Anyone own a Kia

Jstas

codyc1ark wrote: »

Jstas wrote: »

Here we go again.

Whoop-tee-do, I don't care.

Unlike an insurance adjuster (accountant that tries to play service writer), I actually have mechanical experience in repairing cars.

Ha. I love to be blasted here, by a person who assumes that I don't have anywhere near the kind of experence they may have, or the training. You sound like a few of the rednecks I work with on a daily basis, perhaps... I'll leave it alone, whatever makes you feel better about yourself.

But then again, like mentioned above we are looking at budget cars. I can only speak for what I see my self, what people tell me face to face, and industry reviews. I try to not give my opinion on what I see just myself.

First off, learn how to use the quote button.

Secondly, redneck, yes. I am. But you obviously mean as an insult and an example of how much better you are than I am. Good for you.


My automotive repair experience is pretty extensive. Even though most would rather eat staples than admit it, several here would agree with me. The last job I had doing repair work, my sole purpose at the shop was to do repair work on the weekends and after normal hours for the auto-body shops we were contracted to for doing mechanical repairs. Many times I had to stop work and call the adjuster to come out and revise their claim because of insufficient funding allowed for repair. Most responses were "I didn't know that was damaged." The others were "I spec'ed a junkyard part." Nevermind that it's often the wrong part.

Anyway, I know full well what insurance adjusters are like. I would take recommendations on where to go for repair shops from them but not on new cars or even used cars. You can tell me nothing about how many times certain vehicles are in for repairs, what kind of repairs they need and how much repair and maintenance costs. So if you have a repair shop you can recommend, I'll gladly listen then I'll ask them on what they think of certain new or used cars. Otherwise, I'll continue to use my "redneck" ways and still recommend anything other than a Hyundai or Kia. Preferably the Subaru or Ford.

Jstas

Ricardo wrote: »

Yes. It's amazing that there's still people that think that buying a Ford, GM or Chrysler will do more good to the U.S. economy than buying a foreign car.

Supporting these companies has done more damage than good to our economy. Oh, of course YMMV.

Ford didn't take any bailout money. They were granted government money, not for bailout but for supporting parts suppliers and doing R&D on alternative fueled vehicles and economy/emissions improvements.

Chrysler will do not good, it's not a U.S. company anymore but owned by Fiat S.p.A., an Italian company and the United Auto Workers Union. Oh, and the gubment.


And honestly, buying from Ford or GM contributes to the bottom line of Ford and GM. That in turn creates economic growth. Economic growth provides greater wealth, more spending and more jobs to make, package and sell the stuff people are spending money on.

The effect a company like Kia has on employing a few thousand to assemble cars is minuscule compared to profit driven growth in the economy. Workers paychecks don't matter if the dollar is too weak to do anything.

Corporate profit does matter because it brings wealth and growth. You buy a car from Ford or GM, the profits go to American held companies using American banks and paying American taxes. You buy a car from Kia or Hyundai and the profits go to a Korean held company using Asian banks and paying Asian taxes.

I don't care how many people they employ here, the profits are what growth and economic strength are measured by and it matters where they go.

Don't think it matters? Look at where Ford is traded. NYSE: F

Look at where Kia is traded. KRX: 000270

If Ford makes a profit, stock value goes up. If stock value goes up, it contributes to the growth of indexes, what index increases? Not Japan's, not Korea's, not Europe's. The U.S. indexes increase. The index goes up, values across the board strengthen. Kia makes a profit, what index increases? Korea's, not Japan, not Europe and not the U.S. Korea's economy strengthens.

I don't understand why that's so hard to understand for so many people. I don't care where it's built or who builds it. The only possible benefit the country as a whole enjoys is tax revenue and we all know how that pans out. Aside from a few thousand people working in a country of close to 400 million, there's no benefit to buying foreign aside from the personal benefit of buying a car. Unless of course you finance with a local bank. Then some lending institution is padding its bottom line at your expense.

Ricardo

That's fine redneck.

Jstas

Ricardo wrote: »

That's fine redneck.

I love you too sweet cheeks!

