I’m looking at possible buying a 2004 Kia Optima, 5spd, 142xxx miles, CHEAP! I’ve never owned anything Korean nor know much about them. Are they decent beaters, parts cheap easy to work on? Or should I not even bother?
I’m looking at possible buying a 2004 Kia Optima, 5spd, 142xxx miles, CHEAP! I’ve never owned anything Korean nor know much about them. Are they decent beaters, parts cheap easy to work on? Or should I not even bother?
yes there is, Bobzilla... he'll be along soon
keep in mind these Optima's are badge-engineered Hyundai Sonatas... if you want to expand your selection.
Watching with interest!
Well, I wouldn't consider myself an expert necessarily but I am on my second Kia as a DD. Both Souls. The first was a 2.0 with a six speed, the second is the latest Turbo version. Both purchased new. The second still being new, does not have much to report other than I am really impressed with what a nice and peppy vehicle it is. Not a GTi but plenty fun. It has a true DCT which I am liking so far. The first was a 2013 which never gave me any problems except for the rear brakes (pads and rotors) basically exploding at around 30K miles. The Kia dealer wanted $800 for the job, I did them myself for around $120. I upgraded the parts over OEM. This is a known weakness for Souls so it may be something to look on the Optima as well. So not much of an in depth review but my experience overall has been positive which is why I bought a second one. I am keeping an eye on the new Veloster R spec/N for a possible DD replacement but I don't think it's quite there yet.
My step sister still drives my dad's 04 optima. Other then some weird stuff with the alternator and associated wiring it's got 210k on it and has been rock solid. My sister's even added some dents and ripped the exhaust off. Car might see an oil change every 20k miles with her.
Well stopped by lot car is at, closed of course. Outside lil rough, but interior looks clean and has matching Goodyear’s all around. Seems like someone took decent care of it. They’re asking 1200 plus ttl. I’m try go by tomorrow for drive, and if seems okay offer $800 and see
I'm a Hyundai/Kia fan, at least from the perspective of being great values. They're nothing exciting to drive, especially from that era. Suspension tuning sucks, but you're not buying it for autox I'd presume. They're solid transportation with dirt cheap parts. Don't expect anything more from it and you'll be happy.
sorry Klayfish, forgot that you were the other Hyundai/Kia fan.
iirc, the Sirius II 4cyl in these cars is 4g63-based... and can sometimes share components. Also, the front suspension is double-wishbone... so it could maybe made to handle ok?
But what I'm describing is probably more akin to a Challenge build... and you just need A-B
Good luck, I hope to see the buil... er, uh, ownership thread
My friend just bought a new Rio base model. Its a fantastic little car. Drives well and handles disturbingly well...even better with upgraded wheels and tires.
Id highly consider one if my Yaris gets totaled. Its very similar to it. Just Id get the 4dr...he bought the hatch.
That generation Optima is OK. They're cheap for a reason. THis was early in the Hyundai buyout days so there are a lot of wierd stuff with some of those cars. 04, rear wheel bearing assemblies were an issue but easy to replace. timing belt intervals are 60k miles or 5 years. Interior is terrible compared to modern cars but functional. I think this is still the era of cable window regulators which sucked. Also cheap.
They're easy to work on. They're like a Honda, but cheaper and easier. If you have a 10/12/14/17/19 sockets and wrenches you can pretty much disassemble the entire car. Rust is an issue for us salt-belters. So check the LCA's, front subframe and rear suspension pieces.
To anyone comparing the newer (last 5-10 years) Kia's to this car, don't. The newer cars are a match to anything the Japanese are churning out. This, well it's not. a 2004 Kia is about the equivalent to a 1995 Honda in terms of functionality and build quality. Look, I love them. Probably more than anyone here..... but those early cars had their own issues. You loved them BECAUSE they were so much cheaper and could still do the job you needed it to do but you made plenty of excuses for their shortcomings. As a daily beat the crap out of it beater, they're really hard to beat though.
We just purchased a brand new Sedona (minivan), and I was so impressed with it that I immediately began looking for older Kia's for myself.
I found basically what bobzilla said above. I wouldn't touch a Kia earlier than around a 2010ish, depending on the model. I know that particular generation of Optima had atrocious safety ratings. Take that for what you will, but as someone who lives in Chicagoland that isn't really an option for me.
I had a 1999 Hyundai Tiburon that I bought new and put 160,000+ miles on and was still going strong when it was totalled. Other than oil and gas, I put three sets if tyres on it, one set of brakes, and two front passenger wheel bearings. Under warranty was a door panel that cracked and the transmission that self machined itself at 20,000 miles. That was it. The car was nothing overly special, but it looked nice, was semi-stylish, and reliable as gravity
Hyundai is another topic. I find that they had good products starting around 98/99. The Accent from 2000-up, while very cheap, was reliable as gravity. The 01-06 Elantra, even though not a race car, was again, stupid reliable. The first gen Sante Fe kinda sucked. The GK (03-09) Tiburon was decent, too bad it never got a good engine.
