I have posted here from time to time about my lowly Kia Soul from 2015. We’re currently at 91,450 or so in mileage. I just found out thanks to a helpful Valvoline tech that we’re burning oil at an accelerated rate. Apparently, my stupid behind doesn’t know how to properly check oil, because when I checked it 2 weeks ago it appeared to be full. However, yesterday the guy said the oil was barely registering on the dipstick. There’s absolutely no sign of leaks, so this mother freaking GDI engine has to be burning what’s missing.
This is all backed up by the fact that towards the end of an oil change interval, I’m getting a periodic knock on acceleration. It appears that this was my poor 2.0L engine starving for oil. After the oil change, there’s magically no noise at all. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that the noise sounded like sucking too little fluid through a straw, and it seems like that’s very close to what was happening.
I have an offer in hand from CarMax from an appointment yesterday, and they’ll give me $5,500 for my current car.
This leads me to go looking for alternatives. I’m trying not to have a huge payment, so I’m trying to stay under $10,000. That prevents me from considering any Toyotas or Hondas unless they are very old or very high mileage.
Looking around, I found a 2015 Ford Fusion hybrid ( titanium edition) with 115,000 miles for $11,000 from a local Honda dealership that I trust. I also found a 2017 Ford Fusion hybrid at a Ford dealership that I do not know about 40 miles away at $9,880 with 109,000 miles.
I know Fords are not generally well regarded these days, but all my research points to Fusion hybrids being reliable, lasting up to 250,000 miles or more. Given that I’ve put less than 92,000 miles on my Kia in 10 years, it seems like either of these might be a good buy for me that would be well within my budget.
With all that said, I invite you guys to play: Is it better than my 2015 Kia Soul?
Yeah, I’m just constantly paranoid with all the issues with Kia engines. I already had one of the major issues with this car (catalytic converter failure), and every noise makes me cringe. I’m probably overreacting, but I’m afraid of the car blowing up and leaving me with nothing. Kia’s supposed to replace them via an extended 150,000 mile power train warranty, but I have seen people complain that they’re denied sometimes. I’m just always nervous about it, and this is not the first time I’ve heard this noise around the oil change interval.
I feel you. An electrically sound, not totaled frame vehicle with a blown engine isn’t worth $0 thankfully. So even worst case you can get some money. Just set a little aside for the eventuality.
I also assumed the Kia is paid for already. If you have payments on it still, then I’d say absolutely dump it lol
Yeah, the thing that keeps me going with it is that I have no payments. I bought it new, and it’s been paid for a couple of years. However, if something serious does go, and I don’t get a warranty replacement thanks to the class action lawsuit regarding these engines, it’s going to be next to worthless. An OEM catalytic converter was quoted to me as somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000. I was able to get an aftermarket one installed for about $1,200, which is no small expense for me, but at least it wasn’t as high a percentage of the car’s value. I’m just wondering if I have more expenses like this, when does it make economic sense for me to cut my losses and get what I can get for it?