Kia rio

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I've "opp's my wife" has a 03 RIO that we bought 4 years ago. Been very satified with it, its an automatic and we get 38 MPG avg.

Only thing I would say to look out for is timing belt change every 60,000 miles, don't push it, if it breaks its very bad. Keep the tranny fluid fresh, thats if its an auto, I do a drain and fill every other oil change, and use fluid speced for this car, SPIII.

With the above said we both really like the car, we're both small, short, whatever you want to call it and the ride is very good for us. I don't know, might feel different if we were larger, but who knows.

Hope this helps.
jcwit
 
If you want AC get it factory or dealer installed when you buy.

Don't listen to the sales clown if he says that it can be easily and cheaply added on later. We have a sales clown at the dealer near us thats great at selling Black Kia's w/o AC and the people cry when they find out how much it is to add on after the sale.
 
its an ex convience, standard, so it has air, power windows, locks, heated front seats,power mirrors, etc, the car i think is well optioned for a cheap sub-compact, the ride is decent but i find it a little noisey.
 
Originally Posted By: hemitom
anything to watch-out for when buying one ? wife is looking at a 2008 rio5.


She is much better getting 2 or 3 or 4 year old better car...The Rio is basically a throw away car...I would talk her out of it very quickly.

Just IMHO.
 
If that's the car she wants, I think you'll find it just as reliable as any other vehicle in it's class. I know I'm as pleased as punch w/ my Hyundai product.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Originally Posted By: hemitom
anything to watch-out for when buying one ? wife is looking at a 2008 rio5.


She is much better getting 2 or 3 or 4 year old better car...The Rio is basically a throw away car...I would talk her out of it very quickly.

Just IMHO.


Agreed. I do not know which model it was but I saw that when a Kia was crash tested it was terribly expensive to fix. This was just the 5mph front and rear bumper tests and the total between the two came to over $8k. This was on a brand new vehicle. The car was so cheap to begin with they said that some insurance companies could claim it totaled from 2 5mph crashes! I thought that was terrible. I have no experience with Kia but I wanted to throw that info out there.
 
What year and model was that? I crushed the front of my 2004 Amanti when someone cut me off in 2004. That was less then $6k total for all the repairs. I just hit a deer at the end of July in my 06 Rio slowing but still traveling about 30mph on impact. That one came to $1600 with a new hood, new headlight, fixing the bumper etc and of course allot of paint.

My 2006 Rio only has 75k miles but I have posted UOA's of the engine and transmission if interested through 65k miles. I can point you to a fellow that runs a courier service who has 3. One has 280k miles and the lowest mileage unit has 150K miles.

I'm keeping mine as long as the deer stop running in front of it.
 
I believe I saw it on Motorweek. IT was recent so it was either an 09 or 10 model but I'm sorry I do not remember the specific model.
 
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Kia has come a long way, and are very good from what I hear. I sold them back in 2001, and as a result of that won't own one. But I have a buddy telling me they're very good now.
 
Originally Posted By: mcrn
I believe I saw it on Motorweek. IT was recent so it was either an 09 or 10 model but I'm sorry I do not remember the specific model.


When is Motorweek on in Florida MCRN?..I do not see it listed in my TV section of the local paper but they have a bad habit of leaving things out...I used to watch it but somehow lost track of it.
 
I have always enjoyed motorweek. I am thinking it was the small Ute, the sportage. All of the small Ute's have a problem if they have the spare tire mounted on the rear door. In even a slow speed collision the tire is hit and wrecks the door which makes a bump, big bucks.

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/bumpersbycategory.aspx

The Insurance Institute's numbers don't seem to match my personal experience as far as cost to repair full front impacts. According to them don't bump the front and rear of your Rabbit thats nearly $7k to fix front and rear at 6mph impacts. I fairly well crumpled the front of my Rio hitting a deer traveling allot faster then 6mph and it did not look this bad.

bumpertestim...9-d01904756b1b.
 
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Originally Posted By: mcrn
I believe I saw it on Motorweek. IT was recent so it was either an 09 or 10 model but I'm sorry I do not remember the specific model.


When is Motorweek on in Florida MCRN?..I do not see it listed in my TV section of the local paper but they have a bad habit of leaving things out...I used to watch it but somehow lost track of it.


Hey Crownvic, I used to have a problem finding it. I finally just set my DVR to record it so I don't have to look for it anymore. I do not think the times are consistent but I could be wrong. I just looked up the channels and times....... 12/21 @ 12pm on WBCC and UCFTV 730pm WBCC and UCFTV...1130PM on WBCC 12/22 430 AM on WBCC 10pm on WBCC and UCFTV 12/26 830 AM on WBCC and UCFTV 1030am on WBCC and UCFTV 330pm on WDSC 12/27 on WBCC at 11am 530pm on WDSC and then 12/26 at 530pm on WMFEVME I have brighthouse cable.
 
Originally Posted By: mcrn
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Originally Posted By: mcrn
I believe I saw it on Motorweek. IT was recent so it was either an 09 or 10 model but I'm sorry I do not remember the specific model.


When is Motorweek on in Florida MCRN?..I do not see it listed in my TV section of the local paper but they have a bad habit of leaving things out...I used to watch it but somehow lost track of it.


Hey Crownvic, I used to have a problem finding it. I finally just set my DVR to record it so I don't have to look for it anymore. I do not think the times are consistent but I could be wrong. I just looked up the channels and times....... 12/21 @ 12pm on WBCC and UCFTV 730pm WBCC and UCFTV...1130PM on WBCC 12/22 430 AM on WBCC 10pm on WBCC and UCFTV 12/26 830 AM on WBCC and UCFTV 1030am on WBCC and UCFTV 330pm on WDSC 12/27 on WBCC at 11am 530pm on WDSC and then 12/26 at 530pm on WMFEVME I have brighthouse cable.


OK...Thank you very much!
 
The only thing I didn't like about my 07 Kia Rio LX (automatic) was the acceleration. You could FLOOR it, and it would still take like 8-15 seconds to get to "going fast" lol.

Other than that, it was a great little car. I had the 4-door.

And yea, the way KIA is made, sadly, they are made to "crush" and "absorb" the crash....so most serious accidents will result in a total loss(cost of repair is more than what the vehicle is valued at).

Have you looked at the Chevy Aveo? Or the Smart Fourtwo? Those 2 cars looked appealing when I was looking for my replacement, but decided to stick with Kia (now got an 08 Optima- with a little more power, still the 4-cyl though! lol. But acceleration is a lot better)

A big plus to the Rio? 11-12 gallon tank, so fillups are CHEAP :) And well, before mine was totaled, I was getting around 35-38 MPG...
 
Originally Posted By: ahoier
A big plus to the Rio? 11-12 gallon tank, so fillups are CHEAP :)

I'd rather have a bigger tank so I don't have to stop at a gas station so often, although with the good mpg you're getting, I guess it's not a problem.
 
Don't ask ARCOgraphite about these cars - he's posted he killed one on the way home from the dealership.

It was the 5W-20 oil's fault, of course!
 
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