Hi, Kia Carens owners,

I had been on and off Tsikot Forums over the years. I find the posts somehow a good gauge of user/owner experiences with their vehicles. I have not seen in a thread a group so loyal and fanatic about their ride until I followed the Carens thread.

As any new car/model entrant in the Philippine market, Carens' true value will come out until its next generation. Carens' Mk III is a great leap of improvement over the previous. This is what makes Kia a possible contender in the Philippine market. They sink in heavy investments into R&D and what we get are truly global models (but not in the safety kit department).

So with the current make, is there any one in the thread who have a fairly high kilometreage already? Best measure to get a reading of reliability, serviceability, and longevity is how few problems (or quirks) occur when a car's age hit close its warranty period. No one perhaps is close to the end of Kia's 3-yr/110,000km period but perhaps the first few owners since the 2006 launch can share much of his/her experience.

I am already a convert to Kia and Korean-made cars and am considering a next vehicle. It would be interesting to read more about each of your experiences owning a Caren's...and that includes pre-sales, after sales service, and drive satisfaction.

The regular "car-buyer Juan" is critical about acquiring a vehicle. Most of times, a decision to go for one over another model/brand is an affordability-to-purchase and sustainability-to-own issue.

A friend, who is into brand research, is asking if she can interview Kia vehicle owners...could be that Kia is going head-to-head with Japanese car makers or Jap car makers are up on their toes with the Korean competition.

I read somewhere that two words from which the model name CARENS was taken are CAR RENAISSANCE...which I hope proves to be true for all you guys.


--AlbertB