Some Dink In A Kia

[Melt]

Briggs and stratton motor!! YES!!

First post by TerminalVelocity--but...but...what about mass stickers saying "powered by deez nuts"?

Like this avatar I made? I had it for a while and realized it was lame

[TerminalVelocity]

I hate those stickers...does it mean anything cool that I dont know of?

[Melt]

I dunno, maybe its just some macho power bullshit. I origionally did it as a joke, but people took me serious. Funny thing is, most cars I see it on have NO MODS!

[TerminalVelocity]

pretty sad....its like the "heartbeat of Japan"...or "powered by mexican" on a japanese car. I can understand sporting some stickers like Edelbroc, Ford racing, Dynomax for the muscleheads, or like, Tenzo, Mugen, NOS (had to put that in) for the ricers....of course...if the mods are in there, otherwise its just as gay as deez nuts

[Rein]

Originally posted by THE4TH
yeah kias, daewoo, hyundai, and all thos stupid useless cars...
give them all to zimbabwae or something..

Originally posted by kidrocket
we should banish kias, daewoos, and the like to some remote island i think

Haha. Funny you guys should mention that because I just got back from my trip to Tahiti. Basically every single car is a hatchback of some type and they are all ugly as hell. I`ve had people around home tell me that my car is the ugliest thing to hit the road, but don`t say shit unless you`ve seen any of the cars in Tahiti. The thing is they don`t give a shit. They are lucky to begin with to have a Kia, Hyundai, or Daewoo instead of a family bicycle. Which reminds me of a very funny very recent story.
This is very much off the topic, but I think telling the story might deture anyone from committing any kinda crime in a foreign country. I was with my girlfriend a few days ago in Tokyo. We walked for about 3 hours until we got lost and had no clue how to get back. She tried to guess where we needed to go on the street maps because she can`t read Japanese, only speak it. Well, we decided to take 2 bikes so we could get home quicker so we went to a dark neighborhood and got 2 unlocked bikes and started riding em home. We were about a mile away from home when a policeman stopped us and talked with my girlfriend in Japanese for 5 minutes. She had lied and said she borrowed the bikes from a friend. Well, we didn`t know that the bikes had registration numbers on them and we got rolled. They let us go though because we are leaving in a few days anyway. But shit I was scared. How about that...first time being arrested and it`s in Japan!

[TerminalVelocity]

your lucky you didnt get nailed! Good story I think

[Melt]

They should do that registration number shit here. I am one of the few guys you will know that has a bike that meets or exceeds the value of my car. '98 Klein Mantra Race, $3500

[Rein]

If we only knew about those damned registration numbers we would`ve peeled off the stickers and said we found them in the street. Or if I knew Japanese I would`ve thought of a better lie. They took us down to the police station for questioning and shit. The officer like pushed me really hard into the interrigation room. I could only imagine if we were in the USA I could have a lawyer on his ass and we would be the victims.
I`m not saying what we did was right, but we were in a very desperate situation. It woulda taken us at least 4 more hours to get home.

[Melt]

Im not hating on you, just saying that the reg number is kind of cool. Desprate situations deserve desprate measures

[Rein]

True, true. I'll put it this way...They are a good idea when I own a bike, they are bad if I'm stealing one.

[Cmotif]

I am a 2002 Kia Spectra GS owner. The GS has a 1.8 liter 16 valve rated at 127 HP and 108 ft/lbs of torque. I also own a 2002 Subaru Legacy GT wagon 2.5 liter 165 HP and 166 ft/lbs of torque. The GS is quicker 0-60, though the Legacy GT is over all a way better car. The GS reminds me a lot of early Mitsubishi Eclipses.

I am sure that the GS is faster than my dad's 1995 2.0 liter VW Jetta.

My GS will hit 90 in 3rd gear when taken to the 6,500 red line. All the reviews that I have read say that the weakest point on the car is the Hankook tires that it comes stock with. The suspension was developed with Lotus, but the Hankooks have too much side wall flex. I will replace mine with Michellins or Yokohomas.

Are there such a thing as sub-dinks? You know the kind of people who have to try to prove their cars superiority over Kias every chance they get? Example: Just because I happen to hit 40 in a 35 mph zone, I sometimes have guys in Mid 80 Ford Escorts to have to speed up to 50 or 60 to get around me, just so they can prove something.

