Bought a "Toad" today

[Higgins]

Well my first trip with my new car caddy and the coach this weekend did not work out so well. I was planning on using my venerable 94 Accord with 235K on the meter as my "toad". We loaded her up and all went well on the quick 30 mile trip to our destination. When we went to load her back up, well, we tore the front bumper. Looked at the situation and we were a wee bit out of level, but it should have loaded. So, I took her to a friend of mine who likes to fix cars and sell them for a buck or two profit and got 1800.00 for it, same amount I paid for it 3 years ago. So I started looking for a new "toad". My requirements were light, good clearance in front, good fuel economy and dependable. I ran up on what I think was a good deal. I bought a 2006 Kia Spectra 5, 22K on the clock, one owner from the Kia dealer (she traded it in on a Kia small SUV), lots of warranty left, rated 25 city and 34 Hwy, for 9000.00 bucks. I brought her home, did an oil change and rotated the tires. Gotta tell you, this seems to be a nice little ride. Peppier than my Civic, tighter ride, quite, smooth. That said it only has 22k on the clock so it is supposed to be nice. Long term who knows. Anybody want to chime in on Kia's in general. Word from my Honda guy is they have come a long way in the last few years, he told me to buy it, it was a deal.

[Higgins]

Well my first trip with my new car caddy and the coach this weekend did not work out so well. I was planning on using my venerable 94 Accord with 235K on the meter as my "toad". We loaded her up and all went well on the quick 30 mile trip to our destination. When we went to load her back up, well, we tore the front bumper. Looked at the situation and we were a wee bit out of level, but it should have loaded. So, I took her to a friend of mine who likes to fix cars and sell them for a buck or two profit and got 1800.00 for it, same amount I paid for it 3 years ago. So I started looking for a new "toad". My requirements were light, good clearance in front, good fuel economy and dependable. I ran up on what I think was a good deal. I bought a 2006 Kia Spectra 5, 22K on the clock, one owner from the Kia dealer (she traded it in on a Kia small SUV), lots of warranty left, rated 25 city and 34 Hwy, for 9000.00 bucks. I brought her home, did an oil change and rotated the tires. Gotta tell you, this seems to be a nice little ride. Peppier than my Civic, tighter ride, quite, smooth. That said it only has 22k on the clock so it is supposed to be nice. Long term who knows. Anybody want to chime in on Kia's in general. Word from my Honda guy is they have come a long way in the last few years, he told me to buy it, it was a deal.

[Jestme13]

Lets wait until she has close to 236K on her before comparing it to the old trusty Accord. I was wondering why the lady sold such a nice new car, and the dealer sold it so cheap. Just luck I guess

[Higgins]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jestme13:
Lets wait until she has close to 236K on her before comparing it to the old trusty Accord. I was wondering why the lady sold such a nice new car, and the dealer sold it so cheap. Just luck I guess </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Look, I am under no elusion that the quality of the Kia is near the quality of the Accord. As I stated in my post, she wanted a small SUV, that is why she traded and the reason it was cheap, is because they have no resale value, that does not mean they have no value. I am enjoying the car and it will never have a chance to even get 100k on the clock with my intended useage. I did not want to drop 25-29K on a CRV which would have been my choice if money was no object. But now we are only plan doing about 3-5K a year in the coach.

[DonavonP]

Here is the "Consumerguide=How stuff works" review on the Spectra.