No HEllofaride
We just finished a 2500 mile vacation with a Kia Mini van rental 2021or 22 I think. All look the same.
My first experience with even riding in Kia. And driving. We rented to save wear on our cars , cause we were going way up north though several major US cites and staying in them over night.
Always heard awful reports , and most of that bashing was decade or more ago. It was 1/3 the cost of a Ford Transit to rent .
I’m use to Lexus and top of the line Toyota products. These are wellmade and quiet and will last several hundred thousand miles easy and still will resale in a few days easy.
The Kia , looked ok outside …mini van is a mini van ….but comparing it to Toyota or Honda is apples and oranges .
Yes , they put all he bells and whistles on . Plenty of power everything , yada yada .
Pluses …..great gas mileage! Boy was it stingy on gas . It was loaded to Gill and still got 35 mpg
The navigation system was fine , the AC worked good. NOTHING broke and we ran the b-Jesus out of it …LOL …rental
I’m a mechanic into cars , I work on my old cars . I’m not a dummy around autos.
If I was blind fold I would have guessed it was made in third world country. Everything about it was cheap , rode like Jeep CJ5 or worse . The road noise was so bad it was unbelievable for a modern auto. It reminds me of a 1973 Ford Maverick I once drove as company car.
The rode noise and compartment air wind noise was terrible , the suspension sucked , it handled terrible , had ting cheap tiny under sized calipers . The brakes made lots of noise grinding and such …..maybe the dang thing was worn out with 40k on it . But , it got us there and never broke ….smh ……it’s what I would expect to rent in South or Central America .
The transmission was ruff sounding as a cob. I t scared me I thought it was going to fly apart when I first got in. But , it never died …LOL
The noise from the drive train , wheels , , sounded like bearing with no grease the whole trip , again it’s been 40 years till I ve hear anything make as much noise , growns, mechanical racket as that Kia . It was hard to hear anything in the cabin but roar of the tranny, tires , wind , suspension binding , so crude and cheap ……I’m guessing very little metal and mostly plastic is why it fell, rode , sounded awful …..it had no metal , but that maybe why it got great gas mileage. It rode like a van with 400K on it more than one with 40K
So , I not used to that low level of quality ….sorry …I hope other model are better.
But , I WOULD rent it again …it fine for driving in major cities , where people and road are going to beat your car to death anyway.
I would never buy that junk or get one used especially.
Resale on Kia , Hyundai, Is awful ……depreciation is some of the worst , nobody wants a used one .