I TEST DROVE A KIA TODAY…

5/20/13

And why, one might ask, would I test drove a Kia Rio today?  It’s Kia’s smallest and least expensive car, what is called a B-body car, two sized down from my trusty 2007 Accord.  Why would I even consider what some might call such a drastic downsizing?

First, I don’t know if I’m considering buying a new car; in fact, I’m probably not.   But I am never completely out of the car market (back in the old days, when I was making lots of money and had far fewer financial responsibilities, I owned, consecutively, 4 cars in the space of 16 months.  I guess we all do dumb things, and if that were the dumbest thing I’ve ever done (It’s not.), I would be in good shape.   Dumber than owning 4 cars in the space of 16 months was that one of them was a Saab (“Sure ain’t a Buick,” as a guy who sold both Buicks and Saabs once told me), but I digress.

Second, I love to test drive cars.  It’s fun, it keeps me up to date on what’s going on in the car market, and, in the past when I traded car stocks with some frequency, helped me make some considerable money on those positions. 

Third, Kia offered me a small inducement to test drive one of its cars and I had the time on this beautiful afternoon to stop by my local Kia dealer (Gerald in Naperville) and take one for a spin.  Further, I did so during the week during the day, so the salespeople were not busy with customers, as they would be on a Saturday or in the evening; I don’t want someone indulging my habit of test drives for fun when they have actual, want to buy that day, customers, and the potential to make some dough, waiting for them.

Fourth, I am, as regular readers know, frugal beyond the point of fault.  And though the Rio is, by and large, an inexpensive car, the Kia Rio, in its most expensive guise, the SX, has most of the features I look for in a car…a manual transmission and some decent equipment; more on that later.

Fifth, as I wrote in my 4/3/13 post, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS TO (KIM JONG EUN)”, I am a great admirer of the South Korean people and might want to indulge that admiration by buying a Korean car, to wit…

The South Koreans and, yes, their formerly authoritarian regimes under Syngman Rhee and, to a greater extent, Park Chung Hee, took the types of risks, and engaged in the type of hard work, that the North Koreans are too timid to undertake.   They are to be congratulated.   The North Koreans, and their pudgy ruler, are to be ridiculed.   Only they don’t appear to know it.

With that having been written, I think I’ll go out and buy a Kia or a Hyundai.

Roughly equivalent sentiments point me in the direction of a Volkswagen (BISMARCK’S DREAM, MERKEL’S VICTORY, 5/1/13), but that is another issue.

So what’s the point of this screed?

I was amazed at the car.  I wasn’t amazed so much at the car itself, but at what is available in new cars, even at lower price points, nowadays.   Yes, I keep up on the industry, and I know intellectually that x, y, or z is available in certain cars, but until you get in the car and drive it and experience all the gizmos (and, more importantly, the ride, handling, and driving experience), you don’t realize how far cars have come.

Here I was, driving a car for stickering for just under $20,000 (Rios can be had for a lot less money; I drove the fully loaded SX, as I said above.) that handles like a sports car of not too many years ago with a six speed manual and plenty of power.  The car has satellite radio, Bluetooth (I have only a vague notion of what “Bluetooth” is, not being a regular celphone user.), all kinds of gizmos for streaming music in the car, backup camera, navigation, power folding mirrors, one of those keys that enables you to not only start the car but also open the doors with the key only being in your pocket, eight air bags, stability control, hatchback utility, a 5 year, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, 10 year, 100,000 powertrain warranty, 28/36 city/highway fuel economy…again, for under $20 grand.   It is amazing how far cars have come in the six model years since I bought the venerable and trusty Accord.

Since I am sure some of readers will point this out, I, too, can remember when you could buy two fully loaded Cadillacs for less than $20 grand.  But by latter day standards, this Kia Rio is just an amazing achievement, testimony to how great and dynamic the world auto industry, and, more importantly, the competitive, free market system, is.

Not that I would want to trade-in the greatest, and, in at least one sense, most unusual car I have ever owned, my 2007 Accord EX-L manual.   Nor would I necessarily trade it in on the Rio; the Rio lacks a few things I would like in a car and could be quieter and have tighter steering.  But the drive I took today really opened my eyes.