2001 Kia Sephia review from North America

Brakes have gone four times, rotors have gone twice.

I am now on my eighth set of tires.

The car is terribly uncomfortable for all occupants.

There is never enough room for passengers (legs especially in the back seat)

The seats are wearing out fast, as is the floor and carpet.

This car has no power, the get up and go, got up and went.

The windshield cracked six months after I got the car, not from a hit to it, but by the car hitting a pot hole! The glass is cheap and thin.

The sheet metal is so thin that the car dins and dents from even the smallest tap.

The outer finish of the paint on this car is so poor that the magnetic signs I bought for business were ruined because the paint heated up under the signs and made them stick to the car, my sign guy has never seen such a thing in fifty-six years of sing making.

Gas consumption is more than I would expect for a small junk box with a 1.8L engine, I get 275 -300 miles from a tank full.

The alternator or the ECM or TCM computer has gone bad however the dealer (Pine Belt KIA of Toms River NJ) can't tell what one it is and can't get me in for service for two weeks.

When I ask the dealer what is covered they always dance around the question with all sort of perhaps and maybe answers. Although they are now starting to feel the shake in the steering, the one they denied at 300 miles and again at 1200 and still didn't believe was there at 14000 but at 78000 they now admit to all the problems I have been bringing up all along... and after all why not, this part was covered till 36000 and that part was covered till 60000 so of course you have a problem NOW sir and no there was not a problem before, that will be $$$$$$$!.

I have also noticed that the motor and everything else metal is rapidly starting to rust or rot out, I guess they never expected the car to last more than a year or to and engineered a rapid decay element into the materials that make up the car so the LANDFILLS don't get overloaded with KIA TRASH.

If you are thinking about buying a KIA DON'T! The car junk and the dealers are no help, I've called KIA corporate and they don't care either.

This car is seriously a pile of junk!

This car is seriously the single biggest mistake I have ever made. (With only one exception and that being my first wife).

DON'T BUY A KIA.

If you want to through money into something then buy a boat, at least then when you Break Out Another Thousand (BOAT) you'll know why and at least get some enjoyment and return from your money.

However if you are fool enough to make the same mistake as I have then plan to keep your KIA (Keep Infusing Assets) on life support because KIAs require a constant infusion of money to the repair shops and dealers to stay on the road. And if you already own one then consider marking it DNR (No Not Repair) junk instead.

If you are planning on trading it in, well forget it! The dealers know they are trash and won't give you much for it at all. Don't even think of donating it either the schools teach repair not engineering and certainly not reverse engineering.