If Hyundai/Kia are so unreliable, why are they literally everywhere?
Posted by phtphongg@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 619 comments
I’m genuinely curious about this because online, especially on Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, mechanic channels, etc., people constantly talk about Hyundai/Kia being unreliable because of engine failures, theft issues, recalls, and other problems.
But at the same time… I swear I see these cars EVERYWHERE
Like no matter where I go, I see:
- Elantras
- Sonatas
- Tucsons
- K5s
- Tellurides
- Sportages
They’re honestly some of the most common cars on the road now.
So if they’re supposedly that bad, why do so many people still buy them?
I know one reason is the long warranty, which is definitely attractive compared to a lot of other brands. But is there another reason too?
Is it because:
- They offer more features for the money?
- Better styling?
- Easier financing?
- People just don’t care about long-term reliability anymore?
- Or are the internet discussions just exaggerated?
Because the online hate and the number of Hyundai/Kia cars I see on the road don’t match at all.
Mechman0124@reddit
"There's a sucker born every minute" -P.T. Barnum
theWiseTiger@reddit
Still built better than american cars.
Organic-Ad-8198@reddit
Because Hondas are absolute crap now.
slim_shady_21@reddit
Cheapest cars available
Murky_Double_2613@reddit
Cheap cars for cheap people
BoomerSoonerFUT@reddit
They’re not even that cheap anymore.
The bigger thing is they will approve literally anyone with a pulse for a loan.
Shit, probably even if you don’t have one.
But they’ve also come a long way in quality. They ain’t the Kia rio from the 90s anymore.
TheNerdE30@reddit
Yea they “used to be extremely unreliable and cheap” now they are “cheap and as reliable as anything from the rest of the world less Japan” which means they can be a great deal if you get one without problems.
brinazee@reddit
I bought a Kia van in 2007 and had so many people telling me it was unreliable. I had one without issues and it latest for 17 years before needing a part that Is no longer made. Was the cheapest available minivan at the time, I definitely feel I got a great deal in the end.
odp01@reddit
I had an '07 Entourage till I sold at almost 300k miles. That V6 it shares with the Sedona was built in Korea and was bulletproof.
Dzov@reddit
My coworker needed to have her Hyundai’s engine replaced under warranty.
shaysauce@reddit
“As Japan”
*Nissan Infiniti has entered the chat*
Responsible-Baby-551@reddit
It’s sad because the older Nissan’s were really good vehicles, minus the bodies rusting five years too early
ElectricSnowBunny@reddit
If you combine an older Nissan and an older Honda, you'll have a rustbucket with faded paint that requires a quart of oil every two weeks - but it will run forever, never need an oil change, and you can fix anything with but only 10/12/14/17mm sockets, locking pliers, and a breaker bar.
UmatterWHENiMATTER@reddit
19mm crank bolt at 360ftlbs has entered the chat.
friendIdiglove@reddit
You just need the Honda crank bolt tool and an 18 foot cheater pipe. Checkmate.
SnooLemons8611@reddit
I own a 2022 pathfinder and a 2018 altima. Ive had no issues. Probably the most reliable cars I've ever owned. I think the Nissan is unreliable is far over exaggerated.
Vegetable_Sample7384@reddit
My wife’s 25 armada platinum just came back from the dealer for the 3rd time. Literally picked it up this morning. First time was for a seized fan clutch bogging the motor down at less than 700 miles. Then the actuator in the transfer case failed over the winter, that was headache. The most recent was a parking sensor fault causing the automatic brakes to engage. Maybe they haven’t gotten as bad as people say and we bought a $70k lemon, but shes going to test drive a sequoia on Saturday.
SnooLemons8611@reddit
Yeah and Toyota has issues as well. Lemons happen. Bet if you trade it off for another Armada you won't have any issues.
Vegetable_Sample7384@reddit
I have a 15 Mustang, 23 corvette, and 21 Honda odyssey. Not one has had any issue nearly as often or as significant as this.
I’m not brand loyal in anyway, I have no problem paying more for the sequoia or a Land Cruiser if she can find one. So I literally have no reason at all to take that bet. Simply not interested.
Besides, she uses it for work and to pull her horses. Because of the logistical issues this has caused her she just hates it now.
ApprehensiveClub6969@reddit
For that use case, if I were you I’d look for a nice previous gen Sequoia with the V8. And I’m not even a Toyota fanboy but aside from their current gen trucks having issues they’re just rock solid vehicles. While it might be a little expensive for a used vehicle, it would be a ‘buy it for life’ purchase. Car quality is currently going down across the board, so it might be something you guys would hold on to for 10+ years.
My second choice would be a GM product, again with a gas V8.
KeanEngineering@reddit
Spoken like a true masochist...
JCC114@reddit
You bought the first year of a major redesign. I mean. Yeah, you’re going to have that. You never buy first year of a new model/redesign, really avoid first few years. The sequoia for example, 2023, redesign. Probably ok to buy a 2026, but 0 reason to think it has same longevity of the pre-23 models that had like a 15 year run earning their standing as reliable.
Vegetable_Sample7384@reddit
I also own a 2015 Ford Mustang. First year of a redesign and equipped with a motor notorious for catastrophic failures. It’s modified and protuned for autocross. It currently has 101k miles and has never seen a shop for anything besides consumables.
I see the point you’re making, but that isn’t a hard and fast rule, and it certainly shouldn’t in regards to a Japanese legacy brand.
JCC114@reddit
It is probably more true for Japanese brands. They tend to have incredibly long refresh cycles. Their “reliability” comes from these models being fully refined vs replaced with a refresh every 4-5 years. If you buy a year one Japanese vehicle you give up those years of refinement that earn them that reliability standing.
mr_bots@reddit
25 was the first model year of the new generation wasn’t it?
AdEastern9303@reddit
They too are everywhere because they too are cheap and they too will finance anyone and they too are unreliable.
shaysauce@reddit
They also have prime engineering magnificence like the Nissan cross cabriolet murano. So I mean if that doesn’t scream excellence idk what does.
jondes99@reddit
Being a hideously disfigured abomination doesn’t make the Murano cross-cab unreliable. That’s what the CVT is for.
The_Shepherds_2019@reddit
As a Nissan technician, I'd like to bring up the Nismo Juke with the CVT I was working on last week.
Gives that Cross Cabriolet a real run for its money, let me tell you
shaysauce@reddit
BBBBBBRRRRRUH I WAS MEMEING
Oc34ne@reddit
GTR has entered the chat
Legitimate_Archer988@reddit
Infinitis are not cheap. Also I had one for 5 years, had to replace a rack and pinion, and regular oil changes. One of the cara I’ve owned where I didn’t have a bunch of problems.
ItsBitly@reddit
We don't talk about Nissan anymore.
gettin-hot-in-here@reddit
mitsubishi/nissan/infiniti aren't exactly french companies but they are in a business partnership with Renault and share some of their designs/parts/suppliers with Renault.
jubjub944@reddit
AMC/Jeep was in bed with Renault too. Their ultimate baby, the XJ Cherokee was a delight and tough as nails.
SnooLemons8611@reddit
Also owned 2 mitsubishi diamante a 1995 and a 2004 and both were amazing cars. Every manufacturer has issues you may get a lemon but not all are bad. I had an Audi A6 that was a very nice car except for every week something new would break down on it. Traded it off for my Altima and couldint be happier. Going to go get a maxima next so to each their own I guess.
shaysauce@reddit
French?
mrkillfreak999@reddit
I don't know man the VQ lineup is pretty solid in terms of reliability
The VR30 though 🤮
paulcthemantosee@reddit
Mitsubishi says "hold my beer."
M1sfit_Jammer@reddit
Subaru head gaskets would like to make this a group event
serpentine1337@reddit
What year is it again?
M1sfit_Jammer@reddit
All of them
shaysauce@reddit
The FA engines seem okay but are devils advocated by CVTs, which either go to 300K or grenade at 30. This isn’t brand exclusive.
But every single EJ is prone to failure minus the weird H6 motors that were weirdly reliable.
Dear god I wish I had bought an H6 LLBEAN outback sedan - doesn’t matter the gen/facelift that shit is rad.
Source: former huuuuge Subaru guy. Was even a goober ambassador for a bit. I turned my blaze yellow wrx into a pikachu for Halloween
RickySlayer9@reddit
This is not true. Germany, and American cars are still more reliable than Korean cars,
Germany has seriously upped the reliability game. American cars have actually always been reliable. It’s why V8s from the 50s still run. Bad apples do exist, but generally they’re good cars.
Korean cars weren’t good, and aren’t good still
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
You sure? Jd power disagrees with everything you just said, Kia and Hyundai are right up with all the Japanese brands and the German brands are scored much lower.
OGDREADLORD666@reddit
JD Power awards are measuring how haoly the customer is 90 days after buying the car. As an indicator for quality its worth very little unless you're the manufacturers paying for access to the data to see what people are complaining about so that you can cater your revisions to game for JD Power awards.
The initial quality study is basically the new and shiny survey. Infotainment is alway the biggest complaint and all problems reported have the same weight so "I had a hard time figuring out how x feature works" or "the touch screen is the same as the model from 4 years ago" are given the same weight as "my car went into limpmode in the first 10k" or "my Palisade just crushed my toddler to death." Which is why dealerships go out of their way to setup your phone and blue link etc. for you because it makes a big difference when JD Power calls.
Most cars regardless of brand should make it past 90 days without a catastrophic failure. So the "study" turns into which brand has the most minor annoyances according to its customer expectations.
By focusing so heavily on faster than industry average generation life cycles/mid-gen fscelifts, and focusing on tech gimmicks usually seen in more expensive cars theyre specifically designing the new owner experience to cater to JD Power awards.
Tl;dr: JD Power IQS basically boils down to who has the biggest and fastest touch screen. Hyundai didn't even make the top 10 for 2026 as far as the 3 year dependability survey goes.
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Right which is why I checked consumer report and repair pal. So your huge novel you wrote that I didn’t read was kinda pointless.
OGDREADLORD666@reddit
Yeah I can tell you dont actually read if you think a website for out of warranty repairs at independent gsrages is an accurate research tool for a new tech-heavy car. Its a good site to know an econobox 2010 elantra is cheap to fix, but useless for new vehicles because the majority of powertrain failures are handled in-house under warranty.
Listing CR without understanding it is another fail. Hyundai scores well on road test because of big screens, comfy seats, sound dampening, etc. and good standard safety features, but 3/10 of their flagship models are listed as having the lowest reliability in the entire industry. They've spent hundreds of millions trying to develop DCT technology only to abandon it in the Santa Fe after a 100% defect rate that had transmission cases bursting at under 1000 miles because it was a fundamentally flawed design that they pushed out the door for buyers to beta test.
I think one of their only vehicles with above average predicted reliability on CR is the elantra hybrid because they havent touched the drivetrain in half a decade.
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Again with the pointless novel and no actual facts. Get lost idiot.
surfteach1@reddit
Even consumer reports puts way too much emphasis on the infotainment system
it-takes-all-kinds@reddit
100% agree. Companies that design for the study do better on the study but they weigh the feedback based on severity or impact which does in turn result in better long term study results as well.
JCC114@reddit
Those rankings are pay to play. They give awards to companies with highest advertising spend cause those companies advertising is what pays for their existence. Kia and Hyundai have constant high advertising spend as they try to over shadow whatever their latest F up was. All these “ranking” articles and awards also praised the Theta II engines years ago Kia and Hyundai used, and we all now know those were among worst engines ever made.
Gyozarrita@reddit
Kias are great! Just don't park them in your garage for a few years in case there are some recalls. Plus all the other issues..
jaybess@reddit
I thought that was jeep's to not park in garage?
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Well if you aren’t going to accept any facts or data we are done here.
JCC114@reddit
You don’t believe they are pay to play? It’s not like a well kept secret. It is more of a n open secret.
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
It works the opposite way with jd power dude, auto manufacturers pay THEM to use their logo in advertising, not the other way around.
JCC114@reddit
lol. That is pay to play. The manufacturers that are willing to pay them get the awards. Jd Power would never award a car that the manufacturer was not going to pay them to display it. Let’s say the best vehicle was actually Ford, but ford says we’re not paying you anything, and will just not use your logo. JD power, now says the best vehicle is Chevy, cause Chevy said will pay…. But wait, not Kia says they will pay double!!! Now Kia Won!! WOW.
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
So why does consumer report pretty much agree with them?
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/which-brands-make-the-best-used-cars-a2811658468/
JCC114@reddit
Flawed methodology. Go over to ask a mechanic or spend a few days watching reals from mechanics. If you’re willing to believe random consumers answering a poorly structured survey, but not mechanics that know vehicles inside and out. You will have to explain why those sources are better, but seems like only reason will be they support your existing bias.
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Lmao. Ok champ.
Obvious_Highlight_55@reddit
https://youtu.be/bKisRZd8VYw?si=BeJIa78K5e-YnGOS donut video about JD power
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Once again I also checked consumer report, repair pal, and carmax.
BoatAlternative5103@reddit
Could I see the stats from JD Power?
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
It’s pretty easy to google, but here’s another website that scores Korean cars above U.S. domestic and German cars.
https://repairpal.com/reliability
BoatAlternative5103@reddit
Is there one that looks at long-term reliability at high mileage?
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
Consumer report?
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/which-brands-make-the-best-used-cars-a2811658468/
swerg678@reddit
Not sure about audi and mercedes but the current 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engines used by bmws are much more reliable than the past
RickySlayer9@reddit
BMW is currently more reliable than HONDA
UmatterWHENiMATTER@reddit
How many cars from the 50s you have running the oem drive train?
Exceptions don't make the rule.
The only reason luxury Japanese lines (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti) exist in the USA is because US automakers were making such a dogshit product that it seemed a better option to lobby congress to restrict imports than to actually improve... new brand, new quotas.
surfteach1@reddit
Japanese were making dog shit products in the 70s as well. My personal belief is they still are, but the fan boys won't accept reality.
asmashingbore@reddit
I work in the business. No, Germany has not done that. And high end American brands are shit (Cadillac, Lincoln with their electronics, etc...)
Porsche is the only brand I would trust for new cars from Germany
jb08045@reddit
German cars are not reliable at all lol
Synicism77@reddit
Japanese cars aren't even all that anymore either. Or rather everyone else is just as good now.
RIPK2so@reddit
No they are still unreliable
way-of-the-lab@reddit
They’re very reliable cars these days and don’t suffer from ridiculous issues anymore. Honestly most of the worry stems from the Kia boys bullshit. But I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one. If you get one new, they have the best warranty out of any manufacturer.
FarLand2@reddit
They’re Nissan level
OriginalFaCough@reddit
Nissan quit making cars around the turn of the century. They starting making subprime loans and over priced parts. At least one of the companies used to make cars...
serpentman@reddit
Shots fired.
JCC114@reddit
Use to be? As in like up to the latest generation were garbage. The idea that they solved all their problems with this latest generation is laughable. It took well over 5 years before we knew the prior generation had issues, and a decade before we knew they were complete garbage. Saying the latest our as good as anything else is taking a huge leap of faith, and they have done nothing to earn that. They need a decade of good to even come back into consideration after the crap they have produced for last decade plus.
BigPapaJava@reddit
Hyundai and Kia have been convincing people to say they “used to be” garbage for the past 20ish years. It always turns out that they were still garage all along.
Interesting_Army_659@reddit
Not the Hyundai Pony from the 80's for sho
Cautious_Rain2129@reddit
Average Transaction Prices (Recent 2025–2026 Data) Real-world purchase prices (including incentives and options) show Kia and Hyundai (Hyundai Motor Group) as more affordable:acade7 Kia: Often around $36,000–$38,000 ATP. Hyundai: Similar range, around $37,000–$39,000 ATP. Toyota: Higher, often $43,000–$46,000+. Honda: Around $38,000–$39,500. Overall U.S. average new vehicle ATP: ~$48,000–$50,000. Kia and Hyundai frequently transact below the broader market average and below Toyota/Honda in comparable segments.
