Buying a new Kia K4 is the kind of decision that comes with a long runway ahead. Kia’s 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty is among the best coverage in the compact sedan segment, and it signals that this car is built to go the distance. But that warranty works in partnership with your maintenance habits, and…
Two months ago, a 2021 Kia Forte with 38,000 miles came in shuddering badly on acceleration and slipping between gears on the merge ramp from Old Troy Pike onto I-75. The owner had never had the DCT fluid inspected and had been dismissing the shudder as a quirk of the transmission for nearly a year….
If you drive a Kia K5 through Dayton on a regular basis, you have already felt the steering wheel shimmy over a rough patch on Old Troy Pike or tighten unexpectedly through a pothole on Brandt Pike. What most K5 drivers do not consider is that every one of those impacts sends a shockwave through…
Last July, a Kia Sportage came into our service bay on a flatbed after the owner had been stranded on I-70 near the Huber Heights exit. The serpentine belt had snapped completely, taking the power steering, alternator, and air conditioning with it in an instant. The owner had noticed a faint squealing sound on humid…
The map on your Kia’s navigation screen looks right until the day it doesn’t. A new interchange opens on I-70, a road gets rerouted near Huber Heights, and suddenly the system is confidently directing you somewhere that no longer exists the way it used to. Software and navigation updates on modern Kia vehicles cover a…
Last August, a 2018 Kia Sportage came into our service bay with 94,000 miles on the odometer and a rough idle that its owner had been monitoring for about four months on his daily commute between Huber Heights and the Dayton Mall area along OH-4. He had added two bottles of fuel system cleaner to…
Last September, a 2023 Kia Sportage came into our service bay after its owner attempted the Gorge Trail loop at John Bryan State Park with 6,000 miles of overdue service and tires that had not been rotated since purchase. The trail’s limestone outcroppings and creek crossings put enough stress on the already-worn front tires that…
A Kia Sportage owner came into our service bay last month for a routine oil change. She had no specific concerns and her vehicle felt completely normal on her daily commute between Huber Heights and her workplace near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on US-35. During the multi-point inspection that accompanies every oil change at Kia…
A Kia Sorento owner came into our service bay last month after developing a persistent engine tick during his morning commute on US-35 between Huber Heights and the Dayton Mall area. He had been stretching his oil changes to 9,000 and 10,000 miles on a driving pattern that was almost entirely stop-and-go surface street and…
A Kia Sorento owner came into our service bay last April after a hydroplaning event on US-35 westbound near the Huber Heights interchange during a heavy afternoon rain. She had been running all-season tires that had 28,000 miles on them and had been planning to replace them before summer. The hydroplaning event caused her to…
