearings. If the tune-up wasn't done when it was recommended, even though that has nothing to do with the wheelbearings and their function they say they can't do the work because regular maintenace wasn't done when it was supposed to be. If you are like us and live 20 or 30 miles away from a KIA dealership you get maintenance done locally. KIA won't even take records of regular maintenence being done even if you have the paperwork from the store you had it done at (Like Tire's Plus). They say it has to be done at their place. Lights go out every 3 to 6 months and most times you have to order them from the dealer because local repair shops don't have them. Wal-Mart will not even do an oil change because they can not get the oil filter. Seats are very uncomfortable and the back seat is almost nonexsistent. The first time the bearings went out in the front a bearing actually was thrown through the brake assembley and the car ran into a deep ditch because my husband was unable to stop it. I will never buy another KIA. They are cheap cars but they are very expensive when it comes to repairs. And the warrenty is a complete joke when it comes down to repetitive repairs.

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Nissan Sentra, Ford Escort

100K warranty that covers mostthings.
Good gas mileage.

Standard has more power.

cheap car that provides cheap transportation
Is reliable and has a great warranty,

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Mazda GLC

Most stuff was covered under warranty Nothing power train related has gone on it that I know of Repair shop gives courtesy rides Cheap on gas Smooth ride once up to highway speed You can fit lots of boxes in the hatch

Too many repairs required Not many mechanics do Kia repairs and not many suppliers have Kia parts in stock Body scuffs/scratches really easily and any accidents cost mega bucks Not much power especially with A/C or heat on

Oh where do I start. I too bought this car because I, mistakenly, thought that a new car would be less grief than my old car. I bought this car used with 27,000 km on it. Thought it was a steal of a deal. Prior to my purchase, I owned a 1988 Chevy Cavalier. I owned that car for 2 years. In the year and a bit that I have owned my Kia, it has been in the shop more than my old beater was. And, to add insult to injury, they tie my car up for the whole day and do not give me a courtesy car. What is with this "check engine" light? I put a locking gas cap on my car and was told that this caused the light to come on the first time. So I put the regular cap back on it and the light came on again. The reason this time? I didn't tighten the gas cap "three whole clicks." There is no instruction on how to reset this on my own though I'm going to try the battery trick mentioned above. Small things keep going wrong that are totally nickeling and diming me to death. 3 headlights in 3 months at a cost of $25-$40 each (each of which had to be installed by a mechanic because there isn't room for a normal human to get their hand in to remove the necessary bolts), door handles (inside and out) falling off or not working, locks stopping working, power locks stopping working, door locks falling off, rear windshield wiper blade coming loose (costing $7 because it was an "adjustment"), rear defrost stopping working (because a wire came loose), and finally, driver side visor flopping down. If I would have had to pay for all of these repairs, the bill would have been well over $1500. Thankfully, it was under warranty. It's off warranty now though. Okay, onto other issues. The power in this car is non-existent. If the A/C or heater is running, the car stops for a cigarette and coffee break before realizing, hey, I'm supposed to go. No guts in this car whatsoever. When you do get it up to highway speed (110 km/hr), there is an awful noise that occurs intermittently. Not a lot of shops work on Kia or if they do, they have to order parts in. Other shops are WAY cheaper than the dealership for stuff not covered under warranty so it pays to shop around. Body scuffs/scratches/chips easily. Too easily. Repairs are atrocious - $700 to repaint a scratch on the back hatch. Little bumps like rear ending at a red light cause major damage. I will not buy a Kia again...I remain thoroughly unimpressed and I still have just under 4 years of payments left.

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First car purchased older than 1990

I CAN'T COME UP WITH A SINGLE ONE!

THE WHOLE CAR!

I am terribly disappointed with the decision I made to purchase a Kia Rio. I was young and was looking for an inexpensive car. Instead of purchasing a good used car, I decided to buy a brand new car, thinking it would last longer and would require less maintenance. Boy was I wrong. The car ran great for the first few months, but after that, it started shaking tremendously. It would shake at idle mostly, but would also shake while driving as well, and you can forget running the a/c, because if you do that then you're going to go completely numb by the time you make it to your destination. The whole entire car shakes. After speaking to the service manager at the dealership, I was told that all of the Rio's shake that bad and it wasn't just mine. That's nice to know. The car makes a horrible noise while driving at speeds of over 50 miles an hour. I asked the service manager at the dealership about the noise and he had no idea what I was talking about. Hmmm?? Sure makes for a loud ride when on the interstate. Luckily, after getting some window visors installed, the noise is not near as bad as it was. Let’s not forget to also mention that every time the wind blows you find yourself in the next lane or in the median and you have no way to control it. And trying to merge into traffic on an interstate is impossible, because it takes you an hour just to get up to sixty miles an hour. I’m definitely surprised I haven’t been run over yet, because the car is slower then a turtle. I've had to take the car in to the shop several times for a check engine light that wouldn't go away. All the service man did was reset it and hope it didn't come back on again, but it did. I finally learned to just unplug the battery cables myself, it would save me from having to go to the dealership and leave my car there for a day or two. I got a notice in the mail about a recall so I took the car in to have the chip or whatever it was replaced and they told me that they couldn't replace it until it started causing problems (even though it was recalled). Needless to say less then two weeks later they had to replace it because it started causing problems. The car has completely turned off on me for no apparent reason numerous times, which is awfully dangerous, and the service people have no idea why either. Oh and if you think that you’re getting a good deal because of the gas mileage, think again, its not that great, because you have to use middle or top grade fuel, or the stupid thing won’t start, not to mention you have to fill up numerous times a week if you’re driving it more then 10 miles a day. You can kiss safety goodbye too, because one hit and you’re gone. The doors are thin as paper and after a slight hailstorm; I realized just how flimsy the exterior is too. It looked like it had been attacked by an ice pick. Not to mention the time that someone backed into it and practically crushed the bumper on it and didn’t even phase the Chrysler 300M that hit it at no more then 5 mph. Please don’t even let me get started on the value of these cars. Six months after I bought this car they were selling them at half the price that I paid for mine and I haven’t been able to get rid of the car since because I was so upside on it. I could go on and on all day long about how unhappy I am with this car but I'll spare you. Finally I paid it off and I’ve got a new car!!! All my problems solved!!!! I’ll never buy another Kia again.

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1995 Dodge Neon - older but 100 times better.

Roomy interior for compact sedan with good size trunk.

wind noise on highway and thin body metal sheet.

Excellent car for the price I paid for, I have 64000 Miles on it and still runs great, the only problem I had on 44000 miles is transmission light, took to the dealer and they fixed it for no cost after giving some hard time. So far I have only replaced spark plugs and Airfilter, ofcourse wipers. It has orignal brake pads and tires.

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Honda Civic and Toyota Tercel