uk answers only please !!! why are kia's so cheap ?

Question

im looking for a used car and notice that the price for kia's are really affordable and cheap,...but why ? are they a bad make, are they known to have some fault after a certain milage, if you own a kia, or know about them, info will be appreciated, i am in uk, so uk answers only really apply, thanks.

im not against american people answering or other people, but i dont know the cost of them in america, i only know the price in uk is cheap, so wonderd why ? thats all !!
there for its logical that i get info from experienced uk drivers who have owned them and are likly to know in uk pounds £ how much they cost to maintain etc, hope ive made my self understood, i do not have any hard feelings to those outside uk,...
dont be offended.

Answer 1

I owned a Mentor 2 from new, the devaluation is terrible, the quality particularly on the body panels is terrible you only have to touch it and it dents, the electric switches are cheap and unreliable I got stuck with the driver window down, it also warped 2 sets of brake discs in a year, for a car that is so small the economy is crap, that said I had it 3 years while it was under warranty all the time and paid only for servicing, it didnt let me down getting anywhere. The dealership were helpful in getting the window shut till the new switch arrived.
Would I buy a secondhand one without any warranty, only if that is all I could afford, you do get more for your money with them but they will cost more if they go wrong and to insure.

Answer 2

I think I was told by a friend that worked in the finance arena at ford uk that typically 55% of the cost the consumer pays for a car is to cover the advertising costs.
Kia don't advertise so heavily?
The question, more accurately put, might not be why are Kias so cheap, but why are other makes so expensive.
Incidentally, most cars these days, at the lower end of the cost bracket have a shelf life of 3 years.... after that they are designed to start falling apart so that the consumer, when the warrenty has run it's course, starts having to fork out for costly repairs.... caveat emptor.

Answer 3

Hi, if I were you, and was looking for a small econonmical hatchback, wanting safety, reliability, durability and economy, I'd go for a Volkswagen Polo. VW know their stuff, they might cost you a little more than a Kia of the same age, but will last twenty years longer. Servicing is cheap, with parts to Original Equipment standard available from German, Swedish and French auto-parts. In terms of repairs, so little goes wrong. And don't dismiss a well-serviced 12-15 year old example, either. It could still be immaculate, working perfectly, and give you five years fuss-free driving for peanuts, and for WAY under a grand. And when you want something bigger, I have two venerable Mercedes 190E's which are twenty years old, safe, solid, immaculate, economical, superbly
relaxing to drive. The Germans get it right.




Good luck.

Answer 4

a bit like the japanese cars were years ago cheap well equiped and good value for money.kia offer good deals on there cars because the labour in there country is cheaper then other countrys at the moment kia cars are not as well made as other cars don,t have the latest wow facter about them.they relise that some people just want a good value a to b car with out the bells and whistles.slowely other car companys relise this and now started to make other cars in other countrys which are cheaper to build thus cheaper to buy.kias are not bad cars just some people are a bit snoppish about what they drive.a bargion secondhand but the running costs can be a little more to run then there rivals.

Answer 5

Kia's are manfactured on the cheap, while the parts are spared in the car so much - toyota are now following this path, like using just 1 arm on the back boot door instead of one on each side. The cheap manfufacter/and labour means they dont require lots of money to pay off the costs, resulting in low prices. The lack of technology/fancy gadgets also helps, but really there just a value for money company - which is good to see!

Answer 6

Sorry I am a yank to but I live in South Korea and I can tell you that export cars are often much worse than the same cars that they keep here in Korea. In my opinion though just because a car is cheap doesn't mean a good deal and that maybe you should spend a little more for quality and workmanship.

Answer 7

The reason they are cheap in Uk is they are made in Korea and the badge has little appeal to us ,however for what you pay they are not badly put together .The parts are more expensive than Ford Vauxhall etc.Regards Mike

Answer 8

I have had KIA`s since 1997 - my present is a KIA RIO.

Also had KIA PRIDE, KIA SEPHIA and KIA CLARUS.

I have never had any problems with any of them, they are very
pleasant cars to drive and easy on petrol.
In between 2 KIA`s I had a Sunderland-built NISSAN ALMERA,
it was nothing but problems with it.

Answer 9

Why do you have to be from the U.K to answer this question ? I'm a "Yank", we have those pieces of crap over here on American roads, they run just as crummy here too !
Mini Coopers are crap, with poor gas milage !

Answer 10

they are handy little runabouts.. made in Korea, and should be reliable... quality control is getting better all the time...
nice to drive.. and better than mr everybody's ford*...
*ford stands for: Found On Roadside Dying.... LOL!!
if you want a little Reliable cheap car.. go for a nissan micra.. or if you want to go for something different and good fun.. you could get a (REAL) mini cooper 1990 onwards.. Superb cars....