Faults:

I purchased this car in late October, 2000. Before the end of 2000 the fuel injectors were replaced. The car was running rough. A month later the same problem reoccured. The car was towed to the dealer for repair. I was told there was a loose bolt causing the problem.

I began to hear a rattle at times. The heat shield around the muffler had rusted and completely broken off. The tail pipe was rusted too. The heat shield, tail pipe and muffler were replaced.

Now my brake light comes on whenever I brake. I have 32,000 miles on the car. The brakes were replaced. Soon the brake light was back on whenever I applied the brakes. I returned to the Firestone dealer and had them check out the brakes. They told me that the master brake cylinder was leaking badly.

From the time that I purchased the car, I noticed that the wear of the tires seemed to be on the outside edges only. I asked about this several times. Each time I was blown off. I had the tires replaced after I had a spin out. When the Firestone mechanic tried to align the new tires he could not. The front wheel bearings were completely shot. He stated that this had caused the tires to wear out early. It cost me over $400.00 for new tires. The spin out nearly cost me my life. I was only going ten miles per hour when the car spun out. I went across four lanes of traffic and a turn lane before I stopped. I spun into a median and the car nearly tipped over. I felt the car come up on two wheels. When the car came back down the impact was hard enough to cause a neck injury.

I went to a Kia dealership for repair of the master cylinder and front wheel bearings. I had to rent a car for a week. I have had to rent cars several times. I have also missed work because of this car breaking down.

At 38,000 miles the car began leaking hot water from under the dash of the passenger side. A passenger got his foot burned when hot fluid spewed out. I took the car to Firestone because they tell me the truth. Firestone told me that I had coolant leaking too. I went to the Kia dealer. A mechanic told me that it was not coolant just water. He stated that it was only a clogged air conditioning hose. I had to wait three weeks to be seen.

The car overheated before I could be seen. I was lucky that my boyfriend realized what was happening and was able to avoid damage to the engine. The car is in the shop now. Again, I have to rent a car. The heater core had blown. I am waiting to see is Kia will repair the damage to the interior from the coolant leak.

General Comments:

I would trade the car in, however I can only get $5,500 for it. I owe $14,000. I have owned this car less than two years.

Faults:

My brakes were replaced at 25,000 miles. They had needed repairs after driving in extreme conditions for three months. I feel this is better than some vehicles would do. The dealer replaced them at no cost to me, even though it was obvious that I had caused the damage.

My clutch was replaced around the same time. This was also fixed at no cost to me. Once again this was obviously faulty due to my "rally racing".

General Comments:

I have had no other problems other than the ones my driving caused. I feel that some people forget that cars need attention just like any other investment. Before people condemn a car company or model they might want to look at their responsibility.