17th Sep 2003, 17:55

Hello everyone. I agree with a class action suit being filed. I own a 2001 KIA Sportage. My wife calls it her

FPJ (Foreign Piece of Junk". The Kia's are all garbage. Will never buy another one.

George Thomas.

12th Oct 2003, 20:14

My friend also has a 2002 Kia Rio. It has 37000 miles on it and the timing belt broke going down the interstate. It's been sitting in the dealership for over a week now. Kia wants her to pay the $3000 for the new engine. What about the 10year 100,000 mile warranty. She's not going to buy another Kia. If they decide to give her a different Kia off the lot it is going right down the street to be traded in on something else. :)

14th Jan 2004, 16:47

I own a 2002 Rio..I've had many many problems.

Clutch parts needing replaced 5 weeks after I bought the car.

Rear wheel bearings replaced 6 times.

Drivers side door weatherstripping replaced 4 times, roof molding replaced 3 times.

Rear Kia logo fell off.

And the list goes on and on.. and Kia won't do anything about this.. just keep saying they will fix it.

24th Mar 2004, 12:22

I've had my transmission replaced 2 times. I've also had to have the weatherstripping on the passenger's side replaced.

The first time I had my transmission replaced was because corrosion fell into my transmission causing it to seize up. The car wasn't even a year old when that happened! The "new" transmission started acting funny a month later. When it was shifting (it's an automatic, by the way) to go faster, it would go into a gear then quickly back out of it, then shift again. The dealership replaced my speed sensor twice, which didn't help at all. They tried four times to fix my car and none of the tries work. It was missing a gear. I filed for the lemon law, and for Kia's final repair attempt, they replaced the transmission. A week later I lost just about all the gears! It didn't even have reverse! Kia realized that if my case went to court, I'd win. So they repurchased that stupid car. The dealership told me that they are going to replace that transmission too! I think this is scandalous that Kia is allowed to keep selling these junk cars that fall apart shortly after you buy them!!! Kia needs to be shut down! I will NEVER own another Kia. I'd rather walk.

26th Mar 2004, 06:33

I bought a new Rio in April of 2001. It is the most reliable car I have ever owned. I had 140,000 trouble free miles on it, just regular oil changes 2 front brake jobs and 2 sets of tires. Unfortunately, I never bothered to change the timing belt. It broke and destroyed my engine, which is totally my own fault. I probably would have gotten 200,000 miles out of it. I bought an engine at a junkyard (2002 w/20,000 miles) for $450.00. Hopefully it will last quite a bit longer.

10th Apr 2004, 22:33

I bought a 2002 Kia Rio that was supposed to be new in Feb.2004. After 400 miles it stopped in the highway. They said it was a recalled electrical part. The car drives like a car that has 150,000 miles on it. This is my first new car & I am very disappointed. I am actually afraid to get out on the highway in it. I did not get a notice in the mail about a part recall. They said the car was new & charged $9,000.00. Carfax says there are 3 records on it according to the VIN. I haven`t paid to see what they are, but I`m curious.

19th Apr 2004, 22:52

The engine light will go on if the gas cap isn't tightened sufficiently because the system will sense an emission leak. The light will go on to let you know. Close the cap tightly (at least 3 clicks) and drive for a couple miles, the light should go off on its own.

30th Jul 2004, 00:25

For all the negative commentators. Did any of you pray and give thanks to God when you first bought your new car?

Do this: for your next new car or even your current 'piece of junk' Rio, pray and give thanks to God. You will find that your car will be protected from any unexpected break downs or any other problems again, but will bring you more joy of riding it!

11th Aug 2004, 05:51

Yeah right. In Australia these are one of the most popular small cars on the road. I know someone who bought 2 at the same time (maybe got a 2 for 1 special) for him & his partner. After reading these reviews it's no wonder they're cheap. I wouldn't touch one with a 10ft barge pole, even with a warranty which doesn't mean anything. The dealership can still pick and choose what to fix under warranty it seems. How can you try to charge someone for a new engine when the timing belt snaps at under 40,000 miles? For God's sake!

8th Nov 2004, 21:47

I've had the same problem with my '04 Rio since about the first week that I owned it. Every now and then out of the blue the check engine light comes on and the car sputters and dies. The first couple of times it happened I was able to bring it back to life by turning it off and trying to crank it again, but even that stopped working. I've moved since I bought it and now I'm nowhere near a Kia dealership so I've learned to live with it. There is NO WAY that Kia doesn't know about this, there's too many people with the exact same problem. Now the whole gas cap thing is plausible, but if it were the case than it should only happen after you fill up, right? If not than it is the crappiest gas cap interlock ever designed. And I can see it causing the check engine light to come on, but to kill it while driving down a deserted interstate in Wyoming??? Come on. BTW, it seems to happen to me after having driven a few miles over wet roads. Not sure if that's connected...

In any event, it sounds to me like an inherent defect with the computer, so I do what you do to any other computer that's having a brain cramp. I carry around a pair of needle nose pliers and when it happens to me I yank the 10A fuse for the computer (the sixth one up from the bottem right. I've even marked it with white out so I can see it at night.) which disconnects power to the CPU, effectively rebooting it. Works every time (just remember to switch the ignition to OFF before you do it or the check engine light will be on when you replace the fuse.) I've thought about soldering 2 wires from the computer fuse to a switch on the dashboard to make it more convenient. It would void the warranty, but from the stories you guys are telling me it's not worth having.

Gigglehertz*at*yahoo*dot*com.