After only few days I noticed that the tires needed some serious alignment since my steering wheel shakes like crazy when I drive my Kia on the freeway. For a brand new car I was expecting for it not to need this kind of service right away.
After only a couple of days of owning my new Kia the breaks suddenly locked up on me as I was slowing down at a stop sign. They continued to stay locked up and squealing for about 2 miles before they finally released themselves. I have heard this has been a common problem from other consumer reviews.
After only a couple of months my engine stared to tick very loud. If I let off the acceleration it seems to be louder and even more noticeable. I have changed the oil exactly every 3000 miles and even tried thicker oil to see if it would stop the noise. It made no difference and the engine still ticks like crazy.
When I run my Air Conditioner it seems that my car does a random acceleration at times. I find that very odd and not safe at all.
Just a few weeks ago I have also noticed upon starting my engine that the belts are starting to squeal. Especially when putting it in gear. The sound does however subside after a couple of minutes.
My stereo makes this very high pitched and hard to hear noise especially when I accelerate. My guess is that somewhere the wires aren't grounded correct.
I have owned my Kia for less than one year and am very disappointed about all the problems that have come up with it. If I had a choice I would not buy another Kia. For the money I paid and it being new I should not have to go through this.

child protection

nothing as yet

i have never been so satified, and felt more protected in a vehicle. I am very pleased with the over all vehicle in my life!

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toyota, ford,

I loved the great gas mileage,I would drive over 200 miles a week and fill it once every 8 days. Once the AC was repaired it was lovely, and the headlights were great especially since i have a lack of depth perception.

The radio was much to be desired as I am a radio surfer and it became hard to change the channels. The speakers also were lousy and made weird noises from time to time. The wiring also was dreadful since it couldn't be seen as a problem until the car was gone.

I bought this car used in early March of this year, and loved every minute of it. Being that it was used(though it only had about 41,000 miles when i bought it) I expected a few things needing repair, and since they were covered, i didn't worry. I guess thought maybe I should have worried.
It was keyed in April at work, 2 days after i got it back, someone broke into it, then a week later came the 3rd final cause. At 1:30 in the morning when everyone was asleep, the car burnt to the ground. The outside was fine(minus the roof) but the inside was a complete loss. The fire department blamed it on a short in an electric wire(i'd say on this security bliking light feature in the dash). It was not the fault of the dealer, but the kia company. When I called the dealer to tell him, he was in complete shock. Even the carfax report on this car was clean. I was not in the car, nor had i driven it for several hours when this fire occured. I loved that car, but I am too scared to buy another one after this incident. I only had the car from early March until mid May. The following are links to the car's damage:
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=frenchaddict&pid=468174&sid=otV76fuOP7
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=frenchaddict&pid=468179&sid=eGJ79ehuW3
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=frenchaddict&pid=468171&sid=opG74ciDF8
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=frenchaddict&pid=468170&sid=jrz13FZsV8
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=frenchaddict&pid=468165&sid=ryM29qxJR0

I should also note the horn went off for well over an hour before the fire department was able to break in and shut it off. A headlight also came on without warning after the fire was gone. Thankfully, only a few material things were lost, and no one was in the car, but now I have to go look for another car less than 6 months after buying this one. It really made me miss my old Plymouth Sundance because at least that car gave sufficient warning before it died, this car gave no warning that something like this could happen.

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1989 Plymouth Sundance

thel only good thing I can say at the moment about the car is that it is a smart looking car.Outside that is.

Lousy take off speed. I think I could outrun it at times. Also they really need to invest a better stereo system. Low grade. Gas mileage is not at all what I had expected.

I bought this car brand new back in the summer of 2005. I really was excited due to the fact that it was my first brand New car for myself. I had a explorer and the gas milage was bad, or so I thought! I hadn't had my car but a couple of months and I started having problems like the transmission might be slipping. Well they tell me it is a Flash recall on the car. They can't tell me when it will be fixed. SO now I have already started hearing a ticking sound in the motor when you drive. I am very displeased with this vehicle. Even my gas mileage is crappy and the take off speed is really scarey. I hope you don't need to get out of the way of traffic in a hurry. Sorry for all the bad feedback, but I thought the car was a better deal. Still wanting to have my car fixed but the Kia company still or hasn't even said when they speculate it to be near fixing. In the meantime I am waiting for the transmission to really mess up or at least something else to go wrong over the problems I've been having for quite some time now.

