by "CB" (jrcb)
Published 03/31/2017 at 10:52
by "CB" (jrcb)
Published 03/31/2017 at 10:52
No Tags
STARS: 6
I don’t get the whole “man, I’d drive this car, but it’s a[n] [brand]” mentality (traditionally for less expensive brands). If it’s a good car, well put together, and enjoyable to drive, who gives a damn who makes it? Kia builds a rear wheel drive sedan that hits sixty in under five seconds, and all everyone can complain about is “but it’s a
Kia
”. My dad and I sat in a Genesis at the auto show, and guess what? Who gives a crap that it’s a Hyundai at heart, it’s a damn nice place to be! And if it’s a whole “but people will see I’m driving a Kia!” thing, then congrats on the insecurity issues.
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
03/31/2017 at 11:01, STARS: 0
Because people care about the image the brand projects to their neighbors or are inherently biased against a certain brand due to past experiences and/or exposure.
"CB" (jrcb)
03/31/2017 at 11:04, STARS: 0
Fair. Although I drove a Hyundai Elantra GT last week, and although the stereo could use some work, it was pretty great.
But everyone is okay with people thinking the Miata is a hairdresser’s car. Or that the SS is boring looking.
"Rico" (ricorich)
03/31/2017 at 11:05, STARS: 5
Hey if you spend 20 years building bullshit you have to deal with the repercussions/stigma. Just because McDonald’s decides they want to sell $18 gourmet burgers doesn’t mean their reputation for garbage pre cooked burgers is erased. Kia will get there in time but it’s going to take a while just like with Cadillac.
"Dru" (therealkennyd)
03/31/2017 at 11:06, STARS: 0
Yea I don’t get that either. My wife’s side of the family is almost a Kia loyal family. Wife’s car is a Forte wagon, almost 100K miles and it’s held up way better than my mom’s CRV ever did.
Someone I work with was looking at Kia with her last vehicle purchase but opted out due being “scared of their reliability.” She bought a Mitsubishi Outlander instead.
"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
03/31/2017 at 11:06, STARS: 0
I’m not okay with that. And I love the new Stinger, I think when I start looking for a 4 door sedan in 2-3 years it will be between this and the SS.
"superhead" (superhead)
03/31/2017 at 11:07, STARS: 1
I feel like the “Miata is a hairdresser’s car” is a long dead meme. I almost always see dudes driving Miatas. My wife’s hairdresser drives a 350Z lol
"CB" (jrcb)
03/31/2017 at 11:08, STARS: 2
So why do people still buy Ford, GM, and FCA vehicles? All of those had (or have) a long stretch of being crap.
Good point on the timeline, though. I think in maybe five years it’ll be better.
"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
03/31/2017 at 11:09, STARS: 2
I’d drive a car called the Soiled Trousers GTI if it was the best in class. Badges meh, who cares.
"Rico" (ricorich)
03/31/2017 at 11:11, STARS: 0
Because ‘Murica. I’m sure Kia has always done exceptionally well in South Korea even when they were peddling these:
"jariten1781" (jariten1781)
03/31/2017 at 11:12, STARS: 0
While I personally don’t care, it’s understandable. Hasn’t been long enough since they were making crap like the Sephia which had the absolute worst manual transmissions I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. If I didn’t follow the industry nor have to rent all the time that would be my only frame of reference. General rule of thumb is it takes 10 successes to equal out 1 debacle...they had years and years of crap they’re still making amends for.
"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
03/31/2017 at 11:17, STARS: 0
“But it’s made by Koreans and Koreans are bad!”
-Bad People
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
03/31/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 0
People do say that about Fords/Fiats/GMs. Shit, Chevy has an entire advertiseing campaign centered around that very same idea of preconceived notions about brands.
"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
03/31/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 0
But they’ve been building good cars for years now.
"CB" (jrcb)
03/31/2017 at 11:31, STARS: 0
And yet a lot of people don’t think twice about buying from them, even with that notion.
"TechBro" (techbro88)
03/31/2017 at 11:34, STARS: 1
My only issue is you know they will be asking BMW and Audi money for this. So I’ll be expecting BMW and Audi build quality, which currently is a big question mark.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/31/2017 at 11:40, STARS: 0
I genuinely like the Stinger and I’m definitely not a brand snob. If anything I’d rather not have the baggage of a fancy brand.
