My Drive after 14,000 miles (so far)

[Phil Meyer]

There is Great, very good, good, and poor, and bad

Mine is a Blue GT with added all wheel drive and winter tires which added the lane control and adaptive cruise.

Many have complained about slow launch. The latest transmission recall fixes that! Get 'er done!

Many have complained about the hatch rattle. The Hatch rattle recall did NOT fix it for me, it created it! Had to try three times before they got the hatch parts that worked.

Our first long trip blew all 6 spark plugs at about 900 miles into the trip. The dealer at our vacation location replaced them, and no issues since. I did those 900 miles in ECO mode, and have not used it since!

I keep praying to any who will listen for a setting to make "auto engine off" the setting instead of the default!

Ok, now for the better stuff.

Commutes are a absolute dream with adaptive cruise that goes all the way down to 0, and an engine that jumps from 50 to 100 in about a second! The seats are wider than any car in its class. Very comfy for big guys like me.

The wife complains about not having adaptive cruise control in her car, and now borrows my car for her inter state quilt fabric shopping trips with her friends. She would never drive my Genesis Coupe because it was too powerful, but she like this one. Ya, its weird. And all four seats are VERY usable. Not to mention the hatchback storage.

This is my first car with Android Auto, and that is now a MUST HAVE.

How are you getting along with yours?

 

[SteveCo]

Our first long trip blew all 6 spark plugs at about 900 miles into the trip.

Whaa? That's the first I've heard of this particular problem, without running aftermarket tuning that pushed boost up considerably.

What do you mean in saying they 'blew' - what was the damage, and did the dealer who did the replacement give you any indication of a reason why?

 

[RogerB]

Is there a transmission recall on the Stinger? I saw news about a wiring recall but nothing about the transmission.

 

[Kamauxx]

Its a TSB not a recall.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Phil, you're not doing anything to help the perception of Kia drivers when all you care about is cruise control and android auto. That's not very enthusiastic of you.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Blown plugs at 900 miles in Eco? Yes, more details. Don't leave it there. You're the only one.

13K+ miles here: no complaints whatsoever. Everything works as if in a dream; what I was hoping for and expecting after all the hype about the development and testing that went into this car.

 

[mldavis2]

Nearing 14,000 miles on mine. No complaints except for some very little nits to pick. Bone stock 2018 GT2 gets pretty close to 30 mpg on highway unless I push it over 70 mph or into a headwind (which I do all the time.) Car runs and handles great for my purposes (no track.) I use Android AutoPlay and it works great with my Samsung 6S. Sound system it excellent and highly adjustable.

Nits:

Rear view inside mirror does not "quite" tilt up far enough for my preferred seating position (I'm 6'4")

I like the front driver seat moving back to help prevent premature wear on the leather and make entrance and exit easier, but if you want to use the rear seat for passengers, you need to turn that feature off. That means starting the car, surfing through the menu to find the control and turn it off before a passenger can get into the left rear seat. Although I haven't tested it yet, it seems as though the distance of travel of the seat is dependent on the seat position. My seat position moves the seat farther back on shutdown than my wife's seat position, and the rear legroom in the "back" position is too "tight" to get a passenger back there before moving it up to driving position.

If car is unlocked (in the garage) you need the fob in your pocket to open the rear hatch from outside the car. That's probably because electrical power is off and it's an automatic hatch. GT/GT1 may not have that restriction.

Manual disabling of the auto start/stop. I find this feature OK except that if you are running A/C and that big 750W radio, it doesn't stay off very long before battery drain restarts it. Might be OK in big city traffic, but I have to remember to turn it off for my driving 99% of the time. I live in an area where stops are infrequent and stop lights rather short.

Very slight surges with cruise control mainly into varying headwinds on highway. No big deal, but my '05 GTO doesn't do it. Maybe this is because of the quick response of the speed monitoring? Maybe they should build a slight "lag" into the speed change sensing to smooth that out a bit.

Concern over dealer service capability. I did not buy my car at the nearest dealer because they were out of the ballpark on price. But I did take my car in for a service. That dealer sells hundreds of Kias -- Souls, Sorentos, Optimas, Fortes -- but only two Stingers. Their mechanics have little experience working on the Stinger and I don't have a lot of confidence in them yet. I'm an old service manager so I am pretty picky about work on my cars, and I'm also very quick to recognize sales pressure from service writers. Time will tell on that.

Bottom line is that I just love this car. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.

