How Many Trouble Free Miles Can I Expect From a Stinger

[V10enomous]

My wife has a 2018 Stinger Premium and the lease is coming up on it. We can do a lease end purchase for under $18k because we got a ridiculous $9k lease cash offer originally and they gave us $5,500 for a dead Optima Hybrid with 99k miles on it plus a dealer discount. The car has about 27k miles on a 36k miles lease and it has been absolutely trouble free and it's been very well kept and driven easy. It looks like the book value is about $30k. It's a great Grocery Getter with the hatchback and has a great sunroof and we love the car. Lots of people compliment it and don't even know what it is.

If I buy the car I'd like to get 150k miles out of it without spending a fortune on maintenance and repairs. Does that seem possible ? Should I expect certain things to break at certain mileage ? Has anyone logged that many miles on the 4cyl ?

Buy and Keep ?
Buy and sell ?
Just drop it off ?

 

[nhcowboy28]

 

[GPhenom]

Definitely don't just drop it off. You have too much equity built for that. If you decide to move on, either trade it in and cash out the equity or get quotes from CarMax, Vroom and/or your local dealer. They might offer you $27K. If your buyout is $18K, you'd walk away with nine grand in cash to put in your pocket or towards another vehicle.

 

[MerlintheMad]

What would you replace it with? So far, so good. Keep it.

 

[V10enomous]

What would you replace it with? So far, so good. Keep it.

Haha... That's the crazy part. I was thinking maybe a Mercedes CLA or a Lexus ES but she's thinking maybe a Kia Soul or a MX-5 Miata RF or a Wrangler... I think just keeping what we have might be the least painful way to go... LOL

 

[MerlintheMad]

If you enjoy the car why look for something else right now? I've always held onto my vehicles for years; that way I know their history, which is a big benefit in sizing up how they are doing mechanically and what to expect down the road: the Stinger, as my only brand new car experience, is likely to last as long as I do. Hah. I don't even think about replacing it because it's as much fun and satisfaction as the day I got it.

 

[Devin]

I'm digging the garage there.

 

[jthrelf]

First, amazing garage.

Definitely DO NOT drop it off. You'd be giving away thousands of dollars. If anything buy it then immediately sell it. Book value is way higher than residual as you've noted.

Definitely don't get a Soul - I think you'd be severely disappointed. Miata is too small. And a Wrangler is just completely different.

Overall sounds like you should keep it!!! As for miles it will last - no idea but you're guaranteed at least 100k for powertrain and modern cars typically just don't have many issues besides occasional small things.

 

[V10enomous]

My concern is mainly that it's a turbo...

 

[87and66]

This is similar to what I'm trying to decide. Lease ends in may, next year. I've had my eyes on a mustang gt premium for a while. I'll probably be trying to decide what to do with it every day until the lease ends.

The difference is, I haven't had the greatest luck with my stinger. I had the transmission and drive shaft replaced. And I hit a deer, early into ownership, so that tanked the value of my car. In a time when most stinger owners have a good chunk of positive equity, I do not. Bad carfax will do that .

Whatever you do, I would strongly advise against turning it in at the end of the lease. You'd be giving away a lot of money that can be used toward your next car if that's what you decide.

 

[DoctorStiches]

As for reliability the stinger is my best car to date. Not that i owned many new cars that is. This one is quite good in long term as 56000 miles in and not much more than a beep

 

[seh0872]

I don't have a specific answer to your original question either, but what is the reliability of Kia, generally? I have the impression that its pretty good, but I don't have data to back it up.

What I do know is that trying to buy a car today is not so easy...and certainly you'll be hard pressed to find anything with any real discount. Keeping the Stinger is probably your best financial decision, even if you sell it next year.

 

[V10enomous]

My wife loves these Korean Cars... She had a first year Tiburon with a manual trans when we met. I have to say we were ultimately disappointed with our 2012 Optima Hybrid. We loved the car and put 96,000 trouble free miles on it and then it just died with some dash alert and CEL about the transmission. We figured no big deal because it has a 10/100 power train warranty but the dealer could not accurately diagnose the problem and said that it would cost $2,700 to tear it down and if it turned out to be an electrical problem it wouldn't be covered. We kind chalked it up to being one of Kia's early attempts at a hybrid and they gave us a decent trade in value on it for the Stinger.

