Kia cars keep getting scrapped for much different reasons than Hondas and Toyotas [Video]
“I mean, this thing’s got everything,” the guy filming exclaims. He’s giving viewers a walkthrough of a nicely loaded Kia SUV. The thing is, while the seemingly flawless vehicle with 122,000 miles looks great, it’s been scrapped. And it’s not an unusual occurrence at Auto Parts City…at least not for Kias.
“It doesn’t spin, it’s complete junk.”
The SUV has a two-tone leather interior, a panoramic glass roof, heated and cooled steering wheel and seats, navigation, and more.
But, “This engine is completely locked up,” the narrator explains. Well, why doesn’t the owner just put a replacement engine in it and keep the car going? Surely replacing it is less expensive than moving into a new car…
“Let me show you what a replacement engine costs for this Kia,” he says. He shows us a screenshot of what looks like car-part.com. It’s like Craigslist for used car parts.
For this Kia SUV, which looks like a Sportage, used engines go for upwards of $5,800. This means that a shop would have to pay $4K-$6K up front, and then mark the engine up for retail. That doesn’t even include labor and any additional parts and supplies needed to really get the Kia back on the road.
The issue stems from manufacturing defects inside Kia GDI engines
Used in 2011 to 2014 models, the direct injection system was designed and implemented such that carbon builds up where it shouldn’t. Oil sludge is also common. The defects lead to internal component wear and near-guaranteed failure. As such, Optima, Sportage, and Soul models with 2.0 and 2.4L GDI engines are ticking time bombs once they hit 100,000 miles, with most lasting until around 125K.
Some go farther, but that’s if the owner understands the car’s propensity for internal problems and changes the oil quite frequently – think every 3,000 miles instead of the factory-recommended interval.
Since they’re so expensive to fix and not worth much with some mileage on them, Kia cars with locked-up engines end up totaled on the spot.
Why late-model Hondas and Toyotas end up at the junkyard
The Auto Parts City rep shows us a wrecked Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. They’ve been totaled based on heavy body damage after a collision.
“Do you see any damage on this Kia?” he asks, showing us what looks like a pristine red Kia Sportage. He moves onto a black Kia SUV parked next to it. Next, a silver Forte, Kia’s compact sedan, which also used the GDI engine. Finally, he walks further down the line to a black Kia Soul. None of these Kia cars have body damage that would land them at the junkyard.
Since the 2011 to 2014 models are getting up there in age and are crossing the 120K mileage mark, I’m not surprised Auto Parts City has a bunch of them lined up for scrap.
“Talk to you guys later,” he ends with obvious disappointment.