Jdornigan@reddit
For thar price you can get a Subaru as well.
Senappi@reddit
Are there any affordable new cars in 2026?
BlazinAzn38@reddit
They’re also on the surface very good value for money. If you’re going to own it just for the duration of the 3-5 year loan term you probably won’t hit any of the huge issues and it’ll still be under warranty
allawd@reddit
Financing availability is a majorly overlooked reason why people buy a certain car brand.
riboslavin@reddit
Less than 7% of car loans are delinquent or in default.
Like, it's as bad as it's ever been, and a bad omen of even worse economics, but the vast, vast majority of Americans will pay off their car loans.
BoomerSoonerFUT@reddit
Yeah I’ve got an EV6 leased. I love the car. But I’ll also only have it for 2 years lol. Then someone else can pick it up half price and deal with any issues.
kjgjk@reddit
"good credit, bad credit? You dead? Fuck it! Ghost credit!"
zakary1291@reddit
I've seen Kia approve a friend with 590 FICO8 for a 14 month $25,000 loan at 24%. The payments were insane. They are doing a similar thing as Nissan did in the early 2000s. Approve sub prime loans at ridiculous interest rates and hope the car doesn't lose too much value before the repo. Then make up the difference in the interest.
BoomerSoonerFUT@reddit
I could not imagine paying $2k a month for a Kia lmao
hermit22@reddit
90s? Kia Rio had massive recalls in 2012 onward to I think 2015 for engines, own one myself got 360k km on it. The piston rings have been shot since a 100k an the transmission slipping by 104k. We put another 260k on that blown engine and transmission lol. 2-4L of oil every fuel up an if you anticipate a large hill you gotta put it in “sports mode” to keep it from downshifting 2 gears and screaming near red line. Our engine wasn’t part of the recall :(
CreativeProject2003@reddit
relatively speaking, they're cheap, compared to a few years ago, no they're not, I near have a heart attack when I hear how much money people are paying for cars lately.
Remarkable-Junket655@reddit
But they’ve also come a long way in quality. They ain’t the Kia rio from the 90s anymore.
You mean a long way down, right? Because early Kia/Hyundai vehicles were indestructible tanks. Rust was about the only thing that would kill them.
ggouge@reddit
They made one bad engine recently and it's the only thing people will talk about. Buy anything without the 2.4 and you're fine.
ParticularWhole9433@reddit
First, they turbocharged that engine and put it in their flagship sedans and CUVs. if you make one bad engine and put it in most of your vehicles, or most of your more expensive/family size vehicles, then yes, that's all people will talk about. Same thing Subaru did. They only had one engine with head gasket problems, and they put that engine in nearly all their cars.
Second, their smaller engines were catching on fire for a bit, that was fun.
Third, then they made all their US vehicles so easy to steal it became a tiktok sensation.
Isn't that enough?
mr_bots@reddit
Got caught using child labor
sisyphus_met_icarus@reddit
Theta II was also available as a 2.0L and had the same issues
mr_bots@reddit
The 2.0 Nu engine was also troublesome
BoatAlternative5103@reddit
Their MPI engines worked much better too. Hope they fixed the issues with GDI in the current models.
Glad-Watch3506@reddit
The Sportage convertible was a fantastic car. Especially with a manual transmission.
Arkard1@reddit
Can confirm,my 2009 kia spectra with 275k miles on it will be retired come winter due to rust issues not anything else.
yeah_sure_youbetcha@reddit
We loved the EV6 GT we test drove, but our local dealer wouldn't budge on price, and they only wanted to talk about "payment."
No, I can do math. I want to know what my sale price and interest rate are, for 72 months or less.
BoomerSoonerFUT@reddit
You don’t want to buy a Kia EV in general though. They lose the vast majority of their value in a few years. I leased my EV6 instead.
yeah_sure_youbetcha@reddit
I purchase my vehicles with the intention of being the first person to fart in the seats then I keep them long after they're paid off. For the most part, I give zero shits about their value in between as long as I drop a big enough down payment at the start to be sure I'm never underwater. Leases are fine for a lot of folks, but at the end of the day, I like knowing that I don't have to go car shopping every 2-3 years, can drive as many miles as I'd like, and for a few years now and then, I don't have any car payments.
peakdecline@reddit
You should know this before you go to a dealer. You should talk to your own bank or credit union before car shopping. And then take those rates to the dealer and see if they can beat or match (sometimes they'll place a discount contingent on going with their financing).
wolphrevolution@reddit
Its fun living in a country thst as actual regulation for dealership ( they cant force you to finance, they cant refuse to let you decide who finance you, cant have more than 14% interest and they cant mark up over msrp at all if the car is new. They can however sell used to the price they want
yeah_sure_youbetcha@reddit
You should, you should, you should....
Yep, well aware. I'm always aware of my credit union rates, and know that I qualify for their lowest ones. Dealer financing has always been cheaper so far, except when we bought our last car. $13k off of msrp, but almost all of the incentives were contingent on using dealer financing that was ~1% higher than my credit union at the time.
PeterPDX@reddit
They've become Nissan
Stuck_in_my_TV@reddit
They aren’t “cheap”, but they are still *cheaper* than anything else new except the Mitsubishi mirage.
peakdecline@reddit
This just doesn't matter and I'm not sure why people say it does.
The auto manufacturers are not the ones giving out the horrendous loans. It's independent banks and other lenders. And they will do that for any make.
BoomerSoonerFUT@reddit
No most of the time it’s a bank that the manufacturer owns when buying new.
Kia and Hyundai specifically have Hyundai Motor Credit.
That’s also how you get the best rates. When I bought my last truck, I financed it through GM Financial.
They only shop you out to independent banks and credit unions when the manufacturer bank can’t approve you. Which for Kia/hyundai is basically never.
peakdecline@reddit
No, it's not. The captive financing branch of most auto manufacturers do not have the best kick backs to the dealers nor do they tend to offer the extreme risk loans you're talking about.
Therefore those are not who the dealer pushes these type of high risk customers towards.
You're right about the best rates. That is those captive financing branches are best at.
D4db0d0hye4h@reddit
Dude, have you been in a Kia recently? They've up'd their game since the 90s-2000s. I think the appeal is features, warranty, and performance for the money.
whatareutakingabout@reddit
Like cheaping out on $10 immobilisers, leading to gangs of "kia boys" youth to steal them with a usb cable?
General_Awareness_65@reddit
Yes, and yes….😂
Fuzzy_Park109@reddit
I mean, the accent hatch got axed because it was the entry level hatchback workhorse that ate into damn near ALL hat sweet sweet upmarket Elantra Hatch money. Every brand has this exact tale over the past 12 years.
Uber is a company because of the accent, with it's Hyundai-Uber-Realbate that threw cash at you for being signed up as as a Uber Driver.. Regardless if you had every given a single ride before. Just check that box on the form with one hand as you were signing up for the app with the other.
Bug_406@reddit
Picked up a 2016 2 years ago with 128k on it, now 170k and runs just the same. 5k oil changes, and maybe half quart added in between. Fantastic car for 4k, and now days the 35-40 mpg is a real plus.
MythologicalEngineer@reddit
If that Accent hatch is even half the car our Accent sedan is that would be a sweet inexpensive car. I don't think I've ever had a car with so few issues than our 2013.
garyboosey666@reddit
Black people are the majority owners btw
Bulky-Travel-2500@reddit
I wouldn’t exactly call $50k cheap.
libra-love-@reddit
Cheaper than some domestics.
um8medoit@reddit
Or, you know, poor people.
firstgen32715@reddit
This is the main answer. Hyundai service manager for reference. They are inexpensive in comparison to really anything else. They are loaded with tech and creature comforts. They rival luxury brands in that department for an entry level price. Make no mistake though, they will break in a catastrophic fashion. While you get the "industry best warranty" you will still be out a vehicle while it is getting fixed. If you are lucky enough to be provided a loaner it'll not compare to your current vehicle and Hyundai only covers it once the problem is deemed warrantable, which sometimes takes weeks. I have been in the auto business for 25+ years and I can say with complete confidence, Hyundai is the worst of them all.
gmehodler42069741LFG@reddit
Dont forget stupid people
No_Durian_3444@reddit
100k powertrain warranty
tdwvet@reddit
They are a value buy. Hyundai and Kia have come a looong way in the past 30+ years. Not quite to Toyota or maybe Honda levels of reliability yet, but not far behind. In fact the latest JD Power dependability survey placed Hyundai above Honda. I have owned 5 Hyundais and all were (are---still own one of them) great. Strict oil changes every 5k miles and normal maintenance. More value per dollar overall. Better warranty too, way better. And by the way, I have owned 4 Toyotas and 1 Honda in the past, too.
Maximum_Theme5830@reddit
Toyota is not what it was.
The quality on those has gone down.
So now Hyundai/KIA is better than Toyota thanks to toyota starting to make crap.
Hyundai/KIA used to be crap.
Now they are not.
They are not that cheep anymore and are getting expensive.
But the quality if you get a Korean made one (or EU made one) is better than most other's in same price range.
If you get a US made one the quality is the same as other's in the price range
Obvious_Highlight_55@reddit
JD power is not a good review site
kochameh2@reddit
yea a lot of it is just leftover stereotypes earned while korea was still pretty poor/developing
RadiotoSuzie@reddit
The warranty is one of the best. The palisade is a fun SUV to drive
Realistic-March-5679@reddit
30 years? In just the last 15 they have had the single largest engine recall over 400,000 vehicles affected and tens of thousand imploding before 100K.
They’ve had four separate fire recalls with one being faulty parts for a recall repair so the repair caused vehicles to catch fire. Another seat motor one had over 460 cars be a total loss to car fires before they were forced to issue a recall. Not to mention the ABS modules shorting out due to internal fluid leakage and catching fire.
The only reliable thing is you will likely have your car broken into because Kia/hyundai thought it’d be a grand idea to have immobilizers be optional equipment. This has gotten so bad some insurance companies won’t even insure a Kia/hyundai.
Lately they are not even close to reliable. They are on a stelantis level of chance of total vehicle failure.
tdwvet@reddit
lol, dude. All manufacturers have recalls. Yup, that one is a turd for Hyundai, but did you conveniently forget the crank pin manufacturing defect in the Honda 3.5 V6 that can cause very dangerous engine seizure while moving? Honda has already recalled about 250,000 vehicles and the NHTSA has widened the investigation due to new complaints and expects about 1,400,000 vehicles to be affected. But hey, nothing to see here--its a Honda, remember? Moving on to Toyota: 127,000 Toyotas and Lexus (gasp) recalled for debris left in the engines during manufacturing.
But wait, there's more: Toyota recalled about 5.8 million cars and Honda (and Acura) about 12.9 million for the faulty Takata airbag inflators----28 deaths and over 400 injured (across several brands including Toyota and Honda). Both Honda and Toyota issued "do not drive" warnings to tens of thousands of owners. This is from the holy grail of mass market automotive greatness, no?
To be fair, Hyundai/Kia also had airbag recall issues (about 425,000---non Takata) for failure to deploy in a crash, also resulting in 4 reported deaths.
Hyundai/Kia fixed the immobilizer issue---standard now since 2022.
"Lately they are not even close to reliable." Really. Do you have any actual evidence to back this up?
I'm not saying Hyundai or Kia are better than Toyota and Honda, who built their reputations before Hyundai and Kia even entered the US market. That first Hyundai, the 1986 Excel, was cheap as dirt and a total dumpster fire. I remember it well because a friend had one---total POS. My first new car was a 1988 Toyota truck---was flawless. What I am saying is they have closed the gap considerably over the past 30+ years and are a value proposition compared to the other two.
dmforjewishpager@reddit
objective comment not based on media hype.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
LMAO you lost me at JD power🤣 Crock of shit pay to play rewards, go talk to real mechanics
Standing2Close@reddit
Bc they’re cheap!
GrotesqueCat@reddit
Hyundais new designs are so ugly to me, saw a new santa fe samn that shit ugly yo
gulers@reddit
my experience with the Hyundais. They are unreliable in way that you won't get stranded on the side of the road. but there could be weird issues like rear door jammed. clutch was making weird squeaking noise. CarPlay decides not to work. those type of things are sucks but you will get going.
ElectricSnowBunny@reddit
The engines might blow up, but at least they'll replace them for free.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
Maybe….. they are pretty good at dancing around there warranty
Smart_Bank1848@reddit
I remember going to the dealer for the first oil change in our 21 sorento cause it was free so why not. Overheard the service people talking to another customer about their engine losing a quart of oil between oil changes and the customer understandably asking for their solution. They said they have to document the oil loss 7 oil changes in a row before they can “justify” it to the manufacturer that it is a real problem and needed to be dealt with under warranty. Problem was 7 oil changes would have put them out of warranty mileage. How convenient. Their solution was basically change the oil every two weeks to get enough documentation before warranty was out. Each oil change done at the dealer for $100 or whatever. He said I’m not doing $700 in oil changes in two months so you’ll maybe fix it. That’s when I knew we couldn’t keep that kia long term lol. And I’m glad we didn’t. It would also die at stop lights/signs before coming to a complete stop so jerk to a stop and the auto stop/start wouldn’t come back on. Had to cycle the car on and off a couple times before it would fire back up. That was at like 40k miles. Wasn’t fun.
ElectricSnowBunny@reddit
I am not sure of the numbers, anecdotally I know 4 kia owners that had engine failure (2 optimas, 2 souls) and only one of them had to fight a little.
Also, all 4 love absolutely love their cars. Not my thing but a lot said there.
FormalConflict523@reddit
The Walmart Great Value special
chronicbint@reddit
Because my 5N is awesome. 👍
solidmarbleeyes@reddit
I’ll give my experience with Kia.
My family purchased a new 2010 Kia Soul in 2010 for $13k. Base model with the 5 spd manual. It has been the most reliable vehicle in the family (of which we have 10, including Japanese and American brands)
The Soul is now around 180k and still has the original clutch. 4 people have learned to drive stick on it. It’s had nothing done other than oil changes, spark plugs, brake pads, and coolant. It has hauled a full trunk of camping gear and five people on thousands of miles of dirt roads it had absolutely no business being on in 8 of the western states. It’s hauled tons of stuff with the rear seats down including a refrigerator. It survived 300 miles at 5-6k rpm getting me to a loved one who was in the hospital. The check engine light came on once about ten years ago when the gas cap wasn’t on all the way.
I have four complaints about the Soul:
1. It’s shaped like a brick.
2. It’s slow as shit.
3. It didn’t come with the hamsters.
4. We should have bought two of them.
chef-keef@reddit
People on the internet just parrot each other.
The people who own these know to keep up with maintenance or it’ll kick them in the butt. Reliable brand car owners who think they only ever need oil changes will blow transmissions just like anyone else.
notapunk@reddit
Not necessarily true. I'm meticulous about maintenance, but that Soul's engine absolutely self-destructed at 90-95k. Thankfully within warranty, but that service manager was not at all surprised. Said he had a couple dozen engines sitting in crates out back because of how often the 2.0 engines would die due to piston rings they knew were bad before they shipped.
Smart_Bank1848@reddit
My buddy was working inside a Kia/hyundai dealership and he had a service tech tell him that engine replacements are the most common thing they do because the engines are that bad.
chef-keef@reddit
I mean then you get another engine that’s going to last 90k. So it should be fine, right?
