Kia Problems

It sounds like a pretty nitty-gritty tech question, but is the camshaft in the engine of the Kia Rio timing belt or chain driven? There’s a good reason for knowing the answer, though, as it determines whether you need to add a crucial routine maintenance step to your ownership.

In cars with a toothed rubber timing belt, the belt and its tensioners need to be changed at an interval recommended by the car’s manufacturer to avoid expensive belt failures which can ruin the whole engine. Ignore this maintenance at your peril.

The good news is the GL4C engine as used in the Kia Rio since 2016 uses a timing chain which should be good for the life of the engine and not need any extra maintenance.

Yes, there are plenty of companies selling replacement keys for this car. The cost will depend on whether it’s a conventional key or an electronically coded key with a remote locking function built in to it. Just be careful if ordering online, though, as some replacement keys include only the hardware and not the internal electronics.

In many cases, you need to source the replacement key and then have a locksmith physically cut the key so that it works in your car. In some cases, you may have to prove ownership of the car before the locksmith will do this. Some keys then need to be electronically coded to `talk’ to the vehicle.

If you want a no hassle experience, there are even locksmiths who will come to you and cut the key on site, but you’ll pay a call-out fee as well as the cost of the key itself.

The Kia Sportage SX starts at $35,000 in manual form and $37,000 for the automatic variant. The better equipped, more powerful GT-Line petrol version is available only as an automatic and costs $49,370. Those prices do not include on-road costs which will vary from state to state and even region to region.

The current Sportage was launched in 2021, so we can possibly expect a mild facelift sometime in the 2023 calendar year. But being such a new design, the upgrades are not likely to be major ones, so there’s no reason to hold off buying now or when supply allows.

The default purchase for somebody looking for a mid-sized hybrid SUV is the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. But if that’s too big, there’s the Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, C-HR Hybrid and even the Corolla Cross Hybrid which sounds like the marketplace is getting crowded but is really just a reflection of the appetite right now for cars like these. And that’s the catch; the waiting times for a brand-new example of some of these cars is out to many months and even years. So your plan to shop second-hand makes plenty of sense, but don’t expect any bargains in a market currently being dominated by lots of demand and less supply.

Beyond the Toyota brand (which has been doing hybrids longer than just about anybody else) there’s also the Mazda CX-30, Subaru XV Hybrid, Haval Jolion Hybrid, Kia Niro, Subaru Forester Hybrid, Nissan Qashqai e-Power, MG HS, Honda HR-V e and more. For something a bit bigger, try the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe hybrids. There are others out there, too, that are probably bigger or more expensive than you need, but it's very much a growing scene in the Australian marketplace.

Sadly, Aussie cars like the Ford Fairmont just aren't being made any longer. As you've correctly identified over many years and almost 300,000km, this big, rugged, relaxed type of vehicle was perfect for travelling in Australia, but the onslaught of SUVs and the death of the local car-making industry put an end to these big sedans.

There's nothing wrong with a Kia Sportage (in fact, it's a good choice) and you might find the effortless turbo-diesel version suits your needs and preferences quite well. You may also appreciate the higher ride height and easier entry and egress. But what you won't find in any mid-sized SUV is the same dynamic feel of a conventional sedan like your current Ford. This is not to say modern SUVs don't drive well; they do, and improved fuel efficiency and different packaging is all part of where the Australia car-park is going.

If you're not venturing off the bitumen, however, there are a few alternatives to an SUV in the form of some very accomplished medium-sized sedans. The Hyundai i30 Sedan would be one and, if you want to retain the rear-wheel-drive feel and big performance, then the Kia Stinger is another alternative to an SUV.

The other alternative would be to take the time and effort to seek out a later-model Ford Fairmont with fewer kilometres on its odometer and start over again with the packaging you clearly already enjoy.

Kia introduced the fifth-generation Sportage in 2021, so there won't be any wholesale changes to the car for a while yet. Kia – like most car-makers – is constantly fine-tuning specifications of its vehicles, so there may be a mild facelift of the car due in 2023 or soon thereafter, but it's unlikely to involve much in the way of engineering.

The biggest news for the Sportage range in 2023 is likely to be the introduction of a hybrid model. Kia isn't saying when that will be, however, and it could even be 2024 before we see it. The other new Sportage variant is likely to be a plug-in hybrid version which has been slated for the North American market, but not confirmed for Australia. Yet.

