Faults:

The windshield leaked.

Break shoes were replaced during a recall in the first year.

General Comments:

I bought my Kia Sephia in January 1999. All I wanted was an inexpensive, economical car. Nothing flashy or fancy. In 2000, I drove it across the United States. That trip lasted 3 months and covered 21,000 miles. I drove it hard over all kinds of terrain—deserts, mountains, and all the way to Alaska. My Kia never gave me a problem—except for 2 flat tires. In 2001 I drove it again across the US. Again, my Sephia gave me no problems!!! It is now 2004 and I still drive my Kia daily. All I do is change the oil every 3,000 miles. It’s had 2 tune-ups. I don’t know if I’m just extremely lucky or just got a really good car, but I wouldn’t trade my little Kia Sephia for anything.

Faults:

Dash board has warped where the wind shield vents are, must be a moister problem. : (. I have not fixed this yet, but plan on it.

Cold starting in the cold is kinda of a problem, but is understandable. This car works optimal when the car has reached its working temperature or is close to there of. So waiting 5 min or less is a must in really cold weather.

It has stalled on me a couple of times and started back up in a few seconds. This was due to the fact the battery terminals were really dirty with corrosion. Cleaned and Fixed that problem.

Clutch desk has broken. This was my fault, doing about 83 mph then shifting into 2nd gear, I just wanted to see how durable it was. Running cost for this was only $178 for everything related to the clutch disk. Such as; clutch disk, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, clutch cover. awesome deal for economy kit. Now remember it was only the clutch disk I broke. :). (I did all the work myself.)

Used to burn oil. This happened around 54,000 miles, but was corrected after taking the valve cover off then cleaning the plate-oil baffle and PCV pipings.

Shock absorbers are shot this was around I don't know maybe 40,000. Still has an OK ride. Plan on getting shock absorbers when it becomes necessary or a problem.

One of my motor mounts has gone out, this happened around 62,000. It was my fault driving the car to death, it still lives. :)

Other than that regular maintenance such as oil change, brake pads, wind shield wipers, etc.

General Comments:

Well the inside is simple and neat.

What do you expect, it's an economy car.

Air conditioner does take a little bit of time to work properly.

I never had an overheating problem. I have tried to overheat this car... to no luck. It just stays in the same temperature reading. No, its not broken I checked it.

Runs pretty damn well after the mis-treatment of the car. Such as taking it rallying in the back roads, red lining the car on every gear, doing peel outs, just hard driving the car to death. It just won't break on me : (.

Accelerates great after doing some cutting work on the intake-hose inside the filter housing to be more of a rubber washer and to fully utilize the stock filter system. Also replacing the spark plugs with better ones also helps. :).

I get about 30 miles to the gallon on the interstate with 93 octane. (this was with the car at 2/3 load capacity.) Also gets about 20-24 in the city on 83 octane.

Tire replacement is kinda low if you buy the correct tires. like a 400 tread-ware for this car.

Now don't go doing the things I have done. You might be hurt or killed if you don't know what your doing. :).