Um..I guess none of y'all likes Kia and scared of the Kia-Mazda relationship
It seems a little late to add onto this post, but I just want to say a few words..
Well, as a proud Korean guy in this forum..I want you to know that Kia isn't such a bad cars after all.
I know, I know, they aren't that good. I admit that. But..Kia isn't such a cheapass crap company as you all might think..
I want you to understand a few things about korean cars...
Korea started building their first cars sometime after the korean war, which is like mid 50s, and worked their way up to current days.
If you think about it, Europe and America were already driving cars in 19th century, and Japan was capable of making the largest battleship in the world and those bad-ass Zero fighters, that kicked american navy's butt for a quite while, by the start of second world war. Koreans were riding on Cows and Horses when Japanese were sending aircraft carriers halfway around the globe. The gap between Korea and Japan or rest of the "powerful nations" were HUGE, i can tell you that.
The reason Japanese can build such a reliable cars is because they HAD been building machinaries for more than a century. After all, they started a freakin world war against U.S. They had long time to develop their technologies and building skills.
Same goes for American or European cars. Mr. Ford was building his T-series in what, 19th century? I don't even have to say anything about Germans. Porsche, anyone?
Koreans, however, they started to build cars that are worthy of world-market export in less than 50 years. There are only a handful of countries that can export their cars into world market. US, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and maybe the French. Koreans are the only nation in Asia beside Japan who can build cars of enough quality to do such thing.
You don't see Russian-brand Lada cars running around in Chicago or New York,do you? Or have you ever seen a Chinese brand car? Spanish? Indian??
Korean cars are still considered cheap-disposable-appliance cars in north america.
I can very well understand that. And it's mostly still true.
But look at Hyundai for example. They have improved and their quality ratings now rival those of Japanese. Their XG350 for example. Who ever thought anyone would be driving a KOREAN luxury car? but nowadays they do. Their Tiburon, which I admit don't compare to japanese sport coupes, still has pretty nice design, better than average performance and good quality.
In case of Kia, I don't know why, but Kia seems to bring in really basic cheap models into America..they are not like that in Korea. They make some nice and pretty cars there, but in US they are all such a cheapass models. I don't understand why.
But no one can beat the values of Kia..I mean...price for a full-full equipped midsize Kia Sedan would barely make a base model of other cars.
That's exactly why they are cheap cars, but remember not everyone is rich enough to drive a Honda or Toyota or Volks or whatever. People who just need to get from point A to point B and back, but want something that's not 10 years old and have some decent equipments built into, Kia can serve them well enough. For people who wants reasonable quality and performance and good pricing with not-so-ugly designs, Hyundai can perform quite well. Quality-wise, I don't think American makers are that great either. Volkwagen had some huge trouble in quality issues for years when their plant moved to Mexico.
Believe it or not, there is actually a Hyundai luxury model in Korea that's roughly $80,000 US. (Can you imagine a $80,000 Hyundai???) I rode in one of them and they are DAMN nice. Kia also has some upper class models that runs in 60-70k$ range. Some of the cars have a lot better interior and options in Korean domestic market than in US or Canada. Rios and Sephias, they don't look that cheap in Korea, believe me.
Hyundai has enough technology to build Tanks for Korean Army, and it's one of the best 3rd-generation tanks in the world. I am not kidding.
I know you all people here wants to drive something that's as good as Proteges or Civics or Acuras or Lexus, and look down on korean made cars.
I can very well understand it and i don't blame you at all. But, Koreans are improving, and considering they are making cars in such short history, they are not doing that bad.
Give them some more time. They are trying hard to make better cars.
Japanese and Germans had to start from somewhere..right?
And besides, as quality- and performace-oriented drivers you all are, you won't buy them anyway, so what's the big issue?
), you have to make BORING EVERYDAY APPLIANCE VEHICLES to pay the bills. To car makers, the enthusiast crowd is tiny compared to the mainstream market, where all the money is.
