Hi Scotty. I’m looking for a fun daily driver. I would like it to be reliable and cause the least amount of issues. The three cars that I am looking at are the 2023 Kia forte GT 1.6 turbo with manual transmission, 2023, Honda Civic SI 1.5 L turbo manual transmission, 2023 Subaru WRX 2.4 L turbo manual transmission. My concern about each: Kias have a history of engines blowing up, but seems to be mostly the theta engines from what I’ve read. The forte uses the the gamma engine I think. The Honda 1.5T has a history of oil dilution, and the Subaru has rumors floating around that it may have too much RTV on the oil pan and other areas that clogs up the oil uptake, however, that has only been documented in the non-turbo version used in their brz/gr86. What is your advice on the best one?
Welcome new member.
For reliability, it's hard to be a Civic; I have never known someone to buy one and regret it.
For WRX, it depends. Most owners modify everything and drive like maniacs. But from personal experience, I can tell you that if you drive like a grown up and leave it stock, it will be quite reliable (especially in manual transmission form). The problem with WRX is they are rough and frantic. But build quality is stellar.
Then there is Kia. You will get a few opinions around here that Kia is OK, especially if you keep up with maintenance aggressively. But it is no doubt the weakest of the 3. But seems like Kia dealers tend to discount more than Honda or Subaru, so it is possible that you can get enough discount to offset a small reliability gap.
