with the AES start working...i think our FC will be better...hahahaha...

Got my new white 2.0 last week from Edwin Loh a.k.a. Motorman

I would like to share my experience to all those who wants to buy a new car and are considering the Forte as a potential candidate.

Before buying the car & when I was going through all the reviews on the various furums, one of my biggest concerns is that the reviews are usually biased towards the subject of the forum. For example go to Peugeot forum and everyone swears by their cat that the french makes the best cars. Go to the prius forum and I would expect the same kind of response

So for their benefit I will (try to) keep my review as unbiased as possible. But this is based on my experience with the 2.0, not sure if the experience with 1.6 would be the same.

Anyway at first I made a booking at the JB Naza Kia branch beside New York Hotel, at that time they just released the new HU with some old one in stock. For 2.0 they offered NO DISCOUNT for the new HU, just free bodykit but they have no stock for white.

I placed my order, was promised 2 - 3 weeks for the car so I decided to wait. Submitted loan documents to the SA, after 3 weeks or so still no response from him. Called him and he didn't pick up his phone, SMS and no reply. So I went to his branch, he said there are delays in the factory so must wait another 2-3 weeks.

Same thing happened after that, no reply to my sms & calls, after 2-3 weeks without any news I had to go to the branch again to get hold of him and was told the same story.

So I contacted few people in is forum & got much better deals from few dealers in KL. The deals from KL is SO MUCH better than the ones I get from JB. Just ask any KL dealer and the discount can easily justify going up to KL & driving the car back to JB. And best of all it's not a problem at all to get a JB number plate even if you buy from KL.

Compared a few of the deals and decided to cancel my order with the JB dealer & buy from Edwin (Motorman) instead. My experience in choosing dealers here: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...&#entry53566171

Now emails to him gets answered, whatsapp answered, questions answered, doubts cleared. So much better experience.

So if you're from JB & is pretty sure you want to get a Forte, contact Edwin and compare his deal vs the one you can get in JB. Trust me on this one.

But then I got my real problem - Naza had production problems, after a while they only produced 1.6, then only 2.0 after a long while.

The wait was up to the point that initially I was pretty sure I had more than enough time to get the car about a month before my baby was due, and in the end I got it exactly on the night of my baby's full moon party.

But to be fair to Edwin this is Naza's fault, not his. I guess this is entirely out of his control. So my advise to all is that if the car you want is not in stock, please make sure Naza is not facing any production problems. If they are then please reconsider if you are willing to wait.

After getting the car:

Problems:
1. Side skirting loose, double sided tape not properly installed.
2. Handbrake is not calibrated properly, must pull really hard to get a final "click", otherwise the car can still roll a bit.
3. GPS map is outdated. The EDL highway in JB open for about 10 months already and the GPS don't have that.
4. Gear changing ratio is not very good. I tried to "tekan", I feel as if the gear stays on for too long. Don't know how to explain but seems like it's lagging a bit.
5. The steering wheel on the 2.0 is very very soft. Please make sure you can get used to this during your test drive. It's unlike the other "more expensive" cars that will stiffen as your speed increases.
6. Noisy wheels.
7. Some parts has quite (cheap) plastic feel - the door handles inside the car, glove compartment. The wire for iPhone dock inside the glove compartment can drop easily.

Will fix #1 & #2 in my next service,
#3 not sure if possible but will try to get an update from them.
#4 not sure if it's because it's still in its earlier KMs and will get better after a while.
#5 i guess I don't have a choice but to get used to it.
#6 will try to get used to it, if not then will prolly change tyres.
#7 No choice. for a cheap car, can't expect much lah.

I was half expecting to kena all the notorious dashboard rattles, reverse camera not working, squeaky doors & seats, left pull problems, etc. But amazingly none of it happened! I hope Naza fixed all of these in their new production batch for all their future customers.

