Talk to me about.....Kia Rio 1.3's Car bought, Nissan Almera!

[Felly Magic]

The felly is breathing it's last, MOT is up in a week, and a replacement is needed, and I've spied a Kia Rio 1.3 with 109k on the clock for sale fairly locally, anything to look for on these, apart from general flimsyness, and would it be up to a 60 mile each way commute?

 

Here's the car in question....

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201506134288298/sort/default/usedcars/quicksearch/true/channel/cars/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/page/1/make/kia/postcode/ip53pl/radius/20/price-to/1000?logcode=p

[Shep Shepherd]

Puts me in mind of a dismal Far Eastern version of The Saab.

[Lacquer Peel]

Pretty close to a Felicia on the dismal scale.

[MarvinsMom]

is that dismal in a good way or in a bad way?

[Shep Shepherd]

I'd say the former.

[Mr Lobster]

It will probably be reliable but thats as far as the plus points go.

 

Otherwise dull, dismal, disposable wheels and the last of the rubbishy Kias (not forgetting the equally unloveable Kia Cerato which when I worked at a car rental place we always gave to people who had booked 'a Golf' if we didn't like them)

[Timewaster]

Quote CAR magazine...

 

Her name is Rio and she's Crap.

[hairnet]

buy wuvs rover

[cms206]

A mate of mine put about 160k on his in five years and it never missed a beat. He let the timing belt snap 'cos it was cheaper to just fit a second hand unit and I think it only got an oil change once a year.

[Felly Magic]

I hate Overs with a passion unequalled, there is a distinct lack of decent cheap cars around here, and due to work commitments from the pair of us, a road trip is completely out of the question, plenty of fucked Focus and Mondongos for sale around here with major faults/intergalactic miles, and that's about it

[twosmoke300]

Her name is rio and she bangs like the shithouse door when the plague is in town !

[Skut]

A mate has a highly dented one that has been totally dependable. He must be doing 40 miles a day

[sierraman]

I'd wait on for something else or travel to get something. They really are cack. 60 miles a day in it? Christ it's giving me a headache thinking about it.

[hairnet]

bungay to norfolk isnt hard and its 200 quid ffs

 

for a work hack

[Felly Magic]

60 miles each way, and no I will not touch a modern diesel because I know how shit they are, and diesel is nigh on 30p a gallon dearer these days, the problem is I need a car pretty sharpish, as I'm almost on the limit of my classic policy on the Fav, and the Felly is not really roadworthy anymore thanks to the Mrs twatting something, which I suspect has fucked the steering and suspension,

 

And I don't think Wuv's Rover would last more than a month with that kind of commute, and being sporty, would drink like no tomorrow and cost us a fortune to insure, plus it needs TLC, which immediately makes it a lot more than a £200 car

[HH-R]

Not driven one of these but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I bet they're more than acceptable. I've quite liked Hyundais of the late 90s/early 00s to drive. They're obviously dismal inside but for a work hack going from A to B just the ticket.

 

My mk2 Rio possibly looks even more dull inside than the mk1. It's not that much newer than this but is doing my horrible, miserable daily commute with no fuss.

 

The ICON MPG is 0, whatever the feck that is. With you on not wanting to touch a modern diseasel with someone else's, everyone keeps telling me to get one but I just say that modern petrols are crap enough without buying a diseasel.

[Stanky]

We've just got rid of one, they are cheap and cheerful, the engine is a mazda b-series so relatively reliable, however:

 

1. There is no noise deadening whatsoever. at motorway speeds its like you're inside the engine bay

2. The wheel bearings are made of soft cheese. count on doing them every 10k

3. Ours leaked oil like the Torry Canyon out the cam position sensor on the side of the block

4. The gearchange is like stirring porridge

5. The gearboxes are weak

6. The coolant dipstick is useless, it is all but impossible to tell the level using a white plastic stick

7. They eat front tyres for no discernable reason

8. They are less dynamic than warm jelly going round corners/roundabouts to the point that SWMBO mentioned that ours was a bit 'jittery' in the bends. This is the only car dynamics related thing she has ever said, so it must have made quite an impression.

9. MAFs are a shit and if they fail a new VDO one is £400. Four hundred pounds. £50 ones are available but worse than a broken one IMHO. If you buy it I have a MAF which is presently in 2 pieces which you can have.

10. It is impossible for a 15 stone, 6' man to get comfortable anywhere inside a Kia Rio.

11. I suspect that in any form of crash, it would crumple like a wet paper bag.

12. Central locking is not to be trusted. Ours locked the keys and micro_stanky inside itself one day which caused a great deal of stress all round. It was disabled shortly after.

