Faults:

Alternator rewind.

Air conditioner clutch.

Diff pinion seal.

Rear axle bearing.

Replaced rear brake cylinders.

Replaced rear shock absorbers.

Replaced 3x rear compartment metal window inserts with glass because of rust. No other rust in the vehicle.

General Comments:

Very reliable. The slowest accelerating vehicle I have ever owned. Starting uphill with a load and trying to fit into traffic is a challenge!

The vehicle was half the price of a Toyota HiAce and has been great value for money.

The vehicle has had oil and filter changes every 10000km and Moreys Oil has been used in the engine, gearbox and diff from 50000km. At 250k km it's still not using oil between changes.

I don't use much more than 3000 RPM as nothing is gained by revving it hard and it makes for much more sympathetic treatment of the engine.

The expense of replacing the front wheel bearings and shock absorbers is formidable and daunting.

The gearshift is very sloppy and needs tightening up.

I've had the vehicle for over 10 years and it has given me great service and is excellent value for money.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this van, is a bit loud at 100kph, maybe a larger set of wheels would drop the revs.

General Comments:

Could do with a turbo, I am a carpenter and drag around about 1000kg in it every day, and sometimes have a trailer and it never missed a beat. If you change the oil and filter every 10.000 km, and drive it slowly on take off in the morning, I believe and hope it will go at least to 600,000 km.

Faults:

Motor blew up at 84k. The motor had been serviced regularly according to the book, but Kia had changed the service interval, but only told the dealers not the owners. Anyhow, new short motor, which has done 25k and now the service dept. reckons the lobes have worn off the cam. More money. Expect this to cost $2,500. That makes $9000 spent on the motor.

Faults:

There's not much to go wrong with this car since it's dead simple; still it has had it's fair share of problems. It's very cheaply made though, and it's now worn down at 159.000 km. We are wrecking it and buying a new van for our business.

It's actual quite rusty, and the reason is there is hardly any paint on this van. The paint chips easily, and within months rust starts to form. Now it's hard to see if this van is white or rusty brown.

Exhaust system rusted out in 3 years.

Original tyres are downright dangerous in the wet, and were replaced in the first year.

We've replaced brakes several times, but that's OK.

It dents easily. Very thin metal sheets in the body. We hit a heap of packed snow at about 30 km/h and the van got a serious dent in the front, and the left front light got out of alignment and the whole front bumper fell off. We just glued the whole thing back, since it's made of thin plastic attached to the body with 6 or 8 screws or so.

Front suspension is totally shot, and it's not safe to go any faster than 80 km/h.

It failed the roadworthy test and it's being wrecked.

General Comments:

Considering the purchase price when new, this hasn't been too bad. It was even considerably cheaper than the Hyundai H-1, and compared to a Toyota or VW, it's a different league. But don't expect it to last more than 5 year or so. It's like a Toyota Hiace from 1985; extremely noisy, no suspension, cheap plastic, poor brakes and handling like a veteran car. You get what you pay for.

Also it's the slowest car I've ever driven. It's a non turbo 2.7 diesel. We tried to measure 0-100 km/h and it was about 40 seconds.