2022 Kia EV6 Official Thread

OK, maybe it may not be just road salt, but it sure adds a lot to the problem. Move to New England, you will know what I am talking about. I lived over 100 miles inland away from the ocean. Our climate is not arid, but certainly not very humid either. You have probably seen this photo I put on other theads showcasing the rust problem I have encountered in the past. Most of my cars that lasted longer than 10 years on our roads ended with rust caused problem that resulted in it not street worthy at the end.

12 years old Sienna with only 100Kmiles on it, no rust on body, but rusted rear differential made it not worth fixing it.

 

Well, all I can tell you is that the only time you'll see rust on a car in Colorado is when it's been brought here from another place. And there's salt on the roads many, many times every winter.

 

Salt is corrosive to steel. I would not believe your blanket statement unless you have looked at every single car registered in Colorado and checked the rust and where the car came from.

Couldn't find raw data, but according to this Wiki article, Colorado uses less corrosive substances than the rest of the salt belt. Salt Belt - Wikipedia

I am sure local variations also exist within the same state. Someone living in southern Ohio is going to see much less salt on the road than someone living in Cleveland. And driving habits affect a lot. If one usually keeps a car in a garage when it snows, salt on the road has no effect. Even with everyday driving, if it snows less in that locality, there will be less salt the car will see.

 

I lived in Colorado for 2 years when stationed at Lowry Air Force Base. Lowry AFB is near Denver and the Rocky Mountains for geographically reference.

Believe me the cars in Colorado have rust like anywhere else. If cars are not rusting there now something has dramatically changed-as well as scientific fact: steel +water+salt brine (or salt) = rust.

Maybe rust issue is not be as bad in Colorado as other areas of our country but it still happens

 

It could be exactly Tesla priced and still appear as a good value if the owner only has to take it back for warranty service half as often as a Tesla.

 

Or if the owner has the place to take it back for warranty service. Currently, there are three Kia dealers within 200 miles range, but none for Tesla. LOL

 

I've lived here for my entire life (and grew up a couple miles from Lowry, just south of it a block off Quebec) and I've never once seen a car here with rust on it that didn't come from another place. I've seen frame-up restos (before the restoration, obviously) that were 40-50 years on the road before the resto and they had no rust on the body or frame. I've been in classic car clubs and the same is the case, and I've owned my own cars having the same experience - 30+ years on the road with zero rust.

 

True..very true.

Truth be told...I'm very happy with the quality of our Hyundai vehicles...and Kia is basically the same thing.

 

Interesting...well, rust certainly depends on the manufacturer...and from what I have seen, pretty much *all* manufacturers are much better at rust mitigation these days. Trust me...we know rust well up here in MN. They use a TON of brine on the roads here.

However, we *were* Mazda fans...but all three of our Mazda vehicles were absolutely horrible when it came to rust. That was unfortunate, because mechanically they were great. In fact, the rust issue totally turned us off to Mazda and I won't buy another one now. I really hope Mazda has solved the issue in their newest generation of vehicles though.

I'm pretty impressed with Toyota when it comes to rust. I still see lots of older Gen2 Prius, etc...around here with not a spot of discernible rust on them.

 

My 1988 Mazda MX-6GT, sold after 31 years in Colorado, had zero rust.

 

That's just you. Whining about a less efficient manufacturing and buying process isn't being used won't change the fact that what exists now works to the advantage of most buyers.

Yet they seem to have cycles of rust problems with the Tacoma.

The 2001 Sable was the only car the have rust issues when in my possession, but they didn't really start until after ten years of age.

 

I *seriously* doubt that. It works to the advantage of the companies, not the buyers.

I was in an automobile plant a long time ago, and they were building two different brands of cars, each with custom options and colors, all on the same assembly line, with a new car coming off the line every 60 seconds. It was not an issue. I remember them just grabbing this trim or that steering wheel or these wheels and tires and so on at each station. If they could do that so long ago, it wouldn't be a problem now. It's just a complexity-saving exercise for the companies.

 

The Tacoma isn't a Unibody...Seems Toyota has issues with their steel truck frames.

Avoid These Used Toyota Tacoma Models Unless You Love Rust

 

With the very first pick up they imported, the bed rusted out.
The issue with the frame is that they outsource it for the American Tacoma, but it is their name on the tailgate.

 

Absolutely no one is saying a la carte can't be done.
What we are saying is that it adds to the manufacturing costs. That increases the car price, and when given the choice, most buyers opt to put up with the package issues for the lower price.

 

Do you have evidence of that? Because I doubt it. It adds some administrative cost and some logistical cost, but I suspect that's small and I suspect the manufacturing increase is close to zero.

 

Dealerships need a system to take in such orders.

A system at the factory is needed to process individual orders. More employees.

It increases the storage costs by having to keep less popular options in stock. Grouping options in packages makes the logistics easier and cheaper.

Getting parts for an individual custom order, with each car being custom, on the line increases that complexity, thus cost.

The added complexity requires more time in QA inspections. More costs there. When those fail, costs for refused delivery and warranty work increase.

Weight is a factor in safety design. Set trims makes this easier than a smorgasbord of options. Placement of options could have an impact. the presence of a spare tire can alter crash dynamics, and it did in Crown Vic police cruisers. So increased design and testing costs.

Weight is a factor in fuel economy testing. The Prius Eco cut weight so it could be tested in a lighter weight bin than the other trims. Opting for the Prime solar roof eliminates other features in order to keep the car from going over a certain weight. Again, a la carte greatly complicates this over trims and packages. The car will likely need to be tested with every option, which means a lower result. if that result is too low for regulations and marketing, the entire ordering process now has to account for weight of the options with a cut off point where a customer can't add more. In addition to added cost, you have now made it possible for a customer to not get every feature they want. Just like with trims and packages.

 

Every serious business tries to profit from complexity before retreating with simplification.

 

Advances in automation and electronics since the industry switch from a la carte should reduce the costs of running such a system, but those advances also help the package model. The Price would likely be lower today, but a company going a la carte would still be competing against the package system.