P0300_Multi_Misfires@reddit
As an hyundai tech this is funny. The engine comes out and only the engine gets replaced. Depending on the engine not even the whole engine is replaced even though it shows extreme wear and neglect. Everything not under the engine recall doesn’t get replaced. This includes hoses, turbos, catalytic converters, belts, engine heads, valves, cams sprockets full of metal, oil control valves full of metal, and engine mounts. Believe me wherever Hyundai could cut corners on this recall they did. But sure it should be fine lol.
TitanPolus@reddit
Whenever someone talks to me about how Kia isn't bad. Or why shouldn't they buy a Kia / Hyundai, I always say go to a couple different dealerships and ask where the mechanics park. That should tell you all you need to know about reliability for their brand.
notapunk@reddit
Sure, but that's a hassle I'd rather not deal with and I was lucky mine died when it did. A lot of people had theirs die right after 100k
t-w-i-a@reddit
They used to be terrible but since like 2015+ they’re fine. It’s just the old reputation has stuck around and the internet is a giant echo chamber of people with no direct experience.
I had a Kia Forte that I drove from new to 130k miles with no issues- just normal maintenance
courtd93@reddit
Agreed-I had 2 sorentos that got totaled 10 years apart and I walked away without a scratch so I find value in them. The second was at 150k without an issue when it happened.
My actual issue is that I then went and got a sportage and then dipshits broke into it before I even made a car payment.
OrneryLavishness9666@reddit
My 2015 Soul Exclaim is about to hit 140k and it's in great shape. Just had to do some kind of expensive work on it for the first time, but everything else has been basic maintenance. My mechanic said the Soul either completely dies at 100k or continues to run great to 200k+.
andruszko@reddit
It mostly has to do with maintenance.
The soul engine is direct injection, meaning piston rings get gunked up with carbon. Every manufacturer suffers from this with direct injection.
Some people ignore the problem when symptoms arise, and the engine dies. Some people have the carbon cleaned (or run better oil which helps prevent the buildup), and it lasts forever.
Inevitable-Tune5726@reddit
Yep. I've had an Ioniq 5 and it's all good so far.
Stunning_building_33@reddit
The average owner certainly does not. This is the main issue.
BeastyBaiter@reddit
That's possible. My sister has had a few Elantra's and all of them were rock solid to 200K+ miles. It didn't take her more than a few years to reach it, think she was doing 40k miles a year.
Icy-Role2321@reddit
"Don't get a nissan frontier it has a cvt and will explode before 100k miles"
I've seriously seen people say they.
chef-keef@reddit
Yup. Your average guy is not that smart. And half of people are dumber than him!
joshisboomin@reddit
Because they’re affordable and offer value. Is that so hard to believe? That’s like saying why do you see Nike/Adidas/Fabletics everywhere when Lululemon or ALO exist.
Toyota, Mazda and Honda are a notch above, but you’re compromising somewhere, Toyota and the Toyota tax as well as not being the Toyota of old, Honda has lost its V6 charm. Lexus and Acura are not what they used to be though they still have some heat à la Integra Type S. Mazda is solid, but compromised in space and a little lacking in hybrid power trains.
You guys are acting like they’re selling Chevrolet Cruzes/Equinoxes or non-ST/RS Focuses or Edges. You get a lot from the Korean brands, it’s literally just reliability, which is a like a 6-8/10 vs the prior mentioned Japanese brands which are like 8-9/10 and they’re generally a few thousand cheaper. You still get the 10yr/100k drivetrain warranty and 5 year/60k bumper to bumper.
Now have there been issues with servicing those warranties and insurance issues from the Kia Boyz scenario, sure. No brand is perfect, but Hyundai/Kia is far from the bottom of the barrel nowadays
SpecificSpecial@reddit
I dont know about Kia but Hyundai has improved a lot to where it's probably on par with competition.
No_Document_853@reddit
In Australia the i30 is known as one of the most reliable cars. The Korean corolla
Ogrezappers@reddit
As long as you take care of them, they are fine. Any car is gonna be a pos if you never change its oil or flush any of its fluids etc.
chris14020@reddit
False. Kia/Hyundai had a whole nearly decade long run of faulty engines that would blow up due to no user fault. They had class actions about it, and managed to weasel out of taking responsibility for a significant amount of their manufacturing defects by claiming that if customers didn't happen to get a software update (that just lets you know your engine is failing, not prevents the damage - it was defective from the factory), the customer can pound salt. They claimed they fixed that issue across many years, and still did not.
And let's not talk about how they are so notoriously awful at security and theft prevention that many places wouldn't even let you park a Kia there, due to how easily stolen they were. No other brand was so widely recognized as a theft magnet, not even good brands.
M7BSVNER7s@reddit
Except a few years ago Hyundai/Kia had simultaneous recalls for millions of cars where they recommend you shouldn't park them inside due to spontaneous fire risk and you shouldn't park them outside due to them able to be stolen in 10 seconds. Those issues and brand reputation damage aren't going to be fixed with oil changes.
hk4213@reddit
And did free fixes for all who opted in.
M7BSVNER7s@reddit
It is a positive that they did offer a free fix for the theft issue. But it doesn't outweigh the negatives of the problem only existed in US cars because Kia/Hyundai were cheap and put immobilizers in cars sold everywhwre else but didn't put them in US cars to save a few bucks and then it took 2 years to offer a solution, partly after they were forced to as cities sued them after being plagued with car thefts. That is the kind of issue that will always make me wonder "what standard item did they not install in this new car to save a few bucks?".
And same goes for the theft and engine grenading recalls/fixes. Good on them for fixing it but they would have been forced to by regulators or class action lawsuits anyways.
hk4213@reddit
Any thought as to why the US car market missed out on cool cars due to reactionary legislation for short monetary gain?
M7BSVNER7s@reddit
Nope. And I don't see how that is related.
bridgetroll2@reddit
Meanwhile they also had a recall for millions of engines drinking oil and seizing up.
hk4213@reddit
Same with GM
dmforjewishpager@reddit
new ones are much better.
M7BSVNER7s@reddit
That's probably true as they really couldn't be worse now than that run they had from ~2010-2020 with all the major calls and warranty claims. I live in the epicenter of the teenager theft trend from so we went from having a few Kia/hyundais on every block to now where I can only think of one or two new kias in the entire neighborhood as no one replaced them with new versions when they were stolen+crashed or had the engines grenade themselves. I really am surprised that reputational damage wasn't more widespread.
dmforjewishpager@reddit
the 3.8 engine was good in that era. i got one with 200k miles and no issues and it’s been abused
pachydocerus@reddit
I disagree. Took perfect cere of my Kia Sorrento and the transmission took a shit at 75k, and Kia did not honor the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty
xskylinelife@reddit
If they're denying you well within the mileage of your warranty I'll go out of a whim and say you didn't take "perfect care" of it.
pachydocerus@reddit
Also the expression is "go out on a limb"
xskylinelife@reddit
Common Misconception:
pachydocerus@reddit
See below. Failure was caused by a TCM and ECU issue and computer parts are not covered under 10/100. This was not a maintenance issue
scrappybasket@reddit
Did you try another dealer?
pachydocerus@reddit
Yes to both. Unfortunately I live in a small town between two major cities so all Kia dealerships were 3-4 hours away in opposite directions. It wasn't covered because the 10/100 covers the big items (gears, shafts, lubricated parts) and the failure was computer related and it created an intermittent failure which required an ECU and TCM replacement, parts which fail more frequently than physical components but conveniently aren't covered.
Habaneroe12@reddit
That’s not true they fall apart twice as fast as any other brand except Dodge maybe the stats confirm it.
cross_mod@reddit
There's a LOT of cars below Hyundai and Kia on this list:
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/who-makes-the-most-reliable-cars-a7824554938/
cheeseshcripes@reddit
I see tons of mid 2000s Santa Fes on the road, they didn't sell massive amounts of their cars in the 2000s.
How many mid 2000s of anything do you see on the road? Maybe corollas and GM trucks, that were sold in the millions?
scrappybasket@reddit
These lists are useless, for a number of reasons
cross_mod@reddit
Compared to reddit? What is a better source of information? I love my 2015 Kia Forte 5 SX by the way. Not a single thing has happened to it.
LivinTheDream919@reddit
Um, care to list those reasons? Or is this just another drive-by shitpost? Add value or just keep scrolling!
AlexandrGarlock@reddit
Yea I hardly see old ones on the roads only new
BeastyBaiter@reddit
Well, they were extremely rare 20 years ago. They didn't become a major brand in the USA until maybe the last 10 years. Like saying you haven't seen any 20 year old Tesla's or Polestars.
Bob_12_Pack@reddit
That’s why I won’t buy one. I tend to keep my cars until they go to the junkyard, repairing them myself along the way. These cars are designed to self destruct.
PinkGreen666@reddit
I wish that were true. They have catastrophic engine problems.
IAmPandaKerman@reddit
I had a Kia forte model year 2013 that I bought used. Didn't care for it much originally so I didn't take great care of it but it ended up being one of the best cars I ever owned. it just ran with 0 problems. would shop Kia again
chris14020@reddit
Why do you see people shopping at dollar stores even though the products suck and/or are not a great value?
IamTroyOfTroy@reddit
I didn't know they weren't reliable. Everyone I've known who had one loved it 🤷🏼♂️
kuddle30@reddit
Let’s not call it cheap but rather affordable
That’s why
DotBitGaming@reddit
More reliable than Chevy cars. And they're everywhere.
horizon_fleet@reddit
Drove a Hyundai i20 for 5 years and never had a problem.
Hyundai i10 currently in family as well and not a single problem for 4 years now
Voeno@reddit
Just because you see them everywhere due to mass production doesn’t correlate to reliability.
haydenw86@reddit
Cheap, more reliable than they used to be and extremely longbwarranties would probably be the main reasons.
Eccentric_Milk_Steak@reddit
People love buying "new" cars and with prices and inflated price points of modern day vehicles reliable brands like Toyota are fairly expensive in the latest model year
Personally not that my opinion means much but I'd rather drive a 5-7 yr old used Toyota/Lexus then ever sit inside a hyundai or kia
EvilDarkCow@reddit
They're cheap, they have nice features for the price point, and some of them look ridiculously good.
And to the average US car buyer, that's all that matters.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
100,000 miles on a telluride and nothing but oil changes and tires. It’s been to Florida and back 5 times from Pennsylvania. Never once a hiccup. People want to dunk on them, but they’re great.
bobtowned@reddit
Brother-in-law bought a new Hyundai SUV that went through 3 transmissions in a short amount of time. It was a fight to have Hyundai take the SUV back. They just replaced it with a Toyota Sienna.
The Hyundai/Kia cars seem to have pretty large scale powertrain issues. Other companies that are struggling with reliability ratings these days are more centralized on tech-related issues that are often times not catastrophic like engine and transmission problems are.
Seems to be a roll of the dice to me, but I’m just someone that reads things periodically from people online.
andruszko@reddit
Toyota is dealing with a massive class action lawsuit due to transmissions. And the sienna is facing a class action lawsuit because of poorly welded seat rails that could kill people in a crash. So, uh...sure... "Not catastrophic"
Ford/GM are having tons of issues with their 10 speed transmissions.
Honda has a whole slew of major issues.
Outside of the theta ii engines, Kia/Hyundai have been far above average in reliability.
Warden18@reddit
Where can I find more details regarding the "slew of major issues" with Honda?
Firm-Rest1860@reddit
Their 1.5T engines had major oil dilution issues in colder climates for the first couple model years. They were able to rectify that issue, but what they haven’t rectified is the head design flaw that causes them to blow the head gasket between 80K-120K miles. The passages are too narrow and it cracks. They put that 1.5T in everything - Accord, Civic, CR-V. I was on a date recently and they were telling me about all the car issues they’d been having and mentioned that they were getting rid of the car because the engine blew the head gasket. I asked what kind of car and guess what? 2018 Honda Accord.
TrippyVision@reddit
Yeah but there hasn’t been one incident related to the seat rail issue, it was within Toyota’s own findings.
Meanwhile Kia/Hyundai downplayed the whole engine recall while their cars were catching fire, randomly stalling on the freeway and it took one of their own engineers to come out and be a whistleblower to say hey they knew about this serious defect the whole time and they chose to drag their feet on this to avoid responsibility. That alone has made me lose faith in the company
rip_a_roo@reddit
Anecdotes, anecdotes everywhere. Data be cool.
CrispyJalepeno@reddit
The Sienna seat rails are kinda unfair. They hold perfectly fine to federal safety standards. They were just found not to meet Toyota's internal safety standards
FappyDilmore@reddit
And they offer the best warranty in the business bar none
Bug_406@reddit
People seem to forget Toyota inline 4s burning massive amounts of oil around 2010. They're not immune. I've not heard anyone personally say anything good about new 10 speed transmissions. Chevy and Toyota are both currently having catastrophic engine failures. It's a bit of a crapshoot all the way around with new cars right now.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
What model and year did your “brother in law” buy?
bobtowned@reddit
I believe it was a Santa Fe and pre-facelift so likely a 2023 model.
ActuallyFullOfShit@reddit
Yeah the first 100k isn’t the hard part.
d0ugfirtree@reddit
How well cars hold up at 200k is a problem for Craigslist dumpster divers who are purchasing cars with 200k already on the clock, not people who are buying brand new.
I bet the vast majority of new car buyers are more than satisfied with 100k in 9-10 years before moving on to the rest.
Euphoric_Loquat_8651@reddit
This attitude is the dumpster dive.
d0ugfirtree@reddit
Dumpster diving classifieds for cheap cars is a badge of honor. But OEMs don’t make products for that crowd, they sell to new car buyers.
The Korean cars are cheap, are nicer to be in than their peers, and come with a 10/100 warranty… not surprising why people buy em new
Euphoric_Loquat_8651@reddit
Yeah, fair enough
ActuallyFullOfShit@reddit
I think you skipped 100k miles, but more importantly, you aren’t considering depreciation.
Adventurous-Ease-259@reddit
If the car only costs $35k you can throw it in a dumpster and have less loss than depreciation on a more expensive vehicle after 100k miles.
patches710@reddit
You skipped the part where the average new car buyer gives a shit about that
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
I don’t plan on keeping a car for 200k. All I need it for is 100k. Then it’s onto the next. That’s good enough for me.
ActuallyFullOfShit@reddit
It still affects you because you end up bit by the much higher depreciation over your 100k miles. Vehicles that last longer retain more value.
Deadpools_sweaty_leg@reddit
True, but the upfront cost is significantly less. Only Toyotas hold on to their value even at 100k, most other cars do not.
AnonUser1452@reddit
I drive an ‘88 Toyota pickup with 195k miles on it. Some random person will offer to buy it almost every week for about what my dad paid for it in 1991 (admittedly in depreciated 2026 dollars, of course.)
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
Bought for $47k, just got an offer for $27k. Drove it for 100k miles. Honestly, I’m good with those numbers. It did everything I needed it to. That’s what matters to me, idgaf if you think it’s a good deal or not. That’s irrelevant to my situation.
PM_ME_HOUSE_MUSIC_@reddit
Just because you got a car that made it past 100k miles (which is almost nothing in the grand scheme), doesn’t mean they don’t have wide spread powertrain issues.
Scazzz@reddit
“People want to dunk on them” no man. Ask any decent mechanic and they will tell you that not all cars are made equal and some are so poorly designed or made with cheap parts it’s likely done on purpose.
goranlepuz@reddit
From what you write, you should not conclude that they are great. (I'm not saying they are not, but that your experience is an anecdote and therefore quite unimportant given the question.)
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
Okay, nerd.
goranlepuz@reddit
Just saying, no need to get prissy.
