Oh, hey....it's me again. So, I rolled the dice on that and definitely won out. Motherfucker has about 90,000KM of hard driving on it and I haven't put in a dime I didn't need to. Didn't follow maintenance at all, have basically been throwing oil and gas in for 4.5 years, flipped some filters here and there and done some oil changes. Runs like a top. A shitty little top, but still a top and I'm actually quite surprised. I mean, I'm going to have to pay for a new timing belt real soon, because I have a hunch it's an interference engine, but that's just part of owning any car (why do we still have to do that shit? computers and shit).
That said, looking back on this thread, I'm glad I went the way I did, although I certainly appreciated the input. The Accent may have been a financially better decision, due to it's ability to fight off depreciation a bit, but I like sedan's with rear seat truck access rather than hatchbacks, so no regrets there. Plus, you don't go dropping roughly 10 grand cash on a car you give a fuck about - I park this motherfucker in the worst parts of town overnight and don't stress for a second. I park in ridiculously small spaces other people pass up because - worst case scenario - that concrete pillar is 20 minutes of work on a sunny day with a can of touch up paint, some rust primer (you never do that shit right away), some clear coat, and a couple of beers. I will roll up and hedge park all up on some blackberry bushes -who cares when you have a touch up pen? We all like nice things, but I also realize that I personally value not giving a fuck.
Sure, I could have done that with a used car for four grand less, but there's a risk there and I'm glad I had the piece of mind of warranty coverage when dealing with a couple years of working full time and going to school full time in a program with mandatory attendance (why the fuck do secondary technical degrees and masters degrees often have that? It's backwards as fuck. Like, I'm not an undergrad, I fully understand what this costs me, if I miss a class it's usually not because I want to).
So, all in all, Kia gets my personal stamp of approval. I mean, not if you're looking for performance or luxury, but if you need to get somewhere it's all good...so apparently they did turn it around in the mid-2000's. Actually it looks like KIA/Hyundai (Same company now) kind of took over the marketspace that Toyota and Honda vacated in the early 2000's - just cheap ass cars that run (okay). Oh, and note: Girl's don't give a fuck as long as you call it a KIAdillac. Even more impressed then they were with the Tercedes.
PS. Koreans suck at making glass. That or I suck at getting chips repaired before they turn into full windshield cracks. I hear this is pretty common but I have a full crack and a chip and I've never had either with any other car I've owned so I find it suspicious.