Brakes wore out at about 35K miles. I had to replace the pads and rotors on the front, but I did it myself and it only costs about $120. When I got the parts from the dealer, the service tech said the old design was flawed and sold me the redesigned parts at a discount. He said they should last longer. I've had them for about 20K miles and no squeaking yet.
One of the plug boots on the spark plug wire cracked (tiny), causing the plug to arc to block and mis-fire. I couldn't detect the problem since all the plugs fired fine when I pulled them out to visually watch them fire (the block was no longer close enough to the crack to allow the misdirected arc). The KIA dealer replaced my wires fairly cheap and quickly.
The cover and carpet for the spare in the trunk has never stayed in place after the first tire change. A minor problem, but it sure adds to the overall 'cheap' feeling of the car.
Fuel mileage is about 20 mpg on the highway. I expected better since my '96 Neon with a larger engine got about 35.
The manual transmission is difficult to put in 1st and 2nd gear. This started within the last 300 miles and hopefully won't require too much work.
I guess I've been lucky as I've had very few problems with the brakes, which seems to be the most common complaint.
I will not buy another one (or whatever the replacement model is) as I suspect that I got the cream of the crop and am not going to press my luck. I will not buy any other model from KIA for that matter. I feel like I'm driving in a DOT approved go-cart most of the time.
Thanks for your critique of this car. I am currently looking at a KIA LS 1999 model, and I have heard stuff on both sides of the fence. Can you tell me what Neon you had that gave you 35mpg? Thanks.
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