P.S. so you passed a Kia that sounded bad. Some people are idiots, and will try to race if they have plugs misfiring or engine out of tune. What does that prove? My car won't be allowed to get out of tune, I know too much about cars to let that happen. Wouldn't you do the same if your car sounded rougher than you like.

P.S. Check out the Lotus Forum. Lotus sold the Elan to KIA. One could only hope that they come through and mass produce robot built Lotus Elans at KIA prices. The link to the article is there.

[Cmotif]

Introduction:
Last year, the Kia Spectra was a hatchback version of the Kia Sephia, a 4-door compact sedan significant for being Kia's first model sold in the U.S. under its own nameplate, dating back to 1993. This year the Sephia name is gone, absorbed into a lineup bearing the Spectra name. So now there are Spectra sedans and hatchbacks.

All Spectra models receive freshened styling for 2002.

The base Kia Spectra sedan lists at just $10,995. Kia sweetens the deal with a warranty program that extends basic coverage to five years or 60,000 miles, and powertrain coverage to 10 years or 100,000 miles; it also includes five-year/100,000-mile rust perforation protection, and a five-year/unlimited mileage roadside assistance plan.

At that rate it's hard to avoid looking at a Spectra.

Lineup:
Kia Spectra lineup consists of two body styles: a conventional four-door sedan and a hatchback with four passenger doors and a quasi-fastback roofline.

The base trim model is just called the Spectra ($10,995). An AM/FM/cassette stereo is standard, but air conditioning ($960) is optional.

LS sedan ($12,595) adds air conditioning, power windows, mirrors and locks as standard equipment. LS also allows the buyer to add options including a sound system with a CD player and a CD changer, antilock brakes and cruise control.

GS ($11,395) is the base-level hatchback. Air conditioning ($960) is optional.

GSX ($13,195) comes standard with air conditioning, alloy wheels, power windows, and central locking, plus a leather-wrapped tilt-and-telescope steering wheel and an aggressive-looking body kit.

All Spectras are powered by a 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine rated 126 horsepower. They come with a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission ($975) driving the front wheels.


Walkaround:
Last year's frumpier Sephia sedan gained the sleeker front-end styling of last year's Spectra GS/GSX. For 2002, that styling was massaged slightly.

Spectra's styling is pleasant, albeit vaguely derivative. The front end seems to owe a lot to the Ford Taurus, with elliptical headlamps and a central grille opening with a crossbar, where a red Kia badge substitutes for Ford's blue oval. Between the clear-lens headlamps and the grille sit round high beams. The LS and GSX also get fog lamps. Bulges in the sheetmetal that sweep back across the hood trail the high beam bezels. The front bumper is integrated into the body profile, its plastic cover encircling the cosmetic grille above the bumper and the larger, functional radiator opening below it. Bumpers and mirrors are body color, an upscale feature for a car in this price range.

The Spectra's profile won't upset anyone. The windshield has an average rake, and the greenhouse, for sedan and hatchback, comes out of the designer's standard playbook. A fine crease at door-handle height keeps the side from being too plain. Blacked-out B-pillars create the impression that the Spectra is coupe rather than a four-door sedan.

The LS is distinguished from the base Spectra by chrome on the grille bar. A winglet attached to the rear of the GSX suits the overall shape of the car, and a rear wiper/washer is optional on both the GS and GSX. The GSX gets front and rear air dams, door-sill extensions and spoked 6x14-inch alloy wheels with P185/65R14 Kumho radials.

The rear hatch is invisible from behind the car. You have to look closely to see the gap around the sides and top of the backlight (rear window), and that's the only clue that the whole rear of the car opens up for access to a spacious cargo area.

Spectra's engine sits crosswise in the engine bay. It produces 126 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 108 pound-feet of torque at 4500 rpm. That's less than the optional engine in some of Spectra's primary rivals, but considerably more than the competition's base engines.

