My 2 cents:

Because of the drastic design change from one of the ugliest cars in the market to something that some people would say is the "best looking" car in its segment, many people would unconsciously relate the improvement in quality to be on par with the improvement in looks. I'm no car expert but I think it will be a good idea not to think that a Kia's reliability should be on par with a Toyota because it looks alright.

I used to own a Hyundai, 2nd year the car wouldn't lock properly whenever it rains, 5th year my engine starts to heat up at random times for no apparent reason. I've sent my car to the workshop many many times and unfortunately I seem to make the mechanic look as if they are not as good as they think they are.

Problem couldn't go away and I had to sell it to an unlucky 2nd hand dealer.

For me, I bought a Forte anyway because I'm overseas most of the time & I'll probably drive the car 2-3 months per year, so I figured I wouldn't drive the car often enough to give me problems.

But to be honest after my first experience with Korean cars, I told myself never to get another set of Kimchi wheels. I am lucky to be in my situation where I can afford to go for looks vs. reliability.

If I had to drive the car for the whole year then honestly I would prefer to buy something else.

What I think is if you can afford it then buy with your heart, if money is an issue then buy with your brain.

But hey, that's solely my experience & my 2 cents. I'm sure there are many other people who'll tell you otherwise

Good luck with your car hunt

sorry, removed redundant message

This post has been edited by nemurus: Aug 17 2012, 05:59 PM

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.

Haha digitallife bro SoulReaver & 1stLaksamana are both right Don't buy a car without test driving the alternatives, just like you don't marry a girl without er, you know lah!

FYI my bro in law has a 1.6, and always say he should have gotten the 2.0. but he's a young guy lah right foot heavy like hell. He just drove my car today and he is cursing himself all the way, "should have gotten the bloody 2.0".

So YES they are all right. The 2.0 & 1.6's difference in power is quite significant lah.

Anyway i think it depends also lah what kind of driver you are. If you don't drive fast wan then 1.6 is not that bad lah, not to say it's a kereta lembu lah. Can still hit 140 km/h or more if you want to, just probably take a bit longer to get there lah

I think the reason why everyone is complaining so much & should have gotten the 2.0 is because the 1.6 & 2.0's price difference is actually not that much. If there's a huge price difference then I'm sure everyone would be happy with their 1.6.

Did some calculation for you, 12k difference assuming you take 5 year loan @ 2.5% interest comes to RM 225 extra per month. Can afford? If yes then go test drive the 2.0, I think better to regret paying more for something you don't need than to regret having something that's not good enough for you.

But if you think that's too much for your budget, and if the Preve makes you smile then do what your heart tells you The Preve seems OK I guess, went for a quick look @ their forum & many of them sounded like they love their car as much as how some of the people here love their Forte.

Anyway I think if you wait another 1 week or so they should have stock, because the dealers usually take customers cars that haven't delivered yet as a test drive car.

Apparently Naza has started production for 2.0 already so you should see stock coming in quickly already.

Hope that solves your question Good luck with your car!

Sent my car for 1st service yesterday with the following problems:

1. Side skirting loose
2. GPS map outdated
3. Handbrake not calibrated properly (need to pull really hard to get the final "click")
4. Steering wheel too loose
5. Alignment off
6. iPhone cable in glove compartment loose, can drop easily

The SA said "wah, so many things, won't be so fast" then asked me to go makan. Called me about 4 hours later and fixed everything (except GPS update, I need to get the code from my SA and update myself). They washed my car as well, cost me RM200+ but I can't remember exactly how much.

So if you're not happy with the extremely light steering wheel then seems that you can get it adjusted to be a bit tighter

Personally I think it's better because in case need to suddenly avoid something at high speed, too loose steering could be dangerous.

Thanks Edwin Unfortunately I'm overseas now so I'll check when I get back. Anyway if you say it's there then should be OK lah.

Btw I got your photo from my friend, nice to finally know how you look like