Perfect example: at my last job, our CFO was visiting and he, I, and a few sales guys met a client at a brewery. As I was driving away, I saw them milling around in the parking lot, and since the way out of this place is a little weird, I paused to tell them how to get out. The CFO took one look at my car...
...and half jokingly said, “I need to double check the payroll!”
Nevermind that even with all the mods I have maybe $37k in it, it looks fancy and has a fancy badge on it.
So it might be nice to have a Stinger and have nobody think it was all that expensive. But then you’d have to deal with the inevitable comments from people who know how much it cost and say, “you paid
how much
for a Kia?”
Personally, my only hesitation with the Stinger is that my local Kia dealer is a truly awful place, at least on the sales side of things. It’s part of a dealership group that has some particularly scummy business practices. Just really annoying, old school high pressure car sales. I bought a beater Jeep at their Kia store a few years ago. They spent like 20 minutes trying to sell me a maintenance contract on a 10+ year old $4k beater Jeep. I test drove some random car at their Mazda store once and they used the address on my driver’s license to bombard me with junk mail for years. It took repeated calls to the Mazda store and their corporate HQ to stop the junk mail. I test drove an Infiniti G37 at the Kia store last year and there were multiple sales people smoking cigs right in front of the showroom door, I had to walk through their cloud, and the person who came on the test drive with me reeked of smoke. Ugh.
The service part is not as bad, I suppose, but they don’t kiss your ass like a BMW or especially a Lexus dealer does. I don’t generally take my out-of-warranty and modified BMW to the dealer, but I had my power rear sunshade randomly get stuck in the up position, and when I called the dealership they said “bring it in, we have a trick for that.” They fixed it free of charge while I waited sipping on some nice coffee and eating a free gourmet cookie.
Not that any of this has to do with the quality of the car itself, but the premium brands definitely make some of their sales based on the dealership experience.
"Rico" (ricorich)
03/31/2017 at 11:44, STARS: 0
And they’ll need to do it for a few more years. And their reputation is still so fragile that one large fuck up can set the whole thing back.
"Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna" (lukielauxd)
03/31/2017 at 11:53, STARS: 0
I can’t speak for everyone but for me it’s definitely like a loyalty thing that my parents raised me on. If you get something for example, and it’s reliable, sufficient, good enough, you stay with it until you HEAR from someone that you’re close to something may be better. This explains why even though Sienna is pretty old in the cycle now compared to possibly better alternatives like Sedona and Pacifica, that my parents and their church friends ONLY BUY SIENNAS. Odyssey transmissions going kaput back in 2000? They probably fixed that but 17 years later my parents and Co. will still be telling every potential van owner that Odyssey is awful.
I personally would want a Chevy SS, Alfa Giulia, Kia Optima back when they first changed, same with Sonata and Genesis. But my parents are hardcore Toyota/Lexus people so those will never be on our driveway. But they aren’t that bad, they’ll still be like WOAH THAT IS A NICE COOL CAR. They’d just never get or consider one. When I went to college, they rented a Town and Country, those stow n go seats impress them to this day.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
03/31/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 0
Plenty of people do. I will add that my ‘60s GM products are more reliable and better built than the 2005 Kia Rio my girlfriend had.
"Rico" (ricorich)
03/31/2017 at 13:33, STARS: 0
...and half jokingly said, “I need to double check the payroll!”
This is always the tell tale sign of a non-car enthusiast cornball. You could literally have a $2000 craigslist beater BMW and they still would’ve made the same comment. When people make comments like this I put them in the “what a loser” category.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
03/31/2017 at 15:04, STARS: 0
bmw build quality? lol
"TechBro" (techbro88)
03/31/2017 at 21:32, STARS: 1
Better than hyundai/kia quality. Most of their cars fall apart after 2 years.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
03/31/2017 at 21:37, STARS: 0
Eh yeah kinda but still not hard to reach. Cars with BMW build quality include much cheaper brands like mazda, toyota, and volvo
"Justino6969" (justino6969)
04/04/2017 at 09:09, STARS: 0
I’ll admit, I do the same thing, but it’s the other way around. There was a post on here the other day about a 2008 M3 for $28k or so at CarMax. That’s not bad at all. However, unless the warranty was amazing, I wouldn’t touch it. Same for a Benz or a Jag. In my mind, at least, there is a stigma of certain brands being unreliable with expensive repairs, such as BMW and Audi. The Stinger on the other hand? I would hardcore drive that thing every day.