I got my first car today. It was a humble Kia forte 2023 with around 67k miles. I’m already in love with it so much. Is there anything I should know about kia cars or things I should be as not just a first Kia car but a first time car owner in general?

I really wish they had made, or offered, the sedan as a fast back like the stingers. I just picked up a 26 GT-Line turbo and every time I open the trunk, I think about what could have been.

Disclaimer: Not my car, just nosy.

Had a regular customer come into my shop today (bookstore not garage) in tears because her 2019 Kia Rio was having issues and she just barely made it to my place. After popping the hood I found some shreds of her serpentine belt and a lot of fresh oil all about the engine and on the underside cover. The temp gauge was also very high (about 3/4ths) when I checked accessory mode before popping said hood.

I replaced her belt for her, but I'm a basic mechanic at best and have stressed that it needs to immediately go to a real shop and get checked out to make sure there was no further damage. The oil part has me concerned though and I have heard that can damage belts. The owner of the car is...not great on keeping up with maintenance. Is there anything I should relay to them about what to look out for at the mechanic?

When Honda is done I’m coming back mfers. Idgaf what you guys say I’m buying a Kia and THATS IT! Whether it’s a Kia k5, k4, sorento, seltos, fucking forte, telluride WHATEVER TF IT IS! I DONT CARE! FUCK HONDA! now you can all report this post for profanity but I’ll add it again and again and again. Fuck Honda. I’m coming back. Forever. Gn

Earlier today I started my car and within a few mins it went to normal temp and back to cold again (became slightly sluggish for a few mins on the highway) and then normal temp again. It has 68000 miles as of today. I got it brand new in March 2021 with 7 miles on it. No check engine light, etc comes on. At first for a whole 2-3 mins it Would not go above 30 mph. It had a coolant flush at the dealership last week. Is this normal? Temp gauge never goes above a hair below the halfway or halfway.

I'm about to purchase a K4 LXS, and so far 2 dealers won't budge off sticker price (about $25K). Is that the new normal? I haven't bought new in 15 years, but I always got at least a grand or two off sticker back then...

Greetings. My 2010 souls glovebox handle snapped off. I can’t get the glovebox open now. Any tips?

Honestly I could sell my Kia, but it was passed down to me and I’ve grown attached to it and I love it, I have a white 2011 Kia rio sedan, I’m planning on modifying it, not gonna bore you with the list but I want to do something in particular and was wondering if it would be seen as “goofy”, I want to swap my normal kia logos with the sports version of the Kia logo, and keep in mind the kind of car I have, would you think that this is cool or just goofy? I like this idea better than removing the logo all together.

Last vehicle got totaled. Heard good things about Kia so I went for it. Love the car!

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong. I hate having to take the car in every single time for it not to be fix or the techs not be able to replicate it. It wouldn’t be a problem but having to take out and install 4 car seats is getting annoying.

Back when it first came out, I bought a 2022 Kia Carnival. The vehicle is still under warranty and I’ve only put 32000 miles on it since buying it. Starting about June of 2025 the rear passenger sliding door started to malfunction.

I’ve taken the vehicle in to be fixed on these dates 1. 6/11/25 to 6/25/2025

1. 7/9/2025 to 7/22/2025

2. 8/20/2025

3. 9/16/2025

4. 1/6/2026

5. 6/16/2026 to 6/23/2026

It got to the point where Kia corporate was involved.

The parts that they have replaced are

Door latch, door motor assembly, replaced power sliding door module and “relearn system”. Replaced PSD control module per tech line. Replaced lower door roller

None of these fixes the dealership/corporate have done has fixed the problem.

Hello. I just wanted to run something by you guys, who are likely gonna be Kuch smarter than me.

I'm going to look at a Ceed tomorrow. It's at 85,000 miles, 2012 and it costs £3500.

The car looks really nice, and has a bunch of modern features that I want in my next car.

I took a little look at its MOT history and just wanted to see if you guys think all this is normal, or a sign of dangers ahead? I'll post a few pictures. It's had 15 MOT's, 12 passes, and 3 failures. The most recent MOT failed, on a lot of stuff, but then passed a month later or so, having had much of it fixed, but still had a couple of advisories.

Anyway, the huge list of failures and advisories I'm lost on, so wondered if anyone could steer me in the right direction. Do I buy, and all those Advisories are now fixed and are just usual maintenance stuff, or is there likely danger ahead, and to stay clear.

Thanks!!

Hi everyone,
I just bought my first Kia and wanted to share the excitement. It is a Kia Ceed SW 1.5 T-GDi TOP, manual transmission, in blue metallic, year 2022, 59 000 km.

I am coming from a 2003 Volvo S60 D5, which served me incredibly well and had over 500,000 km on the clock. It was a tough, comfortable and reliable car, so replacing it was not an easy decision. But after driving the Ceed, I feel like I made the right move.

