2001 Kia Optima LX Four from North America
Summary:
A Troubled Car
Faults:
Rear window trim piece fell off like everyone else's has.
The timing belt snapped right at 61,000. I know that it was supposed to be replaced at 60,000, but come on; did it have to break right on the mark? This incident destroyed the engine beyond repair of course. Fortunately, one of my best friends is a foreign car mechanic and is known for helping us college students out on things like this. I told my friend to have the car taken there and he set her up with a used engine with LESS mileage on it, a new timing belt just for good measure, all for less than $2,000.
General Comments:
This is my friend's car. Neither of her parents lives nearby; her father is stationed in Korea of all places! He picked the car out because he wanted her to have a good car for school and he had had a good experience with a KIA in Korea. Needless to say, she was very upset when the car let her down like that, but very relieved that the repair did not cost more.
It's too bad really that such a cute car that is comfortable and reasonably safe should have so many problems. Her parents bought the car for her when it was one year old, so KIA sliced the warranty in half. Even so, I'm sure that they would not have covered her repair because KIA is famous for loopholes in their warranties. My cousin has had two Hyundai automobiles that have been fantastic and Hyundai never tried to avoid responsibility on warranty items, meaning everything. Parent company Hyundai needs to have speaks with KIA.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 14th November, 2004
17th Mar 2005, 22:13
I am very surprised with your problems. I have had my Optima since 2002 and had zero problems -- everything works fine. A family friend owns a 2002 like mine and also the new Amanti. We can't be happier considering we have owned Japanese and a couple of domestic cars in the past few years. We really like the Kia Optima and Amanti for quality build and pricing. I'll buy Kia over anything else in its class range. Period.