The 100000 mile warranty is how they got people to buy those crappy cars from a few years ago. One of my co-workers bought one and had a issue where the bumper cover kept popping/falling off (no joke). She fought with them for a while to cover it under the warranty. They finally gave in but told her it would take 1-2 weeks to fix because they were backed up. Lol. I don't care about 100k mile warranties if I'm going to keep having to execute the warranty. That's just a waste of my time.
If you can move up a little bit to a Kia Soul they seem to be doing well. My dentist has one that he puts lots of miles on and has been suprised at how well its holding up, he also likes the sound system in it. I borrowed it one day and was surprised at how good it drove for a budget type car. http://autos.yahoo.com/kia/ Be sure to check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm http://www.fuelly.com/ on any car before you buy to make sure you can afford to drive it! Don't pay attention to car status people if it is what you can afford then that is what you can afford. I have bought 3 cars from Carmax with no trouble from any of them. If the car has a smoker smell to it they have a deodorizer machine that will take it out just tell them to do it. When taking a car for a test drive at Carmax before you leave the lot tell them you want to take it on a extended test drive so they can get it cleared before leaving the lot. They are otherwise restricted to a short route. Pick out a rough road and also a good stretch of freeway and check it out. Good luck you have to live with it so be picky.
Xzerobull is right get your financing done before you go. New car depreciation is a b****. Good used car is best bet.
Kia's are garbage. Buddies ex gf had one and I rode in it. Boring, awful, turrible handling, and just plain ugly imo. When I see kia or even hyundai's, I see knockoffs of benz, bimmers, and honda's. Says alot about a car manufacture. Instead of that 100,000 mile "warranty" sales pitch, I'd rather buy a better built pre owned bimmer or acura of the same budget. Shell out the cash if needed should repairs be required. Have it carfully inspected first and you may not have any major problems down the road.
got a Kia Forte as a long-term rental. It's a 2011 and only has 10k miles on it, so I guess I won't see issues. But I'm surprised at the quality of the comfort, handle, acceleration, overall drive, etc. If it held up to reliability and crash/safety tests better nowadays (I haven't researched their improvements), I'd gladly own one..