You have to remember that Kia was originally building Festiva's for Ford..... which used lots of Mazda stuff. The early Sephia's and sportages were knockoff Fozda botch jobs. Like the early Hyundai's were knockoff Mitsubishi's. So around 01 after the merge/buyout/whatever you want to refer to it as they started moving over to Hyundai platforms and drivetrains. There was a lot of ..... confusion. The Sephia was replaced by the Spectra (XD Elantra platform and drivetrain). The Optima came out and was a Sonata knockoff. The sportage that had been discontinued in 02 was revived on an AWD Elantra platform to share with the Tucson. The list goes on. By 2010 they were building quality vehicles that can compete with the other imports using Hyundai platforms and drivetrains.
Jeebus... I need less useless knowledge in my head.
In reply to bobzilla :
Nope, that's why we keep you around. 
Another interesting tidbit of useless info: The early Kia part numbers were basically a ford or mazda part numbering system. The Spectra and Optima started using the Hyundai numbering system.
sleepyhead said:sorry Klayfish, forgot that you were the other Hyundai/Kia fan.
iirc, the Sirius II 4cyl in these cars is 4g63-based... and can sometimes share components. Also, the front suspension is double-wishbone... so it could maybe made to handle ok?
But what I'm describing is probably more akin to a Challenge build... and you just need A-B
Good luck, I hope to see the buil... er, uh, ownership thread
Nowhere near the fan Bob is. Just admire the value they represent...at least in used cars. Wouldn't buy one new because they depreciate like they were set on fire. Sucks for the person who bought it new, but is a great thing for the person looking for a cheap beater.
Klayfish said:sleepyhead said:sorry Klayfish, forgot that you were the other Hyundai/Kia fan.
iirc, the Sirius II 4cyl in these cars is 4g63-based... and can sometimes share components. Also, the front suspension is double-wishbone... so it could maybe made to handle ok?
But what I'm describing is probably more akin to a Challenge build... and you just need A-B
Good luck, I hope to see the buil... er, uh, ownership thread
Nowhere near the fan Bob is. Just admire the value they represent...at least in used cars. Wouldn't buy one new because they depreciate like they were set on fire. Sucks for the person who bought it new, but is a great thing for the person looking for a cheap beater.
Agreed. Although, I'd be more likely to purchase a current line-up new car than before. Then again why? I mean, when you can get 2 year old cars for 60% of their original value with less than 40k miles? Yes please.
yeah, I was idly shopping genesis 3.8 sedans in Houston C/L for under 10k earlier today
In reply to sleepyhead :
I wouldn't have the Gen sedan without the Tau. Seems..... pointless.
Thanks for input. If deal does happen it’d be mainly daily beater, maybe a rally X here and there. From lil searching engine seems to be 4g64?? Curious though, 2.4 dohc and only 138hp...
Those Sirius engines were BASED off of the 4G design. CAm profiles were terrible, engine management meek. Small injectors and fragile bottom ends. They don't boost well and keep the bottom ends intact. The only think worse was the 2.7 Delta. Gawd those engines were absolute garbage.
So, when Hyundai went to the Theta and Lambda of the next gen, Kia kept the Delta. The Theta 2.4 4-pot made 175hp, 169 tq. The Delta 170/181. And got worse gas mileage. Ugh... I hate the delta with a passion.
bobzilla said:So around 01 after the merge/buyout/whatever you want to refer to it as they started moving over to Hyundai platforms and drivetrains. There was a lot of ..... confusion. The Sephia was replaced by the Spectra (XD Elantra platform and drivetrain). The Optima came out and was a Sonata knockoff. The sportage that had been discontinued in 02 was revived on an AWD Elantra platform to share with the Tucson. The list goes on. By 2010 they were building quality vehicles that can compete with the other imports using Hyundai platforms and drivetrains.
my bad., I thought the take over was earlier than that. I knew they had a lot of confusion as Kia slowly switched over to rebodied Hyundais.
I think the actual merger thingy was 98/99. But it took a few yearsto get the product lines rolling.
I learned to drive stick in my dad's 2001 Rio. Also took it to the drag strip once soon after. Clutch did 190k mostly highway before showing signs of wear. Car had 260k on the motor and transmission when I sold it for him. It ate a lot of wheel bearings but the 13" wheels may have been a factor. All the print wore off the buttons but the interior plastic didn't crack, possibly because he kept a sun shade up when it was parked. He's been driving a newer Forte a few years now and it seems simple and reliable enough.
That's what I know about Kias.
bobzilla said:Klayfish said:sleepyhead said:sorry Klayfish, forgot that you were the other Hyundai/Kia fan.
iirc, the Sirius II 4cyl in these cars is 4g63-based... and can sometimes share components. Also, the front suspension is double-wishbone... so it could maybe made to handle ok?
But what I'm describing is probably more akin to a Challenge build... and you just need A-B
Good luck, I hope to see the buil... er, uh, ownership thread
Nowhere near the fan Bob is. Just admire the value they represent...at least in used cars. Wouldn't buy one new because they depreciate like they were set on fire. Sucks for the person who bought it new, but is a great thing for the person looking for a cheap beater.
Agreed. Although, I'd be more likely to purchase a current line-up new car than before. Then again why? I mean, when you can get 2 year old cars for 60% of their original value with less than 40k miles? Yes please.
Yeah, exactly. Watching what used Stinger prices do. Having driven the car I'm pretty impressed. But I'm in love with my G37, so not sure I'd want to give it up no matter what...I just wish it was more tech up to date.
You'll need to log in to post.