Jimbob209@reddit
My Genesis coupe 3.8 is a 2013. I didn't have any issues until I hit 120k miles. My auto trans skips gears when it's cold :(
My AC also died like 2 years ago. I've been raw dogging summer since
TurkishSwag@reddit
Every Telluride/ Palisade owner seems to either have nothing bad, or nothing good to say about them. Seems like reliability was very hit or miss on them. It’ll be interesting to see how they hold up as they age. They’re pretty cool as far as Hyundai/ Kia goes so hopefully they stay mostly reliable.
Intelligent_Age_6284@reddit
My aunt has a kia suv and its constantly having recalls and other bs wrong with it
OneTea@reddit
Let me know if you make it another 100,000 miles. That’s when I’d be impressed.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
I’m not interested in impressing you
AdmirableRadio5921@reddit
Fair, but most cars nowadays will go 100k miles without major issues. I think it’s the next couple hundred thousand that separates the winners. Of course, if you drive less than 10k miles a year, age might creep up first on a lot of components.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
What percentage of vehicles on the road are over 200,000 miles?
AdmirableRadio5921@reddit
A quick google search indicates around 1% of vehicles have over 200k miles. I’m surprised. Seems that extra reliability isn’t worth much to most people. All of my vehicles that I’ve ever owned have gone at least that far. I guess I’m just cheap, and sentimental.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
So that’s essentially a very rare occurrence and not anywhere near the norm. To say that cars should all fall into that category is a statistical fallacy.
General_Awareness_65@reddit
I had over 400k on a 1994 gmc pickup, that do anything for you? It was a pile of shit but still got me to work after almost 418k miles on it. Sold it to a farmer that put another hard, and I mean haaaarrrdddd 30k on it before he put it to pasture, lol!
ClickKlockTickTock@reddit
Ive got a bmw with 160k mi and nothing but routine maintenance lol
And a toyota with 200k that is starting to show signs of wear.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
And your bmw with its regular maintenance costs probably twice as much….lol.
General_Awareness_65@reddit
Love to hear it, I’ve liked Kia/Hyundai a long time and thought they got aggressive hate for nothing, I was thinking that’s what kept them affordable and maybe a secret but I guess that’s out, lol
392pov@reddit
I feel the santa fe is objectively horrendous, especially from the rear.
Then I'll hit the road and see them everywhere.
General_Awareness_65@reddit
Honestly we’ve had a few and haven’t seen any bigger problems with them over the infinity, dodge, or Chevy’s that we’ve had over the years. I honestly think if you find one that’s been cared for and do the same, a lot of vehicles are great. It’s the lack of maintenance that kills them
ktappe@reddit
The huge engine recall they experienced had nothing to do with lack of maintenance. Perfectly maintained engines still grenaded themselves.
Also, comparing them to Infiniti, Dodge, and Chevy is setting a rather low bar.
General_Awareness_65@reddit
What else would you compare them to? If I could afford Honda or Toyota they would be on that list for sure. Lately I think all makes are hitting a pretty low bar with all the bullshit they put on them now. I think I’ll drive a 2010’s car until it rusts off the frame over the junk everyone is putting out now, lol!
Hersbird@reddit
Sort of like the new Toyota engine designs.
mvpilot172@reddit
I’ve driven multiple Hyundai’s to 100k miles. They certainly had some bad engines for awhile but I think many people that get cheaper cars don’t do proper maintenance on them. A $100 oil change is too much for someone every 6 months.
phtphongg@reddit (OP)
Honestly that’s probably a huge part of it. A lot of Hyundai/Kia models look way more expensive than they actually are, and they pack in a ton of features for the money. For most normal buyers, that matters more than reading reliability forums online
EvilDarkCow@reddit
Besides the new generation of Palisade that I think is kinda funky looking, they've hit it out of the park with design, inside and out. I've definitely caught myself looking at the K4, K5, and the newest gen Sonata, but I also stress myself out over my VW breaking down and that's actually been a solid car.
Resident_Skroob@reddit
No, the EVs are absolute shit, same QC issues as with ICE. Google "Kia EV ICCU issue". Kia dealers near me are literally out of loaners, and out of limit on their rental partner contract (Enterprise). They're offering to reimburse all but $10/day for customers with ICCU warranty issues to find their own rentals from third parties. Because the wait time is currently "we have no fucking idea, your guess is as good as mine" -level on ICCUs.
Run from Kia/Hyundai EVs unless you're leasing, and even then make sure the lease guarantees a loaner for warranty repair.
DarkMatter-Forever@reddit
They look expensive up until the moment you hear that road noise the first time you drive it. Then it all makes sense
RAMBIGHORNY@reddit
Not everyone is keeping a car 20 years or 250k miles. For people that prefer to lease or own short term, Hyundai and Kia make a solid case. They have interesting styling, generally good interiors, an appealing warranty, and lots of tech/features for an affordable price.
TubeSockLover87@reddit
The styling designs are all copies of other cars!!
HDauthentic@reddit
Looking at you Ioniq 6
Bigsmalltallall@reddit
Long ass warranty.
PhysicsAndFinance85@reddit
Price. People buy the price tag, not the value. They care more about what they're paying than what they're getting.
Key_Device_6506@reddit
Value Kia and Hyundai shit all over Honda and Toyota tho? Hell even the new Nissans are better value wise. For 5k less I’d get more features in a Kia vs a Toyota.
Annieraeraefatface@reddit
Don’t get your info from TikTok, YouTube or Reddit. These are platforms for people to show off their skills at creating digital content not spreading information.
PunchyPete@reddit
Cheap to buy.
Capriv61972@reddit
If you get the Korean made vehicles I've found them to be very reliable. The American made stuff is hit or miss.
MrMo1@reddit
I mean I don't know abou the us but here in europe kia and hyundai are actually considered pretty reliable cars. You often see examples with high mileage.
SandwichLeading4484@reddit
Cheep and some what “high” spec
MNMoneyMan@reddit
$>$$$$
Wafflinson@reddit
Statistically they aren't that unreliable. More reliable than most western brands and WAY cheaper than Toyota.
TXtogo@reddit
They’re cheap
Thinkfaster1@reddit
Because they cannot afford a newer Toyota , Honda or Suburu.
felixzer0@reddit
French guy here. Citroën/Peugeot with 1.2 Puretech engines are everywhere here. People just don't know any better.
Fair-Huckleberry2187@reddit
I can only speak for myself. Ive owned a Hyundai i20 and currently own a Renault Clio. Both conventionally known to be unreliable shitboxes.
Im in my 20s and simply cant afford the super reliable Toyotas of the same size. They come at a premium cost thats far too high to justify, and have far fewer quality of life features. If I nearly doubled my budget and got Toyota Auris/Corolla instead of the Renault Clio, Id be giving up on Backup sensors, touchscreen, cruise control, DRLs and a few more stuff.
With the price differential being that high, I can afford to do a few major repairs through the lifetime of the Renault and still never spend as much as the upfront cost of a Toyota. Ive already had to do a few major repairs (timing belt, steering struts, engine gaskets) and at my current rate of expenses, it would still take me around a decade to reach the upfront cost of a Toyota.
Avunculardonkey@reddit
They have gotten nicer. I had one as a rental and loved it. I know a successful MD that bought one too. Not just for the cheap folks anymore.
Tuna_Finger@reddit
An unreliable car today is not like an unreliable car 40 years ago. An unreliable car today is likely more reliable than a reliable car 40 years ago. I think most manufacturers hit this point in the 90’s so it’s really more about what people like and can afford. I’ve had multiple vehicles with over 200k in the last 10 years and one with over 300k. Mostly jeeps and people say they’re unreliable. The main benefit to getting something like a Toyota or Honda is you’ll very likely be okay if you’re not great with maintenance. Everything else needs to be maintained. I say this as a huge fan of Toyota and Honda, and also someone who will never buy a Korean car.
Ambitious_Donkey4408@reddit
Every car is unreliable is you don’t do the proper maintenance. If you do the maintenance to the car when is due your car will be reliable, this do not apply to Jeep.
Lordofpineapples@reddit
I’ve seen older Toyotas driven 20k on a single oil change. Changed it and it was fine. I don’t think any Korean vehicle could do that
Shusgub@reddit
And ive seen Toyotas blown pistons out of the block, just because it sometimes happens doesnt mean its true. I would not call modern Toyota cars more reliable then other cars.
Shusgub@reddit
In my opinion Kia and Hyundai are quite reliable. I work with all kinds of car everyday and i soo nothing wrong about reliability in Kias compare to other brands.
randuug@reddit
cheap as fuck especially to lease
Thin-Amphibian6888@reddit
Because no modern car is any more “reliable” then kia and hyundai. With them you at least have cheaper repairs then german counterparts
TruthSpecialist4416@reddit
They're actually not too bad. Have you looked at genuine data vs what people say and feel?
TruthSpecialist4416@reddit
In my experience*
Speech-Language@reddit
Kia EVs seem to be decently reliable.
investbus@reddit
They are cheaper than a Toyota/reliable car, interest rate for financing is lower and you can negotiate $ off MSRP.
Former-Quantity-99@reddit
They were cheap as shit and most people can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Real-Energy-6634@reddit
Cheap
ageetoakee312@reddit
Blew the engine in a Hyundai Sonata. Never again.
Flaky-Tangerine2270@reddit
Maybe the leases are cheap. I used to lease Nissan’s because I didn’t know anything about cars, I needed something $200 or less and I wanted a new car every two years so I didn’t have repairs. Now I own a Corolla hybrid!
Difficult_Camel_1119@reddit
my Kia is the most reliable car I've ever had. 11 years now and apart from a dead battery (which is kindoff expected at that age), no issues at all. It just works
thepeskyonion@reddit
Strange because in the UK they are considered reliable
KOVID9tine@reddit
I don’t think they’re unreliable as I know many family and friends who love them. BUT what I’ve heard from many car people is, they don’t last. All the used cheap ones have over 100,000 miles and I’ve been warned not to get them. Go with Honda or Toyota.
PeachiePeach96@reddit
Hasn't been my experience. Kept up with my maintenance on a 2010 soul and it never had an issue.
SnooPeripherals9117@reddit
They make very competitive cars in their segment and are filled with features that other competitors charge more for. The telluride/palisade are very highly reviewed and their electric lineup is actually decent. Also, consider that they have a big dealership network and offer very good incentives I’m shocked we don’t see even more of them.
The I nternet can be an echo chamber. Are Toyota/honda/mazda more reliable, sure. Does the average person care, not really. Most people don’t keep their cars past 5 years. With regular maintenance, Kia and Hyundai should definitely make it to at least 100K.
Synicism77@reddit
They haven't been unreliable in quite some time. Both brands also offer long warranties and they have some really cool styling and you get a lot of car for your money.
surfteach1@reddit
They're pretty much as good as most cars on the road, and the fan boys for Japan are just wrong. There are virtually no cars that are actually that good or that bad. Most are fine. Personally can't stand Toyota and Honda. I would much rather drive a Kia.
MycologistFew5001@reddit
Cuz sometimes a cheap payment for a car that will go after 100k when you don't drive much is all you need until it's paid off
The gdi engines are terrible but they're well warrantied for 10years 100k and most folks don't plan on having a car that long anyway
That-redhead-artist@reddit
I personally think that people who buy the 'cheaper' vehicle brands might be more likely to miss following proper maintenance schedules. So someone who buys a Kia SUV because they want the nice look but can't afford a luxury brand might not have the money for or might not realize some newer engines need more strict maintenance schedules. So the brands with better entry-level pricing like Kia and Hyundai have their reliability scores affected by this.
BlueThroat13@reddit
My mom had a 2002 Elantra that went 450k miles with nothing but regular maintenance oil changes etc.
Wife had one that went 150 before trading in.
They’re fine. Good cars with good price and warranty.
playinginthedarks@reddit
Cheap cars, look at Nissan for example the cvt transmission sucks but they're cheap enough that they are almost everywhere. Quantity over quality....
KrevinHLocke@reddit
Just about anyone can finance them.
challenger_RT_@reddit
Way more tech then competition. Aggressive incentives. Entertainm subprime. The K4 is the new altima/Sentra. Look at a Corolla vs a K4. More space and way more tech
They also lease extremely well. Lease a telluride for 1/2 the cost of a Highlander lease.
Samsonlp@reddit
I've had no issues with either but I haven't owned one long term. Cars that poor people buy are unreliable because they can't afford maintenance.
Ultrabananna@reddit
They're cheap... For the people that don't really know anything about cars
gokartninja@reddit
If Coors light is really such a shit beer, why is it everywhere?
PorradaPanda@reddit
They’re cheap af.
Also looks great on paper in terms of value.
Prestigious-Buy-7869@reddit
Cheap cars for ppl who do zero research about cars.
Same thing with ppl who drive dodge darts, avengers , etc. zero research and they go based solely on looks
Happy-Table-9515@reddit
You wanna find out why…ask one. Try the repair waiting rooms. Be plenty of them there.
dayglo98@reddit
I've had my 2013 Genesis Coupe for 5 years now and drove 50,000km (now at 156,000km) and nothing major to repair yet. Slave cylinder broke last year and that is all.
ChangingMonkfish@reddit
They’re not bad, this is basically an outdated view of these brands.
Both Kia and Hyundai are now often in or close to the top-ten when it comes to most reliable car brands, according to owner surveys of how often they have problems.
Meanwhile, brands like Mercedes, VW and Ford often lag behind them.
PatientCheetah2337@reddit
This. I genuinely feel cars overall have become more mechanically reliable.
I own a newer Volvo, which ranks near the bottom of the 'reliability' rankings. At 190k kms, it's been basically flawless, and many people have such experiences with all manner of brands.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Kia or Hyundai based on "reliability"
TheClawbackCycle@reddit
I got a used 2017 Accent in late 2018 with approx 30k miles on it. Drove it til it was around 175k. Was pretty good with the maintenance, could have been better. The engine started to have too many issues so I finally traded it in for a 2022 Civic Sport with 36k miles on it back in 2024.
BadMantaRay@reddit
I mean, in my experience they aren’t unreliable.
My 2009 Hyundai accent has been basically bulletproof
LivingGhost371@reddit
Some people can't afford something reliable.
Some people only plan to keep a car a few years and then get rid of it. If you do that even a Stellantis product should be good to you and they have much nicer interiors than Toyota.
Chaliemon6@reddit
Name something reliable in this day and age. I’m serious, cars seem disposable these days.
shockage@reddit
Anything with a B58 and ZF8 is pretty darn bulletproof for a modern power-train.
Chaliemon6@reddit
Like??
FormalConflict523@reddit
Camry trd literally
Jamaidian@reddit
Have you considered a brand new* 2008 Acura TSX?
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
Modern cars are all trash
IdaDuck@reddit
People shit on Stellantis and maybe rightly so in some cases but I have a 2015 CTD Ram I bought new and it’s been a tank. Daily commuter to towing heavy and everything in between. It’s a basic model but it still blows me away that something that old and with that many miles feels new behind the wheel even when I have 15k lbs of trailer behind me.
Key_Barnacle237@reddit
I have owned quite a few dodges, jeeps and Rams and for the most part they have all been good reliable vehicles that I actually enjoyed driving. I have owned various other makes that I could not say the same for.
Performance_Fancy@reddit
Some people can’t afford something reliable
Sam Vimes would agree
edwardniekirk@reddit
I have to strongly disagree with them being unreliable. We bought a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and it looked new even as I was being hauled off at 140K to the auction house. We never had a single issue with the car except for the well documented engine issue, and if weren’t already planning to replace it with a hybrid would have done the engine. The only real problem was the cost of the catalytic converter that we needed to replace at the same time.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
So it needed an engine and a cat at 140k and you’re calling it reliable? LMAO I hope that was sarcasm and you aren’t serious
Proof_Bathroom_3902@reddit
Honestly we're all pretty spoiled anymore. An inexpensive commuter car lasted to 140k and we're disappointed? I remember when odometer only had 5 digits and you didn't need more.
