When shopping for my wife a new car we looked around quite a bit. Based on price, warranty, word of mouth, and a good salesman we decided on a Kia from Kia Mall of Georgia in North Georgia, USA. We have regretted it ever since.
This is as much a reflection of the specific dealership as it is the whole company especially seeing as several other people have talked about such satisfying experiences so keep that in mind if you’re from this area and still want a Kia after reading my review.
I’ll start with why we decided on this Kia in the first place. To be honest our biggest concern was affordability. We had to stay under $15, 000 and did not want a used vehicle. Our market was narrow, but my wife had few specifications. She wanted a 4-door, check, she prefers red, check, she wanted something not too sporty, check. I’m the penny pincer in the family so I looked at price and warranty.
We saw other cars in our price range that were nice and had the features we wanted, but none with the warranty Kia offered. 10 years and 100,000 miles? That had a nice ring to it. Doesn’t it seem like as soon as you pay off a car it quits working? This warranty would provide coverage beyond that (though I was certain there would be some things not covered I would later wish were). It had other basics that were important such as CD player, cruise control, power windows and locks, and even a little sunglasses case the swung down from the roof.
That convinced us to sit down with the salesman. He gave us a good trade-in on the old clunker we wanted to ditch and a good interest rate. After a test drive we went for it.
A few weeks after the purchase I asked my wife how she liked it. So far so good. It’s not a drag racer but it had sufficient power for a woman young enough to not want a luxury sedan but old enough to not want to race the streets. We typically get up to no more than 80 MPH on the interstate, and it handled that quite well. I’ve thought I felt it sway on windy days (unlike my sportier Saturn), but it was nothing to give me alarm. She was able to get close enough to the steering wheel and sit straight up enough to be comfortable (I prefer the laid-back design of a sports car). Her cup holders were well placed in the middle with an extra one on the door if she had too many Coke bottles already in the car. The sound system was basic but sounded good. Trunk space was adequate for luggage for two people though we might have trouble if we took a third person along. The interior was standard, certainly nothing spectacular but not cheap-looking. The road was easy to see at all angles, and generally the ride was smooth.
The first problem we had was with the cruise control – it would not always engage. She discovered that if she turned the car off and back on the cruise would usually begin working so she did that until she could take the car to the dealership for repairs. Once there the mechanics could find nothing wrong. They wanted her to bring it back as soon as it did it again. Keep in mind this dealership is a good 40 minutes away so it’s not like we can run over on our lunch break. Anyway, we took it back at least twice more for the same problem with the same response. We were frustrated with this being a new car, but it was just the cruise, it could be remedied, and only happened every once in a while so we reluctantly let it go without much fuss.
Then a new problem arose. The entire electrical system would cease getting enough power for it to operate properly. If the car was off it would not crank which nearly left me stranded more than half an hour away from home (in other words, I couldn’t opt on taking my car instead) needing to pick my wife up at a particular time. Even using jumper cables it would not stay cranked (because it wasn’t the battery, it was something more complex). All of a sudden it began to work (long after we had given up with the jumper cables, by the way). But it also occurs when we’re driving. All of a sudden the lights will dim, the stereo will shut off, and the car will become sluggish. In fact, the writing of this review was prompted by my wife’s windshield wipers ceasing to work during a rainstorm due to this problem. You can bet your asteroids Kia would be paying dearly if anything happened to my wife because they didn’t want to fix her car. But I’m getting ahead of myself (and more than a little angry). Needless to say we have taken the car in to the shop numerous times before today to have this very same problem checked out. The response is always the same. “We can’t find anything wrong, bring it back while it’s messing up and we’ll see what we can find then.” That could very easily have landed my wife in a hospital or, God forbid, a coffin this morning. AND I’M STILL NOT DONE!!
That is the incident that has made me the angriest, but the most recent new problem has to do with the transmission (though it may ultimately be tied to the electrical system since that’s where the bulk of the other problems come from). Occasionally the car will not shift properly and will run in the wrong gear for a while. When it finally does shift the jerk is so violent that when it first happened I was sure I must have hit something. Yet again, though, they could not find a problem when we took it down and sent us away every time.
To make matters worse they found a way to get out of looking at it when they COULD have seen the problem. When it started acting up again my wife called in late to work and drove directly to the dealership. Keep in mind she was not getting paid for the 2 hours or so that this was happening. She got there and told them what was going on. Without looking at it they wanted her to leave it with them so they could look at their convenience (with our luck that would have given the car time to settle or whatever it does to keep them from finding the problem, OR, dare I say it, allow them to avoid scrutiny so they could “overlook” the problem). My wife didn’t have any problems with leaving the car with them until they told her that it was her responsibility to rent a car. I could understand that if this were not a car still under warranty that we have been complaining about on a regular basis since within 6 months of buying it. It sounds to me like one way or another Kia doesn’t want to shell out the money required to rectify this situation. Yeah, maybe they would have found the problems FINALLY, but then again maybe not or, at least, maybe not all of them sticking us with a car rental bill for nothing.
There have been other minor problems with the car that Kia has not been able to get out of fixing. The only one worth mentioning is when the driver’s side window fell down into the door requiring the replacement of the mechanisms inside.
Having no other experience with Kia, it seems unfair for me to judge the whole company based on this one dealership, but we got the cold shoulder from the home office when we contacted them about the issue. The thing I want you, the reader, to realize is I’m not basing my poor rating solely on the problems I’m having, but just as much if not more so on Kia’s continuous lack of corrective action in the matter. I’m also not the only person in this area having trouble with a Kia from that dealership that they refuse to fix (although mine is the only Spectra I know about).
