2001 Kia Rio Base from North America - Comments

Air bag warning light comes on in high humidity or stays on. This is probably due to a nasty contact in the seatbelt release.

Rear defroster does not work.

Warped brake rotors. (my foot is to blame)

Howls in a crosswind above 60. (no big deal)

Headlight lenses are starting to yellow.

Shifter boot hold on ring (yeah, that thingy) broke.

Despite this long list of problems, (most of wich I feel are relativeley minor) I realy love my rio. It has been bone reliable, never failing me in such a way that I could not get home.

I have been very hard (we are talking seriousley abusive) to the car. It still runs just like the day it was new.

My Rio is very stripped, which seems to have really HELPED its performance, I'm not loosing horse power to power steering or breaks, an automatic transmission, ect.

I would highly suggest installing a K&N air filter on your Rio, it evens out the idle quite well and really lets the engine breathe.

This is the perfect car for someone on a budget, who does not mind driving the worlds ugliest car.

One MAJOR drawback I would like to address has been the dealership service department. Boy oh boy, they don't even seem to have a clue about their own cars. They overtightend my timing chain, it squeeled and they said "it'l stretch!" (isn't that why I replaced the timing belt) Also, they did thier fuel rail recall repair, and left bolts out. They said it would be $250 for them to figure out where THEY left them out from. I could go on and on. I would work on my vehicle myself, but it would void my (useless) warranty (which they won't honor).

I believe in the car enough that I bought my wife a 2004. Great cars, SORRY dealers/mechanics. Can't win'em all!

P.s. KIA means Killed In Action? We will see!

I have replaced three Kia belts myself. On every one after tightening checking marks and covering them, they made a whine or or other sound that wasn't there on the old belt. Eventually the sound goes away as the belt streches so this is normal and the mechanics are doing the install correctly according to repair information from Kia.