Tuesday Cruiseday: Killed In Action

Hello readers,

Today we are discussing what to expect when you buy a Kia. A car for Olaf!

When you buy a kia remember that every part of this vehicle is designed to last the lifetime of the car, which is pretty short lived. Kia doesn’t believe in vehicle repairs, but they believe in replacement of any significant part. Their transmissions are designed to never have any repair or maintenance, but require a full transmission replacement if it’s a CVT. The old 6 speed transmission is normal maintenance, but also probably won’t have issues. Even if it does it’s old enough to be easily repaired. The fan belt’s tensioner is almost inaccessible for any repairs that need to be done unless you tear out the side of the vehicle. Not that it’s all that hard to take out as kia did take a note from Subaru and make everything easy to tear apart and even have an easy lift engine.

When mechanics tell you that the car is disposable or a lego car… they’re right! The vehicle is appreciated as a rental vehicle, because if you have a high budget for replacement parts it reduces how often it needs to be in the shop. Another place that kia historically cut corners was leaving out air conditioning, which if you put it in a cold area you only want to put the vehicle in the shop in summer!!!!!

Bees’ll buzz, kia’s will hear impact wrenches humm
And I’ll be driving something else
In summer

I would say that if you want a car that you drive in winter to complement your electric vehicle that you can’t drive in winter get a kia. Its plastic components and electric assisted collant release will make it warm up quicker, which is great in cold places! Just remember that if it breaks down there’s no quick fix for your kia, but massive replacements with the cost thereof.

I still remember the first vehicle I bought off of a car lot of any kind, which was a kia. I liked how they had a manual transmission, which from my bay area mindset in America is an anti-theft device. FYI it’s also an anti alternate driver device in every way good and bad. It had no A/C, which people asked me if it came with a steering wheel, but I wasn’t living in Arizona or anywhere that the temperature went above 100 degree’s. I had just got back from Germany where AC is almost non-existent, so I wasn’t spoiled; however, it didn’t go over well with people that I offered a ride to.

There are many places Kia is manufactured and the best place is if the VIN starts with AK that means it’s built in Korea. Scotty also is of the opinion that Canada built Kia’s are good too. Another point that you should consider when looking at a Kia is if it comes with a 2 liter engine up into 2015 it will blow up in the life of the car. The 1.8 liter engines are Kia’s bread and butter for quality, so look for those.

Given those parameters you’re likely to be better off buying a Kia than a Jeep for a commuter car, but where everyone would criticise Kia is that you rarely need to repair the outer panels and frame because it’s primarily plastic. Like a Jeep we all know there are problems, so Kia has their places of lacking support in trade-offs. They did a good job making plastic as substantial in strength as they could, but it is about 90% plastic.

If you drive a kia the moral of the story is avoid accidents with other drivers at all costs!!!