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My Kia outrage

A Fin24 user is not happy with the mileage he is getting from his new Kia Cerato. He writes:

Regarding a story published on Fin24: Hyundai, Kia 'exaggerated' fuel efficiency – published 2012-11-05

This problem isn’t only in the US, but also a problem in South Africa. Kia SA just ignores the problem and refer people to the Ombudsman, because they know it’s a long process and a lot of effort for the customer: please read response from Kia SA Exec below and (original mail attached, which Fin24 recieved).

I bought a Kia Cerato 2.0 Auto (hatch) end of July 2012. Fuel consumption advertised by Kia on the vehicles is 7.6 L/100km, where I get on average town driving 13,5 L/100km, almost double of what is advertised.

I was requested to do numerous tests and it was proven that I only get on average 330km's on 47 litres used on a 52 litre tank which is on average 7km's to a litre of fuel.

My vehicle has been with Kia Sandton on two occasions and twice at Kia Randburg, where I bought the vehicle without any resolution. I did some research and found some articles (Hyundai, Kia 'exaggerated' fuel efficiency) relating to this as well.

The Kia employees are still trying to convince me that this is normal behaviour, because the fuel consumption on their other vehicles are the same, which means that there is a general problem with these vehicles. I'm currently spending almost the same amount of money on fuel than on the actual instalment.

The dealer principal (John Burgess) took this up with Kia SA and responded the following: “Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you regarding the fuel consumption query. I have received some correspondence back and have attached it to this mail.

"Further to this I have discussed the figures you are achieving on your car and these figures concur with figures on our vehicle which I discussed we are doing similar tests on, in fact yours is slightly lighter than ours but are both within the same bracket.

"The consumption test we did on your car when in our workshop confirms that there is nothing out of place with regards to the car. Also in addition the Kia Technical Department advise me that the car is equipped with electronics which will be able to identify if there is any fault which would illuminate the engine management indicator.

"I trust that all of the above would put your mind at rest that this car is running as it should do..."

I responded back because I didn’t agree with the feedback received and then one of Kia SA's executives (Barry Simon) responded back to me instead of the dealer principal (John Burgess), with the following: "John, ask Antony Shiell for his opinion and then tell the customer to go to the Ombudsman. Tx"

The public needs to be warned about this, because the Kia employees are misleading the public and the vehicle isn't near the margins that are advertised when it comes to fuel efficiency. The Kia employees are trained to say the necessary, because I hear the same story from different dealerships employees and customer care and numerous people of the public fall for this.

I really don't know how they can say the vehicles behaviour is normal if it uses double the fuel than what's advertised.

Advertised: 7.6L/100km

Actual: Between 13.5-14L/100km’s town driving

I'm currently completing the necessary documents for the Ombudsman, but it really seems like even at exec level Kia doesn't try to resolve customer’s problems.

This looks like a general fuel consumption issue on Kia vehicles. I've got all the relevant proof to provide and am willing to give my vehicle for more tests (ODO=5 900Km and money spent on fuel to date is close to R11 000).

I really need intervention and assistance in this regard. 

- Fin24

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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.

Fin24 reserves the right to obtain service providers' comments before publishing any articles or letters, and to edit any material used. Fin24 also reserves the right to edit or delete any and all user comments received.

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