Never gonna buy a Korean car again.

They are bad luck for me.

July 2004 I rear ended a car by sliding on wet pavement. I suspect my big clod hopper shoes were on the brake and gas at the same time and by the time I noticed they were stopped, it was too late. That was my 2001 Lime Green Metalflake (aka Golden Sunburst) Kia Rio. Totalled it but I kept it and have not got around to fixing it yet.

Friday April 21, 2006 my '04 Kia Spectra was negoitiating a left hand turn. By the time I noticed I had the green turn arrow and before I could move, a big 18 wheeler blew off the stop. Thought I had dodged the proverbial bullet as I don't jackrabbit off the light anyway for that reason. My Granfather was a Teamster and harped constantly about big truck saftey and it has stuck with me all this time. So off I go and an 18 year old must have thought since the truck went the light must be green and she hit me square in the side. I did have time to see her and register the fact that she was screeching to a stop and her nose did drop from the braking. But I still got hit.

I'm ok, she's ok. I got a bruise on my ribs from the arm rest of the drivers door and my cell phone clip cut my hip. Minor. X-rays show no broken ribs. Car air bags on the side headboard deployed and worked fine. The door post was a waste of time as it deployed on the seat back since I have short legs and the seat is too far forward. There was one injury. My Wal-Mart shake light was thrown clear of the car and got scruffed up when it hit the pavement ten feet away.

Insurance company all but totalled it based on my description of the damage. Bent Unibody, door post both driver's doors, no window, hood and front quarter panel.

Those cars are nice and hold up well in a crash but Dang!!!! two in two years after no incidents since 1985!. They are bad mojo for me. I was thinking of trading it in this week for a VW Diesel. The ER doc gave me a perscription for Vicodin for when I have to deal with the Insurance company.

I tried to post this last night but my pocket pc can read the forum but can't post. Something in pocket IE scrambling the page when it reformats it in the small screen.

Sorry to hear that. I thought from the title it was gonna be about bad quality vehicles, not bad luck. I considered Hyundai and Kia briefly (among many others) before buying my new car. Seems they hold up fairly well in surveys. I was worried about that, because years ago everyone I knew that had a Korean car had massive mechanical problems.

One thing about the Korean cars is they depreciate faster than the Japanese big three. I bought a Mitsubishi and they have the same thing when it comes to depreciation. Toyota and Honda hold their value best, it seems.

So your side air bags were on the door? Mine are on the seat itself, I read many companies are doing that so it's optimally placed for deployment, no matter how you adjust the seat. Thing is with them on the seat, most seat covers are a no-no if you want the side bags to work, and believe me I do! I've never known personally, hope I never do, but bruised ribs are supposedly painful, I think that's why the doc really gave you Vicodin.

Good luck with insurance and on getting a new car. If you feel the Korean car luck is bad, by all means get something else.

Glad to hear you're OK. Not clear to me how a non Korean car would have helped, but if you are interested in a "Friends and family" discount on a Ford (includes Mercury, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, etc) just PM me.

I think it's pretty obvious that the country of a car manufactuer's headquarters doesn't really have any bearing on your unfortunate run of luck. And while it is unlikely that you will be held negligent for anything based upon your account, a defensive driving course often enables you to recognize potential hazards and get you out of those situations. That being said, it didn't help me any a couple of years ago on a rainy night when I was rear ended while stopped in traffic.

Anybody buy replacement parts from fast auto body parts.com? They have a front headlight assy and hood in stock according to the webpage.

the side crash rating on this particular model was poor according to IIHS. I think looking at crash test ratings is very important when buying a car.


http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=274

-David

Sorry about your accident, glad you weren't hurt any worse!
daloosh

Glad you're not hurt. If you think this mojo of yours keeps its course, and you prefer small cars, then you might want to grab a new Civic (as far as safety, reliablility, and depreciation goes). I would never recomend a Civic under any other condition, but in your case it just might fit the bill. It's not dirt cheap like a Rio, but in the long run it will certainly be a better investment.

My initial reason for buying the Rio wasn't the price or the fuel economy. I was actually looking at Spectra sized cars then also. The dealership I bought it from had I think four different brands of cars on the same lot. I bought the Rio because of it's hideous lime green color. I learned it was a special one year only color from the salesman I bought the 2004 from, he sold eight or nine lime green ones in 2001. My boss calls it the easter egg. I kept it but did not get around to fixing the hood to make it presentable. The body shop that "totaled" it did it I feel to get their hands on it for parting it out since replacement parts then were twice the going rate they are today. You should have seen the look on their face when I told them I was keeping it. They tried to tell me also I couldn't drive it home then I pointed out that I drove it in so how "totalled" was it? Beware repair shops that advertise heavily on billboards and radio/TV spots.

