Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Well GMBoy you can add me to the list of people who agree with you too. Hyundai makes good cheap cars, they day they see $50,000 of my money, hellllllllllll will probably have its first ice storm.
Tell us more about your poor experience with selling Kias.
I started selling KIA's and Suzuki's April 2001, new and used. As a side note I was the top Kia/Suzuki seller in NE USA after about 5 months, and retained that title until I left them. Anyway we had about 15 1999 Kia Sportages on the lot for sale in the used car department. They had anywhere from about 20,000-40,000 miles on them and at the time, and were on par with an American car, Honda, or Toyota that had over 100,000 miles on them. They were noisy, tin like, difficult to shift into and out of 4 WD, tires worn uneven, interior seats were opening up at seams, and in general worn beyond what the mileage would indicate. After they were sold many came back with oil leaks, tranny leaks, oil consumption, check engine lights coming on, and a host of other annoying problems. Each time the car came in for repairs the salesman would be charged back 20% of the repair.
The new ones were fair, but came in for adjustments, leaking windshields, minor electrical issues, engine oil leaks, noise issues, wandering while driven, check engine light coming on, several times, and some other problems. Suzuki's had had way less repair issues. For every 5 Kia's that came back maybe 1 Suzuki would come in. I used the Suzuki's to sell the Kia. Take someone for a ride in a Sportage, sell a Grand Vitara to them. I left Kia in 2002 (I think) and started selling Honda's. They had a few very minor issues, but were an easy sell compared to Kia/Suzuki. We got a lot of complaints about the Sportage's mpg's, people thought a small 4 cyl 4x4 would get good gas mileage, when in reality it was a little pig. Another common complaint was the distance it took for them to stop, especially at highway speeds. If they were involved in a crash, they came out on the short end of the stick too.
When the Sedona mini van came out it was to compete with the Honda Odyssey, (what a joke). I was told by the service manager that there was some kind of internal corporate recall on the engines. They were instructed to run them at 5000 rpms for 30 minutes before they delivered them. If the engine blew in the 30 minute time period the van was not to be delivered, the engine was deemed bad. We had about 2 of them come back after throwing a rod, Kia made good on all repairs. They quickly addressed the problem, and the 30 minute test stopped.
I realize the product has improved 10 fold since them, but they are still thought of as cheap cars, and it will be hard to change how the majority of the public views them.
I've long since stopped selling cars, but remember all the little tricks the dealerships use in their various departments. I don't trust them much at all.
