Why KIA are the new Toyota.

I thought Skoda were the new Toyota?

Reliable, boring, farmer's-friend type motors?

The simple truth is that a Rio is reliable because there isn't that much in it to go wrong. Similar to a Honda Jazz or Toyota Yaris. There are plenty of other examples from other brands.

Don't think you can single out Kia from Hyundai. Any arguments you would make around reliability in particular pretty much apply to them both.

To say that Kia doesn't make attractive cars is nonsense though. Look at the Xceed, the Proceed and Optima for example (the Stinger too obviously).

Apart from the Stinger, are any of these exhilarating cars to drive? No. However, people get a lot of pleasure from looking out their front window and admiring their car in the drive.

Kia generally don't make cars for the 'petrol head' market (for Europe at least). They have done their research and found that there is a big market for sporty looking cars that aren't performance cars or even much fun to drive! Sheep in wolves clothing if you like. Other manufacturers have gone the same way where at this point, a set of 16 inch wheels on a C segment car (Corolla, Golf, Focus) is starting to look unusual.

Kias are also not bullet proof as some might think (but have come on significantly since the Hyundai takeover). The marketing around the 7 year warranty has also been very successful. VW has managed to trade off the same notion for years - that VWs are very reliable and you will never have any trouble with them. A triumph of marketing over engineering.

If reliability was my main or only criteria when looking at a car, I wouldn't go further than the local Toyota dealership. I don't own or never have owned a Toyota but driven plenty.

Ye all should just go to the reliability index to see what cars and manufacturers are best in that department. Although the website is not as good as it used to be, as you cannot look up an individual model atm.

Typically the top scorers are medium and small japanese cars with a few hyundais thrown in. Best of the last 30 years are the mx5, getz, micra having scores of less than 10. Also the lancer. The mx5 is one of the most fantastic engines , I wonder was it put in any other cars?

They do sound like very annoying faults. Particularly, having to go in three times to get the first problem resolved.

The stonic is an ideal sized vehicle for someone your father's age.

Of course these type of faults aren't unique to Kia, but everytime AMKC starts a thread like this, posters will feel the need to highlight them!

@delly What version of the Ceed Estate do you currently have?

I have the facelifted PHEV.

Even Toyota out done themselves in the 90s and early 00s, that's why I own six of them

If they are so reliable, why have you needed three so far? 😂

What was the manufacturing fault?

The metal in the discs were faulty.