Hi, Kaizen 😊

I noticed in your signature to your posts, you have three different Kia’s!

Yes, I do have 3 KIAs – I have the Niro crossover hybrid corporate fleet vehicle, and I own another 2 Kia Stonic compact Crossovers I’ve bought brand new.

Most members and mods here recommend Toyota

Me too, in a recent answer to a question (here) I’ve noted that “to a person who does not understand cars and won't work on his car, I'd only recommend a Toyota, Honda or Mazda - even if they're not my preference and I buy a different kind of cars.” and that is the case as my signature notes what cars I have, and that they’re not recommendations.

Since I don’t drive much and work on my own cars, I do buy cars from brands that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend (I’ve had Renaults, Hyundais, Fords, Volvos, what not). I did have a Corolla MMT until very recently, it was a mechanically solid car and I loved it but it didn’t fit my needs and that automated transmission was really what made me get rid of it.

Most members and mods (...) usually abhor anything Kia/Hyundai. 

Hyundai-Kia makes completely different cars and powertrains for the “US area” and “General area”, I buy European market cars and they’re pretty much solid.

Unlike whatever T-GDi, GDi, DCT, iVT crap they sell in the US – there’s not much that’s wrong with an MPi engine and a conventional automatic transmission on cars made during the last decade. I mean sure, it's not a Toyota and not a Honda - but eh to me the MPi+AT is good enough by a longshot. 

I mean sure, I would NOT buy a North American Sportage that's the price of a Japanese car but comes some crappy 1.6 T-GDi or a 2.5L GDi with whatever DCT or overly complicated AT with 2-4 too many gears, but a European 2.0 MPi with the same 6 speed conventional automatic that has been around for 15 years and for significancy cheaper than competition – a somewhat different story.

May I inquire, how did you end up choosing 3 Kias

Sure, so first of all, this is a European Kia model designed in Germany (and has got awards for it's design) and has nothing to do with any car sold by Hyundai-Kia in the US (with the exception of sharing only the frame with the latest generation Kia Soul - and that's a good thing, it's an IIHS Safety Pick performing excellently in all categories)

When choosing the Stonic I looked at all cars, of all sizes, of all prices with the goal of finding a comfortable, safe car, that can go over 80 mph on the highway, can tow at least 1,500lbs, get over 40 mpg on a bad day, feel nimble and agile in the city, survive harsh traffic and bad road conditions.

After looking at many cars (from economy cars like the Yaris to upmarket SUVs like the RAV4 the XC40), the Stonic just stood out, It’s the exact same size as a Corolla hatchback, offers better safety, better fuel economy, is of an SUV form, and is only HALF the price. (pre-tax just $13.5k!)

I really liked to concept, "The 2nd gen Hyundai i20 stretched to the size of a Corolla hatchback but style it like a Crossover" - It's pretty much the only small crossover that can go over rough roads, gets economy that good, handles incredibly good, and still has a port-injected 4 cylinder engine (with oil sprayer nozzles) and a conventional automatic transmission without overly complex emissions garbage (only VVT, variable length intake, cats, and an aggressive torque convector clutch profile) - but what has really differentiated it from the rest was pure usability and mechanical simplicity.

In addition to being conceptually a good car, It's surprisingly refined the styling and interior and "Sport" powertrain (the engine is not very powerful but the gearbox is very aware of the car it's pulling and it downshifts and upshifts about as quicky as a dual clutch keeping the engine in an RPM range where it has enough power so it really doesn't feel like a 1.4L at all) and also "Augmented Driving" is a big bonus, I love how steering is lightest when pointing to the center of the lane, how there's the option to turn on self steering, how it uses the radar to adjust the rate of my braking and plenty of other stuff that makes this car great to live with.

Also generally, I've owned cars with a very similar powertrain, they've very popular here in the commercial space (due to KIAs unlimited millage warranty although this is a new model I'm seeing some with 150k - some as delicars and almost all leasing and car rent companies use them, Hertz, Budget, EuroCar, everyone), the Sedan version with the exact same powertrain is used by the police and I've seen those also with well over 150k miles, the hatchback version (although with a different powertrain) was actually adopted by the military as the car of mid-higher ranking officers, and talking to friends of mine who own medium-big car repair businesses they're all agree with me on it being "excellent car".

I can write a full post about it, but overall - All competitions 30%-50% and would require me to make serious sacrifices (like lack of towing ability or ground clearance) I do not have to make with the Stonic.

The Niro was chosen out of an option list, as far as what corporate cars are available, and it’s pretty good.

Here too I can really go in-depth about it, here's a bit on it: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/kia-but-not-with-the-cvt/#post-268171

how are they holding  up this far

I’ve previously owned a Hyundai Accent 1.4 MPi, and it was a very good car – kept it until about 112k miles and only sold it because It didn’t age as gracefully and after many years of ownership I was fed up with it.

The only repairs I had to reform not under warranty in about 7 years of ownership were one single coil and some plastic bit in the power steering.

The Kia Niro, the world's most efficient hybrid, is currently at 97.3k miles, and it is decently reliable and just incredibly efficient. When it was new, I’d get over 60mpg sometimes even over 65mpg – nowadays it’s always saying above 55 mpg. This GDi+DCT car did undergo some repairs, defective DCT clutch, the steering was repaired under warranty (MDPS small bearing, the most common fault on a Kia), and it did need carbon cleaning as that caused some random codes.

The Stonics are pretty good, the only issue is that one had warning lights and it was the ABS electronic computer module – other then that, so far so good.

What are you expecting to go awry, if anything at all

I'm planning to phase them out around 90k-100k miles at most, looking at the new Suzuki S-Cross and the new Prius I really have to hold my self to even get to that point.

Also knowing the weak points of the powertrain, I am replacing the engine oil frequently using the updates viscosity of 0W-30 every 4.6k and will replace the tranny fluid each 12.5k-18.75k – this way nothing is likely to wear.

Eh not much, I know that suspension systems on these are on the week side (it's very simple but struts, springs, etc. wear) and I’m planning to preemptively inspect and replace most of the bushings around 40-50k miles.

Posted by: @scottykilmer

But of course as with any other car if you maintain them correctly, they generally will last quite some time

Also I agree with Scotty, this applies to MPi+AT Kias.

Well I'm not Dan. Buddy must be a really lucky band to get Kia's last that long cuz generally they have so many problems. But of course as with any other car if you maintain them correctly, they generally will last quite some time

@dan Thank You for the thorough explanation. I had a feeling there was some method to the madness of owning a Kia/Hyundai. It’s interesting to hear the differences between the American version and the European version!

Posted by: @dan

I do buy cars from brands that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend

Are there any Kias for Europe you would not recommend? What is your experience with Ceeds?