2001 Kia Rio from North America - Comments

Inside parts of the car fell off and had to be replaced. Whenever I would drive the car close to 65 mph the car would begin to make a whistling noise after repeated trips to the Kia Dealer with the same complaint I was told that if the dealership could not duplicate the problem they were told by Kia to ignore the problem. After threatening them with my lawyer the Dealership proceeded to replace the window gaskets which in turn fixed the problem. Also after hitting a snow bank my car suffered extensive under carriage damage. I would never recommend the Kia to anyone. I don't feel safe in the car and the company does not want to know about any complaints once you have bought the car. Just recently while driving the car it began to buck and then died in the middle of the road. Luckily I ws not on the highway or I guarantee I would not be writing this review.

Worst investment as far as a vehicle is concerned. Cars should be taken off the market before someone gets killed in one.

A lemon? You put over 60,000 miles on it and only had to replace a door gasket. I wouldn't call that a lemon and for others please note that the majority of the other complaints are cosmetic or minor. This car is what it is. A very stream line, econo car. No thrills, no frills, but it gets you from A to B and is cheap on gas!

Most cars can't handle snow banks.

I experienced the same noises in the cabin as you have and also confronted the dealer about the problem and was told that they could not duplicate it and they had not received any prior complaints so they didn't do anything about it. I bought some window visors and put on the windows and it seemed to help a good bit. The noise is not near as loud as it was. I have also experienced the stalling that you spoke of and again the Kia dealership did nothing about it. Luckily every time the car shut off in the middle of the road I was not on a heavy traffic road or else it would have been really nasty. I will never in my life buy another Kia again. I think that Kia should refund everyone's money who bought one of these cars, because they are the biggest rip I have ever seen in my life!

I bought my 01 kia used last year w/40k on it. I have since only replaced a spark plug and it is now at 50k. I was racing (lol yes racing with a rio) and made a sharp 90 degree turn going about 50mph. I didn't turn sharp enough (to avoid flipping) and went flying over a curb and over some speed bumps while flinching every time I heard the car smack the pavement. The car itself never even flinched, besides the cd player stalling for a couple of seconds. I drove away a happy guy. I had mechanics look at the underbody and they couldn't even tell. So the moral of the story is you must have hit one GIANT freekin snow bank.