Faults:

Accelerator is very sticky for no apparent reason.

Clutch is not smooth yet no problem is clear.

Spark Plugs and Leads at approx. 80k's.

General Comments:

After driving a very sluggish and heavy volvo, there is little improvement in this car. It is quite bluntly, gutless.

In city conditions there is excessive roadnoise, and when country driving it is terrible. The cabin is very poorly insulated from road noise.

The car produces a lot of rattles and squeaks on relatively smooth roads.

It is one of the most uncomfortable cars I have ever ridden in. There is practically no interior room and the seats are like sitting on stacks of bricks.

The clutch is long and sloppy and the accelerator is tight and sticky. This mated with the rubbery gear-box which gives little feedback makes the car quite hard to drive unless you are very used to it.

Handling is extremely poor, and I do not feel safe cornering at any reasonable speed in this car and find myself slowing traffic.

Having said all this, the car can be fun to have a bit of a thrash around in.

Visibility is good, making the car easy to park.

It is very cheap to run and is a car that you really have to drive.

As a first car, while perhaps not the safest, will give a great base level of actual driving experience, uninsulated, making them safer in the long run.

BUt I would never buy another Kia.

Faults:

This is a tiny piece of crud. I only bought it because my previous car a wonderful never fail me Mitsubishi Lancer got wiped out by a taxi. Well first things first. It was extremely hard to get into gear, once it was in first gear it was hard to get into second gear... and so on.

I took it to the dealer where I got it, mind you driving half way across town in second gear because it refused to go into third. The dealer is a smarmy bugger, didn't believe me, jumped in the car and couldn't get it even it first (victory to me!). In the end under warranty it got a new gearbox and clutch.

Second thing, I was driving to pick up a pizza, and clunk bang, all this metal falls on the ground, oh gee the Kia disease has struck again, this time it was the clutch plate CABLE!!! It's the sort of thing you don't even think about in a car. Anyway that got replaced and it's been so so since then. But, I don't know how the Australian Government even let Kia sell their rubbish here. The name says it all K_illed I_n A_Ction!!!

General Comments:

Rattles a lot.

Sounds like a house with no furniture, hollow and empty.

No guts.

Cheap Korean crap.

Plastic wheel caps whirl around waiting to fly off and injure an innocent passer by.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

When we bought the car we upgraded it with 15" mags, a rear spoiler, sport suspension and tinted windows. We got the gold colour and the number of people that approach us to have a closer look is quite astounding. When we travel long distances it will quite happily sit on (above) the speed limit of 110km/h. Around the city it accelerates just as fast as the next car but we have to refill ours less. When we first bought it we were getting 550km to the tank and now we are getting close to 610km. We love it.