I just checked the paperwork and the residual is stated as $17,200. I suppose we would just have to pay that plus tax plus the stupid dealer fee that every dealer of every brand has in Florida which is typically between $600 and $1,000.

 

[Vonrichthofen]

As regards the reliability, I bought my first KIA in 2011. It was the redesigned Optima. Ebony black LX. I drove it 65000 miles over 5 years and then traded it in. The front left wheel bearing went and was replaced under warranty at about 50,000 miles. Other than that, trouble free. The car I bought when I traded it was an ebony black 2015 Optima SXL. Really nice car! Drove that one for about 68000 miles over five years. The seat heater failed and was replaced cost free under warranty. Those are the only issues I’ve had with my past two vehicles over the past 10 years. I’d say that’s a pretty darned good reliability record. Traded the SXL in on my 2021 Stinger, and I’m expecting the same reliability.

 

[V10enomous]

Quick Update... I coincidentally got an email from the dealer today about the lease end. I logged into the Kia account and checked the residual and it is indeed $17.208. There were instructions on lease end options and a Kia number to call so I did. After 10 minutes to get through and explaining that I wanted to understand the process for the buyout she transferred me to the Lease department where I was on hold for 10 minutes and then got a message saying the person I was trying to reach is not available and the call abruptly ended.

So the other option on the website was to call the dealer where we got the car so I did. After a few transfers I get a salesman who immediately tries to convince me to just get a new car for the same payment. So I told him that I was buying the car so I wouldn't have payments. Then he tells me the name of the person that I need to talk to. So I asked well is he there ? Salesman then says no, he only works from 9 to 3 and he said to call back tomorrow.

 

[jthrelf]

Quick Update... I coincidentally got an email from the dealer today about the lease end. I logged into the Kia account and checked the residual and it is indeed $17.208. There were instructions on lease end options and a Kia number to call so I did. After 10 minutes to get through and explaining that I wanted to understand the process for the buyout she transferred me to the Lease department where I was on hold for 10 minutes and then got a message saying the person I was trying to reach is not available and the call abruptly ended.

So the other option on the website was to call the dealer where we got the car so I did. After a few transfers I get a salesman who immediately tries to convince me to just get a new car for the same payment. So I told him that I was buying the car so I wouldn't have payments. Then he tells me the name of the person that I need to talk to. So I asked well is he there ? Salesman then says no, he only works from 9 to 3 and he said to call back tomorrow.

They will pull out all the stops to get you to turn it in. $$$ on the table as they see it.

 

[GenesisG70]

The Stinger is a keeper, maintenance fees what maintenance fee? my Porsche dealer quoted me thousands for just a brake job and close to 400 USD for a oil change.

 

[ht_addict]

This was why I negotiated a desl on the 8/200k 5 Star warranty. Plan on keeping my Stinger for years to come.

 

[stoopid]

Definitely don't just hand it back to them, you're losing out on thousands thanks to the current market. That same market should scare you into keeping it as well, because you're likely not getting any deals on whatever you end up replacing it with.

One of the reasons I got the Stinger was the warranty, and favorable reliability the latest Kia models have.

 

[stoopid]

My concern is mainly that it's a turbo...

I understand that, I traded in a 2.0T turbo for that reason (partly). It comes down to specific engines, matched turbos, boost used, etc. To keep the car reliable, the Stinger's engine is certainly what I would classify as a bit over-engineered. Owners tune and get quite a bit more power with stock guts, many driving the vehicle for a long time like that. The GM 2.0T engine I referenced was having issues with piston failures, as an example of not-over-engineered.

I knew a few years back there was a strong likelihood of buying a Stinger sooner or later. As time passed and no long term issues arose, it was obvious the drivetrain was strong. I purchased having full confidence in the vehicle due to its established track record.