I just came back from a three day business trip and the kind folks at the car rental company gave me KIA Forte for my driving needs. I was hoping for a Cruze, but that was already taken
I thought I'd share some thoughts I have about the car. I'm not going to talk about the styling much, because we all know that it is highly subjective.
Let's start with the stuff I liked.
The car basically came with the right features that I would choose if I was to buy one (except auto tranny). The car had power windows, locks and trunk release (I wish my Mazda had trunk release), Bluetooth and 6 spd automatic transmission, that's about it. I'm not a fan of gizmos, and this car was equipped to my liking. I really liked how easy Bluetooth integration was with my Galaxy S. I was making phone calls and streaming music in no time. This was really the first time I had a chance to use Bluetooth, as my car lacks such high tech fluff, but this feature made a good impression.
The interior, though bland looking in this trim, was laid out pretty well, but there is nothing that stands out either in fit and finish or material quality, even when compared to my 5 year old car. Actually I think the material choices are slightly better on my car.
The engine felt peppier than my Mazda 3, but that was due to 6 spd transmission. I don’t think the car is actually faster than my car off the line, but more gears just made the engine feel peppier. Transmission shifts were mostly smooth and most of the time I could not detect the shifts. I actually had to shift to manual mode just to find out how many gears this car had (the display just shows D when in D mode, and shows gear numbers in manual mode).
Now, the not so good stuff.
First of all, this car had only 12k kilometers, or about 7.5k miles, but it already had a pretty nasty tick at cold start and that was during a 15C (60F) morning! I can’t even imagine what kind of noises it would make when it’s -20 outside.
I will give this car the benefit of a doubt since it’s a rental, but I did check the oil level and it was full. Also it seemed like someone topped off, or changed the oil on that car, because there were some oil stains around the fill hole and dipstick tube. Still, I did not like this one bit on such a new engine. Also, the engine doesn’t seem to be happy above 4k RPMs, it just sounds trashy.
The transmission, although smooth on the up shifts, was hesitant on the downshifts and there was a weird transition from 2nd to 3rd gear sometimes. It felt like transmission slipping.
Steering response and feedback was pretty bad. It just felt as if the steering wheel was connected to a rubber band, with no feedback from the front wheels at all.
The rear view mirror had a distortion that stretched everything. It just felt really weird looking through it.
Overall it is a competent appliance with nothing standing out as bad or great. Driving this car, I never had that itch for a new car and I would definitely not trade my Mazda 3 for it. If anything it assured me that either my car is aging really well or the “new” stuff coming out is not all that greatly improved as media reviews make it out to be.
Perhaps if I drove the new Elantra, Cruze or Focus, I would feel differnt, but I have a feeling that behind the high tech gizmos, different color interior lights and general fluff that only runs skin deep, all these new cars would not really wow me as better.
I thought I'd share some thoughts I have about the car. I'm not going to talk about the styling much, because we all know that it is highly subjective.
Let's start with the stuff I liked.
The car basically came with the right features that I would choose if I was to buy one (except auto tranny). The car had power windows, locks and trunk release (I wish my Mazda had trunk release), Bluetooth and 6 spd automatic transmission, that's about it. I'm not a fan of gizmos, and this car was equipped to my liking. I really liked how easy Bluetooth integration was with my Galaxy S. I was making phone calls and streaming music in no time. This was really the first time I had a chance to use Bluetooth, as my car lacks such high tech fluff, but this feature made a good impression.
The interior, though bland looking in this trim, was laid out pretty well, but there is nothing that stands out either in fit and finish or material quality, even when compared to my 5 year old car. Actually I think the material choices are slightly better on my car.
The engine felt peppier than my Mazda 3, but that was due to 6 spd transmission. I don’t think the car is actually faster than my car off the line, but more gears just made the engine feel peppier. Transmission shifts were mostly smooth and most of the time I could not detect the shifts. I actually had to shift to manual mode just to find out how many gears this car had (the display just shows D when in D mode, and shows gear numbers in manual mode).
Now, the not so good stuff.
First of all, this car had only 12k kilometers, or about 7.5k miles, but it already had a pretty nasty tick at cold start and that was during a 15C (60F) morning! I can’t even imagine what kind of noises it would make when it’s -20 outside.
I will give this car the benefit of a doubt since it’s a rental, but I did check the oil level and it was full. Also it seemed like someone topped off, or changed the oil on that car, because there were some oil stains around the fill hole and dipstick tube. Still, I did not like this one bit on such a new engine. Also, the engine doesn’t seem to be happy above 4k RPMs, it just sounds trashy.
The transmission, although smooth on the up shifts, was hesitant on the downshifts and there was a weird transition from 2nd to 3rd gear sometimes. It felt like transmission slipping.
Steering response and feedback was pretty bad. It just felt as if the steering wheel was connected to a rubber band, with no feedback from the front wheels at all.
The rear view mirror had a distortion that stretched everything. It just felt really weird looking through it.
Overall it is a competent appliance with nothing standing out as bad or great. Driving this car, I never had that itch for a new car and I would definitely not trade my Mazda 3 for it. If anything it assured me that either my car is aging really well or the “new” stuff coming out is not all that greatly improved as media reviews make it out to be.
Perhaps if I drove the new Elantra, Cruze or Focus, I would feel differnt, but I have a feeling that behind the high tech gizmos, different color interior lights and general fluff that only runs skin deep, all these new cars would not really wow me as better.
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