Stinger admission

[Waynerm002]

Well, fellow forum members, I have been holding out on some information. Last week, I started to seriously look into the 2018s as my buddy's wife had taken a shine to the Ceramic Silver GT2 with the red interior. A search on cars.com showed a few in our area but when I reached out to my guy Tyler, he wasn't able to get anyone to swap with his shop. Doing my own research I realized while there are some out there, they were wither being driven by dealer personnel or actually not available or have already been traded or sold. Not to be beaten, I expanded my search and found one a bit away from us in Winchester VA. We decided to go and pick up 2, I wasn't worried about color as I figure I could live with the Hi Chroma Red with Black interior. My buddy then decided they wanted to wait until next year so I thought about it and tried to get the shop to go a little lower on price. No dice, i'll pass.

I started to think about it and look around some more, that color combo was not available in the area so I reached out to Sam Berry at Parsons ad we texted back and forth over price, she said they couldn't go any lower. I told her I wanted it. I headed out on Tuesday, drove it, signed the papers and took her home. Decided not to say anything and show up at the NOVA meet with the car. Got the badges, worked on the back to get the Stinger off As it started to rain and the car was outside, I figured we could get the front off before it poured. Well I ended up scratching her in the haste, ugh! I still completed the rear work, removed the KIA badge, replaced it with the Stinger script and stuck the KIA logo back on the front. The scratch is under the KIA logo but is noticeable if the "E" was to be installed. Wanted to wait until I got it repaired so took the Optima to the meet but she didn't look right with the other Stingers so I went home and brought the Stinger to the meet.

Here are a few photos of her:

 

[Luminary]

Loved yours at the meet. The one picture I took was before you changed out for your Stinger. Again, loved meeting you all.

 

[SilverNitr8]

Loved the color combo. Thanks for showing us your ceramic silver and congrats on the new car!

 

[Waynerm002]

It was great to meet everyone! I'm working on the ones from the meetup now, they will be up shortly.

 

[robz32]

Congratulations!....Glad to see you finally pulled the trigger. Great color combo.

 

[Waynerm002]

Thanks! Yep, the combo is really great! To think I almost passed up on it!

 

[Kamauxx]

Ceramic Silver is the fastest color. And the red interior adds an extra 15 hp.

Congrats!

 

[Waynerm002]

LOL! It drives well in ECO mode too! Got 29 mpg shown on my 30 mile commute to work one day.

 

[washguy]

Congrats ! Welcome to this great forum.....so,as I was rebadging I tried to pick off the last lil bit of adhesive with my fingernail...Whoa...red paint on my nail....Im telling myself ,well its under the badge ,and it was because its been under a kia badge that the paint is still soft? yeah sure that's what im thinking ....sheesh never seen paint do that.... Wash

 

[Joseph Spiegel]

The first thing is to admit you have a problem.
Hello Wayne!
I am a Stingerholic.

Welcome! Beautiful car!

 

[MerlintheMad]

Dear Waynermoot: From Mongolia to a Stinger, in half the time you've been saying it will take. What made you do it now? I thought you were waiting till your car lease was up. I sense a disturbance in your patience. . Perfectly understandable. Now you can enjoy talking about YOUR Stinger instead of just about the model in general and in theory.

 

[Rango]

Congrats on your new Stinger! May the force (of your right foot propel you (( to boldly go where no man has gone before)) fast and safe) be with you! Can you tell I'm a sci-fi nut?

 

[Waynerm002]

Lol! Yeah, we were already a few payments ahead on the Volvo and as I started to search for this color combo for my friend’s wife, it turns out there weren’t many available in my area so I jumped on it. Other than a slight vibration which I think is brake related and some damaged trim that will be replaced, the car is fine. I’m quite happy with it, just love that red interior!

Have more photos here Stinger

 

[Waynerm002]

Thanks all! Once I had that last test drive of a 2.0t and the GT after I got back from Mongolia, I was ready for one. The CS with Red interior was my top choice after the DCB, but that’s not coming so I got the next best thing.

 

[Mike_TX]

Great-looking ride, Wayne!

 

[Waynerm002]

Thanks Mike! Now we have 2 KIA's in the family! It's such fun to drive! Tried driving it in ECO mode today but the power is still there when you put your foot down.

 

[MerlintheMad]

the power is still there when you put your foot down.

Absolutely. And if you shift manually it behaves like a beast, forgetting Comfort or Eco altogether. Doing this in Sport, of course, adds that extra zap of higher RPMs per gear.

 

[Johnni]

You are OFFICIALLY a real member now , With that say I am jealous of the red leather you got there, I don't wish any Stinger owner any ill well, but in 2-3 year I am sure I can get a set of red leather seats and door cover from a salvage yard for my Micro Blue. I always like that combo, but they don't make that combo.

 

[NoVAGT2]

What a beautiful car! It was great seeing it in person (and meeting your lovely wife too!). Try is in Smart mode ... it's my new favorite.

 

[Waynerm002]

Yeah, the red is great! It was hard to let it go knowing it was the only one actually available in the area ( well an hour away) and the current lease deal made it a too difficult to ignore. Let’s hope KIA decides to offer other interior color in the future, for this car, I think it need more than the standard colors. Also they need more exterior colors, the red is nice but a lot of folks won’t buy a sports car in red. I’ve tried all the modes and sport is great fun but you run out of road and hit the speed limit too quickly for this area. I just love that it is so comfortable!

It’s good to meet other owners and spend time talking about the car. We should do a cruise on a future meet up. Used to do them in the Audi club, just want everyone to be safe. Had a guy run off the road and damaged his S4 on one as he went into a corner too hot. I cooked my brakes and couldn’t stop in time for an intersection in my A4, luckily there was no one around so trouble avoided. It is just fun to have a convoy of cars cruising some twisters, safely, on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Just a thought, if anyone is interested, we could set something up.