Has anyone driven one of these cars? It looks like a really good deal!
Has anyone driven one of these cars? It looks like a really good deal!
Bobzilla's spidy-sence is tingling.
I bought one a white manual a few months ago. I had two Miatas before it and was very happy but I need to carry a bike inside. I like Kia as a brand. I have the SX and it doesn't feel very fast for 200hp and 195lbs. Other than, I am very happy after 6500 miles. Oh one thing that does bug me, due to the shape of the car the rear end collects dirt quickly. Not a big deal because I know how to was a car:-)
Having driven several now it's like they combined the Focus ST and Fiesta ST by selecting the worst attributes from each.
$24k or $21k? $24k
1.6 or 2.0? 1.6
Short and long arm or torsion beam? Torsion beam
25mpg or 30mpg? 25
Limited slip? Nope
etc. etc.
Good Points... I have always wondered about these cars, never have seen any advertisement for the car either...
Fyi... my Chevy sonic used to collect tons of dirt on the backside of the car, I think honestly it is just being a hatchback shape.
I usually see the Forte SX 5-door being sold for $25K+ which in my eyes not worth the money. However for this price, this car is hard to beat for a new car...
The thing with Kia and Hyundai, don't buy new. They still suffer from horrible resale value and a 1 or 2 year old car drops into the 14-15k range with a ton of warranty left.
Lots of people like to knock the torsion beam for being horrible. Fact of the matter is, some of the best handling FWD cars that this board loves had them. They are simple, have no wearable parts other than the shocks and work.
The biggest thing that kills me on this drivetrain is the horrific throttle lag. That's why, the first thing I'd do after bringing it home would be to schedule a tune for it from BTR. Not ONLY does it pck up 40hp/tq with a tune, but the throttle actually works.
So, great car with a couple little things that bother me, but wouldn't keep me from buying one. Like this one: 2015 with 19k miles
I am between the Mazda3, Ford Focus, and Kia Forte5, all of them check the boxes for me. All are relatively in the same ball park (except the Focus ST) as far as price, plus or minus options.
I found almost a dozen of $12-14k FOrte5 SX manuals with under 30k miles this morning in a quick search. What does $12k get in a mazda3? Ford Focus? At $13k, a $500 tune to make the car drive amazing and put down 230hp to the front wheels seems like a no-brainer. Can you get that with the Mazda? Focus?
Coming from driving my wife's 2004 Hyundai Accent that was dead reliable until it was totaled at a 170k miles, the thing seem to handle quite well with just a strut upgrade! I now own a 2013 Hyundai Accent GLS sedan that I did buy new but it has never been in the shop other than for maintenance... I would have bought a Hyundai Veloster R-Spec turbo if it were not for the stupid non-symmetrical door layout of the car... When I bought my Chevy Sonic Turbo I was so excited because of the turbo... but after countless times in the shop for things I feel that are stupid and should not go wrong, I had to get rid of the car... I wish that I would have bought one of these instead of the Subaru Legacy that I just bought...
So after a long story, I feel that Hyundai/KIA really have some of the most reliable and entertaining vehicles out there... Also after Hyundai hired one of the chief engineers from the BMW M brand, I personally think Hyundai's N performance brand will be among the best...
The unfortunate aerodynamic effect of a "square back" vehicle is the cause of the dirt on the back.
I had a Ford Torino? wagon that had a deflector on the roof that directed air downward over the rear window. Worked pretty good. A rear wiper helps keep the window so that you can see.
The torsion beam suspension is actually two trailing arms with the beam giving lateral support and acting as a sway bar. Works pretty good.
Its a little surprising to me that the boosted 200hp 5 door only runs a 15.7 (in the hands of C&D).
I've considered an older 2.4 5spd 5 door, but they aren't very common.
They really don't drive too badly for a street vehicle. Just don't expect anything great if you plan to take it on an autocross. The only real complain I have with those is the dead steering. Even in sport mode, it's liveless. They make great DD's.
I'd say they do pretty well in an auto-x setting. 
In reply to fanfoy:
Pretty much my assessment. I joked that it's the Focus ST my dad would buy, because everything he disliked about the FoST is addressed nicely in the Kia.
A 1.6 turbo hatch that gets under 30mpg hwy seems pretty pathetic.
2002maniac wrote: A 1.6 turbo hatch that gets under 30mpg hwy seems pretty pathetic.
So does a "truck" that makes you empty the bed to change a flat tire. But the Rangeline seems to have quite the following.
Or a pickup truck that wastes a ton of prime real estate under the bed with a giant tire that nobody ever uses.*
I'm not a Ridgeline lover, and all my trucks have easily accessible full-size spare tires on the outside of the vehicle. But of all the things to knock it for, that's a pretty darn stupid one.
I think my biggest gripe was the position of the A pillars restricting the sight lines up front.
Tom Suddard wrote: Or a pickup truck that wastes a ton of prime real estate under the bed with a giant tire that nobody ever uses.* I'm not a Ridgeline lover, and all my trucks have easily accessible full-size spare tires on the outside of the vehicle. But of all the things to knock it for, that's a pretty darn stupid one.
Not for someone that uses the truck to do truck-type things. Sorry, got a flat. Now I have to unload that bed full of mulch on the side of the road so I can get to my spare. PUTTING the spare there is pretty stupid thing to do.
red_stapler wrote: I think my biggest gripe was the position of the A pillars restricting the sight lines up front.
I'm finding that to be an issue in a lot of newer cars now. Between the laying back of the windshield for aero and the thicker pillar for both structural stiffness and to hold the curtain airbag. The Cruse hatch IMO had the best sightlines of the newer cars Ive driven in a while.
Bobzilla wrote:Tom Suddard wrote: Or a pickup truck that wastes a ton of prime real estate under the bed with a giant tire that nobody ever uses.* I'm not a Ridgeline lover, and all my trucks have easily accessible full-size spare tires on the outside of the vehicle. But of all the things to knock it for, that's a pretty darn stupid one.Not for someone that uses the truck to do truck-type things. Sorry, got a flat. Now I have to unload that bed full of mulch on the side of the road so I can get to my spare. PUTTING the spare there is pretty stupid thing to do.
This is the alternate factory spare tire location.
You could also throw it in the back seat.
So Honda's alternative is to take up bed space or take up interior space. Typical Honda thought process! Too many years seeing this crap first hand from them.
Granted, we all know that people that need a truck don't buy a Ridgeline, and those that buy a RL don't need a truck. So it's a moot point.
Did I miss something or did we take a exit stage left diversion from the thread topic?? And speaking of a spare tire... at least you have one, many cars these days are completely ditching the spare in favor of a tire "fix" kit... which is complete crap in my eyes...
91RSImpulse wrote: Did I miss something or did we take a exit stage left diversion from the thread topic?? And speaking of a spare tire... at least you have one, many cars these days are completely ditching the spare in favor of a tire "fix" kit... which is complete crap in my eyes...
Interesting side bit on this... Hyundai did this as well. They learned that people hated it, and have gone back to putting spares in.
In reply to Bobzilla: You should probably go ahead and put a application in for KIA 
I am on on the fence with NA or Turbo Forte
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