OEM Kia Performance parts

Did you hear that Kia is releasing performance products to be sold through dealerships that carry factory warranty? Goodies for the Spectra and Rio are coming first, like body kits, cat-back exhaust, intake, springs, etc. What do you think about it? They had some pretty nice turbocharged Rios and low-rider style Sportages with killer audio systems on display at SEMA to showcase the possibiliies of these little cars.

Well I own a turbo Rio. It's an 04 not an 06.. But give Kia time.. It's moving now alot faster then the Honda trend did when it started.. Keep in mind Kias have only been here in Canada for 5 years and I think maybe 10 years in the states..

Dan

Why would anyone want to try and make a Kia have any performance? They are economy cars, cheap knock offs, like anything from Korea. They are good for low-income households who cannot afford a new car in another brand. Alot of their models look like imitations of popular German and Japanese cars, making them aesthetically pleasing to people who cant tell the difference. They do not have favorable suspension geometry, and for the money and effort it would take to make one perform on even a sub-par level, a person could purchase a great entry level Japenese/German performance car. Their engines are very underpowered, so modifying one to pull any reasonable amount of horsepower would be pointless. Although underpowered, they are good for getting you from point A to point B. They do depreciate quicker than any car on the market. Just leave it stock and use it for what it was made for.

Any performance upgrades from the factory will be extremely overpriced. They are merely offering this to keep up with the market. There are also one or two aftermarket companies out there who sell a very limited selection of overpriced "performance" parts for Kias, but just about everything they sell is a huge waste of money for the improvements you'll get from them, compared to the selection you'll find for a Japanese car.