I had to sit in the waiting area while they replaced
my car battery.

Everyone was distancing, masked, and thoughtful.

Some people are listening to reason, it seems.

up here in the Great White North. And masks are mandated in my region.

We should give such businesses our business, I think, and skip the others.

Where are KIAs made?

I don’t understand the fetish with cars made by foreign nameplates.

I have a Chicago union built Ford Explorer, and it as good, if not better than anything from a Japanese or Korean nameplate. In fact, the transmission on my Honda failed at 62k, and the Honda rep showed my the SERVICE department where all the mechanical failures come to get fixed. So with the illusion popped, I’ve been driving Fords ever since.

because of where I live. MICHIGAN I don't get buying foreign cars. Drive around here and you mainly see Chevrolets and Fords.

endlessly problematic. 3 Toyotas and 3 Nissans later, and only 1 problem with 1 of them.

I'm sticking with what I've had the best luck with, Japanese.

highway in the middle of the night I got rid of it and bought a Honda. Also, do people realize that not all Fords or Chevys are made here? There are quite a few foreign companies that build cars in the US...

Owning 3 Fords and all were “endlessly problematic” while owning 6 Japanese cars that were perfect?

There must be more to your story.

At the very least, it sounds like the Fords were purchased decades ago, when cars of ALL MAKES were less reliable. At worst, it falls into the “All American cars suck. All Japanese cars perfect” black and white narrative - a narrative pushed in order to destroy unions, along with stories with highly paid union workers who couldn’t be fired, and paid to sit around and get high. But the truth is that union workers were the guts of the Democratic political machine, which the Right Wong billionaires wanted to destroy.

If you go to any auto dealership today, regardless of brand, and every one has a service department. And if you went into that service department, you’ll find late model cars torn apart, with service techs dealing with failures. And yes, every auto manufacturer has cut Lemon Law buyback checks. Shocking, I know.

Look at the reliability surveys today, and you’ll see that reliability is very much the same, and is good. In fact, reliability differs more on how new the model is on the market, than the make.....meaning if reliability is most important to you, then choose a style that has been on the market the longest time, as the manufacturer has had a chance to work out any problems.

It's about one car dealership that is taking COVID-19 seriously and trying to protect its customers and employees. Trying to turn it into something else is not going to work. It's not about KIAs or Fords.It's about one business that is trying to do things the right way.

It's important we maintain a relevance we define at the expense of open discussion rather than staring down our neighbor's visitors... metaphorically speaking.

It is about a US business that is handling a Pandemic correctly. That's obvious. That it was a KIA dealer is not the point at all.

Nice to see you. Again.

...and especially true when it is a non union made vehicle. Just as easy to say new car, dealer, etc,,,,,and when they needlessly throw in the brand, then the door is opened.

FYI....The Democratic Party was much stronger when unions were strong....and unions supported the Democratic party in large numbers with money and labor.....with the result being higher wages, standard of living for everybody in he US, union member or not.

But people are stupid enough to to think they can hold those high wage jobs, and stretch their dollar by purchasing products from slave wage countries, or other factors they benefit a society.

The reality is today, a union made Ford Explorer in Chicago is of at least equal quality than anything coming from overseas or a non union factory in the US.

were just crappy cars. Right after we got rid of the third one, we bought our first Toyota in the early 1980's. Ran like a dream and had no problems with it.

I have no desire to switch back to a domestic brand because I've been very happy with Japanese brands.

To each his own

My experience with Fords is they are shit cars, but the trucks are okay.

and expectations. I own a 1996 Ford Ranger, which meets my needs for a pickup truck. I like it a lot. I paid $1400 for it last year, including a set of new tires.

I have owned two KIA Souls. A 2013 and now a 2020. I traded the 2013 in on the 2020. I bought the first one because it had a 5-year/60,000 mile warranty, something not available on any US-made car. I bought the 2020 for the same reason, and because the 2013 had never needed anything at all done to it. The Soul was a NTSA Top safety pick in both years. Souls get great mileage, are super comfortable, have lots of leg and head room for front seat and rear seat passengers. The 2013 cost under $15,000 out the door. the 2020 cost less than that with my trade.

I buy cars based on many factors. I buy a car that suits my budget, that has a warranty that lasts as long as the financing, and that has a reputation for reliability and longevity. I buy a car to drive the way I want to drive and that is equipped the way I want it equipped. The KIA Soul fits all of those categories. There is no car from a US manufacturer that does. So...there you are.

Maybe you have different criteria for your cars.

The Soul, however, is made in South Korea. Even its name is based on Seoul, the capital of that country.

They are sold, however, by individual dealerships here in the United States, businesses that employ American workers.

So, which Chevy models have a 5-year/60,000 mile overall warranty and a 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty? That's important to me. In fact, which US-made cars have warranties like that? I couldn't find any when I was car shopping.

Kia Optima and Kia Sorento are built in the state of Georgia. The Soul and others are built in South Korea.

The Malibu and Impala are in dire need of overhauls. I looked at the Malibu but the interior was so dated compared to what you can get with like Honda, Subaru, and Hyundai.

