General Comments:
I bought this car brand new, paying less than $9000 total - out the door. The car has been extremely reliable.
In the past 2 years I have put 50,000 on my Rio. This is a great car! It is small, but very economic. Just last week we checked the gas mileage (now that gas is over $2 per gallon) and this car is still giving us 35 miles per gallon.
We've driven the Kia to California (from Michigan) and experienced the high heat. The air conditioner kept us perfectly cool, with no problems. One draw-back however, is that when Kia designed this car, they used the compressor from the air condition unit to double as the heater. As a result, each Spring, I need to replace the $2 fuse under the hood.
Living in Michigan we also get lots of snow and ice. The Kia handles well through this slop, as long as the tires are in good condition. Driving in high winds can be tricky since the car is very light.
After about 3 weeks of driving the Kia, we began getting a huge "shake" in the front end. When we drove it back to the dealer, they discovered that it was simply mud inside the wheels and cleaned it out for us. No problems after that!
The body of the Kia looks modern, with its "cat like" head lights and tail lights. The panels are thin though. My dog put one dent in the driver's door after slipping off the icy porch this past winter.
The thing I love the most about my Rio, besides the money I saved, both on the purchase and on the gas I buy, is the reliability of this car. I've never had to replace anything, except for the fuse, two tires (after 50,000 miles), windshield wiper blades (one time), and one cracked windshield (from a rock. Kia also offers a 6 year, unlimited mileage roadside assistance plan if anything were to go wrong. Its one call I've never had to make.
If you are looking for a bargain with reliability, get this car! I'm looking at buying another one for my daughter!
30th Jan 2006, 06:46
UPDATE - I now have 90,000 miles on my KIA.
At just over 70,000 the timing belt "stretched" while my wife was driving on the road. We called the KIA roadside assistance and they towed the car - for free, on a weekend - to the closest KIA dealership (nearly 45 miles away). Unfortunately this dealership (in Traverse City, Michigan) was anything, but ethical, wanting to charge us $4000 to replace the engine, or trade up for a newer model. Warranties were thrown out the window due to my failure to replace the timing belt at 70,000. Luckily, my cousin is a mechanic and he fixed the car for less than 1/2 what they quoted.
I'm replacing the rear brakes for the second time, but with this many miles, that's normal wear. I'm also only on my second set of tires. The car continues to run perfectly with my only complaint being the rain-strip on the driver's side keeps coming up. Its still a joy to drive and the gas mileage makes filling up at $2.50 per gallon, not so bad after all! I'll keep updating and see if I can get 200,00 out of this baby!