[Stafford]

So following my tale of woe ( The worst car I ever owned ) I traded in the Kia after only 18 months. The latest failure was repaired quickly under warranty, although I had to wait eons for the part as apparently everything is on back-order, but it was the last straw for me. When the car was functioning, it drove quite well - responsive, agile and comfortable - but the mechanical issues aside, there were too many irritants to give it a last chance:

The hilariously noisy rear wiper (with its inexplicable lack of 'intermittent' mode), the random seat belt beeps, the poor 'urban' MPG, the engine auto cut-off - Argh, the engine cut-off that you had to disable every time you started the car and if you forgot you almost crashed at the end of your road when you depressed the clutch enough for it to cut but then want to lift and go and the engine does nothing and it just flashes and beeps at you. Always bloody well flashing and beeping, thinking it can drive better than I can.

There concludes my excursion into Kia world. Now I have an Abarth, and finally understand what all the fuss is about.

 

[mr.macspot]

I am sorry to hear of your tale of woe, it is unfortunate that your experiences have been so negative. I wish you well and hope your new car gives you lots of pleasure. Best wishes to you.

 

[Cold Sausage]

There concludes my excursion into Kia world. Now I have an Abarth, and finally understand what all the fuss is about.

I know what it is like when all a car does is hassle you and divert your attention from things you would rather do. Life has enough hassles as it is. you just want your basic infrastructure to work! As a kid my family had Hillmans (Minxs - 1957 and 1966) and it seemed that every weekend....literally...Dad was out there fixing something. He knew the local parts dealer on first name terms.

Even though my Picanto is thankfully mechanically and electrically reliable it has a very tough life under what could only be described as appalling driving conditions and has been off the road more often than I am comfortable with. But this is simply because stuff breaks and wears out. I had to replace the driver's side antiroll bar link this afternoon as the roads had literally pummeled and vibrated the lower joint to death! At least it was a relatively easy job though.

So although my experience doesn't even come close to yours I can certainly appreciate the situation. I couldn't wait to get rid of my 2012 Polo. Worst car I have ever owned. Hated it with a passion. The only good thing about it was the manual gearbox!!

 

[rdfb2]

I have owned kia for 6 years now and still own two a picanto and a venga , but have started looking at seat arona and vauxhall mokka as replacements soon ,still fancy a stonic auto but not available at moment but arona autos in lux and gt are , but we shall see , what did you have in mind as replacement .

 

[gdh300]

Good luck Stafford. I've had four FIATs in my time, three of them were wholly undeserving of their poor reputation; the fourth one, well, best gloss over that particular disaster...

I quite fancy an Abarth but they are crazy price for something even less practical than my Proceed; I'd need to get a second car with five-doors just to keep the family happy!

 

[Cold Sausage]

Good luck Stafford. I've had four FIATs in my time, three of them were wholly undeserving of their poor reputation; the fourth one, well, best gloss over that particular disaster...

I quite fancy an Abarth but they are crazy price for something even less practical than my Proceed; I'd need to get a second five-door car just to keep the family happy!

I actually wanted to get an Abarth as a tree change retirement reward. Till I discovered how terrible the roads were. Would have been great on the excellent roads they have in NSW.