How can you possibly rate the dependability of cars only 3 years old?
My dad had a Kia Rio which has an interference engine, and the timing belt broke leading to catastrophic engine failure. It was covered under warranty, but Kia's response was basically "fuck you". When we kept pressing them they said it was his fault because the timing belt needs to be changed as per the user manual, and he didn't change it at the recommended interval so it was his fault and was not covered under warranty, but they would gladly replace the engine for like $8k or something. When I photocopied his user manual maintenance schedule which definitely did not say it needed to be changed, they sent back an updated manual that had been changed to say it does need to be changed. We had to go back and forth about 5 times with me sending pictures and scans of his actual user manual before they finally admitted it was changed in subsequent manuals - but they still weren't going to honor the warranty because...well they just didn't want to. Then we got the BBB involved, which was a joke and led nowhere. Then we got kia corporate involved, which again led nowhere. They said they weren't going to honor the warranty because he probably didn't follow all the other recommended maintenance like changing the oil at regular intervals. Turns out he was actually super anal about doing oil changes on his baby and changed it every 2,500-3,000 miles and documented the date and mileage and kept receipts for all the oil and filters he bought each time. When I documented everything in a spreadsheet and scanned everything and sent it to them they still said they weren't going to honor the warranty, basically just because they didn't want to. I had to keep blasting up the chain to Kia corporate, and I they finally relented and agreed to honor the warranty, and I think it's just because I wore them down and they figured fixing it was easier than continuing to deal with me. I spent MONTHS fighting with them on my father's behalf, and probably spent dozens of hours emailing and talking on the phone to various people trying to get a resolution.
Because of that bad experience I will never purchase a Kia, and neither will anyone that was close to us and got to witness the drama unfold. Every time I see a Kia or hear the name I think of the completely accurate Family Guy Kia spoof slogan: "Kia! Too bad it's a Kia."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kuCPoHl6PYETA: I left a whole bunch of shenanigans out of the story too. Like the dealership trying to force my dad into paying for them just to look at the car (which I refused and wouldn't let him sign). And after towing the inoperable car to the dealership and getting rejected for warranty work and refusing to pay to have it fixed, they told my dad the lot was getting repaved that night (obviously that was a lie) and if he didn't get his car off their property by the end of the night they were towing it themselves at great expense, and we had to call for another tow truck to then move the car off the dealership property and into the mall parking lot next door. Every single person we dealt with at that dealership and Kia corporate was an absolute rotten cunt.
