[F348]

These are the things you did not know until after you purchased. Happily, the list is pretty small for me - this is a well designed vehicle. They are:

- fuel economy numbers are not happening. Still good, just not as high as I though they'd be...

- passenger side seat height is very low. Proportunitely much lower than the drivers seat.

- wireless mic might not be hearing very well

- no interior trunk release

- gear shift adviser on speedo is constantly telling you that you should be in 6th gear (manual tranny only)

- rear speakers are pure garbage (Lx+)

Anyone else?


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[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxbeto2k7]

Salesperson said I would get:

Leather wrapped wheel, didn't happen
A pillar mounted twitters, also no

Also:

Having to pay for a damn proprietary iPod cable.
Road noise

 

[Racineur]

Hi, I've had my Canadian Rio EX Sedan Automatic with UVO for two weeks now and I'm rather happy with the little baby.

Road noise: for me, this is one major issue but you get used to it cause road noise is the only noise in the noise department. I find that my Rio interior is one of the quietest I'ver had in many cars. No wind noise, no vibration from the engine to the steering, no squeaks, no rattles, except road noise.

Fuel economy: everyone on Kia forums say wait until at least 1000km to make a final judgement. The first days, my Rio was gobbling 8.1L/100km, now it's at 7.5L/100km so I think it will be better and better.

Passenger seat is indeed very low. My sister opted to bring a cushion and leave it the car when sh'ell be riding with me.

No interior trunk release: there's one in the EX sedan trim

Leather wrapped steering wheel: all there in the EX trim

Pillar mounted tweeters: there they are on the EX trim

Rear speakers are non existent as far as I'm concerned.

So to say, it would not take much to perfect the Rio. My guess is these little problems will be ironed out in 2013, 2014 and 2015 models.

Beto2k7, I tend to think your salesperson didn't know the differences between the models and sold you a rather basic model. What is your model?

F348, I'd wait a little to declare officially Kia lied about the fuel economy numbers. Do you drive with Eco on? Are you the type with a heavy right foot?

Don't worry too much. The perfect little car is not yet built. I've tried the Accent. Boring boring. I've tried the Fiesta. Cramped in it. Byzantine dash. Horrible transmission 6 speeds. Tried a Nissan Versa Sedan. Noisy engine, cheapo construction, noisy transmission. Way behind the Rio in the equipment. Finally tried the Mazda 2 with it's 4 speed transmission and it's horrible engine noise. No. All of us have made the best choice of the 2012 subcompact cars. The choice was Rio. Tell me of another that comes close to Rio when talking of a well designed and well put together car.

Racineur in Montréal:sunce:

 

[TJ85]

The fuel economy is correct in the Rio; it has 3 different sets. Highway, City and Overall. In everyday driving I can either get close or match the figures Kia give. If you shift when it tells you it will give you best economy.

To test the economy its better to test it over a longer period than just a quick trip to work or to the shops. I usually try to work out mine every tank how many km I get out of it. Since getting the car a month ago its been improving.

The only things that I found strange in the Rio was no engine noise and the biggest was the bare metal in the hatch window. When I first looked out the back I thought where is the rest of it. Its taken a while to get use to.

 

[Mysticality]

If the Sorento is anything to go by, you'll get the BEST economy figures above 30,000km.

Before the 30,000 service, I was getting 750km/tank (70ltr tank, 2.2ltr CRDi 6spd Auto). After, I was getting 1,000+
This is combined, mind you.

Can't say for the first 1,000, because it was my fathers car before it was mine. I got it at 14,000.

 

[F348]

...If you shift when it tells you it will give you best economy....

I hear you on this. It does present another problem however in that shifting into higher gears at sub-2000rpm is very bad for long term engine performance and engine health. Carbon buildup will occur...


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[demonr6]

Fuel economy sucks hot donkey testicles. It's awful. I have more colorful words to use but choose not to. Also my Android won't work on USB which is not something promised but it works on my other car without the Media Error message. The iPhone works but my brand spanking new Galaxy S II won't.. go figure.

 

[zergal]

Fuel economy sucks hot donkey testicles. It's awful. I have more colorful words to use but choose not to. Also my Android won't work on USB which is not something promised but it works on my other car without the Media Error message. The iPhone works but my brand spanking new Galaxy S II won't.. go figure.

Are you able to bluetooth it?
I can hardwire the iPod, play the iPod over bluetooth and even bluetooth my bold 9900 to stream the media (with UVO)
Perhaps it's a firmware issue that you can resolve?

 

[F348]

Fuel economy sucks hot donkey testicles.

Bawwhahahaha....

I agree. The big question for all owners now is do you have faith in the big: "Wait til the engine gets broken in...." thing or is this also a bunch of hot donkey testicle suckling? I haven't decided yet...


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[KCOPE316]

Bawwhahahaha....

I agree. The big question for all owners now is do you have faith in the big: "Wait til the engine gets broken in...." thing or is this also a bunch of hot donkey testicle suckling? I haven't decided yet...


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I guess I don't get it. What is it about the fuel economy that you folks are dissatisfied with? I'm getting 33 mpg in mixed driving and I feel like I tend to lean into it more then I should. What excites me is the potential for it to get better after break in!

What kind of numbers are you seeing?

 

[zergal]

I was getting roughly 11 mpg mixed driving on my last car. So even at 33 mpg, that's triple the mileage!

 

[KCOPE316]

I was getting roughly 11 mpg mixed driving on my last car. So even at 33 mpg, that's triple the mileage!