We're all so used to seeing Toyota and Honda with 300k on them we expect everything to last that long, and automakers bought back high mileage examples to disassemble and find out what they over built so they can make them cheaper.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
The problem is those cars with 5 digit odometers were capable of rolling the odometer back to zero…. Sometimes more than once: (I’m saying this as someone who owned a 1977 that has done just that) I don’t own a single vehicle with less than 200k on it… the problem is 100k was considered “high mileage” in 1970…. There is zero reason why with the advancements we have now that 100k is still somehow considered high mileage.
Former-Wish-8228@reddit
That’s because the cost of purchase and repairs are like 20x what they were.
Lordofpineapples@reddit
Toyota and Honda have been hitting 300k plus for decades. Any modern car that dies before 150k is not reliable at all
cvc4455@reddit
I've got a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. It's got 130k miles on it right now and it's only ever needed 1 repair. That repair was a new engine and at first Hyundai tried to say I was missing 3 oil changes and they wouldn't cover it. I ended up finding receipts from AutoZone for 2 of the oil changes that a friend who's a diesel mechanic did for me. Couldn't find anything for the 3rd missing oil change and told them if they didn't replace the engine I was going to sue them and then a few days later they said they would cover the engine.
If it wasn't for that engine I'd be saying it was a great car. Instead I think it's decent but I'm also thinking about selling it in maybe the next year because eventually the engine could be a problem again.
Lordofpineapples@reddit
lol no issues except ENTIRE ENGINE FAILIRE
mozzarellasticky@reddit
They’re easier to get and there is no wait especially if you’re looking for an suv like rav4 or crv
RollForIntent-Trevor@reddit
I like my Ioniq 5 - I'm on my second one because the first one got totalled.
Great car, ICCU issue notwithstanding.
They just upped the warranty on that particular part to 15 years, 180k miles. As long as you can get ahold of one, the replacement takes about 4 hours. The issue seems to be that sometimes you have trouble getting a replacement. Availability seems to be a waning issue.
I wish they would fix the root cause, but I'm not sure they even know the root cause. They must have done something fairly novel to keep the price down for an 800v architecture EV....
Expert-Masterpiece70@reddit
If Cockaroaches are so unpopular, why are they litterally everywhere? The Reality: Because due to the lack of technology making them vulnerable to theft, They're UNINSURABLE!
Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit
Because people want to feel good about what they spent money on.
"I spent more money than you did so I have a better vehicle".
All brands are about the same reliability now, it's about repair costs for the average buyer.
Vehicles are designed for ease of assembly now, not ease of repair.
What used to be a driveway job is now taking the front clip off and half the engine apart.
Water pumps may still cost $30 but it takes $2000 of labor to get to it.
You have take half the vehicle apart to get to a $10 part.
Vehicles aren't built to be serviced anymore beyond fluid changes.
Are they more reliable today? Yes. But when something goes wrong it's a huge repair bill that totals cars way before their time.
No-Citron-2774@reddit
2 motors in under 100000ks I had enough.
AcceptableStress1792@reddit
Hyundai dealership wanted 690 for a lease with 3k down for Tucson limited hybrid definitely not cheap anymore
TrentE22@reddit
I’ve been driving my 19’ optima for 5 years now and it rides like a dream. I just replaced the CV axles and thermostat, change the oil every 2,000 miles, got an alignment.
I feel like the older spec Kia’s deserve the hate but the newer versions are genuinely not bad cars; it’s just that they finance to anyone with a pulse, which in turn, means you’re dealing with people who don’t know what an oil change is.
JollyTotal3653@reddit
I sold both brands at one point, so I’ll give my insight. I think it’s as simple as, 99.9% or people in the new car market are morons, it’s easy to sell cars to morons. I sold 50 thousand dollar Kia stingers multiple times, a car that was cool, but objectively not even close to competitive at its price point.
In the used car market they hold value like milk in the sun, these cars are cheap, so they sell to cheap people, and broke people.
The average person doesn’t care about anything more than “what’s my monthly payment” and “does it have a moon roof”
Willing_Sink_3623@reddit
Price is the most important feature in a car.
Organic_Incident_844@reddit
The same reason dollar stores are so successfully full of cheaply made shit that breaks before you get home. Because people would rather buy a cheap thing more often than spend more upfront and not replace it.
ChasedWarrior@reddit
Lower price and good warranty
SanctimoniousTamale@reddit
They are attractive cars both interior and exterior. They have the best EVs sold in the US from an Asian automaker that compete well with German and American brands. I used to think the brand was crap until I started getting them as rental cars and was really impressed.
DarthSwash@reddit
Relatively cheap, and they'll get just about anyone financing.
Senior_Artichoke@reddit
everyone is poor so nobody has any option except kia/hyundai
Feisty_Look5680@reddit
I think with every brand there will always be people who will have something to say about them. I have owned Nissans, Lexus, Kia, Hyundai, Jeep, Chevy, Volvos, Hondas and VW. Out all these brands, I can truly tell you that I thought Jeep would be the one that would be my biggest issue as far as maintenance & reliability goes, however, it turned out that my Lexus LX470 has been my jinx of a vehicle . Fully serviced its entire life at the Lexus dealership yet it has one thing after another happen to it. Out of all of these cars, my favorites have been my 96 300zx TT, Nissan Pathfinder and my Kia Optima SX. KIA and Hyundai are not the companies they once were, but neither is Nissan. Before Carlos Ghosen took the reins of Nissan, they truly built great cars and the trucks were on truck frames, not unibody car frames. Just as Kia and Hyundai no longer build crappy one and done cars, they continue to invest in their models and it shows. Can you get a better car - always! But having a warranty that backs the car helps to deal with the gremlins that come knocking and they will come knocking at some point. I prefer sooner rather than later while it’s covered, but my luck usually has it falling part one day after the warranty ends.
Critical_Habit8818@reddit
they’re cheap
Fit_Acanthisitta_475@reddit
Probably best value car you can buy, with the new warranty. It make people feel, it can last 100k miles.
Lazy_Cut_1382@reddit
I've owned a few and they have been decent for me. Mostly bought new or nearly new but never taken over about 150,000 miles. My experience has been that they were more reliable than the domestic cars I've owned but not as good as the Japanese brands. That being said, lots of other brands have terrible reliability reputations and still sell well also. I don't think a lot of people care too much about the long term reliability since they trade all the time so maybe that's not as detrimental to sales as expected.
Useful_Argument_6490@reddit
Same for us. We basically plan on owning it to 100,000 miles on the dot and then trade it in. We’ve had one warranty each on our vehicles and it’s been effortless. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
General_Awareness_65@reddit
I love you, lol!! I buy your used cars and get another 100k with a few hiccups along the way, lol! Go team!!!!! 👊
Some_Big6792@reddit
I had a 2007 Elantra it was a great car ! I’ve heard the new ones aren’t as reliable but the older Hyundai are (at least mine was)
Mysterious-Alps-4845@reddit
Original Sportage was a decent reliable car. We had 2 Sedonas that never gave us grief. Can't talk about later models.
Scott_Malkinsons@reddit
They're cheap and there's a lot of broke boi's out there. It doesn't matter if they're shit, that's all they can afford.
fingerpaintx@reddit
Anecdotes about reliability arent the base case.
WoodenWeather5931@reddit
I have a Sonata Hybrid, bought brand new in ‘22. 90k miles. No issues. Had a 2018 with 175k, no issues.
They’re good to me.
BuyLandcruiser@reddit
Cheap with a ton of big screens with Apple car play. Hard to not get financed. Also a lot don’t know
TheGroundBeef@reddit
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only person who sees that CarPlay on a giant interior screen will literally sell a car to the average individual
mclovin_ts@reddit
Dealership tried to sell me a ‘23 ford edge, and dude’s selling point was the big ass screen on the dash
Nad762@reddit
People really underestimate how important that low bar for financing is. When your peers are Nissan and Stellantis it’s not as hard to look appealing.
Honestly though I think they are fine as a brand. Some problems, some good models and bad models. Many bad dealers with some good ones. Basically inline with their peers.
Long_Asparagus_5937@reddit
Because Nissan, GM, "Chrysler", Ford, Mitshibishi are no longer relevant in the compact/mid size segment.
Heck, even Honda and VW are in trouble.
Feeling-Being9038@reddit
Popularity has never guaranteed quality. America bought a lot of Vegas, Pintos, K-cars, Chevy Citations, and early Nissan CVT-era cars. Some were cheap, some were well-marketed, some filled a need, and some were just what people could afford.
High sales prove people bought them. That’s it. It doesn’t prove they were good.
Turbulent_Isopod_289@reddit
Because the design has (somewhat polarizing) character inside and out, the K4 is snappy enough without me shelling out for an actual performance car, unreliability is often a meaningless circlejerk, and spending my days rolling around in a Corolla because it's the smart thing to do makes me wonder what I'm even on this planet for.
It might break at 100k,, they'll fix it with some whining, I'll go through the terrible, awful misfortune of flying to work once or twice, and I'll have a new engine.
Taking this opportunity to declare that the hatch is ugly as sin and I'm eternally confused by all the fawning from the kia community. "What would it look like if we made it a grand caravan?"
DoobieGibson@reddit
i worked at enterprise rent a car and the interior of Hyundai and Kia is frankly just so much better than everyone else
the hyundai screen stretching like it’s a space ship is sick as fuck
the amount of features you get in any santa fe is absurd.
i really can’t stress enough how awful toyota interiors are. i wouldn’t drive a toyota highlander if it was the last car on earth. corollas are somehow worse
Hyundai’s also look good.
hk4213@reddit
My experience putting 70k miles on a 15 elantra.
Came from VW's and have been fixing my daily myself for years.
Did everything to keep it running except for transmission service.
At 170k it spun like a top with the transmission failing on me. Like coasting 20 miles in 4th gear because the auto ate its gears.
Is spirited drove this thing over mountain passes 6 times over.
Maintain your cheap car, as hyundai makes their cars so self servicable!
stchman@reddit
I personally think Kia/Hyundai have come a ways over the last 10 years. My girlfriend has a 2019 Santa Fe and no problems. She bought it new and I have changed the oil every 5K miles without fail. The ThetaII engine is decent, but you need to stay on top of the fluid changes. Don't let the oil go over 5K miles.
No_Persimmon5725@reddit
I can add some critical info here. I've been in the automotive industry for over 35 years and worked for Hyundai/Kia.
Are they mass produced and cheaply made? Yes
So here's their MO they go to other auto makers and offer to buy the rights to use their designs, if they don't agree, then they just copy it (bootleg, pirate, plagrize) whatever you want to call it. Although, that's harder and more expensive because they have to change it enough not to get sued. The easy way is really what got them rolling. Here's how they're able to make cars on the cheap. Example: When Honda's industrial patent for their SOHC and DOHC 4CYL engines expired after (20 years) it becomes public domain. H/K went to Honda and actually asked to use it. Honda said yes, but under certain circumstances. They had to make it obverse (belts and pulley's on the other side, etc.) change it's style slightly and of course no Honda badges. lol
Anyways, they and many other auto manufacturers had a field day with this. Now ask yourself is the quality and experience to make these engines the same? No of course not. Same goes for body design and rinse and repeat with all aspects and you save a ton of money on R&D (Research & Design). This is way so many of their cars look so similar to popular brands and models.
Quality is a fickle thing with most auto manufacturers these days. Why are they cheap and unreliable? Mainly, because they lack quality parts, precision and quality control from concept and manufacturing all the way down to electrical and electronics. For instance on an electronics/computer board you have tiny components like diodes and capacitors. The poor quality that Hyundai/Kia uses is illegal to use in things like aircraft. Yes, you heard that right! The FAA and the military does not allow the low quality components and parts that they use in their cars because they're too faulty and unreliable to be allowed in aircraft. It would be catastrophic!
Now, let's talk about their warranty. Why is that such a huge selling point and do you really think that they're offering a good, long warranty on cars that are made so cheaply? No not a chance! Hell most of the profit at dealerships is shifting to parts and service. F&I (finance and Insurance) is another huge revenue generator.
I have a friend who worked with me at Hyundai/Kia and they had 6 transmissions put in their car they bought new from the dealership. Finally they were told no more and that car sat in their driveway for years, inoperable. They still were paying on that lemon.
Would I buy one? No
Can I blame people for falling for the crazy amount of money they put into advertising, PR and marketing? No because they budget the money they save on quality and precision into marketing.
Hell a friend of mine is opening a Kia dealership because they're so incredibly profitable.
You do you, just sharing some facts.
WinnerAwkward480@reddit
I've got a 2016 Sportage with 125,000 miles . Other than oil changes , brake pads, battery has never been an issue .
Exact_Organization84@reddit
Heyo , I got my K5 in 22 because I felt like ki was turning the corner. Car looks great and had great tech for the price so figured I’d roll the dice. With good maintenance my car never had any issues in 4 years .. however K5’s depreciation caught up and it became extremely affordable and I saw it in so much ghetto shit that I sold the car lol. Anyways answer to your question is “value for money”
FlintHillsSky@reddit
It seems like this is the third time I’ve seen this post in the last two weeks. What’s up with that?
phtphongg@reddit (OP)
Honestly I keep seeing people trash these brands everywhere online, so I got curious what actual owners and normal people think instead of just memes and mechanic TikToks.
Critical-Magician421@reddit
Hyundai the fourth biggest car company in the world. If you take out pickup trucks, it's probably the fourth best selling company in the US
mickeyaaaa@reddit
Price. its also why the Dodge Caravan and its variants are the best selling minivan in the world.
These buyers prioritize "new" and "perceived value" rather than proven reliability.
eeldude_88@reddit
My ‘22 Telluride has been rock solid. Had to wait 8 months for it due to covid delays but it was worth it. Great value. Features and tech were better compared to peers and luxury competitors.
strikecat18@reddit
They are cheaper than similar cars from better companies. And people would rather buy a new POS than a preowned Toyota.
RecommendationUsed31@reddit
My sons 2013 Kia Optima just hit 230k miles - it did have the defective engine, but they replaced it for free. My friend has a kia forte 5 hit 175k. If the car is taken care of at least in my case the cars last.
stomper4x4@reddit
People buy on looks and price. They have no idea of it's reliable or not.
floydbomb@reddit
Because they're not as bad as people claim they are
fezcabdriver@reddit
Because they lured everyone with 100K bumper to bumper.. and the poached designers from audi, porsche, etc.. I agree though, they are everywhere in SoCal. When I go to NorCal it shifts...it is all old hondas/toyotas.
munchanything@reddit
I, too, see a lot of Kias and Hyundais on the road nowadays. But, I see more of their electric models than anything else.
I wonder if the reliability is going to be better compared to ICE simply because there is less maintenance? Or will the issues turn out to be expensive electrical components that break later on?
Camper_102@reddit
I dont know why people are bad mouthing Hyundai/Kia. My first new car was a 2000 Kia Rio. Other than oil changes and brakes once, it lasted me 200k miles. I lost it in a car accident. Only warranty work I had done was the alternator.
After that I bought a 1999 used Dodge Caravan that I replaced the trans on twice, new radiator 3 times, and some other stuff in the 4 years I had it.
2014 Chevy sonic, had to replace the timing belt, front suspension, alternator, and some other things by 100k miles. They did warranty work on the cooling system around 7k miles. Lost the ability to tell the outside temp and my AC.
2020 chevy trax just about the same as the sonic, minus the timing belt as it had a timing chain, instead I had to have the AWD and turbo worked on around 65k miles.