As far as investment goes I usually drive them until the wheels fall off and then donate them to charities so they can part them out or whatever they do with the remains.

Actually looking at that crash evaluation Mine don't look that bad (but close) since it was hit by a car not a truck like object. The front windshield isn't broken but might be bent to almost breaking and the roof is deformed a little bit. If I had been hit with something with more of a truck/hummer front end profile It would have been worse. I did not get tossed to the side all that much from the imapact either. I was still pretty close to the median divider since I had my nose into the lane I was turning into. I was into my turn and she was starting to turn from her turn lane.

A friend of mine got T-boned at substantial speed at a junction by someone who ignored a red light. His '98 Civic was TRULY totalled (I saw the pics, it looks like a crushed can) but was robust enough to protect him from the worst of it. He walked away with just a couple of bruises and a few words of advice: "Drive defensively. BUY SOMETHING BIGGER."

... then he went and replaced it with a big SUV

i know it is probably common knowledge, but can you please explain t-boned?

-David

No problem. Smack bang into the side at 90 degrees - he had the lights green in his favor and the other guy was coming along with red lights against him. You can kinda imagine the chaos that can result

I think they've improved their side-impact performance since then. 2001 and 2006 model years introduced fairly radical design changes that also got them 5 stars on the NHTSA side-impact tests. The '99 and earlier Civics strike me as much less substantial.

thanks......yep, the 99 didnt recieve very good ratings, but the current civics are doing well. NHTSA rates their cars too easily, for example, there might be a car that gets 5 stars from NHTSA, but recieves a poor from IIHS- ex: saturn vue side crash.

-David

cheapo said:

thanks......yep, the 99 didnt recieve very good ratings, but the current civics are doing well. NHTSA rates their cars too easily, for example, there might be a car that gets 5 stars from NHTSA, but recieves a poor from IIHS- ex: saturn vue side crash.

-David

Click to expand...

Yes, the '06 Civic ranks good in side, frontal and even rear, and many cars still do not do good in rear. The Civic has headrest that help prevent whiplash.

I did not know about the NHTSA giving easier rankings. Thanks, David, for that info and the link above to the IIHS, I'd not seen the detailed reports on crash tests, just the general! Looks like the new Charger did alright. I'm guessing it's your dream car?

My brother had a used vw 96 golf gas car and a pontiac firebird, both left him walking. He bought a new kia rio at the deal a few years ago, zero interest type of deal. Hes had nothing but good things to say about it. Auto tranny started to act up, they replaced it and gave him a rental car in the mean time. No problems since, loves the car. He averages 29mpg with his with auto tranny, think he should get 35, but he likes to floor it. I may consider buying one too and like above, drive the wheels off, who cares are resell.

Cobb, have your brother take the Rio in to see if it needs the computer updated. When I cracked mine up I took it in for a fuel line recall and they had a computer upgrade recall that I had not received a notice on. Before the wreck I would go from a full tank to 3/4 full in about 60 miles. After the wreck with the crumpled un aerodynamic hood modification and the upgrade I looked at the trip odometer and I had racked up close to 90 with about a quarter tank used.

When it was new I could get 40-45 without running the AC 30-35 with and 30 with a 3 foot rigid CB hood mounted antenna. It got the best fuel economy at 75-80 MPH.

I just fired up the Rio and it still takes right off but the battery is now shot. Gotta get a battery and a new hood and it is good for a beater car. Currently has 88K miles on it.

I like the deals KIA has from time to time where you buy one of the upscale cars and they throw in a free RIO.

It's interesting how dirt cheap cars like the Kia's work on the psyche. The way I see it, they cost so little (and the buyer bears this in mind) that when one is bought, the new owner has absolutely no expectations for the thing. This way, it "only gets better" as the saying goes. It isn't like buying a Mustang or a BMW, where the buyer brings (sometimes overly high) expectations to the table, only to be dissapointed at times.

I always saw the Rio as the undiscovered - but equivalent to - Mini of the modern age, except lacking the sprite handling. When the Mini first came out, it was geared as cheap transportation for the masses in the shadows of Benz and Jaguar saloons. The Rio seems like an anologous fit, except today's expectation levels have been raised to the Civic and Corrolla price ranges.

The first generation Kia Rio (2001-2005) was based on the extremely proven and reliable 1985 Mazda Familia (323) platform, just like its predecessors the Kia Pride, Ford Aspire, and Ford Festiva were (all of which were made by Kia). Yes, a bit crude because it is like a brand-new 1985 auto, but those Mazda B-series derived motors are nearly indestructible (though the engine was changed to a Hyundai one in 2003).

One of the nice things about driving the cheapest new car sold, is that other people treat them as disposable and junk them when the smallest thing goes wrong. That leaves lots of near-new parts at the junkyard for the rest of us down the road!