This has got to be the cheapest cars out there. You can get one for a sticker price of under $8K! Of course, there's nothing in it - no a/c, manual windows and doors, no keypad with buttons to unlock or open things, no power steering, and I'm sure the list goes on. But, heck, if you need a car, you can't beat this price for a new with a 10 year, 100,000 warranty!

If the thought of the haggling and nonsense you have to deal with to buy a used and basically unknown car without a warranty is too much for you and you can handle the very basic nature of this stripped down model, it's a fantastic choice. You won't get much, if anything, used at this price, much less a great warranty, so this is a great choice for the price.

Note that you cannot add any features to this base car at the dealer. After market, you could probably add leather, a better radio, and a few other things, but the creature comforts will still be lacking. You can't add power anything or even a/c. The model is so stripped that it doesn't even have the screw holes or harnesses to hold an a/c unit.

From what I learned at the dealer, they sell maybe 3 a year versus hundreds of others at higher prices.

The base model is basically a gimmick, and our dealer had no shame in telling us that. It is used to up-sell you to more expensive models and, much as I hate it, we have one.

We have one with a/c, power steering, and I think a couple of other things. It was not under $8k - it was somewhere around $13K.

My wife liked it because of the color and because it is new. It had 2 miles on it. And it has that tremendous warranty.

In this price range, another $2-3k would get you a similar car from a more established brand, like Nissan or any of the American brands. I'd have bought a cheap-o Nissan but we were pressed for time and needed the car as the one we were replacing basically didn't run. We were lucky that it made it to the dealer and that they took it. (The starter was about gone, the water pump needed to be replaced, and who knows what was next.)

So we own this little Rio. The dealer could not have been more accommodating or honest. They did not try to up-sell and tried to get us to buy a used car (an Elantra, I think) with a bit of warranty left and low miles. I'd have bought that instead, but the driver wanted new.

Regardless, now that we have it, let's have a look. It is, frankly, OK. It is small, a little sporty, and actually looks pretty cool. I like that.

The interior is what you'd expect from a cheap car. There's a CD player, a few cup holders, no backseat legroom, limited storage, but it's new so it runs fine.

The engine is very small - I think 1.5 liters, so you have no pickup. That being said, it actually feels like you're getting pickup but when you look at the speedometer, your "zip" has got you up to 40. Don't look for this car to zip you in and out of freeway traffic.

It is loud inside, but not so bad. There are 6 airbags. The crash rating is among the best in class. It looks cheap, but it is cheap so no surprises there.

We have an automatic and it shifts OK, perhaps a little hard, but not too bad. You can't "floor" this car as it simply quits. Not that it shuts down or anything but it lets you know that it has given you all the power it has and putting more gas into it won't help.

With a/c blasting performance doesn't suffer. I was surprised by that but I guess since it is already underpowered maybe it just somehow manages the a/c? I don't know... whatever it does, it keeps the a/c cold and still keeps on keepin' on.

Handling is good. Tiny tires give tiny handling. No complaints. It is what it is.

Braking is OK now but worrisome. Anti-lock would have been my preference.

Views are good and mirrors cover all but the usual blind spots. The car is small enough to fit in little spaces and I like that.

However, we live in Texas and we are the only Texans without something giant. It is impossible to see past these monstrosities but that's not a Rio limitation as it applies to our other, bigger, better car as well.

Mileage is less than what you might hear. I have been told by dealers that the car has 41mpg highway. False. Think 35. Overall, think 29. Not bad, but you have a tiny engine and it should do better. That said, the competition is about the same.

A tiny car with a tiny engine needs to get that 40mpg for all that you give up. This car does not bring enough mileage to sacrifice such basics as power window and doors, for example.

The price of the car is, I think, a little high. You don't get power windows or power locks even at that $13-14K range. No keypad that opens/shuts things. No anti-lock brakes. With haggling, I think you'd get a Nissan Versa for not much more with better features.

I am assuming service will be a problem. We have an expensive Camry hybrid and the dealer service is abysmal. I can't imagine how Kia will be worse but I am braced for it.

That being said, when we bought the car, they gave us a loaner while prepping ours. They wanted that loaner back so badly that they actually delivered the car to us. I never expected that. The loaner was a car they had for sale on the lot and maybe that's why, but I was quite impressed.

When we bought the expensive hybrid, they lent us some kind of fleet car that was of far less quality than the one we bought. Kia lent us a truly new car, at least equal to what we bought.

I have a glimmer of hope with this car as the dealership was much more on the ball than our other car's dealership.

Based on what reviews are out there for other Rio's, I'm assuming this car is good for about 50K miles and we'll have little or no resale if we keep it that long. I assume it's value will tank by half in 3 years if not sooner.

If gas prices stay this high, maybe we have struck gold. The dealer had only 5 of these cars. When we checked in early June, they were three deep covering a large lot.

Overall, much as I hate this car, it suffices. It seems to be a solid performer and has the best warranty (save Hyundai) out there.

The Hyundai Accent is probably the best comparison car but we neither saw nor drove one (except used). We should have, but we had to dump the trade-in fast and Hyundai was not on the "motor mile" we were shopping.

I fully expect maintenance issues with the car, but there again, what could it cost? The parts are cheap, the tires are small. It just might be a wonderful car.

You might be wondering why I "hate" the car. It's purely ego. Kia is unproven, has had problems, I don't trust the brand, it's not Japanese, it doesn't rate highly anywhere... all of these are subjective reasons limited to me. Who knows? Maybe this car will run forever and be our best investment yet.

Let me qualify that with the delivery of the car. Much as I was impressed with how well we were treated and how much they respected our budget, our brand new car was delivered with 1/4 of a tank of gas.

A full tank is standard. Kia is so cheap that they invested just $7 in us for gas. That little issue makes me wonder. If they can't invest another $21 in us now, where will we be when we need to use that amazing warranty?
Amount Paid (US$): 13000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2008
Model and Options: Automatic