Performance wise, not bad according to my brother who owns a Mazda 3 2.0 sport (CBU), he bought just before they made it all CKD. My sis in law owns a Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 (CBU), the one with the rally tuning. And she said OK lah. Basically got power, only problem is the gear changing ratio.

FC wise, I drove less than 110km/h, light on my right foot with a trip from JB to Yong Peng & back (approx 250km). Full tank got me about 540km. In JB so much much less traffic vs. KL.

Overall, the feeling was "I can't believe I get all this s**t for only RM 97k! And to be very honest it is a nice car to drive, not only gadgets but the ride is quite good.

Last weekend my bro preferred to leave his Mazda 3 at home and took the Forte instead. Then got a whatsapp from him, "Your car very syiok!".

Now my Sis in Law hands itchy, wants to sell her car & buy an Optima. I told her to just get from Edwin.

So my conclusion is that if you are looking for a car with a bang for your buck, then a Forte will not disappoint. In terms of how good is it as a car (and not the gadgets) then I guess the right word would be "good enough".

So if you really want to get a really reliable car with the best engine, not the gadgets & car size, then to be honest I don't think the Kia's engine is close to the level of the Toyotas, Hondas, Mazdas, VWs, Peugeots, etc.

But with the limited budget set aside for the car, I had to go for "good enough". The best bang for my buck - so much gadgets & a c segment sized car @ the price of a b segment

Finally, I think it won't be complete without a review of my SA, the 'infamous' Edwin a.k.a. Motorman.

This is a person that takes care of the details. I am a very picky person, I'm sure Edwin has a big headache with me as I sent him a very long list of requirements, from changing my insurance coverage & up to the colour of the double sided tape around the bodykit.

And this ultra detailed person made sure everything is OK and I got the car exactly as I wanted.

The best part is, until today I've never met Edwin. Everything is done through the phone, email & whatsapp. I TT my deposit to him & my friend took the car on my behalf. Edwin called me when my friend was there to make sure everything that I am confident that everything is in order when my friend gets the car from him.

After a few days, he sent me a message "how's your ride?". How often do you get this from someone who has already sold & delivered?

So if I can get an amazing experience from someone that I have not met, I would strongly advice everyone else to just get from him.

Oh, and what happened to the "unbiased" review? I guess once you get the car you will understand, that's why I added the "(try to)", it's quite a difficult task when you own the forte.

But I guess the question is how reliable is a KIA? I'm sorry I can't answer this yet.

Lagi teruk! You see red / orange traffic light and forced to stop. That will make the FC even higher with stop / start.

yours 6.6 i think is potentially if u drive at that speed consistently you will get 6.6, but based on the DTE + trip distance, not within 6.6L/100KM...mine around 550 (total for both trip + DTE) average showing 8.3L which i think is a more realistic one..btw what was your rough speed (or average, not looking at the one displayed on your meter) when driving? Mine was around 60-80km/h only cos guiding my relative to 1U yesterday..so drove super slow...

bro..u should stop...even without aes...

can we turn off the front passenger side airbag?

can we turn off the front passenger side airbag?

can we turn off the front passenger side airbag?

Why u wanna turn it off? 

I wonder why nobody bought the diamond silver Forte? I realized most choose to get the solid white, which is pretty. But the diamond silver requires less washing

I plan to put a child seat in front and some say airbag is not safe for children.
Some cars have sensors to turn off the airbag based on the weight seated on the front seat for the same reason.

Aiyo...i bought diamond silver lah....why nobody neh???

LOL Any opinion on your diamond silver Forte? I'm thinking of getting a diamond silver as well because the colours are so limited @_@

I malas to wash mah...so get diamond silver lor...  . If you want go for white color, please prepare more time and money to maintenance, especially after 3-5 years, the color will turn to white-yellow color......good luck.

I wonder why nobody bought the diamond silver Forte? I realized most choose to get the solid white, which is pretty. But the diamond silver requires less washing