Back in December I bought a used 2017 Hyundai Sante Fe, with 146k miles on it, wasn't badly priced. Ive replaced the suspension, alternator, belts and pulleys, brakes, radiator, and some other stuff. I bought it used, dont know what the previous owner did or didnt do with it. I bought it because my brother and sister in law both have had 3 each over the past 25 years or so, with zero major issues with theirs. They told me just to make sure I keep up with the maintenance on it.
Equana@reddit
They are inexpensive and under warranty. Plus they drive nice, have nice features and look good.
Shitty to buy used but new is OK.
Steephill@reddit
Idk, I drove a rental Kona a few weeks ago and everything about it felt cheap. The doors, roof, infotainment, steering wheel, seats, etc. it drove like hot garbage too.
Single_Cow45@reddit
If it had a DCT I can see why you think that way. You need to drive it like a manual and they’re not for everyone
groshreez@reddit
That's not how DCT work and you can't drive a DCT like a manual.
BeastyBaiter@reddit
To be fair, that's one of the cheapest cars they sell and being a rental, it was likely base trim.
caverunner17@reddit
I mean the Kona is one of their cheapest cars. Cheap Toyotas are even worse.
Civil_Ride9221@reddit
Nissan too. The kicks is probably the worst car I’ve ever driven.
fertile_gnome@reddit
Drive nice?
I will admit you are getting a lot of infotainment screen for your money with a Kia. And while I'm on the subject, their adaptive cruise control and lane centering is better than a lot of other makes.
But drive nice? The motors and transmissions on brand new Kias are sound and feel like a college student's 185,000 mile Honda.
Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit
Disagree. My daughters 26 Sportage prestige hybrid drives a lot nicer than my 21 rav4 hybrid. Better acceleration and less road noise.
fertile_gnome@reddit
Was the question for car guys? Or for actuaries who have a thing for the Dave Matthews Band?
Do hybrids even have transmissions? If your hybrid gas motor was a rough-running hunk of shit, would you even know? It might as well be a Toro generator if it's in a hybrid.
My point was the Kia motors and transmissions are suuuuper unrefined. Brand new they sound and shift like a Japanese car with a really tragic Carfax report from a buy-here pay-here lot.
Ok, that's out of my system. Look, I believe you about their electric motor cars. They probably work fine. That tracks with my appraisal of the active driver safety stuff in their dinosaur burners. They do actually do that stuff pretty well.
But their gas motors and transmissions are so marginal. They are making some choices. Some choices other brands would not make.
Soggy-Attempt@reddit
🧐
TheGroundBeef@reddit
I’ve had a 2025 Kia Soul, and a 2025 K4 both as a rental car on business. They road like absolute garbage especially that Soul
Own-Helicopter-6674@reddit
Cheap , accepts bad credit and stupidity
Shrikecorp@reddit
In part because they're reliable. Despite Reddit/forum bullshit, MotorTrend ranks Kia 9th and Hyundai 12th.
That's not top tier, but there's plenty of room at the bottom: 21. Volkswagen / Chevrolet / Volvo (Tie) 22. Cadillac 23. Mercedes-Benz 24. Lincoln 25. Genesis 26. Chrysler 27. GMC 28. Jeep 29. Ram 30. Rivian
AutoMechanic2@reddit
Cheap cars and often loaded with features. And also people that just don’t care or don’t read reviews or know anything about cars.
Familiar_Confusion31@reddit
I think reliability is a reflection of the owner. An example based on Telluride(currently own). First 500 miles you should not exceed 4k rpms or drive long distances at sustained speeds(highway cruise). Use top tier fuel only(or fuel additive every oil change).
Severe service schedule says 5k oil changes needed but standard table says 8k. Almost all Americans meet severe criteria but very few follow that factory recommendation(think the dealer is scamming)
Drive a Honda or Toyota and you’ll be fine not reading manual. Want your Kia to be Honda/Toyota reliable then read the fine print.
Legitimate_Archer988@reddit
Also. I personally know of 2 people who had 2021 and newer Kia’s bought new off the lot, that needed engine replacement at like 40k miles. That’s not normal. So if they didn’t have the warranty, there would probably be lots of law suits.
hoponbop@reddit
I don't know. She isn't pretty but my 2008 Sonata currently has 417,000 miles and consistently gets 30 mpg.
risin9st4r@reddit
Cuz it’s better than ford or Chevy or jeep or Chris Lee by significant margin ever.single.damn.day
Legitimate_Archer988@reddit
Because they are cheap, or it’s someone’s first Kia and they are making payments. I owned one Kia Rio and I will never buy another Kia ever again.
Skip2dalou50@reddit
Take care of them and they are great. But they look cool and they can be good cars. My wife has a Carnival and we love it.
Sufficient_Fan3660@reddit
look good
drive well
cheap for the quality/tech you get
Still better than Stellantis or Nissan.
People will buy them new, ditch them before the warranty is up, then its the 2nd owners problem when the engine blows at 120-160k miles.
OkSchool619@reddit
"Literally every where" is not a fucking metric. Welcome to 5he correct sub.
therealbrokewrench@reddit
Not all Hyundais have issues.
I take care of a fleet of beater delivery cars with several pre 2010 Hyundais that get run into the ground doing delivery routes. They are virtually bulletproof.
Unfortunately, they continued to produce a motor for 10 years that they knew had problems and that ruined their reputation.
I love my Rio. Besides oil changes, timing belts and brakes, Its had coils replaced, valves adjusted and an extremely overpriced ac compressor. Not bad for almost 400k.
But I get what you're saying, I certainly wouldn't buy a new Hyundai. What are they hiding now?
thePunisher1220@reddit
Because they're cheap cars with fancy features to distract you from the fact that they're slow and unreliable.
Economy-Flower-6443@reddit
They will finance to anyone.
Buc_ees@reddit
100k miles/10 years warranty. That's why they're everywhere till after 100k miles.
fenixthecorgi@reddit
They’re not bad cars lol
Clegko@reddit
Ever notice you don’t see old ones?
in4mant@reddit
Because they're cheap
Former-Wish-8228@reddit
Features, Price, Warranty
That means if you don’t keep your cars long term, they are a great buy.
I wouldn’t buy one. Chose a used Sienna over the new Carnival.
homeslce@reddit
I have a Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid and yes, I could have afforded something much more expensive but it had everything I was looking for and avoided the Theta engine. I have had no issues for 75k miles, it has been totally reliable. My sister has a Ford Edge, very comparable car. She has had nothing but problems with it. I would buy a Hyundai before a Ford, GM, Stellantis, Nissan, or a number of other cars. Just avoid the Theta engine and Hyundai/Kia are very reliable.
Leg_Alternative@reddit
I own a Hyundai Tiburon 2007, I’ve actually own 3, this is my third one , they’re reliable and well the Tiburon is nice looking especially when you add the headlight covers
OnlyPostSoUsersXray@reddit
My wife has had nothing but Hyundai/Kia for the last 15+ years and they have always been great to us.
Usually buy them used with 20 to 40k miles and run them up to 100 or 120k....
In fact, just bought a brand new Kia with the turbo engine and 8-speed trans.
And I have been a mechanic for 25 years and always drive Fords myself. A car is a car and if you take care of it, it will take care of you. Every brand has its issues.
Not sure what people in this thread are talking about lol
Organic_Warthog7238@reddit
It’s what people can afford
sebutter@reddit
Your just seeing low mileage/new ones lol.
wannakno37@reddit
I’ve been lucky with our 2013 Elantra. No major problems. The only thing that’s gone wrong is a failed heated seat. I was a stereotypical Hyundai hater. My wife loved the look of the car and after a month of back and forth with the dealer I picked it up for $23k CAD out the door including a set of winter tires. The fit and finish is comparable to any Japanese brand. The quality of interior materials is subpar and have worn out much earlier than my 2009 civic. I’ve also seem to replace brake lights more often than my Civic or my 2015 Mazda 3. It’s good basic affordable transportation for budget conscious individuals.
ApatheistHeretic@reddit
They're cheap and I believe Hyundais are guaranteed for 100k miles. Not sure if Kia has a similar warranty.
Cadowyn@reddit
People aren't planning on keeping them 10+ years perhaps.
CreativeProject2003@reddit
cheap.
BenEDSnDFW2018@reddit
Great question mate.
Performance_Fancy@reddit
I just searched Auto Trader for any Hyundai, 2006 or older across the entire country of Canada. 17 results
Artistic-Salary1738@reddit
They probably all rusted out. I say having lost an 02 Honda to rust a few years back
Proof_Bathroom_3902@reddit
Now search for Toyota Camry 2006 or older. Dozens. Heck a nice 86 popped up local to me.
arejayismyname@reddit
17 is crazy 😂
KAYD3N1@reddit
They used to be. Hyundai really started to improve 15 years ago. Kia’s, when they first came, were absolute junk. Trust me, I know… But they’ve come along way since then.
hardeho@reddit
I have 133k on the 2011 Sonata I bought for a teen commuter car. It was cheap enough that it was worth the risk.
SooAwoo@reddit
They have a decent amount of features for the price and they're a good $10K less the other brands.
When I visited Winnipeg last month I rented a car at the airport and ended up with a Hyundai Tucson. I didn't like the big touchscreen and non tactile feedback buttons for everything, but this brand new 2026 actually drove quite nicely. It had a good amount of acceleration and what really surprised me was the soft suspension especially on the beat up roads in Manitoba as the winter ends.
The seats were not that comfortable but I said to myself "huh, I can see why people buy these".
The problem is the reliability.
NotYetReadyToRetire@reddit
I never considered Hyundai/Kia until I was shopping for an EV. I started with a Bolt EUV. When I went to replace it with a much faster charging car, I didn't have Porsche money so a Hyundai Ioniq 6 was my choice.
OofNation739@reddit
They are nice for what they are. They dont have the reliability of some of the older established brands.
Loud-Chicken6046@reddit
They're cheap.
brando202035@reddit
The vast majority of the average consumer are uninformed buyers and choose not to do research on a car before purchase… Throw in “luxury” features at a lower price point and decent brand marketing… Recipe for what you see today…
KnowledgeCertain5948@reddit
Let me talk from personal experience; they are just as good as anything Ford or Stellantis make. And with a better warranty. And GM isn't far behind.
Scoobienorth@reddit
The older Hyundai products were insanely tough. The modern ones aren’t but are really nice to be in. They’ve transitioned upmarket fairly well but their resale value isn’t there
not_really_a_nerd@reddit
Cheaper, 0% financing offers.
red18wrx@reddit
Right now on the websites, the full size sedan Kia K4 starts at $22k. The compact sedan Honda Civic starts at $24k. This is why they sell so many. They're competing directly, dollar for dollar, with the smaller classes on offer from the other manufacturers.
Benchod12077@reddit
Cheap shit cars to take advantage of lower to lower middle class people
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
I make $250k/year and have a telluride as my third car…🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
BigPipeWrench@reddit
Because you can get a lot of the bells and whistles that a fully loaded Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, Cadillac, ect has for half the price. Except for one thing, reliability.
TitanPolus@reddit
I'm not reading all that but
Because they are cheap and people are stupid.
ClickKlockTickTock@reddit
Appearance & cost.
Everytime I talk to someone about their new car they talk about how they loved it as soon as they saw it or how cool it looks or how cute it is..
And the cost makes it seem much easier on the wallet.
Spanconstant5@reddit
the Kia K4 is the new Chrysler 300 (for those who dont know, that was like the walmart rolls royce for wannabe gangsters), they are cheap, decent looking and reliable enough for most people
coreyjdl@reddit
$
Straight_Mind_5192@reddit
laughs in 3Peat Explorer owner
Opinions are like buttholes ...
kingdick900@reddit
Honestly people do not run to the so called experts on Reddit or any other internet platform for car advice only the small minority people gonna buy what they wanna buy proof is in the sales and what you see on the road....just look at all the hate Land Rovers get yet they still sell a ton of vehicles lol 😆
Butt_bird@reddit
They’re not the most reliable car but they are also not the least reliable car. They are affordable, easy to work on and have a long ass warranty.
I wouldn’t buy one that was close to 150k miles or outside the warranty period. Buying a brand new one is really the best way to go. You could do a lot worse.
johnb300m@reddit
Hyundai/Genesis has basically replaced Chrysler/Dodge. H/K are as good or better than how C/D used to be. Good enough reliability, good design and good value. Stellantis has trashed the reputation of C/D and they are now worse than when H/K were once considered poor quality.
goranlepuz@reddit
P ↓ Q
I understand this is learned at school.
peanutbutteryummmm@reddit
59k miles and it’s days are limited. The 2011-2020 engines were garbage
Jt8726@reddit
Affordable, easy financing and 0% interest rates at one point.
FluffyIrritation@reddit
Don't sleep on the warranty. Best damn warranty on the market. There's a reason they are comfortable offering a 10 year warranty.
Their cars aren't unreliable anymore... That was back in the 90s.
obxhead@reddit
They’re not really all that unreliable. With proper maintenance they can last just as long as Toyota and Honda.
Many fail early because maintenance wasn’t done. If you only change the oil twice in 100k miles, you can’t expect them to last much longer.
reluctant_cynic@reddit
I’ve had two Kia souls my current one is12 years. They did discover an issue with my engine at ten years but it was replaced for free thanks to the extended warranty I have.
jetlifeual@reddit
Because they’re not unreliable. We just see the handful of posts about the bad. As with anything, people are more likely to post about their negative experiences than the good ones.
FledglingNonCon@reddit
Overall they are middle of the pack on reliability. People on reddit however basically only trust Honda, Toyota and maybe Mazda and Subaru. Those brands do tend to score well on ratings like consumer reports, JD Power, and word of mouth generally.
Hyundai and Kia tend to fall towards the middle of the pack around brands like VW, Ford, and Chevrolet. That's not awful, but not great either. However not everyone is willing to pay a premium or buy a more boring car to get top reliability. If practicality was all that mattered, nearly everyone should be driving a corolla hybrid. But not everyone wants a cheap, efficient, reliable, ugly car.
BeastyBaiter@reddit
I'm trading my Subaru WRX for a Genesis G70, reddit is going to skewer me. Though maybe not too badly, people seem to think that WRX's have their engine blow in the dealer parking lot even though they are rock solid when stock. It's people modding them and raising boost pressure to the moon that kills them.
Ambitious-Schedule63@reddit
2018 Kia Stinger owner here (shares a platform with the G70). 104k miles, zero problems. Zero.
SnooLemons8611@reddit
Old ones were. The new ones are built very solid. Very reliable cars.
PoolExtension5517@reddit
I’m still driving a Hyundai I bought new in 2011 and I’ve never had a major repair or a single quality/reliability issue. It’s been the most reliable car I’ve ever owned. My wife bought a GMC in 2019 and it has required several thousand dollars in repairs due to quality issues. We uncharacteristically purchased an extended warranty on that vehicle and I’m glad we did because it has paid for itself, which doesn’t speak well for the brand.
MEMExplorer@reddit
90’s Kia and Hyundais were cheap crappy cars , now they rival the Japanese in reliability and beat everyone out on value . Pushing 262K miles on mine and I’ve only had 3 repairs ; steering rack, windshield washer pump, alternator
gorcorps@reddit
They're a great value for a lot of people. I've had very few issues with my Santa Fe in the over 7 years I've had it. I would have had to pay $10k more at the time to get the same trim level on a comparitive Honda or Toyota (Toyota didn't even support Android Auto and Carplay at the time, which was also a factor). It recently started burning oil, but they're hardly the only ones with that issue and I haven't done much to see what could be done yet.
That $10k in my IRA got ~160% in that time. Worth it in my experience.
unurbane@reddit
They’re subsidized by the Korean government.
No_Tower_7026@reddit
Cheaper cars with good options, design language, interiors. Financing deals.