AsSiMiLaTeD

John, I get the argument you are making about the profit of a company being the bottom line and not caring where the workers are, but I don't agree.

That's the same logic that companies use when they ship off all our work to places like India and China "who cares where the workers are as long as we make a profit and pay taxes on that profit and out stocks go up?".

That's the attitude companies have been adopting for years, and look at our economic state right now. Obviously we're doing something wrong...

There needs to be balance between employing the people in your own country and turning a profit. I'm not saying Ford does not employ this ideology or that Kia doesn't or that Toyota does, because I don't know, I'm really just arguing the theory in general.

Jstas

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

John, I get the argument you are making about the profit of a company being the bottom line and not caring where the workers are, but I don't agree.

That's the same logic that companies use when they ship off all our work to places like India and China "who cares where the workers are as long as we make a profit and pay taxes on that profit and out stocks go up?".

That's the attitude companies have been adopting for years, and look at our economic state right now. Obviously we're doing something wrong...

There needs to be balance between employing the people in your own country and turning a profit. I'm not saying Ford does not employ this ideology or that Kia doesn't or that Toyota does, because I don't know, I'm really just arguing the theory in general.

I didn't say it was MY attitude. I'm all for employing Americans by American companies. But that doesn't mean that what I wrote isn't the reality of things.

The benefit is that with the current state of the economy worldwide, it's now cheap to pay workers a wage they like and still build stuff cheap here in the U.S. Lotsa companies, including Ford and GM, are moving production to the States because of that. It takes a year if not months to build and tool up a new factory or retool an old one. But they are doing it.

nooshinjohn

Jstas wrote: »

It takes a year if not months to build and tool up a new factory or retool an old one. But they are doing it.

:rolleyes::p:D;)

It takes about 9 months to reset a line for a new model launch, and about 2 and a half years to map out the processes for building an all-new model. A reskin, or the use of existing platforms can reduce this timeframe.

The fastest an out of commission plant can be brought up to speed from an empty building is two years. Up to speed means building a predetermined number of cars per shift. At the Subaru plant I worked at, this number was 225 Camrys/shift x2 shifts. To build from the ground up, a new plant will take about 5 years to reach this status here in the US, due in large part to the environmental approvals that need to be done before a shovel even breaks ground.

WilliamM2

nooshinjohn wrote: »

At the Subaru plant I worked at, this number was 225 Camrys/shift x2 shifts.

Why was the Subaru plant building Camry's? Joint venture with Toyota?

nooshinjohn

WilliamM2 wrote: »

nooshinjohn wrote: »

:rolleyes::p:D;) At the Subaru plant I worked at, this number was 225 Camrys/shift x2 shifts.

Why was the Subaru plant building Camry's? Joint venture with Toyota?

Yes, Fuji and Toyota do quite a few projects together. The SIA plant here in Lafayette has been doing Camry on their second line for about 4 years now, though they wish they could have that extra capacity to build their own cars these days. The Subi line has been working 20 hours a day, 6 days a week for more that a year now.:eek:

mhardy6647

Jstas wrote: »

They didn't have a stake in Kia. They had a partnership with Kia to manufacture cars. In return, Kia was also given the opportunity to market the cars they made for Ford and Mazda as Kias (Kia Pride and Kia Avella) in the Korean markets and other non-North American and non-Japanese markets. But that pretty much ended in 2000 when the Festiva (Aspire in North American markets) ended sales in Australia. The North American market put the Aspire out to pasture, thankfully, in 1996. The North American market had no small car from Ford until this year when the Fiesta was re-introduced. The new Fiesta is a Ford of Europe design based on the B3 global platform. The only other car related to it is the Mazda 2. But the B3 platform is a Ford platform, not a Mazda platform.

Thanks, I was (obviously) none too clear on the inter-relationship. I thought it was more like Ford and Mazda's.

Heh, I plumb forgot the Aspire! I remember the US Fiestiva, though. The Aspire was at least not as ugly.

Finally - I wondered what, if any, relationship the current Fiesta had to any Mazda, living or dead, so that last bit was interesting to me. I am quite pleased with my new Fiesta SES 5-speed manual; particularly with the 41.5 mpg it's returning on my daily commute.



