I've been shopping for a car for the kids. I'm looking at an '06 Kia Spectra... partially because of mostly good reviews of kia in general, and the price: $8500 (dealer friend offered it at his cost. It will only cost me a dinner :) ) It's got 25k miles.
Txgreasemonkey or any kia owners, do you have any input on this vehicle? Thanks!

I have a 2005 Toyota Sienna and I was comparing it with my buddie's Spectra. He loves the warranty, the low price and the safety features but he says it's a heavy vehicle that has below average gas mileage. BTW I LOVE my Sienna.

Yeah, I'd get the balance of the 3-year bumper to bumper warranty and the 10-year on the engine and drive train I think it is. It was a Hertz rental. I know people who rent cars can be rough on them but I hear Hertz does well with maintenance and upkeep on their rentals.

Rick, I've had no experience with KIAs. Most cars these days, with good preventive maintenance, are very reliable. I'd recommend a manual transmission, however, on any 4-cylinder engine.

I will certainly go with full synthetic for the oil, thanks to the great results I got from taking that advice from the best Cars Expert on the net ;)

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Originally Posted by RickJ

I've been shopping for a car for the kids. I'm looking at an '06 Kia Spectra....partially because of mostly good reviews of kia in general, and the price: $8500 (dealer friend offered it at his cost. It will only cost me a dinner :) ) It's got 25k miles.
txgreasemonkey or any kia owners, do you have any input on this vehicle? Thanks!

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I have a 06 Kia Spectra bought it new and had no problems with it.It has 26000 kms or 16000 miles.I am very happy with it so far... great on gas

I say go for it. Great price. My firm is adding Kia to the line of cars we sell. The owner really likes the product. You're right about Hertz. They do good maint.

And NeedKarma, you forgot to put the smiley face at the end. :) That's "the look" of the Toyota owner.

Y'know, he wrote Spectra and for some reason I read Sedona. D'oh!

We bought it. So far so good :)
Seems basically a Toyota Corolla for a lot less money.

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Originally Posted by RickJ

We bought it. So far so good :)
Seems basically a Toyota Corolla for alot less money.

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Where did you buy your spectra? Sounds like a killer deal! I've been looking for a while and settled on an 06 Spectra EX clean, $10,900 23Kmiles. Austin Tx

I ran carfax and it's a 1 owner vehicle; dealer purchased at an auction.

Did you change to synthetic oil? Will you do anything else? I was considering cold air induction? What do you think? I heard a rumor it improves gas mileage.

Thanks.

I took our car expert's advice and went with full synthetic for the oil and am loving it. It got me 4-5 more mpg in my ford explorer... I'm sure it will add a bit to the already awesome mileage of the Spectra.

So far loving the Spectra... albeit a much smaller car than I prefer. My wife drives it.

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Originally Posted by RickJ

I took our car expert's advice and went with full synthetic for the oil and am loving it. It got me 4-5 more mpg in my ford explorer...I'm sure it will add a bit to the already awesome mileage of the Spectra.

So far loving the Spectra...albeit a much smaller car than I prefer. My wife drives it.

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Great Info thanks