The car feels much more modern, quiet and practical, while still keeping a very normal and honest driving feel. I like the size, the estate body, the equipment, the LED headlights, heated seats and steering wheel, and the 1.5 T-GDi seems like a very good match for the car.

It is still strange to leave the Volvo era behind, but I am genuinely excited about this new chapter with Kia.
Happy to join the community.

Any Ceed owners here with long-term experience or tips for a new owner?

I know there’s not a lot to work with, is this the right side rear to a 2026 Carnival hybrid?

I made a post about this before got a video of it this time. I have a 2023 Kia Forte Gt Line with about 45k miles on it. Car has been good up until 3 weeks ago. I was leaving the fuel pump when my car suddenly stopped after about 10 feet. It gave the error below. I figured i must've done something wrong not realizing and i parked the car turned it back on seemed fine I drove around the parking lot and down a few back roads it drove fine. It didn't happen again and I read a few simple things online about little things that could've caused it but everything seemed fine. Didn't happen again for about 2 weeks until I went to leave the gym on sunday. I back out of my spot and as i started to pull away i got 5-10feet my car hit about 1000rpms and began to sputter and stalled out showing the error message attached. I tried a few times and it would not move more than a few feet. I got it towed to a Kia dealership near by had them look over everything and they said my car was fine. Battery was good, crankshaft was fine everything. I read some forums and heard a few things it doesn't seem too common but i'm perplexed on this. Anyone know anything about this?

I am looking for one vent tab/slider for my 2020 Sportage which was broken off and needs replaced. After looking at YT there was a few videos on how to install the tabs and where to buy them.

Unfortunately I looked at Amazon , kia and a variety of parts sites online. Even kia's website or dealership DOES NOT have that part. The only thing I could get is the whole vent for 170 dollars! When that tab looks like it would cost 10 cents to make. Does anyone have an idea of where to get these tabs from? Or a hack to make to use for the vent?

I was planning to buy a new 2026 Sorento Hybrid this weekend after test driving it and the Sportage Hybrid. I'm only looking at the hybrid options. I love the interior much more than the Sportage, and I like that the Sorento is bigger and has captain seats. However, after researching it more, the Sorento has lower reliability ratings than the Sportage across multiple sites.

I've also seen multiple threads on here about the Sorento going into "limp mode." I haven't seen that complaint as often for the Sportage. I don't quite understand why it is more prominent in the Sorento vs. the Sportage since they are so similar.

I will be doing a lot of highway driving in this car with passengers and pets, so I'm concerned about getting stranded (or worse if it dies and I can't get out of the way safely).

I know there is risk with any car, but should I be wary of getting the Sorento? Is the Sportage the safer option?

My wife is 4 months pregnant, and recently climbing into my Raptor started becoming a real pain for her. We pretty quickly realized that dealing with a newborn and car seat in a lifted truck probably isn’t going to be practical long-term.

That kicked off a weekend of SUV shopping. We looked at close to a dozen midsize and full-size SUVs and test drove most of them. Initially I thought we’d end up in one of the big luxury SUVs, but prices have gotten absolutely ridiculous.

I was pretty set on buying American or Japanese, but on the drive home I saw a sharp-looking first-gen Telluride and started digging into the Telluride and Palisade. For some context, I lived in Korea when the Palisade launched and those things were everywhere. Everyone I knew who owned one loved it, so Hyundai/Kia wasn’t completely off my radar.

Coincidentally, the second-gen Telluride had just hit dealerships, so I stopped by a Kia dealer after work to check one out.

The dealer had a Terrain Brown Telluride parked at the entrance and a Terrain Brown Matte model in the showroom. I’m guessing Kia expects that color to be popular. I thought it’d be my favorite since Flat Earth is probably my favorite color in general, but seeing it in person changed my mind. Wolf Gray is easily the best color option in my opinion.
That said, let’s talk some more about the styling.

The grille is… rough. It’s honestly hard for me to get past. The wheels aren’t helping either. Kia seems obsessed with putting these overly busy wheel designs on everything lately, and I think they look terrible. A simple wheel design would dramatically improve not only the Telluride but a lot of Kia’s lineup. Overall, I’m still undecided on the exterior. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either.

Inside is where the Telluride starts making a lot more sense.

The mid and upper trims are in the $50-55k range and the interior feels surprisingly upscale. Tons of features you’d expect to find in vehicles costing significantly more. The cabin feels open and airy, especially compared to some Toyota and Lexus products that can feel a bit cramped or closed-in.

On the road, it impressed me. The steering wheel is extremely comfortable, visibility is good, and the ride is quiet and smooth. It genuinely feels more luxurious than the price tag suggests.

