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lets celebrate the kia cee'd

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lets celebrate the kia cee'd

That front end looks quite similar to what the original artist's impression of what the new Stilo was going to look like.

I'm happy with my Stilo and am interested in the new Bravo to consider any other marque at the moment
 
kia may be currently be sen as a budget brand, but images can change, look at skoda, seat etc....... agree wit hsome of the comments re. uk manufacturing of cars, but,and its a big but, the major player isnt complacency, its overall costs , my industry (im the process engineer for the Uk's 4th largest manufacturer of printed circuit boards, we employ 90 odd ppl, shows the state of manufacturing in the UK), in the far east, the apy is far lower (our MD visited the far east just before xmas, in one factory,the overtime rate was 28 pence an hour........), environmental legislation (we have a sophisticated waste water treatment plant, and al waste chemicals go away for copper/nickel/gold/tin/palladium etc recovery, the far east dump them in the local river........), operational costs of manufacture are orders of magintudes lower in the developing far east (India too........)

having said that, the kia doesnt look bad for what it is, and i reckon it will be a brand that quickly gains respectability, there are a few in my street, a couple of picanta's, a new rio, and the people carrier thing.the fiat dealer I bought my punto off also sells them, and they are flying out. Think of LG and samsung, now established and trusted brands in the UK, where were they 10 yrs ago.......


They don't appeal much to me though, depending on funds/timing etc, my next car is likely to be a used new shape astra or civic cdti, unless in a year or 2's time, i can strike a deal on a grande punto 1.9 sporting , I do like them............
 
kia may be currently be sen as a budget brand, but images can change, look at skoda, seat etc....... agree wit hsome of the comments re. uk manufacturing of cars, but,and its a big but, the major player isnt complacency, its overall costs , my industry (im the process engineer for the Uk's 4th largest manufacturer of printed circuit boards, we employ 90 odd ppl, shows the state of manufacturing in the UK), in the far east, the apy is far lower (our MD visited the far east just before xmas, in one factory,the overtime rate was 28 pence an hour........), environmental legislation (we have a sophisticated waste water treatment plant, and al waste chemicals go away for copper/nickel/gold/tin/palladium etc recovery, the far east dump them in the local river........), operational costs of manufacture are orders of magintudes lower in the developing far east (India too........)

having said that, the kia doesnt look bad for what it is, and i reckon it will be a brand that quickly gains respectability, there are a few in my street, a couple of picanta's, a new rio, and the people carrier thing.the fiat dealer I bought my punto off also sells them, and they are flying out. Think of LG and samsung, now established and trusted brands in the UK, where were they 10 yrs ago.......


They don't appeal much to me though, depending on funds/timing etc, my next car is likely to be a used new shape astra or civic cdti, unless in a year or 2's time, i can strike a deal on a grande punto 1.9 sporting , I do like them............
 
I saw the advert for the Cee'd before and was impressed by the 7-year warranty. I thought the warranty applied only to the Cee'd and not their other models? Even if the Cee'd (Jesus, they could've spent a bit longer thinking up names) turns out to be a pretty average car, the extra heat to competitors is very welcome.

My mum drove a Picanto recently and did like it quite a lot, but after driving a Panda MJTD on my recommendation it seems to be a distant memory.

Good luck to Kia, I say. The badge might still be trying to make more positive connotations but their form is definitely improving over the days of the Pride.
 
I now work for Kia, having moved from a Honda dealership and can honestly say that Kia are allmost up there with Honda, maybe not on the engine side of things, but build quality in general.

Why?

I'll tell you why, beginning of last year I bought a brand new 2006 Civic Sport, the one with the fancy dash and weird triangular exhausts, the list of problems is endless that I had with the car,

1. First day of ownership, headlamp washers stopped working. Problem with the multiplex control unit for them.

2. After 150miles, rear main oil seal failure, gearbox/flywheel off etc.

3. After 800miles, loud creeking from windscreen, Honda release bulletin, stating that the windscreen has not been seated correctly, no cure at present only to spray lube under windscreen seal. I ended up doing this everyweek while I owned the car for 5months.

4. 1000miles, HID lamps start flickering, now go pink, instead of lighting up blue and warming up to white, multiplex fault.

5. 1200miles, rear shockers start knocking really badly, new shocks required.

6. Fuel release lever don't work, cap won't pop open, great when your running low on fuel.

7. Interior trim falling off . Plus exterior trim came off.

8. Gear lever rattles and vibrates very loudly under accelleration.

9. Tailgate don't allways lock down. Or open for that matter

10. Various other problems that I can't be bothered to mention.

After 5 months I got fed up and got rid of it. The car was £15,995, and buying a Honda I was expecting reliable and quality, which I didn't get.

I now own a Brava JTD ELX, the Civic is not a patch on this car.

But Kia are coming on strong, before I worked for them I used to think of them as a ****ty cheap car/heavy industry company. But there range is very good value for money, and have been utterly impressed with them. The ones that stand out to me are,

Picanto
Rio
Carens
Sorento

IMHO they are a good quality car brand and not alot goes wrong with them, Honda have lost their way of late and are turning out some badly made cars, more so the ones from Swindon plant. The Jap built ones are okay.

If I was gonna buy a new car, it would be very close between Fiat and Kia, or even Hyundai.

Jon Stoke, I wouldn't buy the CTDi Civic for the reason that the Honda diesel is not very fuel effcient(40mpg my Brava gets 60mpg and thats 6 years old!!) and they suffer with other problems.
 
Last edited:
Gazza AK47, Good thing you got rid of that Honda Civic (y)

I now someone that has a 1998 Accord, nothing but trouble... and rust :eek:
 
I followed a Kia Rio this morning (You know the Duran Duran one). A few things struck me. They cannot have a towbar fitted without relocating the fog light (I think that would also apply to Pug 206), and the indicators didn't work.

I think the names are letting Kia down:
Man 1: What do you drive?
Man 2: A Cee'd
Man 1: A seed? WTF's that?
Man 2: A Kia, with a 7 year warranty. My wife has a Sorento
Man 1: Oh, yes, very nice place to go this time of year
Man 2: No it's another Kia
Man 1: Is it a seed that's grown!!?! LOL
 
We get loads of 80-100K doblo taxis that are year old but to be fair (and credit to the doblo) they take the punishment very well indeed...no wonder taxi drivers use them alot...but any car would no doubt need serious engine work during 7 years with 24/7 driving...I suspect lots of small print in the warranty.
 
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