Faults:

My timing belt broke at 90,000 miles and my alternator went out at 80,000.

General Comments:

I don't why people hate Kias; my 98 Sephia has 121,000 and has been the most reliable car I have ever owned.

Faults:

The E-Brake cable.

Brakes.

The clutch is very high.

General Comments:

I guess a car will treat you the way you treat it. I bought this 1998 Kia Sephia for $1000.00 and I know I haven’t had it for too long to talk about it, but I was one of the people that use to say Kia suck, but when I bought this one I changed my mind.

I keep good maintenance on it, and so far I don't regret anything about it. If you going to buy a car like this one, as with any other car (no car is perfect), you have to invest. When you do invest, invest in good labor, buy good parts and you shouldn't have any major problems.

Faults:

Motor mounts had to be replaced at 45,000 miles.

CV boots went at 50,000 miles.

Heater stopped working at 52,000 miles.

Many defects in the interior: Air vents would fall out when you tried to adjust, temp controls would stick in position, gauges would stop working occasionally.

Car also would seem to short out once a week and not start for 10-15 minutes and then all of the sudden start right up.

At 80,000 miles the engine blew. Keep in mind I take care of cars. I change the oil, filters and fluids like clockwork. It would have been at least $2500 to fix it and the car was only worth $1500.

General Comments:

Car had a great price, but don't be fooled. Kia must be Korean for Krapola. DON'T BUY A USED KIA. If someone gets lucky and their new Kia is a good car, they wouldn't be selling it. The quality is extremely poor throughout, from engine parts to interior design. The car was not made for long term functionality.

Faults:

My spark plugs and coils were JUST changed about 2 days ago and before that, the rear brakes froze up a bit, but nothing unsafe...

General Comments:

I will never love another car as I have loved my KIA.

It has gotten me through cold winters and hot summers safely and reliably.

For a teenager to have, this car is nothing, but perfect... most get banged up pretty quickly because they're all new drivers, but KIAs are cheap to buy, cheap to run and cheap to fix.

This car, for the 4 years I had it, was the best automotive investment my family has ever made. For a car to survive winters in Buffalo and my personal driving ability is the most amazing thing about this car!

Faults:

Front brake rotors (warranty) at 12k miles.

Front rotors replaced with after market at 24k miles.

Dash warped severely around 38k miles when I relocated to Texas.

Wires at 68k miles and again at 124k miles.

Blower fan problems at 125k miles.

General Comments:

First all, cars of one kind break the same. I'm a Chrysler mechanic and see it daily.

The wire sets last twice as long as the service interval, which is actually pretty good.

The brakes aren't much of a problem, but the factory rotors are... once I got rid of them I got another 100k and going from the new ones.

The dash is very susceptible to high temperatures. As soon as I moved to Texas, it warped on the first summer... had no problems in New England.

I have regularly serviced the fluids and had no major leaks issues or problems.

This cars biggest cost is brakes so far, and they are easily corrected by someone with a low mechanical skill.

After working on American cars, I feel I have gotten twice the use out of this vehicle than the average Neon, Cavalier, or Contour.

I myself am a mechanic and don't like to mess with my own car... all I've really done to this is maintenance and would readily buy another... when purchased new and kept up they do last... if in a hot climate, I recommend tint and never fully shut all windows...