2001 Kia Rio from North America - Comments

Factory tires suck. I replaced them with decent tires and they've held up fine.

The paint scratches very easily. Around 70,000 miles the car wouldn't turn on at all and the battery went dead because of the alternator.

I had the transmission replaced at 50,000, but it was under warranty.

Automatic transmision has trouble switching from second to third gear. Also, sometimes when I put the car in reverse, the engine stalls.

I can't imagine that the people who buy a KIA expect the car to be great. For $8,500, who would?

It is very noisy on the highway. Also on the highway the car gets blown around like it's in a tornado.

Hubcaps are very noisy.

When you turn the heat or A/C on, the whole car vibrates.

However, it is awesome on gas. Every serious problem I've had has been under warranty.

Most of the people who bought this car didn't do any research on it. I knew it was a cheap car when I bought it, so I expect that it has problems.

I would not recommend buying this car used!

I bought a 2001 Kia Rio from a private seller 2 years ago. Except for plugs and wires, it drove like a piece of junk and was the ugliest shade of green you ever seen. I was satisfied from point A to point B and thought I would drive it until it broke. Useless information would include that a week after I paid off my friend for this car, it broke. Very badly. Why the cylinder biult up so much pressure as to blow the spark plug clean out of the block, is in question. I figured that a car with only 62K would last for a least a little while. Not the case. I had the oppertunity to sell this thing to a used car dealer or whomever (before it blow up) and get a nice truck for cheap. I thought this thing would bring at least 4K. Most dealers pointed the way off the lot. One guy tells me that he would not buy all the Kias in the world for $5. I was basically sent packing. One guy reluctently offered $500.

Reality set in, I own a worthless piece of junk. Then of course, a week later, it was fried. Kia is possibly the worst vehicle ever produced. I was corrected by a friend who said only the Yugo was worse. Now I have a 96 Toyota. I think I just died and went to heaven.

Please do not purchase a Kia of any type,,,, ever.