Potential new owner.

[ISM]

I'm curious about the reliability of the GT1 & GT2 models. Are certain years better than others. Are there any consistent issues like failing turbos or transmissions? Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Snicklefritz]

The first year 2018, the Stinger was highly reliable out of the gate. Some vehicles manifested paint defects, infamously the Sunset Yellow. These were corrected in subsequent batches so that hardly any paint quality complaints occurred after the first year. My 2018 GT1 has paint today that still looks almost brand new.

Another cosmetic complaint that is even more common is the dark chrome strips over the windows and beside the hatch window - they tarnish easily, but also they clean up easily or have been replaced, painted black or wrapped. Vehicles kept outside suffer this defect readily, along with the rain gutters weathering poorly over the years - the worst cases requiring replacement or repainting or wrapping. One guy on here took his "drip rails" down to the bare steel and clear coated them successfully.

Brembo brakes in N. America have been a source of complaint. Pad deposits to the rotors can cause lumpy or shuddery feeling in the brake pedal. Aftermarket replacements eradicate almost all complaints. Most vehicles behave in this area, and the Base, Premium and GT-Line trims without the Brembo brakes have not seemed to be included in the complaints.

Some vehicles exhibit one or more "noise" areas, such as a thump in the hatch lid, or a clickity, crackly, rattle usually in the area of the sunroof, but sometimes in the dash or one of the pillars or door cards. Again, most vehicles are okay and don't drive their drivers crazy with extraneous noises either. On the forum are threads about addressing these if the vehicle you get has a noises issue. In my opinion, from reading stories from owners, or reading reviews, the Stinger is solid through its brief production life. The last ones are not demonstrably "better" vehicles than the initial run was.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

I specifically went for the first year ( usually it's a bad idea), expecting kia to pay an extra attention to quality for their first "halo" car. But, looks like all years are pretty much the same. There's no "bad" year for stinger.

 

[Alpinesting]

Some coil packs before 22' are problematic and leak voltage causing spark plug failure, misfire codes, and popping and hissing in the

audio system while running. Every newrer car has its problems though.

 

[Landshark]

pretty minimal problems that are easily fixed, unlike some cars that have pretty major issues.

- discolored dark chrome trim: get rain visors to cover trim on doors, paint hatch area trim strips with Plastidip
- shaky brakes: change to different brake pads
- hatch/sunroof noises: easy fixes with electrical tape, washers, sticky-backed felt, etc.

my '22 did have loose front door pulls, but those were fixed free under warranty/TSB and were only limited to a a small range of cars built around 2022

 

[Rodtheviking]

That one spark plug.