2005 Kia Rio Cinco 1.6L gas from North America
Summary:
Hands down the most surprisingly economical, reliable and easy to maintain car I've ever owned
Faults:
I perform all my own repairs.
New oxygen sensor at 200,000 miles - likely didn't need to be replaced, it was the mass air meter ($25).
Mass air flow meter failure at 200,000 miles, $20 replacement (first replacement a dud, had to buy another and it works great).
Driver's wheel bearing at 240,000 miles; $8 in bearings and several hours of sweat equity on my shop press.
Multiple rear brake shoes delaminating, about 3 times since 240,000 miles now fixed, see below ($5 each time).
Passenger rear wheel brake cylinder 250,000 miles (fixed the dragging rear) ($3).
Driver's rear parking brake adjustment lever (seized, able to unseized and grease - fixed the dragging rear) 250,000 miles.
Routine timing belts at purchase (128,000) and subsequent (190,000, 250,000 miles) (between $8 and $60 each time depending upon components replaced).
Water pump at 250,000 miles (no failure, just replaced with timing belt while there. Turns out it was still the original water pump!) ($18).
Front brake pads every 60K miles ($8 each time).
New set of front rotors at 200,000 miles ($40).
New caliper pins for front brakes at 250,000 miles ($12).
Exhaust repair: flex coupler failure at 250,000 miles ($20 Autozone generic part and a few hours R&R and welding).
Control arm to frame bolts (one on each side) replaced at 250,000 miles due to excessive control arm front to back play. Thought it was failed control arm bushings and purchased new arms. Turned out the bolts were worn down a few mm in diameter from the excess mileage, the actual control arms were still in excellent shape with ball joints and bushings still in excellent shape! ($4 for metric bolts).
Rust repair: Bondo and foam, and 10ft paint job in the passenger rear quarter and both rockers at 250,000 miles (black cars get cheap black gloss spray paint, you would never notice unless I pointed out the repair. It just started to show in the last year, originally a California car but has been in the Midwest since 2013).
General Comments:
I bought this car for a basic commuter in 2014, Since October 2015 I drive 60 miles round trip 6 days a week. It has surpassed my expectations. It is very similar to other cars I have owned, the ZX2 escort and a Ford Tempo. It is essentially an old Mazda engine, transmission and suspension design. I love the rod shifted manual transmission in this car. Unlike newer manual cars these days that use cable shifting, the manual rod linkage provides positive engagement and feedback. You can feel when you're in gear and the shifting is tight. That is the most joyful thing about driving this car. A good stick shift can make a boring car great. I also love the super tight turning radius - you can perform a u turn in the middle of a street in one fell swoop and no parking spot is too tight in get in and out. Go cart handling is the best way to describe it. Driving a slow car fast is much more fun than a fast car slow. I also own a C4 Corvette as a hobby car if you need perspective.
The closely spaced gear box is great in town, but bemoaned on the highway. It could get 40 mpg if it had one more overdrive gear after 5th. I get to overdrive gear as low at 35mph, and it spins over 3,000rpm at 60mph. It gets best mileage at 55mph, and its downhill in mpg the faster you go. 37mpg at 55, 35mpg at 60, 33mpg at 65, 30mpg at 70, and 25 mpg at 80 (thank you Texas). That's with the cheapest gas I can find.
The engine is OK. The 60K timing belt replacement is the biggest issue. I put 20K miles a year on it, so it is every 3 years I have to do it.
The second biggest issue with the car? Oil leaks. It loves to leak oil and has done so consistently since 150,000 miles and more so since 200,000 miles. All the Kia Rios of this generation do it. Most leak from the head gasket. This is not something you fix, but something you live with. I replace 1/2 quart on average every 750 miles (about once every other fill up). Why 1/2 quart you ask? It only holds 3.5 quarts, so to wait till it goes down a full quart before adding more is insane. I carry two 1/2-quart containers in the cubby holes in the back hatch and top it off while gassing up. Side bonus: never have to change the oil anymore, just the filter, because I end up replacing all the oil over 3 months' time due to the leak. Been doing it this way for the last 60,000 miles/3 years.
This car has been, hands down the most durable car I've ever owned and the cheapest to operate. The parts are incredibly cheap. The repairs easy to perform. I have never had a car with original suspension at 250,000 miles until this car. Not one ball joint, shock, strut, or tie rod replaced. Everything is still tight. Still has the original engine. Still has the original CV shafts. Still has the original transmission, and still has the original clutch. The original brake rotors went to 200,000 miles and could have gone longer if not for the caliper pins seizing and warping them. They still had a good amount of meat on them. 40,000 mile tires last an actual 40,000 miles on this car! Amazing! I get them $35 each and put them on myself using my own tire changer. They are so small they don't even require balancing 9 times out of 10.
I plan to continue to drive this car daily until it turns 20 years old. That will be in January 2025. At that time, averaging 20K miles a year on the car, it will be 6 months overdue on the timing belt, which will be due at 310,000 miles. So, the goal is to go to about 320,000 miles, then I will retire it. It will still be on the original clutch. Not worth putting another belt on it then. The rust is starting to get it. It's not bad now body wise, just bubbling in the rockers, but the rust will be bad in 3 years. The fuel lines are already starting to show moderate rust, so time is limited on this car.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 27th November, 2021
30th Nov 2021, 01:23
I am the original poster of the above review. I remember a few more things I replaced earlier on before 200,000 miles.
Clutch cable at approximately 160,000 miles ($35 I think?) - the end ball disintegrated at the clutch pedal on the way to work; able to clamp a vise grip on the end of the cable and drive it home from work.
Had to replace the coil pack connectors at 180,000 miles. They get old and disintegrate. About $8 a connector, two required.
I removed and cleaned the idle air control valve at 180,000 miles.
CD player died at 190,000 miles. Replaced with aftermarket head unit.
Replaced the air filter every 40,000 miles. About $5 a filter.
Copper plugs every 30,000 miles. I clean and regap for another 30,000, so I get 60,000 miles on a set. They run about $1.20 a plug. Due for its 3rd and final set this summer.
New plug wires at 200,000 miles ($15).
Got a replacement driver's interior door handle from a junked Rio at around 200,000 miles. The original finally broke in half from so much use.
Finally the catalytic converters are toast. Mine did not plug as much as disintegrate and settle in the muffler. I am not in an emissions state so I cleaned out the rear cat while I was repairing the exhaust at 250,000 miles, as it was already chunked, and the front cat already has a sizeable hole bored through the honeycomb from all the miles accrued on it, so I left it alone. Replacement of these would be cost prohibitive in an emissions state as they run $200 rear and $400 front; about all the car is worth at this point.
Bought as a clean 9 year old used car for $2,000. It's paid for itself many times over for the nearly 8 years I've owned it. If it wasn't for the rust starting to creep in, I would consider overhauling the engine and a new clutch at 300,000 miles and go another 10 years/200,000 miles. I will try to daily drive it to its 20th birthday and then retire it to the great junk yard in the sky. I've set many personal records in this car: 1st car I've owned to keep beyond 212,000 miles (previous record of the ZX2); 1st car to daily drive greater than 7.5 years (ZX2); 2nd car to double the mileage of the previous owner (1st was ZX2 at 105K miles when purchased and sold at 212K miles); the only car I've ever had that never needed any suspension components by 200,000 miles (by comparison, I had to replace ball joints and tie rods on the ZX2 suspension 3 times between 105K and 212K miles) and the only car I've ever trusted to go 250,000 miles and beyond.