KIA; does anyone own one? How are they?

[Blackhawker]

KIA; does anyone own one?  How are they?
How does a KIA compare to the domestics (Chevy, Ford, Dodge) and the Japanese makers (Nissan, Honda, etc)?

I've been driving Nissans for 20 or more years now and I came across a new Kia Sorento.  Looks nice and has a nice price too.  I just don't know much about KIA though.  Any comments or experience with them would help.

Thanks!

[Graybeard]

Kia kinda sorta more or less claims to be a domestic. They say the company began many years ago in the same Georgia town they are now made in as a bicycle company or at least that's what I infer from their commercials on TV.

I've never owned one but have test driven them a time or two without buying. Matt had one and wore it out in a couple of years but he is tough on equipment.

[NYH1]

My parents bought a used 2008 Kia Sorento 4x4 last year.   It had just over 16K on it when the bought it.   It's been returned to two different stealerships 6 or 7 times in the last year for bad vibration issue.   Nobody can figure it out.   Both stealerships have treated them really good while the car was in the shop.   But the problem is still there.   New drive shafts, tore the t-case apart, nothing has worked to fix it.   I don't know what they're going to end up doing.

I'm a Detroit Steel guy myself (I do like the new Tundra though!).   My best friend who's a pretty knowledgeable auto repairman and has worked at a few different stealerships both foreign and domestic before opening his own repair shop, told my parents if they wanted to get an import to get a Japanese import and to stay away from the South Korean imports.   My mom had to have the Kia though.

[Sourdough]

We have owned a 2003 Kia Sportage since 2004.  It had 28K miles on it when we bought it.  It gets driven daily by the wife, in the winter, due to it's being a 4X4.  She loves it.  Easy to park, and get around parking lots.  I have taken it off road a few times and was really impressed, it can really get around.  It was in the shop a few times during the warranty period, nothing major, just wanted to get things on the record just in case we had problems after the warranty expired.  It now has over 125K miles with nothing but normal maintenance.  No issues period.

Rides a little rough, a light vehicle.  Under powered for the open road, 75 to 80 mph is working it rather hard.  In 2004 or 2005 Kia was bought by Hundai.  They totally redesigned the entire lineup.  They came out with 5 star safety ratings on the new vehicles.  We have rented Kias several times while on vacation.  We like them from the Sorento to the Sportage, to the mini-Van.  (Can't remember it's name).  We do not like the small entry level car, the Sonata.  It's cheap, rides rough, handles poorly, and not comfortable getting into or out of.  The new Soul (little boxy rig) I have only looked at, it reminds me of the Sonata, looks like it would be too much like one.  I my be mistaken but I just don't like the looks of the interior of the Soul.

[Blackhawker]

Hey, thanks for the info guys.  The last post by Sourdough brought new light to my question.  Now I wonder if I should re-consider it?  I really like the new Sorento but then again, the frame, engine positioning and more has been changed.  Although it gets great gas mileage, it's now considered a crossover rather than a real 4X4 SUV type vehicle.  I still tend to agree or at least feel more comfortable with what NYHunter said.....if buying Asian, buy the standard Japanese stuff, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, Honda, Mitsu. 

[teddy12b]

My wife and I were in the market for a new vehicle and ended up buying a '06 Sorento shortly after the big 3 went to DC in private jets asking for money.  It took some of the sting out buying a foreign vehicle and I didn't mind it so much.

Ours has been a great vehicle.  We bought ours used, with less than 20k miles and it's a great vehicle.  Good gas mileage, great safety features, incredible warranty and a smooth ride.  It's not perfect, but it's certainly a case where you get a basic, and solid vehicle without paying twice as much for the same thing that's stamped GM or Ford.  The warranty is what sold me on the vehicle.  I'm not a millionaire so when parts break unexpectedly it hurts and really screws things up.  I love knowing that if anything breaks on that vehicle all I have to do is drop it off.  It really is a peace of mind thing.

We've had two issues/lessons learned with ours that were not the vehicles fault.  We took it to jiffy lube and the guys didn't konw that there is a crush washer that goes with the filter so it started to leak oil.  We took it to the KIA place and they told us most jiffy lubes guys aren't up to speed on the KIA's and we've been saving money going back to the dealership for oil changes anyway.  The second issue was my wife had a stone or something get caught between the break pad & rotor on the highway.  It made an aweful screaching noise and she of course pulled over.  I arrived and it made the noise.  When it was put on the toe truck it made that noise, but by the time it got to the dealership that noise completely vanished.  We're pretty sure something must have just bounced up and got caught between the pad & rotor, but got jiggles loose on the way to the dealership.  Free toe truck by the way, but I had to pay for the inspection since they didn't find anything and nothing was wrong.  Less thatn $100 for the whole deal.

