My car was in great condition for the age. Was having issues with it starting. We thought it was maybe a fuel pump or a starter trying to go out. Took it to a repair shop, and was told the head gasket was cracked. Was totally in shock! No over heating, no check engine light, nothing, except issues with the push button start. Was told they recommend an engine replacement. Got a call the next day, no engines to be found, only the nearest Kia dealership and they wanted $7815. More than the value of the car at this point. Now no car, and very disappointed. Thought this car was good for several more years!

We purchased this KIA 4 1/2 months ago. Paid good hard earned money for it. Have not even driven it very much. My husband rarely drives due to health issues. He has never driven the KIA. I am not a lead foot driver. We are elderly and retired on a fixed income. Had no problems with the KIA until the 7th of July 2019. I'm driving and I notice the car is starting to overheat. I pulled right over. We sat for several minutes. for My husband checked the overflow/antifreeze. It was full. It cooled back down so we took off and it was fine for another 20 minutes. Temp started rising again so again pulled over and sat for another 20 minutes. Again it cooled. 10 minutes later we reached our destination and I saw the temp up again.

The car sat for 24 hours. When we went to start it, it would not start. Tried jumping it, nothing. Tried again, nothing. Our son-in-law reset the relay (he's a mechanic, he too had checked the overflow, it was full however he did put some antifreeze in the radiator itself) finally it started but it started blowing white smoke out the exhaust like crazy!!! Our son-in-law told us to go ahead and leave towards home, about an hour away, but to watch the temp and pull over as we needed to and they would be behind us. Well, to our amazement the temp stayed at its normal spot, no smoke and we made it home with no problems. We took it right in to the shop the next day. This shop is very honest, very dependable. They are rated very high with the Better Business Bureau. They called us and told us the head gasket was blown. Now, it's going to cost us 4500 to have it replaced because there are no after market parts available yet, so the parts have to be bought directly from KIA.

What a farce!!! After reading all the complaints about the KIA we wish we would not even purchased it. We did research on it before we purchased through Consumer's Report. I'll never believe those statistics from them again!!! It sounded like we'd be pretty safe looking at their facts. We truly believe there are engine problems with the KIA. I'd never purchase another one again. Look, it's only 4 years old, this should not be happening!! We sold our 2005 Toyota Camry that had more miles on it and it was in great shape, no problems what so ever. We are very very disappointed in the KIA!!!

Update from Jul 19, 2019 Update: The mechanic/shop contacted us and after they got into the engine to replace the head gasket they could see the engine was shot. Now 6K to replace it with a used motor. They showed the inside to us and it was BAD!! I would never buy another KIA again! Feel like there are more problems that KIA is not owning up to. Engines should be recalled. Just too many people experiencing problems with the engines.

While driving on a busy freeway at legal speed, there was a bubbling noise on the passenger side. I pulled off and noticed my temp gauge going up. I stopped in the Walmart parking lot - closest parking I could find - and turned off the engine. Had some lunch and then inspected the engine. It had very little antifreeze so I purchased some and filled it up, but it would run low every 200 miles or so. We "limped" back home and during the trip it used more and more antifreeze but continued to run very nicely. Now after driving it for about 1500 miles it uses enough so that I can go about 15 miles before stopping to refill the radiator. It still runs like a champ.

The cost to replace the head gasket is about $500, after you remove the engine (2 hours) and machine the head (???). This, of course, isn't the best way to do it since you shouldn't upgrade the top without rebuilding the bottom. The right way to fix it is by replacing with a remanufactured engine ($7000+shipping) plus 4 hours to take out the old and put in the new ($440 at my local shop).

I have put every known type of head gasket sealer into it with out any change. I still drive it, I still use it to tow trailers on occasion. I have not seen a drop in performance or fuel economy. I really like the car and would love to drive it long distances.

I did all the maintenance that I knew about, kept up with oil changes. It wasn't super hot that day or run hard. I just don't know why this would have happened.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.