KIA = Killed It Again

The last car I let my wife pick out for herself was a KIA.  A decent design, but the execution was utterly terrible.  Had it for two years, got one year trouble free from it.  Timing belt jumped 10k before the change interval.  Wouldn't warranty it because it was a "service item".  Fixed it myself, royal PITA.  Rear wheel cylinder exploded, as in the casting failed, managed to get it home, thank God it was a stick.  Differential lost a bearing (less than 50k on the vehicle), got that fixed under warranty.  Then  t-stat stuck closed and killed the radiator.  I fought with a dishonest service manager to get it fixed, finally called in a family friend who was high up at the dealership and got it fixed under warranty for free.  That was the last straw.  While it was being fixed I scouted a new vehicle and when it was fixed drove it from the KIA dealership to the Subaru dealership and bought our WRX.  Over 200k  miles later and the WRX is still in our garage.  The KIA I assume is part of an artificial reef or some skyscraper in China. 

Kia is also the code word for any non Mustang driven to a MSBB. Since Lt Dan has Kia in quotation marks me thinks it's being used as slang. Go easy on the boy
Just saying...

The FIX for that problem:

Remove battery
Close hood
Push car in Lake Michigan
Get $10 core charge for old battery at OReilly
DONE

Yeah, I know they are actually great cars.  Just the traditional good-natured foreign car bashing...

I try to stay with Ford and Mopar just because that seems to be what I find easy to work on and parts are reasonable (Not old Mopar Parts, the parts for the 70 T/A are crazy). I have had great luck with the Jeep/Chrysler 4.0, My Dakota does have the 4.7 which is just a so so motor.
But, my mother has a Hyundai Sonata that she has totaled three times and bought it back each time and we have fixed it enough to put back on the road, it has 240K miles on it, every light on the dash, looks like a Christmas tree stays on. But it still runs really well and doesn't burn or leak anything, the car has a million rattles but keeps on going.

MS wrote:

The FIX for that problem:

Remove battery
Close hood
Push car in Lake Michigan
Get $10 core charge for old battery at OReilly
DONE

Also, if you have comprehensive insurance they will cover the cost of your own stupidity, so take insurance check and buy a better car.
 

Ms. 6Sal6 got a new Hyundai (close as I could get to Honda!) for her birthday.
8 speed tranny still amazes me........uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uhhhh-uh. Anyhow.. I bought the "extended warrantee" (my first) so maybe it will last forever. Bought it the LAST day of the month so supposedly got a super deal.
I can change oil and MAYBE the plugs and maaaaaybe the belt once it goes over 100,000 miles. The rest is all computers!
Had a guy at the dealership that gives tutorials on how to operate all the bells & whistles.. (I asked if they could get one with roll-up windows...sales  dude just looked at me like I had two heads!)
Tooooo techie!!!!
6sal6

kardad wrote:

I try to stay with Ford and Mopar just because that seems to be what I find easy to work on and parts are reasonable (Not old Mopar Parts, the parts for the 70 T/A are crazy). I have had great luck with the Jeep/Chrysler 4.0, My Dakota does have the 4.7 which is just a so so motor.
But, my mother has a Hyundai Sonata that she has totaled three times and bought it back each time and we have fixed it enough to put back on the road, it has 240K miles on it, every light on the dash, looks like a Christmas tree stays on. But it still runs really well and doesn't burn or leak anything, the car has a million rattles but keeps on going.

I had an 87 Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0 - put 328K on that engine - couldn't kill it. Was still running strong with very low oil consumption when I sold it. Same with my 97 Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 (until it got totaled) My 04 Grand Cherokee with the 4.7L HO sucked a valve at 174K. I rebuilt it and it has about 28K on it now with no problems so far. My daily driver is a 2017 Explorer Sport. Love that vehicle. The last foreign car I owned was an 84 Datsun pickup. It actually ran pretty well. I just had to make sure I kept it full of rice.....my daughter traded in her 08 Ford Focus on a new Sub-aroo, after owning a 98 Ford Contour, a 94 Ford Bronco, a 2000 Explorer and the Focus.  He husband has a Toyota Tundra so I guess she's jumped ship from the Ford family.
As far as the KIA goes, maybe it's just low on rice also......(okay - no more foreign car bashing for now...)
 

So a good friend of mine bought a new Toyota Corolla, I think it was an '06, that was as bare bones as they came.  Roll up windows, no power locks, manual trans, etc.  He had it for 280k miles.  In that time one of the window mechanisms failed and was fixed under warranty.  We put a clutch in it at 200k.  We put a radiator in it at some point.  I think he did brakes 3 times and put 2 sets of tires on it (he drives a lot of highway miles).  It would get close to 40mpg around town and 50+ on the highway.  It goes to show that all this hybrid stuff is a bunch of crap.  It got the same mileage or better, but did it without a battery pack that creates a ton of pollution through mining and presents a huge cost when its time to replace it.  You probably can't even buy a car like that now. 

Our newest addition is an '07 FJ Cruiser.  6speed manual, purchased it with less than 100k on it.  No one believes its an '07 because of how clean it is.  That's the wife's DD.  Plenty of room for the kids and stuff if we need to travel.  Typical Toyota reliability.  I expect years of boring stories about how I changed the oil regularly.