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Traded the 05 sts for a 14 Kia Forte EX

2K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  truckinman 
#1 ·
Well we decided to pull the trigger. Went and looked at the new 2014 Kia Forte and loved it. So although I won't have the caddy anymore, I'm sure ill still lurk around from time to time. Lol



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Only thing it doesn't have is Nav
 
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#6 ·
What brought the change upon? I remember you saying a few months back that you were thinking about your girlfriend picking up a Forte.

That new Forte is hot, better in some ways than the Civic. Did you get the 1.8L or 2.0L? Aren't all EX's the 2.0L? That's a pretty sweet little engine, quickest engine in it's class, aside from the hopped up versions of the competitors (Civic Si, MazdaSpeed, etc). But compared to the Civic EX, Corolla S, Focus, etc, it's quickest.

Those Fortes came in right before I left Kia, never had time to sell one, but I drove an EX with the Premium Package, identical to yours, and thought it was a nice compact sedan.
 
#7 ·
I~LUV~Caddys8792 said:
What brought the change upon? I remember you saying a few months back that you were thinking about your girlfriend picking up a Forte.

That new Forte is hot, better in some ways than the Civic. Did you get the 1.8L or 2.0L? Aren't all EX's the 2.0L? That's a pretty sweet little engine, quickest engine in it's class, aside from the hopped up versions of the competitors (Civic Si, MazdaSpeed, etc). But compared to the Civic EX, Corolla S, Focus, etc, it's quickest.

Those Fortes came in right before I left Kia, never had time to sell one, but I drove an EX with the Premium Package, identical to yours, and thought it was a nice compact sedan.
Thanks guys! I do love it on this forum. You all have been big help when I needed it. Dave, my apologies for going "against the family" lol. And I can't stand the looks of the new Cherokee btw lol

And yep, this forte had the 2.0 GDI with 173 hp. We got a decent deal on it. And you get a LOTTA car for the money here. This one was listed at just under 24k, then after 2k down and some negotiating, we got the price to 20k. Lol. But it's got heated front and rear seats, an air conditioned drivers seat (don't know why but the passenger seat isn't available with AC) back up camera, heated steering wheel...even some sort of steering firmness to give you a relaxed feel or if you want a firmer sportier feel, you just push a button. My wife says we are going to be fighting over this car. Lol. Good thing I like her Rav4 then 2 lol. Great MPG. 26/36. Decent sized car. Specially since we would like to hopefully have a baby by this time next year lol.

I'm really quite pumped about this car. I never thought I'd say that about a Kia! Lol. But I've been wanting to look at one since the 14's came out and now we've got One. It's got the UVO as well which is by Microsoft and essentially is the same thing as fords "Sync" services.

Ill definitely keep you all posted on my thoughts of this car. Ill miss the Cadillac, but luckily trading in that car, doesn't mean trading in this forum along with it! Lol.
 
#9 ·
ben.gators said:
It surprises me how equipped and loaded the new compact cars are! Congratulations! Did you get a good deal on the trade in?
They gave us 6 for the Cadillac which we still had a loan on and we were a bit top heavy. But we also traded her 05 Saturn Ion and got 4 for that car plus we gave 2k on top of it all down so needless to say its not like we've got neg equity on this Kia lol.

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And yes they surprise me too on how equipped they are anymore. A friend if mine who is a sales manager at the Kia dealer told me he was surprised I, a luxury car guy, was interested in the forte. Lol. I told him, well now days, economical doesn't mean boring and cheap. You can get some very well equipped cars that are all about good fuel mpg too.
 
#19 ·
talismandave said:
So let me get this straight, after buying one and giving it to her, and her not wanting it, you bought her an SUV instead, and now you buy another one for your self, she will drive it?:hmm:
Did I miss anything?:lol:
Lol. The Kia is mine just as the Cadillac was lol. But I don't want it just sitting all week either so she's going to drive it some of the time. Lol. I'm home thru the week quite a bit so it isn't really like it'd be sitting all week anyway if I drive it to work. But on weeks I think I'll be gone more, she's gonna drive it. Other than that you missed nothing Dave. Good memory btw! Lol. Made me look like a whipped school boy. Lol.
 
#20 ·
Aw, just givin' ya tha biz.:duck:

You looked like a great and caring partner. (Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!)

You and the Mrs. enjoy the new cars. I will probably be driving a Kia/Hyundai myself as soon as they build a convertible. Their reviews and reputation are outstanding and for the money they are easily 20% more car than their competitors!
The deal you made with the Saturn and Cadillac sounds like a good way to go and I am just glad you are sticking around here for our abuse. :lol:
 
#22 ·
talismandave said:
Aw, just givin' ya tha biz.:duck:

You looked like a great and caring partner. (Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!)

