Someone Else's Problem: You May Not Like It, But This Is What Peak Performance Looks Like - 2012 Kia Forte EX

Oh yeah, 'tis indeed the season for crossthreaded lug nuts. That, and people looking for "a socket" that fits their locking lugs, needing to be told that they need the key that originally came with the set because that's the whole idea of locking lug nuts. :p I yeeted mine from the Passat within a day of taking ownership. I find electric impact guns to be better than air guns for getting threads started. Electric is better at carefuling.

Supply chain issues is plaguing the industry here too. I don't deal with tires much, but most everything auto parts related is running low and/or on back order. It's frustrating for our customers when an engine overhaul (on a really common engine, say Volvo D5) grinds to a halt because you can't get a €2.50 valve guide anywhere.
 
Update Time!


Earlier in the month I decided to buy lugnuts just to rule them out and have them handy if the repair shop needed to replace the wheel studs.

Well guess what? They fit! Which meant that I didn't need to get the wheel studs changed after all which was a relief!

I booked the car for inspection the next week and I got to use this fine (sarcasm) steed in exchange:

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I don't know how people fit in here? It's as if it were designed exclusively for like 70 year old ladies - i felt closed in around my head esp by the door and there was no place to put my left foot in the footwell at all.

Anyway - got the results of the inspection - it needed a high beam headlight bulb and that was it. They did advise me that the serpentine belt should be changed soon because it was looking a bit worn, the CV boot was cracked and should be changed soon, and that the driver's headlight itself will need replacement soon as water is condensating in it - it's been like that since I've got it so I've just been meh about it.

I was wondering if they noticed the vibration I get when accelerating through the 40 MPH range but they didn't. Right now the game plan is to keep on keeping on - Ideally i'd be able to look at a replacement in the spring time after I move but the car market is nuts right now.
 
lip said:
^ That blue beauty looks like it's worth a post in here: https://forums.finalgear.com/threads/our-own-car-reviews.30536/page-151 :LOL:

Looking forward to your replacement. - Is the used car situation bad because you live somewhere that has no big choosing field, or do you mean it more in a finacial way?
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I might throw something together!

It's bad because right now the chip shortage has thrown the entire car market out of whack here. There's not a lot of inventory, places are marking up used cars AND new cars, and the used cars that are available cost stupid money.

In order to get a car at a price that i'd feel comfortable with, I'd have to get something a lot older than desired and look at models that are not appealing to me.

EX: This 2019 Golf Estate (ignore the website, it's not a Alltrack)...they want fucking 30k for it! Insane, it's not even a SEL trim, it's a mid spec SE that I'm positive did not cost 30k new. https://www.carmax.com/car/21670810
 
lip said:
Yeah, that's a lot. Something similiar is SFR 24'700.- new over here: (about 27'000 USD): https://www.autoscout24.ch/de/d/vw-golf-kombi-2020-neues-fahrzeug?vehid=7589976&accountid=65010&backurl=/autos/vw?yearfrom=2018&fuel=14&make=82&model=585&sort=price_asc&body=1&vehtyp=10&yearfrom=2018&fuel=14&make=82&model=585&sort=price_asc&body=1&vehtyp=10&eventLabel=vehiclePosition:19 | sortingOption:price_asc&packageName=member:as24_basic&sortingPosition=19
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But that has the weenie hut jr. engine. You can get golf wagons here without a sunroof, they just have halogen headlights and no options other than a power recline but manual slide seat. *shrug*
 
93Flareside said:
But that has the weenie hut jr. engine. You can get golf wagons here without a sunroof, they just have halogen headlights and no options other than a power recline but manual slide seat. *shrug*
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The one I linked has the 1.4T so it’s comparable at least in terms of displacement. Idk about whether that 1.5 is tuned for lower horsepower though.

EDIT: I missed that the one Lip sent was a Bluemotion, yeahhh she slow slow then.
 
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Update time! The Kia's been completely paid off for a few months and I've got the title in my hands.

Nothing really new to report, she continues to go and stop. I am looking at replacement options though for multiple reasons:

*I'm likely driving to Florida to see my parents in May and moving elsewhere in PA in June.
*I really don't want to renew registration on a car with a engine issue and no AC
*I may need something more suited to driving my mom around if she lives with me for a bit in a year or two.

So uh yeah, we'll see what the future holds but i'll continue to drive the lil Kia until then. Honestly it's been a great car at the end of the day and did the job it was supposed to do - transport me around for years without a single breakdown or super expensive expense. It's never left me stranded.
 
Despite the funny rattle noises you’ve had a for a few years now?
 
93Flareside said:
Despite the funny rattle noises you’ve had a for a few years now?
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Since the main goal was to avoid 1k plus repairs for the term of the loan, yeah it kinda has haha.
 
If you want my opinion, I would honestly recommend that you fix the A/C and just keep it until it dies. If nothing else, you no longer have a car payment, and it seems the class-action issue on that engine will not advance beyond a certain point if you keep up with maintenance religiously. Besides which, it is rather an unfortunate time to buy a car.

Otherwise, have you heard the good word of our lord and savior the Toyota Corolla? :p
 
Has it resell value currently? Probably not much with a damaged AC and some unknown rattle. I would also advice to drive the thing into the ground, and especially since it's now paid off, to pump what you paid monthly before into a second bank account to build up money for your next car.

But in the end it's your car, your money and your life, and you know best what you want and need. (y)
 
gaasc said:
If you want my opinion, I would honestly recommend that you fix the A/C and just keep it until it dies. If nothing else, you no longer have a car payment, and it seems the class-action issue on that engine will not advance beyond a certain point if you keep up with maintenance religiously. Besides which, it is rather an unfortunate time to buy a car.

Otherwise, have you heard the good word of our lord and savior the Toyota Corolla? :p
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lip said:
Has it resell value currently? Probably not much with a damaged AC and some unknown rattle. I would also advice to drive the thing into the ground, and especially since it's now paid off, to pump what you paid monthly before into a second bank account to build up money for your next car.

But in the end it's your car, your money and your life, and you know best what you want and need. (y)
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I've thought about the A/C repairs but they'll likely cost more than what the car is actually worth. I've got 1k saved up in a dedicated "car replacement" account as well which I'll add 1k to per pay period which is 2x a month. So by early may I should have about 3k in the account. And that's not counting the 5k i have outside of regular savings that I can pull from as well.

The timing does suck though. I'm looking at compact crossovers because I may need something like that for my mom and the pricing sucks so I'm hoping something will change by mid-May but I doubt it.

EDIT: now my cheap ass brain is wondering whether throwing around 800 bucks at it is a good idea or not. I guess I could drop it off to get a estimate. I just don't know if the engine will get worse than how it sounds right now which isn't exactly healthy.
 
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I have thought about that but will have to run the numbers again to see what my selling price would be.
 
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You might want to email some dealers; giving your car, the cash you planned on for a replacement car, and what you would be willing to finance if at all, there is bound to be a salesman who has a quota who can do you a bit better for X.
 
With your mom coming to live with you "in a year or two", current fuel prices, and the market being shit I'd keep that thing for the time being.

In the current situation, two years will do a lot for the affordability and range of electric cars, so they may just make the @public approach of stacking short-term leases instead of buying or financing viable for your case. I know I will make my Volvo last until electrification makes sense for my use case (450km range in winter conditions, wagon-ish body shape available at reasonable price/lease).

Also, the rattle issues should have taught you to never finance a beater-level car again :)
 
Yeah, one thing about getting a Hyundai/Kia EV is that there is no 1.6 gasoline engine in there to start rattling!
 
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