2003 Kia Rio Base review from North America

This car is very UNSAFE; at about 50,000 the door locks on both front doors quit working correctly. I have never seen actuators, that when they go out, they default to the LOCKED position. My wife had to get out of the car when she got home by crawling out the windows, which are also not so safe.

At about 45,000 miles the passenger side front window DROPPED DOWN INTO THE DOOR one day while driving. I mistakenly took this problem to KIA not knowing how much it would be or if it was covered under warranty. 200 DOLLARS TO FIX. It happened again to one of the back windows after about a month, so I pulled it apart to see what the problem was... it was a broken piece of plastic that moved the window up and down that was less than 1/4 inch thick anyway... I drilled a hole and put a machined screw with 2 washers... now it won't break, it's all metal.

Now at 90,000 I am getting a P0325 code (I hope I can get tune up and timing belt change NOT FROM THE DEALERSHIP to fix this problem.) This is a "knock sensor circuit malfunction"

This car is unsafe and not a good buy. I only listed the major problems, it has also had leaks, leaks with oil and leaks with antifreeze, also has had weather striping leaks... none of which were major and I fixed myself. The car has also had many idling issues and stuttering at start-up. The car also has lots of squeaks and rattles, and I think the struts are going out on the front (could be part of living at an apartment complex with speed bumps).

I say all of this and must also say a lot of the problems with the car should probably have been taken care of with regular maintenance, such as leaks and obdII codes. but I do want to note that I have a Chevrolet Silverado that is the EXACT SAME AGE. and have only had to replace O2 sensors and spark plugs and change oil. Runs like a beast.