Hey Scotty,
- I've owned a semi-automatic 1.8 L 2015 Kia Forte LX for 3 or 4 years now, paid it off last year, and am currently at about 65,000 miles. I had a 2000 Toyota Avalon with 206,000 miles on it that was very reliable and comfortable, but I wanted something better on gas and newer. I regret selling that car every day, especially since it was my grandparent's car. I sold it for $1500 after talking it over with them, otherwise I could have never sold it. I've tried to buy it back on multiple occasions, especially since it was perfectly maintained by me and my grandfather.
- My Forte doesn't have a CVT transmission and runs like a top, up to 43 mpg on the highway and 20 in city, but I'm not sure what kind of reliability I can expect compared to a Toyota.
- Would it be more cost efficient to sell my Kia now while it still has value and fix up an older Corolla/Camry/Matrix with around 100,000 miles, or can I expect to get 400,000 or more miles out of my car? I always do all the general maintenance myself such as transmission drain and fill, brakes, spark plugs, cleaning the air intake, etc., and use Pennzoil Ultra Platinum because it is the best performing oil I have found. I like the room and gas mileage in my car, but I don't want to make a poor financial decision by maintaining a car that's just going to fall apart. Thank you for the great advice!
I would sell it while it still runs
I would get rid of it while it is in decent shape and move on.
If you can get any kind of serious money for the Forte then dump it.
How long do you plan to keep the vehicle and how many miles do you expect to put on it? As time goes on and you rack up the miles, they don’t hold up as well and the vehicle becomes more of a liability (just look at all the recalls with engines catching on fire), so you’d be dealing with that.
He is asking if he can get 400,000 miles out of it.
They aren't bad cars but I couldn't call them decent either but no way are you getting 200k miles forget 400k miles. If thats your car do your research on a reliable Toyota, the 2012-2016 Corolla for example (when they still had the 4 speed automatic available and were better cars than before, up to 41mpg EPA with the available CVT).
400k miles is nearly impossible to get from any modern car keep that in mind so do your research well to get the best value out of your car.
Check out the Used Car Buying Guide linked below for more information.
I would start by listing your Forte on craigslist and see what you get offered.
The proof is in the car itself. I have a Forte 2010 and runs perfect after 230000km. The Avalon has bigger engine, more expensive parts more fuel consumption. Your maintenance costs will be much higher with Avalon. Anyone who thinks Hyundai is unreliable today is uninformed and doesn't know enough about modern cars.
