<$6,000 Kia with a catch

[mjoekingz28]

They've been advertising a sub $6000 Kia in McComb lately. I was across the street getting an inspection sticker, so decided to check out the catch.

The car is a Kia Rio which I really liked. Seems the car is behind times, which some of us like. It wasn't so cab forward as to need an extension for the brake master cylinder. You could see the ground from the engine bay. The belt only turned an alternator and water pump. Timing cover looked easy to get to as well as everything else under the hood looked fun to work on.

The sticker was like $12 with $800 added for special lug nuts and nitrogen. Almost laughed at that.

here's the catch, the salesman finally told me. You have to had owned a Kia in the past three years to qualify. Probably more to it than that, but not many like the basic cars anyways.

Odd to see it only got 34mpg from a 5 speed small 4 door with 175/70-14s.

 

[LargeCarManX2]

"Odd to see it only got 34mpg from a 5 speed small 4 door with 175/70-14s."

It's because you have too keep in floored to get anywhere!

 

[FowVay]

I actually like that little car. I don't own one but see them all of the time on the roads around here.

Ever since Kia opened their factory down in Westpoint, Ga. their sales have skyrocketed. I guess employing 2000 locals in a rural Georgia setting had a impact on their sales.

 

[IndyIan]

Our friends have now had 2 of them in a row, and they could easily buy something bigger or flashier, but they like it.
They are sort of a simple tech car. No VVT to boost mileage, solid rear axle for a flat cargo floor. I think also the manual versions would be geared like a tractor so you don't have to downshift into a headwind on the interstate which hurts mileage too.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

The Yaris is only rated at 36 highway with single vvti, but most all MT owners get 38-41 easy without trying. IO have had problems getting the EPA average on Kias and Hyundais - I dont think the engine tech or the ECU prog from the 90's is SOTA. I thought the Kia 1.6 has vvti?! The Kia rio 5 is a highly rated car for its chassis and build are excellent. Rides and handles better than most anything in its class (including BMW318ti) though I found the engine gutless.

 

[BigCahuna]

I would be happy to get 34 mpg. My wife has a '00 Kia sportage, while its peppy enough, it's milage stinks. Maybe 20 on the highway and 15-18 around town. Its been like that since we got it in '01.We have had very few problems since we had it. The latest was a grounded out spark plug due to the valve cover allowed oil into the plug well. While the cover was off I was amazed how clean the motor was. Been using Mobil 1 Extended Performance 10w30. Looked like the motor had 1k miles on it.,,

 

[JTK]

$6K for a brand-new Kia Rio? Yeah right. MSRP is ~$12300 for the base.

Maybe with every possible rebate applied (where no-one qualifies for all of them) and a ~$3K trade included.

Man I loathe those adds with the asterisk and fine-print.

Joel

 

[kkreit01]

Sounds like another real shady dealer. Stay clear at all costs.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Sounds like another real shady dealer. Stay clear at all costs.

I think as long as you can confirm its a new car from KIA, how can you go wrong with writing a cheque for the full amount and never going back? Get it serviced at another dealer.

 

[Cutehumor]

I've seen buy one new $20k kia and get a 09 kia rio for free.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: LargeCarManX2

"Odd to see it only got 34mpg from a 5 speed small 4 door with 175/70-14s."

It's because you have too keep in floored to get anywhere!


I noticed this when they came out with the new EPA ratings. Corollas dropped from 41 to 35 while the larger Impala barely dropped 1 or 2 MPG.

Guess small cars start really doing worse going 75 with the AC on, windows open, and 400 lbs of burger king wrappers on the floor. May also mean more room for improvement by driving like we used to.

You don't need VVTi for mileage if your cam is set up for the speed you cruise at, even if it means losing a couple peak HP.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I noticed this when they came out with the new EPA ratings. Corollas dropped from 41 to 35 while the larger Impala barely dropped 1 or 2 MPG.


The '07 Corolla dropped from 41 highway to 37 highway, and from 32 city to 28 city. That's on the order of a 10% reduction.

The '07 Impala 3.5 dropped from 31 highway to 28 highway, and from 21 city to 18 city. That's also on the order of a 10% reduction.

It's a consistent reduction in both situations.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: LargeCarManX2

"Odd to see it only got 34mpg from a 5 speed small 4 door with 175/70-14s."

It's because you have too keep in floored to get anywhere!


Guess small cars start really doing worse going 75 with the AC on, windows open, and 400 lbs of burger king wrappers on the floor. May also mean more room for improvement by driving like we used to.

You don't need VVTi for mileage if your cam is set up for the speed you cruise at, even if it means losing a couple peak HP.


Why would you drive with the AC on and the windows down, or carry an extra 400 lbs of any kind of junk.

My 11 year old Corolla, the first model with VVT-i, is happiest in the 70 mph range as far as FE goes. Of course I don't carry 400 lbs of trash or drive with the windows down and the AC on.

As to VVT-i, the point of it is to use the most efficient timing at all speeds - not just on the occasional highway trip where you can lock the torque converter up rendering the VVT-i moot. That nets FE gains under all typical driving conditions.

Last summer, as I adjusted to the car's peculiarities (as they all have), getting 35 mpg (US, not Imperial) wasn't too hard and my typical highway speed was in the 70 mph range. This summer I'm hoping to hit or exceed 40.

The major limiting factor on FE is season: cold months in cold climates means FE suffers across the board, no matter what you drive. In colder climates, summer months level the playing field and its during those months where EPA ratings are easier to meet and beat, and do so while still using a 70 mph highway cruise and adopting only a few, safe, and transparent hyper-miling techniques.

-Spyder

 

[PandaBear]

You don't need VVTi or all these exotic engine design if it is sized so small and geared right. Just tune it to 5000rpm and the driver will keep it at 5000rpm.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Spyder7
The major limiting factor on FE is season: cold months in cold climates means FE suffers across the board, no matter what you drive. In colder climates, summer months level the playing field and its during those months where EPA ratings are easier to meet and beat, and do so while still using a 70 mph highway cruise and adopting only a few, safe, and transparent hyper-miling techniques.


This, also, is climate-based. For example, here in the south, we get better mpg in the winter than we do in the summer. In winter, the weather is cool and there is no A/C use, so mpg is highest. In summer, the weather is hot hot hot, with tons of humidity, and the A/C is used 24/7, and mpg suffers.