Many also still don’t know that they are the same company, believe it or not..
maybach320@reddit
Because they are not nearly as unreliable as people think. Also if your going to own a car for 10 year and a 100k miles there warranty kind of nails it. The warranty also plays well with US averages for cars, the average car age being 12 and people averaging 13k miles a year.
TopShoe121@reddit
Over 200k on both of my Kia Sorento vehicles. Nothing but brakes, tires and religious oil changes.
Material-Move9492@reddit
People are conditioned that they are being overcharged and I do as well. So kia and Hyundai counter that amd also offer great warrantee. People also see many cars of lets say kia, must be quality they are all over place. People are followers not leaders.
TheGroundBeef@reddit
Because they flaunt giant interior screens with CarPlay and chic exterior style/design lines. The fact they’re hot garbage doesn’t matter when the common individual doesn’t give a shit about cars nor has a lot of money to spend
Miguel6632@reddit
Wait that's all my family drives and my service vehicles are all sore it's. Most at 200k and 2012s or so no issues
michaelz11@reddit
They are CHEAP!! Dealers here give crazy finance deals to lure people in $99 down 7 year loans even with they say not so good credit. It’s just numbers dealer gets the kick backs on units moved per month from the manufacturers
mrchowmein@reddit
Same reason why ppl buy Nissans. Easy financing and it’s cheap compared to Toyota or Honda.
bogusbill69420@reddit
I’ve had a K5 for almost 4 years now with 40k miles. It’s been good to me. I know someone else with a telluride. No issues and does the job for their family
Ok_Vacation_8493@reddit
On my second fully loaded Santa Fe. First one owned 8 years...the only problem I had was a cracked windshield fluid reservoir. Otherwise...solid! Solid build, very high quality leather, better than the entry level stuff in my Lexus ES. Granted, the ultimate limited trim came with a premium. 1 year into a '25 santa fe limited and again, solid build.
These cars have been my wife's daily drivers. I drive Lexus and mercedes typically so I'd consider this opinion from that lens. I can say confidently that Hyundai Kia Genesis are eating many automakers lunch right now. Great tech, great design, much higher quality than the older generation Hyundai, reasonable price point. That old cheap Hyundai reputation is, by my experience, behind them.
ferraricare@reddit
They're great cars, don't listen to the Internet, do your research.
dumbname0192837465@reddit
The cost and ential warranty
orllovr69@reddit
I've had three Elantras in the past years. One was totalled, not the cars fault, 2'nd one had over 140000 miles on it when I traded it, nothing wrong with it, all I had ever done to it was oil changes, tires and brakes. I have one now 80000 miles, no issues. They are big sellers for a reason, obviously NOT because they are unreliable.
FarLand2@reddit
Reasonable pricing with good warranty coverage. Resale value isn’t terrible anymore.
J-Rag-@reddit
They're cheap with poor quality but they don't necessarily look cheap. It's kinda hard to argue their reliability when you look at the company and see they have a long history of making unreliable garbage.
kungfuron@reddit
2019 KIA Sorento SXL, no issues at all, Napa leather, Alcantara, every bell and whistle, actually way better technology than my Lexus, long warranty, and paid under $40k. So yeah, maybe that is the reason.
Zestyclose_Paint3922@reddit
They “invented” 7 year warranties. Only people who think they are unreliable are in the US.
Best_Market4204@reddit
Put these 2 things together for me
Do they have issues? Yah every brand does.
They are actually affordable unlike some other brands = people who may not have money will buy them & they will most likely avoid maintenance
Now look at gm... the buick is rated far higher in reliability. Why is that? It's because the type of person who buys them. They are mainly bought by older people, especially women who tend to be in a better position & who will respect their stuff & isn't afraid to do maintenance.
Electronic_Bike_3137@reddit
As a mom whose main page had this post show up, the Kia Carnival has moms and dads in a chokehold for one very obvious reason: it looks really nice for a minivan. I’m not a car person (I have my beloved 2013 Highlander, I’m practical to my core), and even I am tempted by it. If Toyota, Mazda, or Honda could put out a minivan that looked that nice, I’d shell out for it in a heartbeat.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
Keep your Toyota
Electronic_Bike_3137@reddit
Til the wheels fall off baby! In addition to being an incredible car, it belonged to my grandpa, so it’s sentimental. I would really love it if Toyota started working on a non-heinous minivan though…
Civil_Ride9221@reddit
I’d take reliability over looks any day of the week
nelly2929@reddit
Cheap and loaded with features…. That all break right after warranty lol
alostcomplex@reddit
They are cheap and easy to obtain. The warranty is also great as it’s 5 years/60k miles.
My n=1 but my car is a 2014 Kia Forte that still works great. I make it sure to do all recommended maintenance on time and always do what the mechanic says. A crucial lesson from my dad was to never skip on maintenance even if it’s a bit expensive (exception imo would be if the cost of maintenance is more than what the car is worth).
Cautious_Article_757@reddit
I have a 2017 Sorento with the 2.4. Bought it at a year old or so with 30k miles. Rental.
Engine replaced due to oil consumption during my second owner factory warranty warranty. Had one little gremli with the AC which is fixed by them just simply charging it fully as it was a little low.
Since the factory warranty expired 50k miles ago, it's been solid (besides the replacement engine having the same oil consumption that my old one did). The only thing I've ever done with it since it's just brakes and oil changes and oil top offs. I also had to replace the tail light bulbs with LEDs because they burned out every three to four months.
Besides what's listed above I haven't done anything else mechanically to it since I found it and it runs perfectly fine. The only con is the finish for the paint roof rails rims etc they're all falling apart on my car. But it runs totally fine and as long as I keep the oil topped off and change the oil frequently I think it'll be just fine for quite a while.
ColinOnReddit@reddit
My k5 was exceptional
Negative_Ladder_431@reddit
10 year/100k mile warranty. You can also get bumper to bumper for a lil extra for the same duration. As long as you’re not modding anything and you’re keeping up with the maintenance schedule, you’re about as good as gold.
I bought a 2023 Elantra N brand new and have had zero issues so far, I love the car, sounds phenomenal, just as fast as a Type R, and it’s cheaper and fun.
BeastyBaiter@reddit
My sister has had several Elantra's over the last 15 years, they've been rock solid. She puts a truly god awful amount of miles on cars, 40k a year or so. They all went 200k+ except the last, which she sold early to get an SUV. I have heard about some problems with their 3 row SUV's, but other than that, they seem to be fine.
Hash-82@reddit
Cheap.
And, if you had a pulse in the last 3 months, they will approve you for credit.
atkinsonda1@reddit
Inshitication
atkinsonda1@reddit
That are cheap, and have a "great warranty"
hereFOURallTHEtea@reddit
Cheap. I had two Kia’s in a row and I will say my 2005 Kia Spectra five speed was a beast. That thing took a beating and drove all across the country. My 2013 Kia Forte Koupe six speed, though, not the same. Its engine blew before it hit 70k miles and I babied that thing. I was pissed.
I now drive a 2018 Civic Si Coupe and it’s perfection. I’ll be driving it forever lol.
LongjumpingLie5842@reddit
Don't forget that some of them are easy to steal.
meowparade@reddit
Our Sonata would randomly lose its power steering and you’d have to pull over to turn the car off and back on again. We had it for 15 years, so I kind of thought that it was an okay car over all. It wasn’t until I bought my Mazda that I remembered how much fun driving can be.
FormalConflict523@reddit
Cheap cars that people can afford with dealership promos and easy credit approval
switchUP_htx@reddit
I have a 2013 Optima LX with 205k miles I daily drive, everyone single mile I’ve put on myself. I did have the typical engine oil consumption issue and had two service mangers tell me to stop putting oil in (used to vary around 5qt jug) and let the engine blow and they will replace it. 150k miles and received a brand new engine at no cost. All other issues have been pretty basic maintenance, 5k oil changes I do myself.
refrainfromstupity@reddit
Same reason you see a lot of jeeps on the road. Most people based on looks or features instead of quality.
Electric-Travels@reddit
Cheap cars. Lots of 3 year leases. Lots of people who sell cars after 5 and 6 year loans. All they want is 100,000 miles.
jcgoble3@reddit
I'm on my fourth consecutive Kia. 2003 Optima (bought used in 2011), 2016 Forte (bought new), 2020 Forte (leased new), 2023 Seltos (bought new, recently paid off, and is my current car). All four have been the most reliable cars I've ever had. None of them (including the used 2003 Optima) have ever left me stranded on the side of the road or broken down and needing unexpected immediate repairs to be driveable. Every previous car I had driven did that to me at least once.
Currently, the Seltos is my lifeline as I've recently become homeless after extended unemployment and depend on it to get me from one hotel to the next and sometimes to sleep in at night. In that time it's taken me from Ohio to South Florida to escape the frigid winter up here, up and down I-95 in Florida, back north to Ohio and moving around between cities periodically. It's never needed anything except routine scheduled maintenance despite averaging around 17,000 miles per year, and I'm currently considering how to fund the next shop visit where it will need new tires and new brakes in addition to an oil change and other items, as it's approaching 60,000 miles and the end of the bumper-to-bumper warranty.
I know that the theft issues have tainted the brand, but by the time that came to light, I was already on the 2020 Forte, and both that car and my current Seltos had/have push-button starts, which are not vulnerable to the theft issue, so I was a bit lucky in that regard.
PinkGreen666@reddit
They’re cheap and people think they’re Japanese i.e reliable.
Trippy_Trevzzz@reddit
Cheap
Js_cpl@reddit
Because they are easy to buy. We would have a sienna if we could have afforded one. Our 18 sedona has been a bag of problems.
Competitive-Reach287@reddit
I think the unreliability is probably a bit hit-or-miss. We purchased a Kia Soul new in 2011 and had it for about ten or eleven years. Not a single warranty claim, virtually no problems- only had to replace one wheel bearing and one swaybar endlink in almost 300,000 km. Probably the most reliable car we ever owned.
Proof_Bathroom_3902@reddit
I've personally hauled in for scrap multiple Kia Souls with bad engines in the 2011-2016 range and all 150-200k miles. They eye mostly decent cars still, but junkyards think a good used engine is worth asking $3000 and that's just not worth doing on a car maybe worth $3500
Sensitive_Aerie_5@reddit
Wife and i have owned 6 between us though the years with no issues.
RacerXrated@reddit
They are affordable and aren't that bad.
juliankennedy23@reddit
I may have had a lot less problems with my Kias than I did with my Volkswagen or my Acura.
They have really good self-driving technology and they pack a lot of punch for their price point and the climate controls are physical buttons not on the screen
AyoMarco@reddit
Cheap
RelationNo9374@reddit
10 year warranty. That’s the secret sauce
Class_C_Guy@reddit
Lots of Caravans out there too, but compare the number of mid-2000's Siennas to mid-2000's Caravans still on the road
revo442@reddit
Marketing
MaximumDerpification@reddit
They are cheaper than other brands and they look cool. They also offer warranties that look great on paper.
humpthedog@reddit
Easy to get bottom feeding high interest loans
taidizzle@reddit
because those are the only cars people can get a loan on.
GlassCityGeek@reddit
They’re cheap
Signal-Bake5107@reddit
I’ve never understood the stigma either. My parents had a 1986 Excel that took everything a growing young family could throw at it, and then a 2001 and then a 2008 Santa Fe - no real bad issues I could recall from them.
I’ve personally owned 3 Kias -
2004 Spectra - got me from point a to point b for 10 years and had ONE transmission sensor issue that made it spend ONE day in the shop.
2016 Sportage - had a minor HVAC problem where a flap or something wasn’t working properly and made a noise kinda like a baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle tire. Two days in the shop. Would probably still be driving it, or my wife would, if we hadn’t gone towards EV/PHEV vehicles.
2023 Kia Niro PHEV - no matter what it’ll tell me we need an oil change after 2000 miles of driving, regardless of what the reminder is set to, so that is annoying…and it did have to spend 2 weeks in the shop to get the the onboard charger replaced because it just stopped charging one night. Two weeks was because it took that long for the part to come in.
Three Kias, only one what I’d call truly major problem and even that didn’t stop it from running around just fine as a regular hybrid.
Glop1701d@reddit
They’re relatively cheap and so are people
burnabybambinos@reddit
Do maintenance at half the recommended intervals .
They burn oil, a lot of oil. Keep checking every 2 weeks and you'll be fine .
spencerjason@reddit
All KIAs and Hyundais? All years. My 2017 Sorento doesn’t burn oil. Has never had any mechanical issues. 125k miles. Bought it as a certified preowned in 2019. Been a lot more reliable than my wife’s brand new 2020 CRV. That thing was at the dealership a couple of different times with transmission and electrical issues before we had enough and traded it in. Based on that sample size, KIA is much more reliable than Honda 😂
trap_money_danny@reddit
"Sub prime" vehicles.
Chance-Ad197@reddit
In terms of high ticket items that are commonly owned by people of all tax brackets, product quality and reliability don’t drive the majority of the buying market, baseline cost drives it most with value per dollar a close second.
epper_@reddit
Longtime Kia owner here. I had far more reliability problems with my Fords and VWs over the years than with any of my Kias.
wayne63@reddit
2010 Forte, over 200K miles when I sold it and still ran like new, survived two kids through high school (they named it the "indestructible shitbox").
Dynamitesauce@reddit
I had a sonata for 11 years and never had to do anything but oil and tires, would've kept it even longer but it got totaled by a deer
hundopdeftotes@reddit
It’s cheap and I didn’t know it had a bad rep when I bought it.
It’s had a lot break and burns oil but I’m at 220,000km so it’s not all bad. Have to get an oil change every 3000km though.
pan-uwu-@reddit
i think a large part of it is they have a lot more advertising than some other manufacturers, i rarely see honda adverts. kia and hyundai are hourly
Ulysses502@reddit
Idk my wife's been driving her 2012 for 14 years and we've done almost nothing to it, and frankly she wasn't great about oil changes or any real maintenance. It just rolled over 240k. Worst thing we had was the radio shorted out and had to put a new one in.
Hersbird@reddit
Mine has been perfect for 70,000 miles now. Just oil changes, wiper blades, and a set of tires. Hasn't even needed brakes. It would be impossible for a Toyota to be better at this point. Maybe check back after 70,000 more miles.
seajayacas@reddit
They have their fans who are ok with the price/value equation.
sundaygolfer269@reddit
I had Hyundai Santa Fe no problems had 4 free oil changes included in the sale. They have the best warranty and I never used it.
Double_Pay_6645@reddit
Cheap
Spirited-End-6162@reddit
Leases
Ok-Ad4772@reddit
Some of the best new features on cars. Somewhat cheaper than other brands. Overall reliability has gotten much better. 100k powertrain warranty for original owner. All key factors.
Mustangman-35@reddit
I'd say it's probably because of the warranty. 10 year and 100k miles are appealing to people, even if it does spend most of those years and miles in the shop. The Kia dealer near my house was offering 20yr and 200k warranty at one point.
Leverkaas2516@reddit
It's not like every Kia is trash. Most of them are reliable, just like most Toyotas are reliable.
Of the two brands, you are more likely to get a Kia that has either minor or major problems. You are gambling with any vehicle purchase, and the odds are more favorable if you buy a Toyota.
Remember too that a 2025 Kia is phenomenallyreliable compared to a 1975 Ford. They only seem unreliable by comparison, not in an absolute sense.
SAS614@reddit
Heavy rental fleet usage
4elmerfuffu2@reddit
I just spent two weeks in Florida and Hyundai/Kia are the dominant brands. So I don’t know what that says about Florida residence.
Dank009@reddit
They are cheaper and to be fair aren't nearly as terrible as they used to be. Takes a while of actually being reliable to gain a reputation of reliability.