I would love to get an American brand car but someone like me, I have no need for a giant, gas-guzzling SUV or a pickup truck the size of a small house, so I have to stick with conventional sedans. And I'm not paying $32K for something that's outdated compared to something from Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru, etc.

nt

On the other hand, I can't get a fast food hamburger without looking through the drive through window to see the employees with their noses sticking out of their masks.

My local Taco Bell is open only for drive-through. Everyone inside is masked and gloved. You can only pay with a credit or debit card and the card reader is mounted outside at the window, so you just insert your smart chip card and then pull it out without touching anything. Food is delivered on a tray, in a sealed bag, which is handled only by the bottom of the bag.

Seems OK to me, so we're back to eating Taco Bell once a week.

You put cash in a cup, the food is in a bag sealed with a sticker and they hand it to you with a tray. Every employee I could see through the window had their noses sticking out of the masks. I always say something if it's an employee. "You are not doing your customers any good with that mask on your chin." They usually just give a weak laugh and don't adjust the mask. We are so screwed.

How it is operated is up to the franchise owner, so there are a lot of different experiences people have.

but up to franchisee as to how they enforce it. Subway is a little lax right now. Prices are real good if you order and pay online, $5 footlong if you order 2. No masks, order is wrong a lot at the one I go to. It's drive-through so you can't actually watch them make it, but it's easy. Drive up, grab it and drive away.

I went to a local grocery store yesterday to drop off some of my five months' worth of plastic bags for recycling (from the daily newspaper and home delivery - I'm still not grocery shopping inside the store). There was a big sign on the door that masks are required to enter and they'll provide one if you need it. I didn't go inside any farther than necessary to drop off the bags, but as far as I could tell everybody was complying. We are back under a statewide mask order for all indoor public spaces because of a recent uptick in cases, and of course the GOP in the legislature are fighting it. Maybe the private businesses who don't want to kill off their customers, like the Kia dealership and the grocery store, will be the clue birds who poop on their heads.

Car sales are down, and service departments are not all that busy. People are driving less. I think that most dealers are putting customer concerns at the top of their priority list.

I have noticed that mask compliance at the Cub supermarket where I shop is way, way up since they put the "Masks Required" signs on every entry door. However, the parking lot is less full than usual at the time I always go to the store - 9 AM on Saturday. I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but at least the people shopping and working in the store are following the rules.

Of course, I haven't been in any other car dealerships, nor have I been in any other supermarkets, so my data is strictly anecdotal.

Now that I'm working from home I drive it maybe 10 miles a week and per my employer will be through at least the end of the year. It may not be optimal, but I figure my car will be fine if it doesn't get changed until Q1 2021.

Still, the computer update was a bonus for following the factory recommendations. Both my wife and I work at home, so it doesn't get a lot of miles put on it. It's going to be a real treat for whoever buys it after we trade it in in 2024. It will have only about 25,000 miles on it, but the 5-year/60,000 mile overall warranty will be over at the same time as our payments end. So, we'll trade it for a new one, if they're still making the Soul. If not, there will be another KIA we like, no doubt, in 2024.

Elderly neighbor of a friend, maintained perfectly, the only downside is it’s red.

I’ve driven a hybrid since 2006 and I really do love it but I just don’t drive enough anymore to keep the battery charged. It’s a $3000 repair to get a used battery replacement. Done it twice now. Not up for a third.

I had hoped by this time to go all electric but things went the way they did

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The KIA was such a nice car, my brother-in-law's sister asked me about them and I said, Buy it! She did.

I was really disappointed in the Mercedes I was stuck with. I had to take the C300 back because they overfilled the oil and it went into a warning mode. Then, they pushed me into a Mercedes GLA. I thought the C300 was the biggest POS... the GLA was two dumps in one. I've rented and owned some pretty nice cars, and the two Mercedes cars I took out were the worst cars I think I've ever ridden in. Well, there was that 1972 Buick LeSabre my dad had which comes in close.

.

Overall, both have been very, very good vehicles. Well built, reliable, comfortable, and trouble-free. At the time we bought our 2013 Soul, it was one of the least expensive small cars available. It's still very reasonably priced, but feels like a more expensive car. The 2020 model is much improved in terms of comfort and amenities. I have lots of compliments and no complaints about the cars at all.

A couple of our friends have bought them, after riding in ours and hearing our opinions of it. It's just a good, economical 4/5 passenger car.

I'd rate the Kia Soul as the best all around car I've owned over the last 50+ years. It's just has no real faults.

You recommended it to me a while back, and then I had several other colleagues and friends recommend it. Checked it out, and my local Kia dealership wasn’t trying to screw with me like Toyota was.

I traded in my tiny Scion IQ for a 2020 Soul and so far no regrets. I still park like an a-hole sometimes because I’m still thinking “tiny car.”

The ride is a little stiff, but I don't mind that. All around, it's a car that is very easy to like, I think, in pretty much every area. It's still a small car, but acts like a larger one, it seems to me.

She loves it! Great car and really solid, great features for the pice.

