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Watch Out for Kia

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Comments

  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    edited November 2012
    If you watched magazine reviews over the last 12-18 months, you would notice that as-tested MPG for Hyundais and Kias ALWAYS fell several points below the city EPA rating, whereas for most cars tested these days, the as-tested at least met the city rating, when it wasn't higher.

    AutoNews has the new ratings, and they are all 38 MPG highway or lower. The Kia Soul dropped five points highway.

    OTOH, the Accent and Elantra are still competitive, even at 28/38 or whatever they are now. And they are giving out debit cards for the entire time the owner keeps the car - the difference in mileage times the cost of gas + 25%, or something like that. They expect an Elantra owner driving 15,000 miles per year to net an $88 debit card this year.

    Just think about that: $88 x 900,000 cars = like $80 million per year they will be paying out to make it right for existing owners. Wow. They expect to have new stickers on the cars on lots within a few days.

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,204
    I wonder the prices on the new stickers are going to be the same? Elantra $88 a year, mark up sticker $400. :P
    2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    Well it IS the auto industry, I wouldn't put it past them! :-P

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited January 2013
    Kia Motors Announces Google Maps Integration To Enhance In-car Connectivity

    Jukebox, 911 calls if your airbag deploys, nav, remote diagnostics and a find your parked car app.

    Hyundai doing the same thing.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited March 2013
    This could be interesting. Get some of the look without the reliability concerns.

    2014 Kia Soul Inspired by Track'ster Concept

    image
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    Good thing they went with Google Maps. If they went with Mapquest, the drivers would become hopelessly lost with their convoluted directions!
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    Nice update, other than the weird low round pods at front and rear. Still a goofy anime car for dorks and old people, but maybe Kia, with Schreyer and team, is building a better Scion.
  • candlou1candlou1 Member Posts: 2
    KIA is the new Toyota, the Korean auto makers seem to have the beat Quality available today.
  • candlou1candlou1 Member Posts: 2
    That should read BEST not beat.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited September 2014
    Welcome to the Forums @candlou1. You can edit your posts for four hours. :)

    A Soul is still on my shopping list - are you driving a Kia?
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    I never thought I would be saying these words but Kia has come a LONG way! As frumpy and ugly the Soul are, I see a lot of them running around.

    And I parked next to a big Kia (Sonata) the other day and I was shocked at how NICE it was.

    Still, the idea of buying a Korean car still doesn't appeal to me. I just think (for me) there are better choices. Resale continues to be a weak spot.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,638
    edited September 2014
    I think the current Sonata is kind of ugly (although the latest refresh helped), but I've always thought the Optima version was pretty sharp. Somehow, the Sonata seemed like the result of a bad marriage between Toyota and Mercedes, whereas the Optima was a blend of Saab and Lexus that somehow managed to work!

    A couple years ago, while vacationing in Aruba, I had a Kia Opirus for a rental. When I heard that's what I was getting, I was intrigued, because I thought it would be kinda cool to drive something that we didn't get in the States. But then I Googled it. It was just a Kia Amanti. In spirit, a 2012 Lincoln Versailles.

    Still, it wasn't a bad car. We nicknamed it "Opie". One thing I remembered that was kinda cool, was that when you backed up ,the passenger side mirror would automatically adjust downward, so you could see the ground. Really helped with parallel parking. I had never seen a car do that before.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    I remember seeing an Opirus in Switzerland - I about fell over. Maybe the only one in the country, and I get behind it in traffic. Those things cost the equivalent of 50K+ there - must have been driven by a Korean embassy or Kia dealer exec. I like the Versailles name for it, it is kind of a modern version of that more formal later run Versailles.

    MB has had the auto tilt-upon-reverse mirror thing for maybe 15 years now. It's a very handy feature for parking in tight garages, too.

    Kia is nowadays definitely the style leader of the Hyunkia pair.

    andre1969 said:

    I think the current Sonata is kind of ugly (although the latest refresh helped), but I've always thought the Optima version was pretty sharp. Somehow, the Sonata seemed like the result of a bad marriage between Toyota and Mercedes, whereas the Optima was a blend of Saab and Lexus that somehow managed to work!

    A couple years ago, while vacationing in Aruba, I had a Kia Opirus for a rental. When I heard that's what I was getting, I was intrigued, because I thought it would be kinda cool to drive something that we didn't get in the States. But then I Googled it. It was just a Kia Amanti. In spirit, a 2012 Lincoln Versailles.

    Still, it wasn't a bad car. We nicknamed it "Opie". One thing I remembered that was kinda cool, was that when you backed up ,the passenger side mirror would automatically adjust downward, so you could see the ground. Really helped with parallel parking. I had never seen a car do that before.

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,638
    I still remember the license plate on the Opirus...almost impossible to forget. V-1. The license plates there are a letter followed by up to five digits. I have an old Aruban license plate on my wall that's A-40104. I think "A" means a local resident, and "V" is a rental car. Thought it was really odd that I'd get the very first one in the sequence! And it was just V-1. Not V-00001.

    I was actually a bit leery of the car. At first, I thought it would be an interesting idea for a low budget horror movie, where a tourist gets a car with that number on it, and various people try to hunt them down and kill them for a prize. But then I started thinking a bit too deep into it...

    I also remember asking an employee at the resort we were staying at if something or other was free, and he saw my car, with that V-1 on the tag, and said "Oh, you Number One! Think everything for free!" He said it in a nice, jovial way though, not the least bit condescending.

    I guess Aruba is pretty safe overall, if they can make that kind of differentiation on the license plates. In some countries, or even parts of the United States, it would be like painting "Rob Me" on the back of the car. IIRC, they used to have a problem in Las Vegas, with crooks figuring out which cars were rentals by the way the license plates were numbered, so they eventually had to make them all look "normal".
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    I am surprised they do that, it must be a safe place. That kind of thing is why firms in the US moved to barcodes, I think. I remember back in the 90s, in FL, rental cars were being targeted for reasons you mention, and several tourists were murdered. Now, rentals are a lot more discreet. I remember when I was a kid, many would have a distinct license plate frame. That's long gone.

    That Kia must have been the luxury car in the fleet.
    andre1969 said:

    I still remember the license plate on the Opirus.o have a problem in Las Vegas, with crooks figuring out which cars were rentals by the way the license plates were numbered, so they eventually had to make them all look "normal".

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