RickySlayer9@reddit
If you get what would be basically a Toyota Camry in a Korean car, it’s 5-10k cheaper than the Toyota equivalent
On top of that they actually have cool tech. I rent a lot of cars for work, and I always love Kia’s because they have cool niche features. I would never own one, but they’re very techy
Pinkys_Revenge@reddit
Reliability is pretty low on the priority list for most buyers. After all, every new car has a warranty for longer than most new car buyers will keep it.
Also, despite major issues in the past, current gen Hyundai and Kia’s are pretty reliable.
Ok-Wasabi2873@reddit
My cousin with terrible credit got approved. If you have a pulse and have a pay stub, you’ll be approved.
Agile_hips@reddit
Don’t listen to the noise. My wife and I have owned six Hyundais over the past 23 years (we have two currently). Not one of them had a major issue.
Kqzxh-900355@reddit
Kia and Hyundai today are not the same as 25 yrs ago.
Global-Guava-8362@reddit
Theta 2
Significant-Ant-5677@reddit
They approve bums with 40k loans.
No-Association249@reddit
I know a lady paying $980 for a k5
cheesekeka@reddit
Have a Kia only to commute to work. It has 376k miles, I just try to keep up with the maintenance, just passed the Smoke check and ready to keep going. My mechanic says that any car can be good in the right hands. I disagree driove a MG in México during a short trip and it sucked, those are bad.
PurpleSausage77@reddit
I’ve had 50+ vehicles the last 15 years, and have never had a Korean vehicle. Most of my vehicle shopping has been $10k or under and I would never consider a Korean car, once they enter that price point most I’ve seen for sale have had an engine replacement, or the engine has seized, or the engine is in process of grenading, or has a check engine light that from extrapolating I can safely assume it’s on borrowed time given the rampant failures.
2.0T, 1.6T, 2.4, and a number of other engines are just terrible. I never see 2010 or older cars anymore because their timing chains failed. I remember their old timing belt engines failed extremely commonly on the old early 2000’s Rio and such. Only vehicle of there’s I would consider from that era shared engines from other manufacturers, for example the early Sportage could be had with super reliable 2.0L Mazda 4 cylinders.
cautiousgoatt@reddit
At 50 vehicles in 15 years that’s more than 3 vehicles per year. Not sure what you are buying but maybe you should consider Korean. They may not last 15 years but surely you’ll get better than the 4 months per car you’re getting now.
GR8PasserofWind@reddit
Probably a used car salesman
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
Are you me?
Maxxjulie@reddit
Kia became stylish and cool looking at some point
thebigpink@reddit
Had a used Kia spectra as my first car in highschool. Never had any issues but my dumbass friends lit the backseat on fire when we had a bong and on a country ride. Not related but just reminded me of that time back in like 02. Not sure what happened because a few weeks later it got stolen from a Walmart parking lot
No-Association249@reddit
lol
SenorISO54@reddit
Nobody knows the whole truth but my feeling is the internet is overreacting as usual.
Something I find interesting: a lot of people in this thread are saying they’re cheap cars for cheap people. But these are the same people extolling the virtue of keeping a Honda for 200k miles so it… costs less? Isn’t that being a cheap person? Or just frugal?
You’re in the car guys subreddit and I’m not the kind of car guy to keep anything forever. Variety is the spice of life. I don’t want to keep any car 200k miles.
I’ve had a Tiburon and an Elantra N a total of 70k miles and like 5 years and had no major problems. My wife has had a Santa Fe for 4 years and 80k miles and no problems. 🤷♂️
AVLLaw@reddit
We’ve had 3 Kia’s. Happy with all of them, but when one went into limp mode and I did some digging and found out it was in the potential recall list with metal shavings in the cylinders, I traded it in immediately. It was close to the of the warranty. The dealership can deal with it.
bygoneOne@reddit
They make cheap cars and pretty good ones, if you take care of them, for a little more money.
grimj88@reddit
Nobody talks about how Toyotas catch on fire more than any other car 1.8 million recalled motors, but here we are
N1njagoph3r2@reddit
It’s just ingrained racism tbh. People have been plastered with Korean/Chinese car bad american car good for like 30 years.
FormerLaugh3780@reddit
1) People are stupid
2) People are automotive ignorant
hey_dilligaf@reddit
I rented a 2025 Hyundai Sonata last year for a trip to South GA and back. Roughly 10 hours of driving and the lane assist and adaptive cruise was absolutely amazing. I doubt I had my hands on the wheel an hour the whole trip. It was so relaxing letting the tech work and watching it adapt to traffic. At one point I timed it and I had my had off the wheel for over 3 minutes, I was blown away. I don’t travel like I used to but I have a hard time not buying one of these cars in a few years for a daily! And just for context my truck has lane assist and it bounces me back and forth between the lines so bad I leave it turned off.
Conspicuous_Ruse@reddit
Seem fine to me.
I have 200,000 miles on my Genesis sedan and just about everything works.
Driver side power mirror sometimes chooses not to work, but it usually does after some banging on the door buttons.
Unsolicited-Advice4U@reddit
No issues with my 2 kias. I recently drove a Honda Accord Touring and it drove like my Kia Forte.
Odin_3406@reddit
Price point and the original buyer is probably only concerned it makes it to end of warranty.
3012487@reddit
My Seltos is a 2023 and has been to the dealership for various suspension issues probably 6-7 times (struts front/back leaking and replaced under warranty by 40,000km - upper strut bearing replaced under warranty first week of ownership as vehicle made clicks when turning). Various interior components rattle and buzz. It feels very cheap to drive. Horn occasionally will not work for a couple days then comes back. Last year started having a loud engine tick when started until warm (like, really loud). We baby this vehicle.
RingOk664@reddit
You have 3 choices from the same company in Korea. KIA, Hyundai or Genesis. Just like Toyota has Lexus or Scion.
Hungry-Job-3198@reddit
People can defend them and say they are good vehicles. Some are, but they have a high % engine failure rate. It’s not just online that came out of nowhere. I have had several customers with these that have had engine failures even when taken care of perfectly. Defend them all you want, buy them if you want. But the reality is, they do have these issues🤷♂️ see it every day
redbeard312@reddit
My wife’s 2014 Kia is getting near 200k. Engine blew in 18 or 19 and the top end was replaced under warranty but it’s been reliable since and still seems to have plenty of life left.
It was very feature rich compared to anything available in the price range in 2017 when she bought it. For example, I was looking at GMCs in 2019 and would’ve had to get Denali trim to get ventilated front seats, her 2014 is a mid level trim and has ventilated seats.
I don’t love the car, but it was the right buy at the right time and I can’t justify the expense of replacing it yet.
scarr3g@reddit
Hyundai is ranked 12th in terms of reliability.
There are many, many, less reliable cars.
NuclearHateLizard@reddit
? They're cheap as fuck my guy
deathriteTM@reddit
They are cheap.
Realistic_Word6285@reddit
I have a 2012 (170k miles) and 2017 Elantra (105k miles) in the family purchased before all the KIA Boyz crap going on. Both are push button start.
Insurance is a little higher but the resale value is crap so we're keeping them until they are mechanically totaled. We have not had any major issues with either of them in terms of engine or transmission. Just the stupid rubber steering couplink on the 2012, and the ADAS camera on the 2017 failing.
I am the family mechanic and they are relatively easy to work on.
New-Anybody3050@reddit
The 3.3 is a good motor (Stinger/G70), the others are a bit sketchy
muzaklover75@reddit
2018 Sante Fe and it hasn’t even looked at me wrong.😆
HDauthentic@reddit
It’s hard to overstate that warranty, 10 years 100,000 miles is pretty crazy
Forward-Criticism-19@reddit
Dealer network has a reputation for denying warranty claims.
cvc4455@reddit
When my engine went the lady at the dealership said it wasn't them trying to deny my claim and she said it was Hyundai corporate that was trying to deny it. She also said we've had 3 more of the same year and model as yours come in with the same problem. Eventually they tried to say I was missing 3 oil changes and it wouldn't be covered. I found receipts for 2 of the 3 missing oil changes and then told them if they don't cover it I'd sue them and then a couple days later they said they would cover it.
HDauthentic@reddit
Don’t they also have a reputation for replacing engines frequently
justina081503@reddit
Only when mandated to by the NHTSA
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
Not a rep you want: and yes they also do anything and everything they can to deny said warranty claims
bernardfarquart@reddit
Because they are cheap, and most people don't know enough about cars to have an opinion.
cautiousgoatt@reddit
Pffft! There’s plenty of folks on this sub that clearly know nothing about cars and still have very strong opinions about them.
60sStratLover@reddit
Not reliable? I mean has been perfect with nothing but routine maintenance. 2024 Palisade
Weird-Grape-5884@reddit
Unreliable? Not for us. We’ve had two Kia souls that have been fantastic and needed nothing other than basic maintenance.
elbyl@reddit
You should prob go to a Hyundai subreddit and ask. None of the people replying have a clue. Notice all the positives are coming from actual owners and negatives are just "car guys" repeating things they heard. My family is 18months and 33k miles in on a 24 santa fe and if it got totaled tomorrow, id prob look to buy it with another one. Still looks and drives new. Will it reach 170k like our 06 4runner? Prob not. Im skeptical of any brand's turbo 4 lasting that long and thats what we have under the hood. But its safety braking already avoided one accident that im still in awe of.
anusflytrap-@reddit
they give them away to anybody with a w2
Comprehensive_Fuel43@reddit
Car price has been going up and up... Even Toyota and Honda's are Super reliable, but their MSRP or used car price is high..
American Car manufactures...... don't really have economics cards anymore...
AND.............
Is it because:
- They offer more features for the money?
Korean Cars are tend to be feature heavy. that might be optional in competion.
- Better styling?
Personally, I think they are ugly now with new designer.... but when they had Audi's designer for KIA, I thought that dude really created a "Kia" look.
- People just don’t care about long-term reliability anymore?
Hyundai and Kia's quality did get better. and they had a long warranty.
The ZF Enging had some design defect.... but Which companies are we compariing to?
Toyota is better.... but Even Honda is having issue with 1.5 Turbo engines..
and stellantis cars are horrible.. Ford don't make cars like Focus any mroe..
VW cars had Diesel gate..... There isn't that many options for regualr people..
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatcarshouldIbuy/comments/1pgq07f/here_are_2025_reliability_scores_as_per/
FailingComic@reddit
The kia and Hyundai hybrids are rock solid. They also have the longest powertrain warranty so if you dont drive many miles, you'll never need to worry about it.
OneManShow23@reddit
They usually last until 100k but they’re usually cheaper and they have very very very good warranties.
Luciferkrist@reddit
Relatively competitive pricing and good internal financing options, as well as making some decently attractively styled vehicles that cover every niche of cars except pickups.
They lean hard into their warranty to push sales.
Glittering-Use9669@reddit
They kinda got better (allegedly) and the rest kinda got shittier. Nowadays you can bet your Ford Bronco will need a new engine before you're done paying for it, everything will need a new transmission. Honda isn't reliable anymore and it was always going to turn into a rust bucket. Toyota isn't what it used to be and certainly not cheap anymore. May as well buy a Kia. But I prefer my early '90s truck so i keep driving it. It already lasted longer in my hands than anything you buy new today ever will.
hyf_fox@reddit
Warranty
Soggy-Attempt@reddit
1) they ride amazing
2) you get tons for the money
3) they look good
4x4Welder@reddit
They're not terrible if maintained properly. Manufacturer service intervals are to get you out of warranty, they don't make anything having it live longer. Use a good oil like a 5w30 synthetic (Kirkland is good and cheap), decent quality filters, keep an eye on it, and change at 5k or twice a year if you're all in city. Check the oil, give it an Italian tune up every couple weeks, and they live quite a while.
Some vehicles especially ones with a 3.6 V6 from GM or Chrysler won't last even with that extra service, so yeah.
BeneficialPinecone3@reddit
They seemed really reasonable to lease. BUT when you actually try to get real numbers from a local dealer its always a mess. Ive never seen a number that wasn’t 50% higher than advertised at least.
I go to honda and toyota for their comparable vehicle and get better lease figures with way less hassle. I wanted to like hyundai, but man what a nightmare their dealers are. Honda was up front, way better to work with and has a better reputation.
I truly wanted to love Hyundai for its value in a lease, but it wasn’t possible.
Boba0514@reddit
Is this an american thing? They are perfectly fine in Europe. Sure not toyota or honda level of reliability, but respectable brands.
breakerofh0rses@reddit
They aren't as bad as the internet says they are (note that this isn't saying that they're good), and poor people need vehicles.
Late-Button-6559@reddit
Cheaper to buy than many others.
It’s quite true that the poor person pays twice - just as the socio-economic system is designed.
Chainsawsas70@reddit
A lot of features and a bargain bin price... The reason why most people buy them is because they can get a "New Car" on a decent used car budget... And a few people don't know how bad they are and fall for the hype.
Plenty_Surprise2593@reddit
Because they’re cheap
backflip14@reddit
The recent and current models seem to have bucked the unreliability trend and they offer some of the best tech and amenities for the price point.
halfuhsandwich@reddit
Warranty. They have a best-in-the-business warranty at 10yr or 100k-miles. The shops get a lot of work.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
“The best warranty in t he industry” followed by the most avoidant corporate when it comes to honoring said warranty….
f700es@reddit
We have 140k on the 12 Kia Soul that we bought new. Bought it for the wife and she gave it to our daughter 4 years ago. It survived 2 years of HS and now 2 years of college. Our ‘23 Sportage is doing well.
Sore_Wa_Himitsu_Desu@reddit
My experience with them has been pretty positive. We have a 2012 Sorento. We drive it like what it is - a 4 cylinder station wagon - and we do the maintenance on it. It’s got 165K on it and still running fine.
VeeDubBug@reddit
Because I could abuse the absolute hell out of my Soul and manage to do my own repairs as a meek lady with YouTube to teach me the ways of maintenance. I was broke, it was cheap, I needed something bigger than my G5 because my rottweiler turned out to be a great dane mix.
While I don't necessarily want to have to replace the power steering bushing in another one, it was a, dare I say, fun experience.
Cool-Negotiation7662@reddit
$99/month is being advertised right now. I think it is a lease.
10 year warranty looks good on paper.
I know several mechanics who generally like and own them.
They are rated as safe, top safety rated by IIHS several years running.
However they are an interference engine with a rubber timing belt that is labor intensive to replace. Belts snap, engine is destroyed.
phtphongg@reddit (OP)
Yeah, deals like that definitely attract a lot of buyers too. Cheap monthly payments + long warranty is hard for most people to ignore. And honestly, the newer Hyundai/Kia models do seem way better than their older reputation. The timing belt/interference engine point is interesting though. Feels like a lot of modern engines now are designed in ways where missing maintenance can become VERY expensive fast.
CompetitiveLab2056@reddit
One word: CHEAP
OpethSam98@reddit
Bang for the buck.
My coworker bought a brand new Forte because he could get a mid-range one for the price of a base Toyota or Mazda.
bmxracers@reddit
They’re like $5 steaks. Lots of sizzle, but not much else.
Living_Fig_6386@reddit
They are inexpensive, look OK, and have a good set of popular features. They may not be great cars (their EVs aren't bad, of course), but they're decent for what you are paying, and if you get a new one under warranty (which is excellent), you've at least got the cost of lots of repairs taken care of for 10 years.
1234-for-me@reddit
It won’t happen to me. Not bothering to search kia/hyundai issues. The motor is under warranty (heard a dad say this as he was buying one for his teenage daughter), it’s like sir, it’s under warranty because of a high failure rate, why would you buy that for your kid?
Potential-Ant-6320@reddit
Cheap to lease
Ilovebaseball1234@reddit
They are cheap