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And you will notice that the car he is shopping for is a Daewoo Leganza. Now for someone who talks up Toyota products, it would not make much sense for them to be searching for a Daewoo unless most of their profile (including that part) was a joke.
The site can be reached at http://www.jdpower.com.
Highlight and click on the word automotive to get to the area most appropriate for our purposes. ; )
What is coolest about this site is that you can pull up IQS info on multiple cars at the same time. And this IQS info is broken down into components.
Pretty handy comparison tool.
BTW, which year did you check out?
When I checked, I guess I must have skipped over the 2000 year and checked 2001 and then from 1999 backward.
But the Sonata is not a low end car so we should be discussing the results of the Accent and Elantra when it comes to Hyundai vehicles.
I did a comparo on the 2001 Elantra GLS, ECHO (they use all caps, is that the official spelling? Is it an acronym?), Civic, and Sentra. They are dead even in 3 of the 6 Initial Quality categories: performance, creature comforts, and style. On Mechanical Quality, none of the cars rank very high (very surprising), with the Elantra getting 2 dots to the other's 3. On Feature and Accessory Quality and Body and Interior Quality, the ECHO stands out, the Sentra in the middle, and--surprisingly to me--the Elantra and the Civic (the most expensive car on the list) bringing up the rear with 2 dots. It's also surprising to me that the Sentra did not fare well in Feature and Accessory Quality, because if the Sentra has anything I thought it has a nicely-appointed interior. It's also surprising the Civic ranked so low. Maybe the fact that the Elantra and Civic are the two new models in the group, with teething problems, played against them. It proves again that the Civic is way overpriced for what you get, since you can get a vehicle with equal or better quality (according to JD Powers) for thousands less.
You can also find details at the Strategic Vision site,
http://www.vision-inc.com/01_tvi_release.html
Note that this press release says that Kia is "most improved" in this year's survey.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
And Iluv, remember, this is the low end cars (sedans) board.
Further discussion about your new ride would be off topic. ; )
I am curious as to why you pulled the trigger on the deal though. Perhaps you can get the host to open the Kia Sportage topic back up.
Click on the link and then look to the left. You will see the word Auto. Click on that and on the page that comes up will be a number of stories. Look for the story with Aztek and Hyundai in the description. Click on the little blue letters and there is the story.
People need to understand that these surveys have less to do with actual quality of a car and more with how people EXPECT their cars to be.
For actual quality, we will have to wait for J.D. Powers survey of initial quality.
The number one reason she bought the Rio was the price. She had a very tight budget and she thought the Rio was the only one that would fit into that budget. Comparing MSRPs, the Accent would have actually been cheaper by about $50, but I don't know if it would have been cheaper bottom line. She chose the dealership she did because of a screamer ad, but fortunately, the dealership lived up to the ad.
She wanted to wait and get something better, but her former car was becoming unreliable. That fact and the screamer ad led her behind the wheel of a Rio. If the economic times had been better, she might have gone ahead and gotten something with a higher monthly payment, but better quality.
I had to be the bearer of bad tidings and I wish I had kept my mouth shut now. She told me that after having the Rio for a few years, she hoped to trade it in and get what she really wanted, but she did not specify what that was. I had to tell her that the Rio did not have great resale value. She looked so hurt that I don't think the dealer told her that little fact.
When I saw her, she had the car for a week and thankfully the Kia "smell" had vanished. The dizzying design on the seats were enough to make me ill though.
I was not impressed with the fit, finish or quality of the Rio, but she was happy given the price she paid.
As for the warranties, given her driving, the basic one will last her a little more than two years and the power train will last slightly less than five.
In one week, she had put 600 miles on the car.
If you absolutely, positively have to have the cheapest set of new wheels, buy a Rio. Just don't expect [good] quality.
When Kia made its U.S. launch in 1994 with a single model, the company simply carried over the Sephia name for the compact sedan, a name that had been created for, and used in, the Korean market.