13. Interior appointments are made of the cheapest materials known to man.

 

There are, however, some plus points:

1. The engines are non-interference for 'drive-it-til-it-snaps' cambelt action

2. The tax isn't too bad

3. Insurance is quite cheap

4. The boot is huge for a car in its class

5. Ours didn't rust

 

If I were you I'd look for a japanese something instead. Frau_stanky opted to keep the 19 year old, 140k mile Nissan over her 2004, 85k Rio due to an endless list of annoying problems I never managed to fix all of. Every time something was fixed, something else broke, often several other things.

[Felly Magic]

Looking at the reliability of Herr Trigger's Crocus, and the puddle of diesel a neighbour's Mondongo leaves every day, plus having driven modern PSA diesels in a past job, I wouldn't touch anything diesel post mid 1990's, and when you weigh up the MPG difference these days over the cost of fuel, and that diesels need servicing every 5-6k minimum to stand a hope in hell against implosion, and the added bonus of ethanol in diesel fuel screwing up fuel lines and seals.

 

Re Jap stuff, looked a low mile Primera, but it was totally rotten everywhere, and Almeras for sale locally all have the familiar black painted dogleg where the sill ends have gone,and seem to be nudging 200,000, which is pretty high for petrol cars, (ex driving schools?).

 

Bloody hard work car hunting when me and the Mrs barely have a day off together except Sundays, and yup, you've guessed it, all the local car places shut Sundays

[cms206]

Are Rios that bad Stanky? I'm up to about 500 miles in the Pride already and other than being a bit jittery when really pushed through the twisties it really isn't that bad. It's leggy as fuck on the motorway too (2500rpm-ish at 70), not that noisy and my 18st and 6ft 3in frame fits perfectly well behind the wheel.

[Stanky]

Interesting, we've stuck about 9k on the rio we have and its OK when doing 50-60mph on the motorway but won't go much faster, its quite short geared and being an 8v runs out of puff. Ours is the 'L' model so no rev counter but anecdotally it must be doing 3k RPM at 60, possibly more. certainly the torque has evaporated by that point.

 

There is a huge amount of tyre roar, possibly amplified by the huge boot being empty 98% of the time. It is impossible for people in the back to hear people in the front. It was wearing Cooper tyres up front which are 5k old and about 60% worn and brand new uniroyals on the back and was still twitchy on wet roundabouts.

 

The seats are too narrow, too hard and articulate in all the wrong places for me, maybe I'm oddly proportioned?

 

How soon is this required? My Brother keeps making noises about selling his 1.6 pez Skoda Octavia if interested? Thats located near Stowmarket so not a million miles away?

[Felly Magic]

This is another on the shortlist, but I'm not too keen on VW's tbh, dealer blurb is wrong, no sunroof and it's a 4 door! 

 

http://www.clactoncarsales.co.uk/used-cars/volkswagen-polo-1-4-colour-concept-3dr-clacton-on-sea-201505293862806

[Felly Magic]

Oh and there is a Pride 5 door for sale locally with gaffer taped up front bumper, seller is an illegal motor trader, got a good half a dozen cars for sale on Auto Trader, photos of em all are in the same location on the sea front at what looks like Felixstowe, and claims to be a 'private seller'. 

[wuvvum]

Gutless, tinny, not as good on fuel as they should be given the performance, and a lot of spares are ridiculously expensive.  They seem to be pretty reliable mechanically though.  Possibly the most uninspiring car I've ever driven.

[Felly Magic]

That is one thing that does concern me tbh, fairly low survival rate, and if summat goes wrong, it's bend over and take it up the rectum time. I would like summat like a Fiesta again, but finding one that isn't rotten now, well finding Lord Lucan riding Shergar would be easier. I know that gen of Polo has a nasty rep of rotting faster than a Fiesta, and the 1.4 16v does like to eat its piston rings, gonna have a butchers at it anyway, the mrs likes the shade of blue and the blue seats

[skoda_fan]

Why not just get another Felly? Tons of 'em about for three fifths of naff all.

[sierraman]

How much are you looking to spend?

[oldcars]

I have a Kia Shuma, it has the same B series engine so you can play cambelt roulette. Having never had a Rio but being the posh Shuma i would think it should be ideal. The issues that have been listed are the same as i have had with mine but mine does seem to rot a bit, the Rio's might be better but check the rear arches, sill ends and the top of the front wings. There is a tab which the archliner attaches to and this over time rubs off the paint and the wing bubbles up with rust.

[sierraman]

Has anyone noticed they use Fiesta mk3 steel wheels?

[Felly Magic]

Felly's, getting thin on the ground now, very thin on the ground, less than 20 on ebay, none on Auto Trader, and what ones that are around are as leggy as what we have now

[Felly Magic]

Budget is about £650 ish, but locally there is the square root of fuck all except stuff that belongs in the crusher, and we simply do not have the time to go miles looking for cars, we average 15 hr days, don't get days off together bar Sundays, its so fucking frustrating.