 

[GRStinger]

19000 miles. I am just-now noticing a hatch-rattle when I hit larger bumps. The cold weather has really set in here and with any car I've owned I've noticed that the cold really makes any squeaks/rattles worse. Not too bad yet, but plan to take care of it soon.
That's the only issue I've had. Have posted elsewhere here that I love the car: the fun factor, the power, overall performance/handling, the amenities, the tech, the styling, and especially the "GT-ness" of the car. It does so many things so well. My only real annoyance was the auto engine off/on and not being able to reset the default. But turning it off when I get in the car has become as automatic as buckling the seat belt. All said, it's the most enjoyable car I've ever owned.

 

[robz32]

15.9k miles here and gotta say I'm very much enjoying every mile driven.

I agree with @GRStinger the cold weather really makes the rattles/squeaks worst. For the first time since owning mine I heard the hatch rattle and the sunroof is squeaking like crazy. Overall those are little inconveniences compared to the whole driving experience.

 

[mldavis2]

In any car, built in a temperature controlled manufacturing environment, clearances will change with thermal cycling. My GT2 has a hatch creak when I go over an uneven bump which tends to "twist" the frame a bit. The solution is to use silicone on the sliding surfaces, and shims to tighten up the hatch a little bit. All that stops when the car warms up. Never had a car that didn't complain a bit in very cold weather.

 

[Phil Meyer]

We were traveling on the freeway in Wyoming. I pulled around a truck (fast! -- Fun!) and at about 4K RPMS the engine stuttered real bad. I let off the gas ans it was fine. Tried it again and the whole engine shook. Pretty scary. Again, I backed off and we could run at 60-90 mph as long as I kept the torque way down.

At first I thought it might be bad gas, but it didn't go away after a tank up.

From then on, I could get it to stutter on demand with any hard acceleration.

About the fourth time, the check engine light cam on and stayed on.

Did I mention that we were in Wyoming? No place to get repairs for 200 miles either direction, so we kept on into Utah.

I was pretty worried. I did the system check and it just said check engine. I got an appointment for the next day at a big Kia dealer.

They told me it was likely a bad batch of plugs and replaced all six. It did fix the problem.

Do I love my Stinger? Oh yeah! It fits me well. I am not even looking.

Do I love the dealership where I purchased my Stinger. NO!
They really want to be a 4 star dealer, but they have a ways to go.

They did not ask me if my hatch rattled, they just replaced the mechanism and caused it to rattle. It was 'tightened' twice before they got it right on the third try.
I would guess that they did not check the part revision numbers, just replaced it. They may have checked the revision number on my third push and had an AHA! moment.

So did my Dealership prep the car properly initially? I doubt it very much. Do I want to trade it for another one? No, sir! I love my car. Its almost perfect now.

 

[mldavis2]

Most plug problems come from tuning, not stock. Possibly related to the plug issue is the fuel. My manual (Nov '17 build) said regular fuel octane (87 or higher) was minimum requirement. Later manuals bumped that up to 91 octane (R+M/2 used in the U.S.). It also says to use toptier fuel (list on toptiergas.com) which is supposed to be certified for proper additives. I do use an occasional tank full of truck-stop fuel (Love's, Flying-J, etc.) when I can't find a toptier station, but I'm using nothing but 91 or higher octane in my GT2.

 

[rocket23]

fuel causes plug failure....no question here, All 6 plugs ''foul''for lack of a better term tells me it's a fuel issue......''bad plugs'' and all 6 go at the same time?! Get yourself a lottery ticket....luck like that doesn't happen often!!

 

[stingLikeAee]

Do I love the dealership where I purchased my Stinger.

@Phil Meyer Which dealership did you use?

 

[CaliSting]

16000 miles for me. Mechanically car has been flawless for most part. Love the power delivery from power plant and transmission. Turn in is spectacular for a big sedan. Ability to kick out rear end with throttle is cool. Smacking muscle cars out of stop light priceless. Styling is cool but awkward. Rear wheel traction spectacular in RWD. Brakes are fabulous. Stock Michelin tires outstanding!

Suspension sucks ass on undulating twisties but is great for highway cruising or around town driving. Way too many little irritating things. Rattling sunroof not fixed after dealer warranty work. Hatch rattle, wonky head unit , auto off on is inconsistent, brake rotor issues early on fixed out of warranty. Door entry size for driver and rear passengers very awkward too small much smaller than similar class, side and rear view visibility so so. Throttle lag is irritating - let me disable Nannies all the way and don’t trim throttle in 1st gear! No heated wheel - really?

Plugs weak and won’t allow for aftermarket tune without changing plugs. Plugs tough to change.

Dealer experience sub par - 2 out of 5 stars.

Over all very fun economy GT. It comes up short in my book to German cars I have owned but it’s a respectable car for a Kia. Right up there with Japanese GT cars. Just doesn’t return that solid German sedan feeling I have experienced in Porsche’s Panamera or Audi Sedans.