The one we have doesn't have a good sounding purr of the engine.  In fact I think it sounds kinda screachy and sickly, but that's true for a lot of foreign vehicles.  I've taken the vehicle off road while looking for land and it's a tough suv in 4x4.  Bottom line, I'd buy another Sorento in a heartbeat.

[Winchester67]

A girl that works for me owns one, and with less than 16,000 miles on the clock it has left her stranded four seperate times. Last one was here at work and we could not jump start it or anything, it was stone dead. Another girl that works for me has about 60,000 on hers and she said she would buy another. Sample is too small to really tell much, unless everyone on the forum can add two more people to the mix!

[teddy12b]

I didn't mention it earlier because they aren't sorento's but my sister in laws and wife all started out with KIA cars.  2 of the 3 have been completely reliable and good solid vehicles.  The one that has had problems has also been in a few fender benders so it's not entirely fair to blame that all on KIA.  KIA's seem to be hit or miss on reliability on a lot of the cars.  If the warranty wasn't there, I'd never buy one on the reputation, but since I know I'll never have to pay to get it fixed what do I care if I get free new parts here and there other than the hassle of time.  In my case though I live in/near a large city.  If I was out in the middle of nowhere it may be a different situation.

[Blackhawker]

Thanks for the added info guys.  As for the warrantee, the 100K warrantee sounds great but being a typical Nissan user, I tend to keep my cars for 200K.  The warrantee offered is only half a life.    I think you guys are right, the quality might be a little more of a coin-toss as opposed to buying a Honda etc but it sounds like there are some good reports on their vehicles though. 

Teddy, when you say your vehicle gets good mileage, what does that mean?  I've read/heard that the older models with the V6's only get about 17 mpg.  Is that what you get?  According to the sticker on the window of the 2011 model, the 4 cylinder gets up around 30 mpg on the highway and I think the 6 cyl gets about 26 or 27.

[teddy12b]

I'll have to double check that when I get home.  I've never done and official test, but I remember low 20's for some reason.  I know I'm not anywhere close to the 30's because ours has the V-6.  The 100k warranty may only get you half what you wanted, but we got ours for less than half of a new one with less than 20K miles on it.  I'll never understand buying a brand new vehicle.

Another great resource for reading vehicle reviews is epinions.com.  It's site where people can praise or complain about anything.

[Blackhawker]

I'll have to double check that when I get home.  I've never done and official test, but I remember low 20's for some reason.  I know I'm not anywhere close to the 30's because ours has the V-6.  The 100k warranty may only get you half what you wanted, but we got ours for less than half of a new one with less than 20K miles on it.  I'll never understand buying a brand new vehicle.

Another great resource for reading vehicle reviews is epinions.com.  It's site where people can praise or complain about anything.

I agree on the new vehicle thing.  A two year old car is half depreciated.  No one realizes this either so the dealers jack up the prices on the two year old used cars but they can be chewed down if you work on it.....otherwise, don't buy it.

[mechanic]

I have not owned one, but I do work in their plant a lot, both Kia and Hyundai.  They have an engine shop where engines are tested at RPMs you will not be able to achieve in an auto, and have been making constant improvements to the engines. 

We sell and service Hyundai forklifts, and I've found them to be good.  The engines have been very good so far. 

I'm thinking of buying one next time around, just because a lot of my income is derived from them.  Only seems fair.  I would not at this time buy a Chevy or Chrysler for any reason, at least not as long as the gov. owns a piece.

The Jap imports are outstanding.  I've seen Toyotas and Nissan's with well over 300,000 miles.  Will the Kia do that?  We'll have to wait a while and see.
Ben

[NYH1]

We had a pretty big snow storm a few weeks ago.   Got a little over foot of real heavy wet lake effect snow.   When my mom got home from that evening, I was their working on my engine I'm rebuilding for my '78 Camaro.   The first thing she said was "I miss my Durango"....I just laughed!

Sure her 2006 AWD Durango was worse on gas and larger then her little Kia.   However it was never in the shop and is one of the best vehicles there is for driving in the snow.   These things are just flat out awesome for driving in the snow.   My wife and I had an '05 with the Hemi.   Great vehicle, we wish we would have bought it when the lease was up.   Got her a little AWD/4x4 Jeep Patriot instead.   It gets 19 MPG in the city and 24 MPG on the highway.   It's not to bad in the snow.   Hasn't been to the shop yet either.