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I had a Nissen sentra, much better value.

Scrap metal

Safety, comfort, everything

I bought my car new with 72 miles on it. The vehicle drove fine for a while and then I started having problems. I got ripped off anyway on the price...needless to say. April 17,2004 I was involved in a head on collision. A lady pulled right out in front of me. I hit her going about 45-50mph after I attempted to slow down. My airbag did not deploy and I suffered many sever injuries in which I am still recovering. Since then, I have had 3 surgeries looking at 2-3 more. I sustained a fracured back, broke nose, knocked out one tooth completely, concusion, abrasion above my lefy eye, many bruises and scrapes as well as stitches. To say the least, I am not pleased with the safety of the vehicle. Many reasons for my purchasing the Spectra was for safety. I will never buy another Kia...thanks to them I will never be the same. I am only 20 years old and so much has been taken from me.

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Nissan Altima, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry

Cheap price and car.

Dings real easy. Don't spit at it or you'll need hail repair. Horrible customer service. Crappy mechanics. Parts are obviously grown out of the ground since it takes so long to get one. Maybe in ten years they will make it to Hyundai's height but not yet. Noisy as can be inside and out. Warranty is useless unless you call Kia. Kia's response when they called me about complaint and I told the cust. service rep I had sold it was "Thanks!" and he hung up. One really telling thing, the wiper blades went bad after about a month after purchase and we were told they needed to be replaced by everyone who rode in it, even if it wasn't raining. Also everyone knows your poor in this car.

I bought this car for my girlfriend. She was so happy until about 6 months after we got it. The check engine light came on which they fixed. She didn't like the fact that after only six months something went wrong. October 2003 a Izusu Rodeo backed into her and dented the hood, borke the grill, and SCRATCHED the TOP of the bumper COVER (big words important). It was about $800 to fix and insurance covered it. We took her parents to Branson, MO. for Thanksgiving and didn't have any problems. In late January it developed a squeak in the right front suspension. The dealer said the strut was leaking. They decided to replace all 4?!? Three weeks later we got it back. They gave us a used car as a rental with what looked like blood stains on the seats and the wipers didn't work. It was a Daewoo. About a week after getting out car back it started squeaking again. We took it to a family mechanic and he said the strut was leaking. Also he noted that it didn't look like the struts had been replaced. Back at Kia they said it was the ball joints. We kept the car for the 5 days it took to get parts. When I picked it up it still squeaked. The service manager told me "I don't know whats wrong with it." That's amazing. I wanted to ask when he graduated from Automotive school....last week maybe? Then he said his technician noticed some damage and the car had been in an accident. I told him what damage had been done and what had been replaced and how it happened. He said that the problem must be because of the accident and they would not be able to honor the warranty for anymore work. I told him the damage and that the frame had no damage and the parts behind the grill and under the hood had no damage as per the bodyshop then what damage could have happened. Not only that but the only contact with the bumper was on top of it and it scratched it. His comment was the compression could of caused damage. What if I sit on the bumper I asked. Will the wheels fall off. He said that I should contact my insurance company and walked off. Funny it took over 4 weeks for them to find evidence of an accident. Of course if I had known that a car gets hit while parked and at less than 5 mph and immediately explodes I wouldn't have bought it. I took it to Ford and traded it in for a Ranger. I took a hit on the trade but with what I was going through and what I knew I was getting ready to go through, I said screw it. I have worked in the IT field for the past 7 yrs. If a tech of mine said to a customer "I don't know what is wrong with it" he better have his resume ready. I have had several vehicles in my life and never had I been put off that bad by a dealer. Of all the vehicles that were warrantied none have been that much trouble. My advice is DO NOT BUY THIS CAR. Spend an extra 2 grand and get a bottom model Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc., etc. At least their service will be better.

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1976 Chevy Nova 1978 Dodge W250 1985 Mitsu P/U 1988 Mitsu 4x4 P/U 1978 Ford Bronco 1983 Ford Futura 1972 Plymouth Duster 1978 Plymouth Duster 1972 VW Bug 1993 Mercury Topaz 1994 Mazda P/U New 2000 Chevy P/U New 2004 Ford Ranger New 2001 Kawasaki KLR250