You and the Mrs. enjoy the new cars. I will probably be driving a Kia/Hyundai myself as soon as they build a convertible. Their reviews and reputation are outstanding and for the money they are easily 20% more car than their competitors!
The deal you made with the Saturn and Cadillac sounds like a good way to go and I am just glad you are sticking around here for our abuse. :lol:
Lol. Oh I'm thick skinned! And I gotta be for what I'm about to say. Lol. When we we t back to sign, we decided, eh let's go back and look at the rest and make sure the white was what we REALLY wanted, seeing as how we plan to have it for the next 8 years or so. Weeelllll.....I found one in the blue just like on the commercial for the new forte. But it had EVERYTHING in it. Nav, xenon HID head lights, the works. So it was stickerd at 25,600. I went in and said, if you'll give me the blue one with all the toys for 23k, it'll be a done deal. They did their little "well idk. That's a lot to take off". And 10 min later they said deal. Lol. So we took that one home. And I've gotta say I'm loving it. Drives better then I could have ever imagined. The Nav system has amazing clarity. Also when you buy the Nav, you get dual zone digital climate control. HD radio. All that. We've been averaging, now this is MOSTLY city, 32.5 mpg. We plan on going away for a weekend in a couple if weeks just to see how she does on a rd trip.

The room in this car is quite amazing for a "compact" car. Plenty of room for even me in the back seat with the front seat slid all the way back. In the drivers seat I've got plenty of room to stretch out. More than enough room between the door and console for me to spread out with the cruise on.

It's also really a very quick car for just a 4 banger. 173 hp 2.0 GDI really gets it going. I've read somewhere it'll hit 60 in low 7s.

Anyways here is the one we finalized with





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thebigjimsho said:
Looks like a Dodge Dart on the outside and a Jetta on the inside...
It looks like a lot of cars honestly. Lol. On the models without the LED tail lights, they look like that of a focus. Even from the side view, I see a lotta "focus" from the swept back head lights to the tail lights. Yea the front kinda looks like a dart. But to me it more resembles a civic. The interior, I don't really see the Jetta to much. To me it's a fairly original, yet simple design. But that's just my takes.

I've honestly yet to see a single 14 forte on the roads besides ours. Maybe just to early to buy a 2014 for some. I'm not sure. But even being on the road as much as I am, I've never seen another one yet.
 
#25 ·
That's a sweet looking little number! When the EX is equipped with the tech & premium packages, you get a power driver's seat, right?

Those Fortes really are the best equipped cars in their class, with all the option boxes checked. I wish the Civic offered HID headlamps and a power seat, oh well.

Is it weird to go from an STS, which is a fairly large car, down to the Forte?
 
#26 ·
I~LUV~Caddys8792 said:
That's a sweet looking little number! When the EX is equipped with the tech & premium packages, you get a power driver's seat, right?

Those Fortes really are the best equipped cars in their class, with all the option boxes checked. I wish the Civic offered HID headlamps and a power seat, oh well.

Is it weird to go from an STS, which is a fairly large car, down to the Forte?
Yep power drivers seat. Not available in civic. The dual zone climate also not in civic. The navigation features are much more advanced than the civics. I do love having the HID lights.

And far as going from a large car to a small car, I'm kinda the wrong one to ask. Lol. I'm use to going from my semi to a car period. Lol. But, I don't notice any lack of space in the drivers seat over the STS. In fact, I feel as tho I've got more room to relax in the forte than I did the STS. My right leg isn't firmly against the edge of the console in this car like it was the STS. The interior space is not what you'd expect from a compact. It's probably got more room or the same, as the 98 Lexus ES I use to have. And in 98, the was considered a mid size entry level luxury sedan. I've got zero complaints as of right now. Well I take that back...I've yet to figure out what made Kia decide it was a good idea to put a drivers cooled seat in but not even make it available for the front passenger. I almost feel guilty on these 94 degree days when we get in and I get to use it, but my wife doesn't. Lol. The other day she was so mad she kept shutting mine off every time I turned it on! Lol.

Heck, this car even had rear vents when you get the tech package. I've never seen that in a car of its class. The civic? No. Dart? No...Mazda 3? No.

I've really begun to like Kia quite a lot. I NEVER thought I'd be excited about a Kia. But they've really changed their ways. They are no longer a boring rental. With the tech pack, we even have a 4 inch or so color LCD screen with the gauges that also show the navigation directions among other things, that way you can have the 7 inch Nav screen on the radio function or media or what ever. Even the small screen is so clear it's like looking at my iPhone screen. From its welcome screen where it flashes a picture of the front of your car while the message "welcome" is displayed, to when you shut the car off and a picture of the back of your car comes up while saying "good bye". Lol. Even all the chimes are pleasant. Not annoying. They are almost relaxing. Lol. Even when you shut off the car with the roof open, it has a friendly reminder by showing a birds eye view of the car while highlighting the sunroof in red.

We did buy the extended warranty. So now everything, navigation, power windows, of course drivetrain, everything is covered to 100k miles.

The UVO Eservices is something else on this car too. If your CEL light is on, it will do an on board diagnostics and if anything is found, you can send those codes straight to a Kia dealer of your choosing, then it will automatically give u directions to that dealer, and when you get there, they already have the codes on their computers. You can also acquire roadside assistance. Much like onstar. I've got an app on my phone with all the services too. That way if I lock myself out, I hit a button, and free of charge they send someone out to open it up. A useless feature, but handy to those who it's not useless to, you can save in your phone from UVO, where in a crowded parking lot, you parked. It will tell you exactly where you parked.
 
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