Consumer Reports : Overpriced vehicles are ...

MCompact said:
Herewith a few of the Kia dealer stories:
At a dealer that had a GTS the salesman asked what else I was looking at; I told him an M2 Competition. His response? "Uh, that's a Mercedes, right?"
On a couple of Stinger forums I read about multiple examples of cars being damaged while being serviced- one guy found that the alleged “tech” had written the oil capacity of the engine on the engine cover with a Sharpie.
My favorite: The Kia dealer locked the owner’s key fob in the car. Rather than call the owner the alleged “technicians” pried on the door to get access to the latch. Of course that idiotic move scratched and dented the door jamb- but the service advisor proudly noted that, “Ya can’t see anything when the door is closed!”
But not to worry; the hapless owner also was given a complimentary bottle of touch-up paint!
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If the FOB is in the car, the doors will not lock.
 
I can tell you my wife's Santa Fe cannot be locked with the FOB in the car. Don't see how the Stinger could be different. The computer recognizes the FOB-and doesn't allow it to be locked.
 
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Dodge dealership 4 years ago when I was toying with idea to get Durango Hemi:
I get there and I was driving X5 back then. Needed more space. Guy comes out, rolled sleeves, all have rolled sleeves like impersonating Dosge brothers. I tried Durango, I told him I like it, especially the fact it has ZF transmission etc. but but skeptical about space. He tells me: I know your type, I think you would like Journey! I was like: yes man, your really do.
 
MCompact said:
When I toyed with buying a Stinger GTS a couple of years ago the Kia dealership experience convinced me to look elsewhere.
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Yeah, a few tears ago a co-worker and her husband went to a local Mercedes dealer; they were ready to buy and let's just say price was not an object... Unfortunately they were ignored; I am not sure why. They went over to the Lexus dealer, were treated very well and wrote a check for a top of the line RX.
 
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The only people I see in the Bay Area who buy Hyundai/Kia products are Uber drivers(Hyundai dealers love app drivers and have looser credit standards than the local Toyota dealers) or people who can’t afford a Toyota, Honda or Subaru. The local Toyota dealer was marking up everything by $5-6K, unless it was a Prius or hybrid Camry/RAV4/Highlander or new Sienna($8K) or a Tacoma/Tundra($10-12K).

However, I’m seeing more Ioniq EVs and Kia EVs on the road here. I have to say, they’re sharp and for now, the real competition to Tesla.
 
JeffKeryk said:
Yeah, a few tears ago a co-worker and her husband went to a local Mercedes dealer; they were ready to buy and let's just say price was not an object... Unfortunately they were ignored; I am not sure why. They went over to the Lexus dealer, were treated very well and wrote a check for a top of the line RX.
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When I worked at BMW I always greeted anyone who came to the dealer. If they didn’t need help I gave gave them my card and told them I was available to answer any questions. I never pre-qualified anyone.
 
I had a base Sonata 5m years ago, it was a '96. Nice driving and riding car. Brought it in to the selling dealer along the "Pirate Coast" for required maintenance, and also requested a manual trans gear oil drain and fill. They totally destroyed that car. No exaggeration. That was it for my Hyundai "journey". Done !

I just now fondly recall that car as hitting WAY above it price point.

hyundai_sonata_1996.webp
sonata interior.webp
 
pdxglocker9mm said:
I have 2 dogs in the fight
I bought a 22 palisade in February to replace a lemon Ford Explorer it unfortunately was not viewed by law to be a lemon but only due to time 2 years 9 months rather than 18 months. The issue with the ford was never resolved. Fortunately when we liquidated the ford we only lost about $100 per month of ownership
The palisade was purchased for straight MSRP which in this crazy market was considered a win.. Local dealers were charging 4500-7000 over msrp. We drove about 200 miles away to get msrp and only waited a week to purchase. I got quoted on a telluride but they wanted 9k over msrp and it probably would have been over 6 months wait.
22 kia Rio 5 s Aka “the rental”
Its small, efficient, actually has a lot of tech with the technology package and honestly the only thing that i do not like is that it is so LOW to the ground. This was purchased in march for msrp as well. We flew in for that one and drove home 375 miles.
Local dealers wanted 2500-4000 more for rios. This car was purchased as a third car and my daily commuter because driving a F150 16 miles one way to work didn’t make senses in our situation.
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That would be an interesting discussion/debate. MSRP plus airplane ticket(s), plus other travel costs, plus 375 extra miles at 40c a mile, plus the value of one day, two if an overnight stay was involved. Probably not $2500 worth but definitely an upcharge over MSRP. And how many days could an F150 be driven 32 miles for the cost of buying/insuring/maintaining a new $17,000 car? Several years at least.
 
FADEC said:
I don't get it either. With the 10k over msrp you could get a nice Lexus. My Lexus dealer sells Rx350's at msrp.
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The head room in many toyota products I have sat in was not high enough I have short lets and a tall torso. Basically if it has a sunroof I don’t. This usually limits options
 
CKN said:
Believe it or not-Hyundai and Kias are popular every where except this forum-and if you say so your locale.
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Maybe when new, but how many people do you see pining after used Kias and Hyundais. Very few. A good value when new perhaps, but once the shiny new finish wears off they are less desirable. They have improved dramatically over the past few years but IMO they are not on par with the other brands that I will not mention. Certainly nothing I'd be paying anything over MSRP for. I think they will do very well in the EV market however.
 
JRHAWK9 said:
How do you know? They are only 2-3 years old. We won't know till they get to be 5-8-10+ years old. Back in '14 people were saying the same thing......you won't say that now about a '14 model.
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Improved styling, improved fit and finish, improved power and gas mileage....reliability, can't say yet.
 
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