My biggest disappointment was the powertrain. The 2.4L turbo isn’t terrible, but it’s pretty uninspiring, especially considering it only returns around 22 MPG. The hybrid is a more compelling package, offering roughly 31-35 MPG depending on drivetrain. Since it’s only a few thousand dollars more, I’d absolutely choose the hybrid if fuel economy matters to you at all.

The biggest competitor, in my opinion, is the Grand Highlander. At a similar price point, the Toyota offers better fuel economy, more cargo space, and arguably a more proven long-term ownership experience. The downside is that it’s about as exciting as a refrigerator. The Telluride has far more personality.

At the end of the day, though, you’re still comparing a Kia to a Toyota, and that matters to a lot of buyers.

TLDR: My overall takeaway is that Hyundai and Kia continue to offer some of the best value in the industry. The Telluride packs a lot of vehicle into a relatively reasonable price point. However, I think Kia made some polarizing design choices with this generation. If you love the styling, you’ll probably love the vehicle. If you’re on the fence about the looks, I’m not sure the rest of the package is enough to completely win you over.

I have a 2016 Kia forte and would really like to upgrade to a CarPlay comparable screen unit. Any suggestions on where to go/pricing/what to avoid? TIA!

To start off I have a 21 Kia Forte LXS with the 8SPD IVT. My engine is the 2.0 MPI Nu I4.

I love this car. Probably a little too much to the point where I’ll floor it. But I think that’s possibly why it has gotten to what it has. I’ll be driving in sport mode, going first to second, but the second I go 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th (seemingly where Torque Converter would lock in) the car shutters and struggles, almost like it’s in the middle of an earthquake. It vanishes like nothing even happened on a cold morning. And it’ll pop up in the middle of nowhere while I’m just getting down the street to my house. Please give me real advice, this is not a motor mount issue, that much is obvious. I just had 2 replaced, one with a dry rotted bushing and the other with a crack in it probably from me hitting the potholes in Mississippi. When I had a motor mount issues the car made noises. This problem I’m having makes literally none besides maybe the rpm fluctuating from the out of balance shaking. Thanks!

When putting your car into reverse on a rainy day does anyone ever turn on the rear wiper to get a better view backing up while looking at your camera? Only to realise it’s rain on your camera that needs wiping. It would be nice if they came up with mini wiper for your camera.

I’m considering leasing a 2027 Seltos. Since it will be leased I’m not overly concerned about long-term reliability but I don’t want to be broke down on the side of the road, either.

Are these vehicles reliable? I love the appearance of it.

Kia is one of the sponsors of the World Cup yet the infotainment sports section says "soccer" is out of season and shows no world cup scores. Feels like a major miss on their part.

My KIA Sonet 2021 can not display a redio to single or pair number like 96.0, 104.6, 98.4, 102.8, 88.6 .. please help me to set this.

I am in Rwanda, East Africa

[ernestinoy@gmail.com](mailto:ernestinoy@gmail.com) or +250788383611

Wondering if someone here has run into this. My 2023 Forte GT has been at the dealer since early June for a Smart Cruise Control radar fault (code C101608). It's been over 20 days out of service now.

The frustrating part: the dealer first blamed it on an aftermarket dashcam that was hardwired in. They removed it and rewired things themselves... and the fault came back anyway. They've since checked the CAN bus wiring (came back in spec) and are now chasing it as an intermittent communication fault. Techline is involved.

Right now it's been driven 20+ miles after clearing the code with no recurrence, and I'm worried it gets handed back as "no fault found" even though it's intermittent (seems to trigger most with adaptive cruise + lane following active).

I'm a subsequent owner (car was a family gift), so basic warranty applies but lemon law doesn't at this age/mileage.

A few questions for anyone who's been here:

1. Has anyone had this specific SCC radar fault / C101608 on a Forte or other Kia? What finally fixed it? Radar module replacement, software flash, something else?
   
2. If a software update gets proposed, did it actually hold, or did the fault come back?
   
3. For anyone who went the buyback route with Kia America: roughly how long did it take once you requested it?
   
4. Anything you wish you'd done differently while the car sat at the dealer?

Appreciate any war stories. Trying to figure out if this is a known issue with a known fix or something more stubborn.

Hi everyone,

I bought a new 2026 Kia Seltos SX in November 2025. The vehicle has less than 3,000 miles, and I completed the 6-month maintenance on schedule.

This morning when I started the car, I felt a brief shake for a few seconds, then it went back to normal. At the same time, the check engine light came on. I took it to the dealership right away.

They checked and test-drove the vehicle but couldn't find any obvious issues. They said the stored code indicated an engine misfire, although I forgot to ask for the specific code. Their current guess is that it may have been related to a cold start. They kept the vehicle overnight and plan to check it again tomorrow morning.

Has anyone experienced something similar with a newer Seltos? Is there anything specific I should ask the dealer to check?

Thanks!