Faults:

Driver side front speaker is blown, even though I hardly listen to the radio. Also, the windshield wash reservoir seems to have a leak in it (will completely wipeout all my washer fluid in 2 days, even without using any).

General Comments:

Believe it or not, I chose this car over a Toyota Corolla. Cost was the major factor, as I bought this car for about $4500 less than the Corolla. I have now owned this car for about 4 months. So far, I haven't been terribly impressed with it. Here is why:

1.) Bad MPG. One of the reasons I wanted this car, besides its low sticker price, is because it was touting high MPG. Thus far, I have been getting between 18-22 MPG in town, and around 28 MPG on the highway. Now, this car may require a break-in period, and if that's the case, then these numbers should improve. Otherwise, the dealership will need to take care of this issue.

2.) Cheap. And by this, I mean it just plain feels cheap. Everything inside the cabin is plastic. That hard, late 1980's Ford Festiva kind of plastic. The steering wheel, plastic. If you have a plastic fetish, this car is for you! As for me, it is a real downer. However, the dashboard layout is clean looking, and the controls are easy to access.

3.) Other minor irritants: When filling the gas tank, the gas often will squirt a bit out right at the end of pumping. I have no idea why this happens, but it really ticks me off getting gasoline on my hand, clothes, shoes. I don't like the way the radio looks (cheesy backlighting). NO CRUISE CONTROL!!! This was almost a dealbreaker for me, but my wife loved how cute the car looked, and she is the primary driver of it (although I get my fair share in it as well... she likes to be the passenger).

Now for the positives about the car:

1.) Decent handling. The car is fairly nimble, despite its 14" tires and the small 110 HP 1.5L 4cyl. engine.

2.) Fairly comfortable. The seats are your standard bucket seats up front, with an armrest ONLY for the driver. The rear seat is good if you have small children, but fairly cramped with an adult back there. Good head room and visibility.

3.) Cheap price, and eventual good gas mileage (I sure hope so!). The Kia Rio is among the lowest priced cars in America, and the resale value has been improving as of late (primarily due to the high cost of gasoline, and the superb 10yr/100k powertrain warranty, 5yr/60k bumper to bumper). EPA gas mileage indicates 25/35 mpg with Automatic, 27/32 mpg with standard. I am hoping as my car breaks-in more, my gas mileage will improve substantially (I have heard of many folks getting over 40mpg on the highway!).

There you have it, folks. Personally, if I had to do it over again, I would have paid a bit extra for a Honda Fit, or a Toyota Yaris. The Ford Focus and Chevy Cobalt would have been decent choices as well. Hyundai and Kia are built on the same assembly lines, so with the Rio, it is the same car as the Accent. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't totally dislike the car. I just think a bit more could have gone into it, even given its price.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car! Sometimes when I fill up at the gas station, the fuel will spray back out. Now when I fill the car, I will fill it so far and then stop to let the gas go down all the way, and then I start fueling again. And if you do it that like two or three times, the gas will not spray back out.

General Comments:

This car is very reliable and gets great gas mileage.

For a small engine, the car has a lot of power.

I think it handles really good around corners.

I think the gas tank could have been a little bigger.