Used 2012 Kia Rio Sedan Consumer Reviews
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The White Bullet
Kyle, 10/26/2017
2012 Kia Rio LX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl 6M)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
The White Bullet has been good to me. In nearly 18,000 miles so far it has had minimal problems. One trip to the dealer for a computer update because of the knock sensor code putting it into limp mode. Other than that just regular maintenance. The manual transmission is great, I love it and bombing around town feels like driving a rally car. Excellent gas mileage on the highway but with many hours behind the wheel I have to say lack of lumbar support isn't great. City driving in "stop and go" traffic is a nightmare but only due to the manual transmission. It has good trunk storage but it could have a bigger door area as fitting larger items is difficult or impossible. A relatively cheap and very reliable vehicle with limited creature comforts earns this one a 3.75 out of 5 in my book.
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One Great Car
beachyork1, 06/06/2012
2012 Kia Rio SX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl 6A)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
This is my second Kia, my first being a 2007 Kia Optima, I was so impressed with the reliabiluty I purchased my second. The Rio is everything I expected and more. Very smooth, well built and a tremondous amount of features, many of which are not even offered in the compact class, nevermind subcompact. The gas milage estimates hold true for me. Normal in town city driving get me 30-32. I recently drove to boston from southern maine and filled the tank upon leaving. I drove 90 miles and then filled up again, used 2.3 gallons of gas for a mpg of 39.1. I consistenly drove at about 65mph. I have read all of the reviews and am baffled by the low gas milage some posters report.
2012 Kia Rio for sale near you
Showing 3 of 61 listings
- LX SedanMSRP: $3,99554 mi away
- SX SedanMSRP: $6,90066 mi away
- EX 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $4,98869 mi away
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KIA RIO PINGING BAD?USE SHELL NITRO PREMIUM ONLY
worknman, 03/19/2014
updated 03/27/2017
2012 Kia Rio EX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl 6A)
12 of 20 people found this review helpful
Our Kia developed a severe pinging issue running regular gas especially with the ECO mode on. The Kia Forum website states that Kia is running a series of ecm ( engine control computer ) software patches to solve this issue. Many people on that forum have had the patches done and these patches have largely only helped for a few weeks before the bad pinging came back. I finally decided that I didn't want to destroy my engine no matter how 'great' the Kia warranty supposedly is. I started using PREMIUM - NAME BRAND GAS AND TURNED THE ECO MODE OFF. ****Shell Nitro premium gas is THE BEST GAS FOR THIS KIA. BETTER YET BUY A TOYOTA AND LEAVE THIS BRAND TO THE IDIOTS WHO DON'T READ THIS REVIEW! THIS CAR IS COMPLETE FUBAR!ENGINE LIGHTS SINCE TWENTY THOUSAND MILES-RUNNING LIKE A PERSON HAVING A SEIZURE HALF THE TIME. NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS LIKE THIS WITH HONDAS,NISSANS OR TOYOTAS WE OWNED. NEVER NEVER NEVER WILL WE BUY A KIA EVER AGAIN.IF SOMEONE GAVE US ONE WE'D SELL IT THE NEXT DAY. STAY AWAY FROM KIA!!!!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!! After four gas tanks full of this, our Kia is running and shifting better and smoother then it ever did new. more below-
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This is really just an update
talanj, 10/19/2012
2012 Kia Rio LX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl 6A)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I've have a 2012 sedan and I was getting around 32 mpg. I've now got about 12k miles on the car in 6 months. I've had 1 minor issue. At about 11.5k mile the CE light came on. I took it to the dealer and they said it needed a software update. That did fix the CE. I've gone through a couple tanks of gas since and It does seem that my MPG is up a few miles per gallon. All and all it's a nice little car, looks good and cruises along pretty good.
Give the Rio a chance !
Brad R, 08/21/2015
2012 Kia Rio EX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl 6A)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I've had my 2012 Kia Rio EX with the convenience package (back up camera, indicators on the mirror, touch screen display) bought it with 5 miles now has an outstanding 86,000 miles. In the summer I average 35mpg usually in the winter it drops to about 28 unfortunately. I'm still on the original factory brakes which I do need to replace asap, had a problem at 10k with evap sensor which dealer replaced at no cost even gave us a free lender for a week while they waited for part. At 80k a clack happened upon acceleration, pinging caused timing to jump kia dealer fixed with no problem and at no cost even with the system update being expired, however car still pings like crazy upon acceleration. The passenger seat sits really low, I can't sit passenger in my car and I feel bad for my passengers. Resale value is absolutely terrible for this car however. It's been a great car, and the warranty is amazing.
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