I sprung for the cheezy mood lighting, too...



Sorry, back to the KIA...

Joe08867

From what friends have told me Kia's have gotten alot better but the resale value isn't there. If you are planning on reselling it in a couple of years you will probabbly not get a great value back..

sucks2beme

It's a budget car, plain and simple. Run it into the dirt.
There's aways a car to fill this need. Buy it cheap,
and don't plan on trading it anytime soon.

Jstas

Ford Motor Company posts record 3rd quarter proffit

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/26/news/companies/ford_earnings/index.htm?hpt=T2

Ford Motor reported record third-quarter net income Tuesday, far exceeding analyst expectations and continuing a surge in momentum for the recovering automaker.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford (F, Fortune 500) posted net income of $1.7 billion, or 43 cents per share, up from $997 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Ford to report a 38-cent-a-share profit...

...The automaker cited a strong product line, momentum in North America and continued success at Ford Credit as areas of growth....

...Ford also announced plans to further strengthen its balance sheet by paying down its revolving credit line by $2 billion and prepay the remaining $3.6 billion in debt owed to a retiree health care trust....

...Now that Ford is once again turning a profit, it is using the surplus cash to pay down its debt, which will result in lower interest payments and eventually an improved credit rating.

"We are clearly ahead of where we thought we could be on improving our balance sheet, repaying our loans, and it's a very positive development," CEO Alan Mulally said during a conference call for investors...

...Ford's profitability has been accompanied by gains in market share. In the third quarter, Ford gained 1.4% in U.S. sales market share, while GM lost ground. And for the year, Ford is ahead of rival Toyota in U.S. sales....

..."The key drivers for improvement in 2011 will be our growing product strength, a gradually strengthening economy and an unrelenting focus on improving the competitiveness of all our operations," Mulally said in a statement.

But the automaker noted that fourth-quarter profit expectations are lower than previous quarters due to depreciation expenses on leased vehicles and smaller improvements in the provision for credit losses. ...

...Ford said it will create up to 1,200 jobs in the distressed state of Michigan as it ramps up engineering and manufacturing operations to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Still think buying American doesn't matter?

Sorry for the derail. Back to our regularly scheduled squabbling.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Its really good to see a company do the right thing and win at the end of the day, good on you Ford.

gdb

Just don't buy a Mitsubishi, they built the Zeroes that pounded Pearl Harbor in 1941! :eek::D

AsSiMiLaTeD

gdb wrote: »

Just don't buy a Mitsubishi, they built the Zeroes that pounded Pearl Harbor in 1941! :eek::D

So....

Japan was the country who dropped the bombs, you gonna tell me you don't own a single item built in Japan?

mhardy6647

Jstas wrote: »

Ford Motor Company posts record 3rd quarter proffit

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/26/news/companies/ford_earnings/index.htm?hpt=T2



Still think buying American doesn't matter?

Sorry for the derail. Back to our regularly scheduled squabbling.

Good... I helped :-)

PS. I thought I read the word "diseased" for "distressed" in the article, oops.

kawizx9r

My vote would be for the Subaru. Just sayin'

gdb

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

So....

Japan was the country who dropped the bombs, you gonna tell me you don't own a single item built in Japan?

Unfortunately.....I can not tell you that. I've got some German and Italian goods that I equally disdain.:D

ryanjoachim

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

So....

Japan was the country who dropped the bombs, you gonna tell me you don't own a single item built in Japan?

My thoughts exactly. Better return 95% of your electronics!

Willow

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Thanks, I was (obviously) none too clear on the inter-relationship. I thought it was more like Ford and Mazda's.

Heh, I plumb forgot the Aspire! I remember the US Fiestiva, though. The Aspire was at least not as ugly.

Finally - I wondered what, if any, relationship the current Fiesta had to any Mazda, living or dead, so that last bit was interesting to me. I am quite pleased with my new Fiesta SES 5-speed manual; particularly with the 41.5 mpg it's returning on my daily commute.



I sprung for the cheezy mood lighting, too...



Sorry, back to the KIA...

New Fiesta and Mazda 2 are like Vibe and Matrix Same platform different brands.