The suspension is impressive for this class of car. Lotus Engineering, creator of exotic, world-class sports cars, tuned the Spectra's suspension to optimize handling and ride quality. MacPherson struts are used up front while a multi-link arrangement replaces the usual twist-beam axle in back. Front and rear anti-roll bars are standard. Rack-and-pinion steering is standard, and power assist varies with engine speed to firm up the steering at higher velocities. All Spectras have vented front disc brakes.. Kelsey-Hayes four-channel ABS is optional (at $800) on all but the base Spectra; it includes an upgrade to disc brakes in the rear.


Interior:
The Spectra is an inexpensive car, and this point is reflected in its interior. The dash design is generic and inoffensive; it could have come from one of many Asian sedans. The controls are easy to use. Kia has responded to earlier complaints about tiny radio buttons. As a result, even ham-fingered auto writers can operate the Spectra's radio without much distraction. The LS, GS and GSX have a standard tachometer while an AM/FM/cassette stereo is standard across the board.

Door panels on less-expensive cars are often plain plastic, but Spectras have cloth door-panel inserts. The GSX upholstery is upgraded to nicer sport cloth. The seat bottoms on the front buckets, however, are short on support for longer legs. The seats do have wider cushions this year-one hopes not a Korean comment on American derrieres-and a new fabric is used. The console provides adjustable cupholders, and the LS and GSX door panels have bottle holders, but the overall quality of the plastic parts in the interior seems below standard for the class.

The rear seat will accommodate three, but not if they're adult males who plan to be there for a while. The seat folds 60/40 on sedans and hatchback, offering cargo flexibility with the hatch that challenges a small wagon. The GS/GSX hatch design offers even easier access. Seats up, the official trunk for the hatchback has 11.6 cubic feet of luggage room, which is excellent for a small car.


Driving Impressions:
The 126-horsepower Spectra engine is not blindingly fast, but if the driver is willing to rev it, there's spunky acceleration with the five-speed manual transmission. The engine revs with abandon and seems happy to do so.

The gearshift lever has a rubbery feel, but we never missed a shift. Clutch take-up is smooth and light.

We suspect the optional automatic transmission would sap a good deal of the engine's vigor. Comparing the ratios of both transmissions confirms that impression. Anyone at all interested in acceleration in a Spectra should learn how to drive a stick. The manual gearbox also edges the automatic in fuel mileage. The five-speed has an EPA estimate of 24 mpg city and 32 mpg highway, two mpg better than the automatic for both circuits.

In cornering, the Spectra offers good balance, as one would expect from Lotus Engineering. Like most front-wheel-drive cars, its handling is predisposed to understeer (the front tires begin losing grip before the rear tires do). Turn-in for corners is a little sluggish: Our impression was that there's something rubbery between the steering wheel and the pavement, with a squishiness that has to be taken up before the Spectra begins to turn. This is particularly noticeable in fast, slalom-type directional changes. A tire upgrade would surely help.

The Spectra is quiet on the highway, with a surprising absence of wind or engine racket. It feels larger than its compact measurements would seem to warrant, even on an extended drive.

We were delighted by the performance of the standard brakes. We checked them out on a closed circuit that had several corners requiring high-speed braking. The Spectra's brakes never whimpered nor showed any signs of fading. That's extraordinary for an economy car.


Summary:
With its extremely attractive price, particularly for the base sedan, the Kia Spectra should draw practical-minded shoppers, thrifty folks who will take notice of a showroom-new car, complete with an outstanding warranty, for no more money than many used cars.

The Spectra is roomy, versatile and willing; some minor trim items have been compromised in the name of cost, but the basic hardware appears durable.

Kia hopes the Spectra GSX will win the hearts and dollars of the front-drive hot-rod crowd, thanks to its affordable price and easy adaptability. (Kia has shown a modified Spectra to demonstrate its performance potential.)

And if you want a five-door hatchback at this price, then the Spectra is the only game in town.

[00accord44]

Wow. Now I gotta get one. I got to.

[CustomWhips]

i own a fucking kia rio bitch dont talk shit about my car i also have a gold tipped pipe. you dont know what its like to pimp a kia so fuck off.
i will eat your hondas for dinner... :huh:

[-The Stig-]

Originally posted by CustomWhips
you dont know what its like to pimp a kia so fuck off.

hahahaahahahhahahahha to pimp a kia... hahahhaha


werd yo.. werd to yer mother inlaw!