"We weren't able to do any substantial market research concerning the vehicle name when we launched," said [B.M. Ahn, president and CEO of Kia Motors America]. "So we went with Sephia but always knew that at some point it would change, especially because it was so often mispronounced."
As to why they changed the body style (not the same as the Spectra, actually a new body but on the Spectra platform), I personally think the new style is a big improvement over the old one. Cars are typically reskinned every few years, and the Sephia was due. Note that although Kia's sales increased 25% in September from a year ago, the Sephia was the only Kia car model to lose sales compared to last year. So a fresh design was called for.
We were very pleasantly surprised when we drove an ECHO (without the salesman)with the nice quiet, smooth ride, the performance with A/C on, and everything about the ECHO except the rather spartan interior. All the ECHO needs is an LE model.
The PT Cruiser costs considerably more, gets about half the gas mileage, etc.
No other sedan was comfortable for us to sit in so we have not driven them. We will continue to drive a minivan until Toyota makes an ECHO LE.
http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/011004-1.htm
Kindly show me where, in my earlier post #679, I [explicitly] endorsed SV's survey. I don't even see where I implicitly endorsed it. I merely pointed out what criteria Smart Money used in determining their finalists.
Personally, in terms of surveys about actual quality, I judge JD Powers to be better than Strategic Visions or AutoPacific.
I happen to agree with Smart Money that the Echo is a very good car. And given their (Smart Money's) criteria for selecting the winner, I agree with that too even though the winner was not the Echo.
I don't know why Smart Money used SV's survey as a criteria, but at least they (Smart Money) told us what criteria they used.
Detroit News released a similar list and I challenge anyone to figure out the exact criteria they used to pick their final list.
There's a saying in the computer industry: garbage in, garbage out.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
And on to Kia's advertising. Why do they constantly target Toyota? And on their website, the Corolla is used in almost every comparison of why Sephia is "supposedly" better. Is that the only way Kia can win customers? I found discrepancies between Kia's comparisons and Toyota's comparisons. The Toyota comparison gives Corolla 14 cu feet of trunk space, the Sephia only 10. But Kia's site gives Sephia 10.4 and Corolla's only 12.1 cu feet. Both cars have 125 hp but Corolla's runs at 5800 rpm rather than Sephia's 6000 rpm. Corolla has more torque. 125 lb/foot at 4000 rpm vs 108 lb/foot at 4800 rpm. And what's with the Sephia's mileage. Toyota sure is using a more efficient engine than Kia is. Kia better hold off on gas/electric hybrids until they can get a conventional engine efficient.
Oh, and by the way, the cute little heading the Sephia page has is so nice. "More fun than a Corolla." Well if you can't believe a statement like that then what can you believe? Their comparison also says one can't get a Corolla LE with wood trim interior and a color keyed rear spoiler. Yes, one can. Kia should get things straightened out.
Another way to view Kia's comparison of Sephia vs. Corolla is as a compliment to the Corolla. It is common practice for a company to compare its products against those it views as its strongest competition. So by making direct comparisons between the Sephia and Corolla, Kia is acknowledging that Corolla is the car it has to beat. I always like it when I see ads from competitors of my company directly attacking my company's products. I especially like it when the ads are inaccurate or misleading (which happens quite often), because when I point out the errors to customers, those competitors lose credibility.
Kia's new motto: The Persuit of Toyota
Toyota's new motto: The Persuit of being better than Kia so they can stop comparing us
Lexus' new motto: The persuit of Mercedez Benze
In both instances, the pretender offers same features for less money so they are probably a better bargain for those with limited funds to spend.
Carleton, with today's attacks near Kabul I hope you are in a safe location.
What made you choose an SUV over a sedan?
Don't talk nonsense. Lexus' are great cars, and great car + great price = happy owners. When I was shopping for my RX 300, I test drove all the SUVs' in it's class, and I chose the RX 300. HA!