Yeah I can relate, I traded an F-150 4X4 that got about 12 mpg.

Although I'm sure it's all relative but I have absolutely no complains about the mileage I'm getting with my Rio!

Not to mention I'm unaware of any new car that gets better mileage at any price point let alone this one!

Disclaimer: hybrids and electric cars excluded

 

[GALVYANK]

You fail to give your model. My Sx has driver seat height adjustment. The passenger seat does not. None of my passengers complain. You have to train bluetooth for voice command.
My owners manual had the procedure wrong. There was a small supplemental manual that did have the correct voice training procedure. It just doesn't work 100%. Background noise, like road noise, screwes up the voice recognition. The voice recognition training procedure requires you to do it in a quiet environment, and to read ten sentences flawlessly. My wife can't read the ten sentences without screwing up. Consequently it won't recognize her voice. It works with my eloquent enunciation.

 

[ATXRio5]

Fuel economy sucks hot donkey testicles. It's awful. I have more colorful words to use but choose not to. Also my Android won't work on USB which is not something promised but it works on my other car without the Media Error message. The iPhone works but my brand spanking new Galaxy S II won't.. go figure.

Your still having that problem... Did you take it in yet? I had an Android (LG G2x) and I was able to connect bluetooth and USB no problem. Just changed to Blackberry Bold 9900 and still no connections problem. If you still haven't found any settings to change on your phone that makes USB connection work, you might wanna take it to the deal to check it. Are you plugging the phone in before or after you turn the car on? - Has any one else experienced the USB connection not reading media on an Android device?

 

[duran²]

The worst MPGs I am getting is 34 - 35 with mostly short, around town trips. When I am able to add longer highway trips I easily get in the high 30s. For all long highway trips I've achieved 40 with no problem. Those are all manual calculation numbers. And with a forty mile rural highway trip I saw 45 MPGs on the onboard calculation.

 

[demonr6]

I guess I don't get it. What is it about the fuel economy that you folks are dissatisfied with? I'm getting 33 mpg in mixed driving and I feel like I tend to lean into it more then I should. What excites me is the potential for it to get better after break in!

What kind of numbers are you seeing?

My commute is about 80/20 hwy and I keep it at speed on cruise with ECO on. Mornings I run no a/c due to it being cooler but afternoon it is a must here. I expect better than 31mpg avg from a tank on a 5-day commute. The best mpg I got was 33 on a tank where I was almost 100% hwy on a road trip but realistically we can't all make it a road trip to work every day. Maybe I should move out to a different city so I can have to commute 40 miles one way to work on the turnpike. That should improve my fuel economy. :/

 

[demonr6]

Your still having that problem... Did you take it in yet? I had an Android (LG G2x) and I was able to connect bluetooth and USB no problem. Just changed to Blackberry Bold 9900 and still no connections problem. If you still haven't found any settings to change on your phone that makes USB connection work, you might wanna take it to the deal to check it. Are you plugging the phone in before or after you turn the car on? - Has any one else experienced the USB connection not reading media on an Android device?

It works fine on BT. I tried every combination to get it to work but no joy. Honestly that is less annoying than the subpar fuel economy. FWIW I just downloaded 160 gb into my portable USB drive, plug it in and problem solved. The fuel economy issue is not so easy as that unfortunately.

 

[zergal]

My commute is about 80/20 hwy and I keep it at speed on cruise with ECO on. Mornings I run no a/c due to it being cooler but afternoon it is a must here. I expect better than 31mpg avg from a tank on a 5-day commute. The best mpg I got was 33 on a tank where I was almost 100% hwy on a road trip but realistically we can't all make it a road trip to work every day. Maybe I should move out to a different city so I can have to commute 40 miles one way to work on the turnpike. That should improve my fuel economy. :/

My understanding with the ECO mode is that it electronically controls the throttle response and it doesn't actually save you any more fuel. So once you're on cruise, you're not really getting the benefit of the ECO 'mode'. Am I wrong?
Just like you, I keep the ECO on ON the whole time anyways since it can't hurt.

 

[demonr6]

My understanding with the ECO mode is that it electronically controls the throttle response and it doesn't actually save you any more fuel. So once you're on cruise, you're not really getting the benefit of the ECO 'mode'. Am I wrong?
Just like you, I keep the ECO on ON the whole time anyways since it can't hurt.

Same here, no need to take ECO off.. that means I have to remember to enable it at some point right?

From my house to the state road is about 2 miles and it is a 30mph speed limit where random deputies will radar for speed control so I CC @ 30.. better safe than sorry. When I get on the SR I immediately CC @ 55mph. Only one traffic light which is about 3 blocks up and it is a 9 mile commute to another highway where there is a stretch of 3 or 4 blocks with one traffic light so no CC. From there it is all highway to work, about 14 miles all CC @ 60mph. The final leg to my office is about a mile, no CC due to 2 traffic lights. This is a 5 day commute, same drill both directions every day. I cannot accept 31 to 32 mpg on that type of commute, not when they are touting 40 hwy. I call the B.S. flag on Kia.

 

[Mitskuni]

I got my car yesterday and drove for about 150km which is about 95 miles and car was giving me 7.6L/100KM which is at about 30 MPG so seeing the car is brand new and will need to be driven a bit for better gas mileage I think its about right.

If you go on the elantra forums they are promised the same gas mileage as us but much much harder for them to achieve. So far I am very happy.