2002 Kia Rio from North America - Comments

The 2004 Kia Rio is not a bad car, but! The timing belt will go and needs to be replaced at 60,000. I did not replace and motor is fried. "My Fault Right" yes, but the maintance book has ZERO info on timing belt only inspect "DRIVE BELTS" on a car with a Zero clearance engine they should be VERY specific about TIMING BELT replacement at 60,000 or you will have NO car like me!!!

For anyone who is having the issue with their KIA Rio stalling every now and then; We had ours taken into the warranty office 5 times. They replaced all kinds of things, to no effect. Finally they found that this problem was caused by the throttle sensor. So get that replaced, and it will work fine.

We are only 2 payments from being fully paid off & now our timing belt had gone. We have had to have the engine head gasket replaced already and needed to have 10 tires in the last year on the car. It would not hold alignment after having the axle replaced. We have had all the work done at that dealerships and they are not wanting to have to replace the engine under warranty either. I don't think we will every buy another KIA either. Our other car is a Suzuki RENO and we have had no problems with it. I love it & will probably purchase another one of them instead.

We have just passed 70k on our '02. Haven't had any issues other than the brakes wearing slightly faster than I would like.

I'm trying to decide whether to go ahead and dump money now into a new timing belt or just keep having it inspected and do it either when it fails inspection or at 100k. My concern is about what happens when the timing belt breaks on this car... does it seize the engine and throw the crankshaft? Or is it OK, just undriveable until fixed?

Another question I have is about the reverse gear on the automatic tranny. Ours has always had a huge lag time between shifting it into reverse and actually engaging. In real world this means that if I don't wait 3 seconds (ish) after I shift into reverse before I touch the gas, I get a lovely hard jerk in the car as the gear actually kicks in. Does anyone else get this?

It would bend the valves if the timing belt breaks on your 02 (at least it will if it's a Rio, that's what I own). But I would replace it if I were you. I love my 02 Rio and will upgrade it soon, since it has 163,000 miles now and is on its way to its third timing belt change. I also finally have my first major problem with the car, an electronic gear shift issue on 3rd & 4th gear that keeps activating the check engine light. I will buy a newer Rio if I can find one locally.