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Old 06-11-2009, 06:15 PM   #1
lupinsea
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Modified Jeep Tj and '07 Miata
Location: Seattle
Posts: 10,214
Driven: Kia Rio



Yet another loaner car with the Volvo back in at the shop for another round of head scratching of the intermittent A/C. I'll keep this short this time . . .

Kia Rio w/ 41k on the clock.

It's a very low-rent budget econo box. Hand crank windows, cheap seat fabric in a light tan that's showing a lot of smudges and other wear. The car has an over all "low cost but sturdy" feel to it. . . similar to the late 80's Hondas which is actually refreshing considering that a lot of modern car including Hondas seem to have so much stuff to isolate passengers from everything else that they end up feeling sterile. Not that this was a particular design direction from Kia, but rather probably just the end result of trying to build a decent cheap car.

Lots of hard plastics for the dash, door panels, center console, and just about anything else. But despite being hard plastic w/ an slightly outdated texture it at least felt solid. Very much unlike the Chevy Malibu. Despite the far superior visual refinement in the Chevy, the Kia actually felt better and more sturdy to me. Kind of sad commentary on the Chevy.

Yet for all this the interior panel fitment was pretty good with tight consistent gaps. I didn't really notice any left over untrimmed flashing or part seams.

Engine wise nothing special, but it felt peppy. Far better matching of engine / transmission / gearing in the Kia Rio than the Malibu. Not as good as our Volvo but still very good for an budget automatic. Oddly enough, the car felt more lively than our Volvo.

Ride was much better balanced to me than the Malibu in terms of the firmness / softness mix. On the firmer side than the Malibu, not as firm as our Volvo.

Steering was also much better than the Malibu

I don't like the styling at all on the car and I'd look for something nicer. But from a interaction, ride, handling standpoint it's not a bad little car. . . especially considering a new one costs a hair over $11k and comes with a 10 yr, 100,000 mile warranty.

I like this better than the Malibu (more fun to drive) even though it's a cheaper car I wouldn't want.
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"Jeep is the only true American sports car*" - Enzo Ferrari

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Old 06-15-2009, 08:17 AM   #2
John V
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8
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Hey, I had one of these this past weekend as a rental! The best thing I can say about it is that it was pretty unobtrusive. There was really nothing horribly wrong about the car (except the auto trans, which pretty well ruins ANY car). The engine was super coarse when revved (and you had to rev it to get anywhere).

Interior wasn't too bad. You're right, everything fit and seemed well screwed down. No rattles to speak of, and it wasn't as tinny feeling as I thought it would be.

Gas mileage was pretty poor, though. I got 35MPG in mixed driving (some city plus 100 miles of freeway driving with stupid CA drivers doing the speed limit in the left lane... why does everyone out there drive so SLOWLY?)
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