watchdog

Could all & sundry share their thoughts on a Kia Pregio van with me. 2004 model 2.7ltr diesel 70000Km .Comes with racks & racking serviced every 10000km body unblemished 12months rego all for $8000. I know resale value of these are not good but do you think this is a good buy & what are the problems (if any) to watch for - thanks in advance

__________________
Licensed security installer & Trainer
if I've been helpful - add to my reputation

Godzilla

Cant comment on the one your after, however i did drive a Rio (OK stop laughing) for a year from new.

Tires made of jelly when pushed.

Twice the check engine light went on and the car just cut out on the freeway only to start again 5 minutes later.

This is a new car we are talking about and it had about 10,000km when the engine played up.

Dealer looked at it twice and couldnt find a thing.

Not too happy with my first experiance with them.

On a positive note, a great 5 year warranty....but it looks like yours has just run out.

Changed cars before it got out of hand.

mango

hahahaahaha mrs has a kia rio, has had it 18 months nothing gone wrong with it yet.

that r34 is still being worked on, they cant find out whats wrong with it

Sanity

There are a lot of them on the road in Melbourne , it seems a lot of tradesmen are using them as a cheaper alternative to a hiace.

hillbilly

our Couriers please driver had one for all of 8 months before he decided to cut his losses and buy a Toyota

it seemed every month he had a problem with that Preggo thing, the final nail in the coffin was the engine blowing up with only 70,000k's on it, I think he managed to get it fixed by the dealer under warranty but he wanted nothing to do with it after that so he sold it as soon as he got it back

I can't remember now but he said he lost more money in time off the road than what his new van cost him or something!

and to tell you the truth I have never really herd anyone say anything good about them!

I mean you hear people talking about how good the Hiaces and Merc sprinters are but you never hear anyone talk about the good points of a Kia

Sanity

Godzilla

@Sanity, i thought after owning a Hyundai you would have been running the other way from Korean crap.

I must ask you, would you would place your money on one after the warranty had run out?

Sanity

I am not endorsing them , just stating that there are a lot of them on the road ( presumably due to the high cost of the Hiace ). I see a lot of them each day travelling to and from Melbourne.

The link I just posted is to user reviews on them.

hillbilly

after reading about 6 pages there seems to be more con as opposed to pro's

Cons
Tyre wear
lacking power
Noisy
CD player
Door warning signal
expensive to run for a diesel
cheap build quality

Pro's
good turning circle
cheap workhorse
good storage space


and that's just averaging it out, there is heaps more bad points! and few more good points

Godzilla

@ Sanity, My bad, took your post the wrong way, my apologies.

I believe there may be a lot of them on the road due to being cheap to buy with a long warranty period.

Most buy thinking its covered for 5 years and later dumping it off to someone else before it costs them money.

Ramjet

LG plasma of the car world?

Godzilla

Looks like, smells like it, probably is.

Who knows how good they are as a commercial vehicle, may be they are better built than the production cars but would you risk your time and money on one when its your living on the line.

highway

Looks like many are developing rust problens around the rear window inserts. Guys that fitted the turbo to my patrol were developing a turbo kit for these which should improve fuel econ and power. Same motor as the light truck from memory. Mate had one and pissed it off after a few years and bought another hiace. Again diesel, and has never looked back.

watchdog

I was just talking to a mechanic who was working on a Prggo & asked him about them. If someone gave me something that had Kia on it I would give away as fast as I could. The van he was working on was a deisel with 57000K on it . It dropped a big end bearing cap & destroyed the motor. nuff said.
Please see mercedes thread !

__________________
Licensed security installer & Trainer
if I've been helpful - add to my reputation

Adobe

I've had one for over 12 months now, Yes it's slow but there not much I can't fit in the back of it, I've done 150,000 K's in it, Ive replaced the tyres as it had cheap asia tyres on it and I have had a problem the clutch master cyclinder as a precaution I also replaced the slave cylinder too, It now needs new brakes, I did place a second Fuel filter CAVS' Glass bowl type in line with the expensive one that kia fitted as standard. Air con is great electric windows, It get's about 585 to 600 K's per Tank of fuel 55 Lilters. I replaced the radio as soon as I got it as I had a kenwood system left over from my last car, It is loud in the cab but I used a sleeping bag behind the seats to dull the sound down now it's much better, Carpet quality is poor but It's a van not a family car.

If they still made them I would buy another, I have used many ford econovans and was always getting head gaskets blown, Toyota Hi ace always seemed to blow smoke after 70,000k's so that's why I got the Kia this time around. My has now done over 300,000K's and is still going strong, would love to put a turbo on it.


Adobe.

hillbilly

if a Hi Ace is blowing smoke after 70,000k's it's not being looked after probably, Oil changes are like eating they have to be done or you/it will die!

a friend of mine has a Hi Ace that has just recently clocked over to 400k's original motor, only problem he ever had was starter motor, alternator, oil changed every 10,000k's

Adobe

I change the oil in the kia every 10,000 K's with out fail BTW the Hiace wasn't mine I just drove it for a few weeks

Adobe.