Faults:

What a great car. It was bulletproof, until last year when it developed a rattle in the front end. It went three times to the shop, and never was fixed. I was told that "engineering" is working on it.

At 114,000, it developed a grinding noise in the front end. I am not sure what that is.

Otherwise, I changed the oil and bought tires. Will buy another one.

General Comments:

Lots of options for a little money.

Faults:

Headlight bulbs burn out every several months.

The outside handles on both sliding doors have broken off in our hands. Both have been fixed by a body shop.

The windshield wipers are broken. They are "stuck" and will not move when we try to turn them on.

The tires wear out frequently because of the weight of the vehicle.

Mechanics other than the dealerships don't know how to fix the car.

The check engine light came on and had to be fixed.

The car broke down and left me stranded in line at the bank. We replaced the battery and it died very shortly after that. It turned out to be an alternator problem. This was very expensive to fix.

The regular recommended services are very expensive.

General Comments:

This car is a "money pit." The cost of ownership is extremely high. Every time we think that we have caught up and have repaired everything, something else goes wrong.

The warranty does not seem to cover anything that has happened to the car.

I do not recommend this car to anyone! I will never buy another Kia product!

I cannot wait to pay this one off and get rid of it. However, I have spent so much money on this car that I will need to keep it for a while so that I can afford to make a better decision next time.

For the amount of money I have spent on this car, I could be driving something much nicer!

Faults:

I changed my own alternator in this little beastie...

I paid something like $120.00 or something for the part, and although the actual job was hellish, I probably saved myself $300.00 in labor charges.

Also, the coolant lines going to the rear heater, which will corrode, can be replaced for $1.00/foot rubber line!!

Not the 500.00 they'll ask for new metal lines.

Cheers!

Rich.

Faults:

The "removable" seats are nearly impossible for one person to put in and out without a lot of cussing, swearing, and pulled muscles. (I used to own a Lumina mini-van and could do this with one hand on that van.) The air conditioner has been replaced 4 times. The back of the car has been rusting out by the license plate since the 2nd year I owned it. I just had to spend almost $700 replacing the heater pipes due to corrosion. All of the electrical has gone out (radio, airbag, cd player, cigarette lighter) and the dealer told me it would be $135 an hour to check (I already tested all the fuses.) Transmission will get tempermental when the weather dips below 20 degrees (dealership repeatedly denied there was a problem. I had the car towed 3 times over this issue.) Horrible gas mileage.

General Comments:

Car has good pick-up. That is about the only thing I ever liked about it. I have been to 3 different dealerships for this car. (They all closed. Once one closed, I didn't know it, and had the car towed there during a snowstorm!)

NO more KIAs for me.