Plenty of other people like Kia so you do, of course, have to take that into consideration, but be aware that some of the dealerships if not the company as a whole will try to get out of fixing your car if they can, warranty or not. We’re to the point of having to take legal action. Do you want to chance being in that situation? Not being someone who normally writes vehicle reviews I don’t really know what you hoped to learn from me as far as a complete look at the specs of the car, but believe me when I say that if you have the kinds of problems I’ve had nothing else about the car matters. There are no positives that balance out the negatives I’ve experienced therefore all other details are moot. All I can say is that if my reasons for disliking Kia don’t dissuade you, there are several positive reviews to let you know the likable things you get out of this car.
**UPDATE**
Since my situation is rather extreme and specific to my vehicle, one of the advisors here has encouraged me to add info that is more universal to prospective buyers. While it is hard to see past the obvious frustrations, I will try to give you a more rounded view on some of the points I may have skipped or not covered adequately.
Price/Bargain: At the time I felt like it was a good deal, not a steal, mind you, but good for what we got. I’ve already talked about some of the features we got, and will talk about a few of them in a moment, so I won’t go over them again right now. I was initially pleased enough with what we got for the price that I might have considered getting one to replace my Saturn if not for our problems (although I probably would have ultimately decided it wasn’t sporty enough for me anyway). Without considering the negatives it’s a good price for a limited budget.
Warranty: I’ve talked a good bit about them ducking out of fixing my problems, but for the sake of being fair I should tell you about specific things the warranty has covered. The situation with the malfunctioning window was relatively painless. We took it to them, they fixed it – no muss, no fuss. They also touched up a blemish in the paint job with no hassles. They did actually provide us with a loaner car while they had ours in the shop on one occasion. I don’t remember which visit that was, but I do know it was before the transmission problems. So it’s not like they have refused to do ANYTHING to the car, and if not for these other problems I might well have praised them in those situations.
Exterior: Nothing that will turn heads but nothing that will make our peers question our taste. We’re not interested in making a statement with our car so the lack of dazzle is a positive.
Interior: Standard and plain. I like the muted colors. The seats don’t have a lot of comfort controls that you get with pricey vehicles, and you get what you pay for. My butt tends to get sore after more than 3 hours if I’m driving. If I’m a passenger and can stretch out more it’s not so bad. The cruise controls are in a convenient spot on the wheel but feel bulky. Everything is generally easy to reach and see. There are 2 cup holders in the middle and one on each door, a glasses case mounted in the roof, an armrest with a small upper tray and larger lower tray, a little cubbyhole under the CD player, and a few other small places to shove things if you keep a lot of stuff in your car.
Driving: It gets pushed around by the wind easily, but the ride is generally smooth. It was also fairly quiet until the transmission started acting up. By “fairly” I mean that it can’t compete with my Mom’s much more expensive car, but doesn’t sound like I’m listening to a radio station that won’t quite tune in either. Steering has just the right amount of play so that turns feel natural.
Power: Adequate. It’s not going to win in a drag race, but I don’t feel like I need to get out and push. It exudes an air of being moderate which tends to make me drive that way, but if I need to light a fire under my butt I can punch it with good results. I’ve never had trouble getting around those Sunday drivers, although most of my driving is on multi-lane highways or in town so I don’t do very much two-lane passing.
Braking: The brakes seem touchy to me. If I’m in bumper-to-bumper traffic I find it hard to stop and go without jerking the car a lot. It’s because I’m trying to drive it like my Saturn which accelerates and brakes much more smoothly. However, I’ve never had trouble with not being able to stop which is the most important thing.
Sound System: Probably OK if you’re not an aficionado. It doesn’t sound good with the bass up, and the front speakers rattle easily. I prefer better equalization controls, better separation of frequencies, and fuller sound, but my wife doesn’t complain (keep in mind that I have a long history of editing audio and still run sound boards for concerts and plays, so I’m a bit harder to please than most folks). It does support 2 sets of AM and 2 of FM controls. AM reception seems a little weak. CD controls are easy to use.
That covers everything pertinent that I can think of, although you’re quite welcome to ask me questions. Nothing that I liked about the car has been able to offset the problems I’ve had, and nothing that may be pleasant about driving it now can take away my paranoia that I’m going to end up stranded on the side of the road at any time.
**UPDATE #2**
For anyone interested, by threatening legal action we have gotten Kia to commit themselves to do whatever it takes to fix the car. I'll post another update once I see what they actually do with that.
**UPDATE #3**
This is belated, but I realized I never followed up. Here's the quick version of what happened. Kia said the transmission was bad and it was not covered under our warranty. After a fight about that we took it to an independent mechanic specializing in Korean vehicles. We learned that the transmission was fine, it was the catalytic converter that was bad. Strange how the actual problem which Kia couldn't find was something that WAS covered under warranty. We were able to force their hand and get the converter replaced. When the problem didn't clear up we took it to the mechanic again only to find out Kia fixed the WRONG converter!!! The mechanic said that if Kia had done any measure of follow up they would have known it wasn't fixed. We had to take it back yet again to have that one fixed. What binds my cheese is we had to pay a mechanic two different fees in order to force Kia into fixing something they should have and could have found and fixed to begin with. Not to mention having to take it to them multiple times and be without the needed transportation for days on end. Though we continue to have electrical problems we have never had to replace the transmission which Kia said was on its last leg. At this point we have no recourse but to continuously repair the car just enough to keep it running (we will NEVER take it to Kia again unless we can prove it's a warranty repair!!) and concentrate on paying it down so we can get rid of it as quickly as possible.
Condition: New
Model Year: 2002