Also, I went to Work From Home in mid March, I recently filled my gas tank on my car for the first time since then. In 4-1/2 months I've put maybe 200 miles on my car. Going to save me a whole year of wear and tear and make me put off replacing it for that much longer. We're WFH indefinitely.

these days. That's definitely cutting into the service department profits for car dealers. That and people not needing to replace their cars so often. I think that's why most dealers are taking extra care with their customers. They want you coming back.

about everything before hand. When I called several places ahead of time so as to choose the best option, the place where I ultimately took my car told me everything I wanted to hear. Ha! They said they had a pergola set up with outside seating, everyone would be wearing masks, I could pay with an app, and their mechanics change gloves with each vehicle. What I got instead - no one wearing masks and the outside seating area turned out to be two chairs on opposite sides of the front doors next to those standing ashtray thingys (the pergola was just the normal overhang of the building's roof). If I had sat there, every person entering the building would have passed within one foot of me, and boy was the dealership busy! While I was able to pay with the app and included a text message telling them to simply put my receipt in the car, they felt compelled to walk it over to me when they saw me (I yelled and stopped him before he got too close). And when I bitched about the fact that no one was wearing a mask, they offered their special disinfecting treatment (only $119). When I told them they were fucking insane, the guy laughed and said if I wanted him to wear a mask, he'd be happy to. Needless to say, I was an absolute wreck when I got home.

I've had several other situations occur, the post office being the worst, where I call ahead, hear all the right things, and then experience nothing of what was described to me. I actually think they are pulling this bait and switch thing on purpose out of nastiness.

person or group. So, what happens in one isn't necessarily what happens in another one.

Gist of my post was Florida in general. Not a great place to be right now.

in either location

VERY disappointed

The virus isn't easily transmitted by touching surfaces, they have found. So, a double wipedown with disinfectant wipes of all touch surfaces should do the trick just fine, I think.

The car lives outdoors, since there's no room in the garage for it right now. It'll go back in the garage during the Winter, and we'll drive the '96 Ranger. I don't care if it gets dinged up. It's already a beater, anyhow.

i found out i touch my face a lot. use gloves that i can get on and off easily so when i go in and out of stores i can take one off and reach into my pocket to get keys, or deb card or if i use cash i try to take a variety of bills and get it close and let them throw the change in the bag.... etc

when i come out to the car in the parking lot i assume that some guy out of work might have been checking car doors....

still going on those initial reports of it hanging on surfaces for days. i think a lot of it's luck or bad luck and i'll keep minimizing variables.

I'm in the market for a midsize sedan and I've looked at everything - Ford, Subaru, Hyundai, Toyota, Kia, you name it.

Right now my top two are the Subaru Legacy and the Honda Accord and those are mainly based on the experiences that I had at the dealerships. The Subaru dealer was by far the best in terms of their COVID response.

The absolute worst experience I had at a dealership in terms of the pandemic was the Toyota dealer. I went to look at a Camry - there was almost no one distancing or wearing masks or gloves, and the guy who I talked to on the phone was practically in my face the entire time.

The Subaru dealer I went to actually gave me some gloves after mine broke, so that earned them extra points in my book. I haven't had a chance to look at Kia yet though the K5 does look very promising!

They sell a lot of KIAs and have a Chrysler Jeep dealership next door, too. My experiences with them have all been positive. I've bought two KIAs from them, and my late mother-in-law bought a PT Cruiser from the other dealership and my wife's sister leased a Jeep from them. It's a good place to do business, I think.

They seem to know that the reputation a dealer has is a big part of its success.

No matter how little you drive, you have to go in and get serviced.

previous Kia Soul, a 2013, that didn't get driven too many more miles a year. We traded it in after seven years with just 40,000 miles on it. The service contract on that one was set up for six years, since that was the financing period. I never had a warranty repair on the car, but every service it got was at the dealership. Same guys working in the service department now that were working here in 2012 when I bought the first Soul. That's a good sign.

door "everyone has to wear a mask including employees and service personnel".

It doesn't paint a pretty picture of how they handle other responsibilities, either. Apparently they don't follow their own policies, so I have to wonder how well they do the work they do. Truly.

These days, we can all refuse to do business with people who don't take our health seriously. I would walk out on a place like that and tell the manager or owner why I was leaving. If enough people do that, they'll maybe figure out that they need to make some changes. Maybe. If not, then let them fail.

Except the TV was tuned to HGTV.

Curbside service only. Well the dog got to go inside but we didn't. We were met outside by masked up "greeters". The vet came out to talk to us after his evaluation of our dog regarding her very irritated eyes. It seemed to work out fine.

I like it.

And as a bonus I didn't have to be there when our dog crapped and peed all over the examination room. She gets scared and does it nearly every time. However, I did hear about it when they brought her out to the car. LOL

to get to your shop? I'm in NW Montana by Glacier park.

it's really nice car!

Never than you'd expect.

if they take the virus seriously, they will get my business!

Good for health. Bad for dashboards.

They may be getting an unusual number of cracked dashboards in warranty work.