I'll assume you mean the forthcoming Kia EV9 electric SUV. In which case, yes, you will struggle to fit it into a garage that only just contains a 200-Series LandCruiser, as the EV9 is, indeed, 75mm wider. Perhaps. See, at this stage, the images and specifications we've been dished up have involved the vehicle in its concept stage, and as car companies know only too well, not every aspect of a concept makes it to production (which would be sometime next year in the EV9's case).

Whether or not the electric off-roader from Kia will have a mirror-retractor function is anybody's guess right now, but the images we've seen of the concept suggest that instead of conventional mirrors, the EV9 would use small cameras mounted in the mirrors' place, transferring the image to the info-screen inside the car. If that's the case, these tiny cameras would not need to be retractable, suggesting that the width of 2055mm quoted for the Kia is possibly a concept-only dimension.

If the vehicle really reaches production as wide as that, it would have difficulty fitting down some Australian bush tracks; tracks that have been cut by generations of LandCruisers and Nissan Patrols. Then again, the EV9 has been designed for a global market, not just us. And let's not forget the width of a Hummer...

The bottom line is you'll have to wait and see precisely how wide the Kia is when it finally goes on sale. but if your current LandCruiser is a tight fit, don't expect the Kia to be any easier to fit in your garage.

I would reject the assertion that all modern engines ping because they run lean. Pinging (or detonation or pre-ignition, call it what you will) is a symptom of a problem (usually with the ignition timing or fuel mixture) and it’s not something you should expect to hear. Over time, continued pinging will damage the engine’s internal components and then you’re faced with a huge bill instead.

The knock sensor should detect the first signs of pinging (even before you’ve heard it) and adjust the engine’s ignition curve (generally) to stop it happening. So, either the knock sensor’s not working or the computer that is supposed to control the engine’s settings isn’t operating correctly. The fact that a tankful of 98RON fuel stops the problem suggests that the engine settings are off.

Kia recommends normal 91 RON ULP for the Seltos and says that E10 fuel is also compatible with the vehicle. So there should be no need to buy the more costly 98 RON stuff just to prevent the engine pinging. Your vehicle is still well and truly under warranty, so make it Kia’s problem to fix it. And don’t be fobbed off by `they all do that, Sir’.

The popular MG3 is the model you’re referring to and you’re right; it hasn’t been locally crash-tested. But it does lack some important safety gear. Enough, we reckon, to knock it off your short-list. The MG lacks, for instance, important driver aids such as autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assistance, nor can these features be had by spending more on a fancier version.

Which leaves us with your other two choices, the Hyundai i30 and Kia Rio. Even then, you’ll need to option up beyond the base-model to get (some of) those safety features, but these are not expensive cars to begin with, so the jump might not be as bad as you think.

The other car to consider would be the SP Pure version of the Mazda 2. At $23,690, it’s not over-priced but it does have low-speed (up to 30km/h) autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warning as well as rear cross-traffic alert.

And a manual transmission? The MG 3 no longer offers one, both the Hyundai i30 and the Kia Rio are available with a six-speed manual option. The Mazda 2 Pure SP is automatic only, but you can get a six-speed manual on the base-model Mazda 2.

I agree that youngsters taught to drive a manual car tend to be better drivers, but that’s not a universally held view these days. And the fact is that most young drivers will never be presented with a clutch pedal in the future, raising the question of why learn in the first place? The reality is that learning to drive a manual car gives you extra mechanical awareness and extra ability to multi-task behind the wheel.

While the weight of a towball bike rack and a couple of bicycles won’t be the issue, the problem will probably be down to the potential for those bikes and rack to obscure the parking sensors or reversing camera, or even making the rear hatch impossible to open with the rack in place. In cars with reverse autonomous braking, the sensors and cameras that allow that function to exist could also be compromised. And suddenly, the car you think has reverse AEB, suddenly doesn’t.

Car-makers spend a lot of time and money making that sort of technology work, only to have an aftermarket bike-rack company come along and render it useless. Bull-bars on four-wheel-drives are another great example: Aftermarket protection bars don’t always take into account the operation of the vehicle’s air-bag systems, potentially making the car less safe in a crash.