This is my second Kona.
I bought a new 2021 Kona because I think it's the BEST looking small SUV on the market today. But a few months into owning the car, I discovered (before the factory sent out the notice) that the piston rings in my car were junk. Hyundia's anser was "well, if it break, we'll fix it". I thought that was a very crappy way to treat a person who spent almost 30 Grand for car that could have gone towards more none reliable cars. I didnt want to be in the middle of nowhere and have the engine blow up, and where I live there's a lot of "nowhere".
I had been following the Santa Cruz from day one and thought that I'd like to have one. They were so new that no dealer in my state had one to show me, so I found one on the Net from one state over. They delivered the car to me on New Years Eve. WOW! I was heartbroken! Why? because that vehicle was twice as large as I thought it would be, and since I hadn't seen one, I had no idea. I thought it would be along the lines of a Subaru Brat. (remember those? Small half car half truck) Anyway, the Santa Cruz would barely fit in my garage, and after about 2 months I decided to sell it with about 150 miles on it.
I took the money from the Santa Cruz and within an hour bought a Toyota Corolla Sport. Very cool little car with great lines. But something happened that was completely MY fault. I never asked if it were all wheel drive, and of course it wasnt. Why did I think it was? Because the last 5 cars I've owned WERE, and stupid me, I just assumed this one was also. I live on a steep hill, and I cant get home in the winter unless I have all wheel drive. So now I have to trade it in for something else.
After a couple of months and discovering that I had real wheel drive only, I bought a Subaru Crosstrek. Why? Because around here, every 3rd car on the road is a Subaru. I dont know why, but people here seem to love them. So after a few weeks I HATED that car. Unlike the Kona, there wasnt even a place to hide your goodies in the back where the spare tire goes. Also, the car was seriously under powered. And all this time, my mind kept going back to the Kona.
If I were going to try a Kona again, I wanted the exact same color as my first one. No one in my state had that color but I found one in the next state over. I traded that Subaru for the Kona, and so here we go again. The one thing I discovered about this 2023 Kona is that they quit making them with the dual dry clutch and now are CVT transmissions. This make me wonder what happened? Why did they switch? Was it simply cheaper, or were they having trouble with the duel clutch type? Anyone know the answer to this?
Part 6: So that's the end of the story. I'm just hoping that this Kona will be better than my last one. I also think that Hyundia should give me a rebate for all the trouble they put me though. After all, if they didnt install lousy piston rings to start with OR offered to swap the engine, I wouldnt be writing this.
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