Kia has certainly improved and I like the K5 Sport or whatever it's called, but still, I'd much rather have a Lexus. I've heard although Genesis and Kia share similar stuff, the Kias are generally rattle city. I don't doubt it... i mean what would be the point of Kia if they're the same quality as Genesis which is supposed to compete or aspire to compete with Lexus. Kia=budget. It may have the bones but the manner in which it's screwed together isn't on par with more established premium names.

Kia knows they have a perception problem and is trying to rebrand (literally) by rebadging their kia badge. With cars, once a customer thinks something, it's really hard to unthink.

Also generally if you browse reddit long enough, you see stories and photos left and right of NEW Kia/hyundai/genesis engines/transmissions etc just exploding out of nowhere, holes in the case type failures. Just dumb idiotic stuff. Sure they'll back it with a warranty but not confidence inspiring. I think they have some QC issues going on.

 

Same. The Stinger was on my list initially. But the stories of hatch rattles and paint issues, depending on which color you purchased, were what steered me back towards the IS. Found a simple fix for rattles afterwards though. It's not elegant, but some people were putting electrical tape around the hard plastic bump stops in the hatch and that seemed to take care of the rear rattles. Otherwise it would've meant replacing the plastic components with hard rubber so the hatch had a little extra cushioning.

Yikes! Hadn't heard about the drive trains going kaboom. Must've missed that back when I was researching the cars.

 

I thought this was mainly with the 2.0 engines from early 2010s and the 3.3T was fairly reliable. I drove a Stinger a while back and did like the speed but was too big for me.

 

The 3.3T sounds lije a nice engine, but the car is just ugly looking

 

Sometimes I like to watch YouTube videos of Kia reviews for a good laugh.

 

The Kia Stinger is a great car. I will miss Twin Turbo V6 with the 365hp. It would dust the IS350 but I miss the quality and quietness of Lexus and most important, the dealership experience.

 

I will miss the Stinger for the speed and "instant" power but when I saw the New IS350, I was like I gotta have it. I had a 2014 IS350 then I bought a 2016 RC350. I then decided the Stinger would be my next car. I have had it almost 3 years and I have had no issues except for brakes. They have a lot of brake issues.(Known issue with the car) Mine personally have been replaced 6 times under warranty. The dealership has soured me the most to the brand so that's why I decided to go back. It will be a downgrade on power which I love but my happiness and sanity is more important. My IS should be delivered the first week of October. Can't wait.

 

This was a know issue but I have never had any issues.

 

Despite the extra red interior panels, I would still hold out for the Ultra White / Circuit Red IS350. It is just such a classic color combo with the IS and, in my opinion, has a better contrast than white on white.

 

I agree that the red seats are nice and I do like the Circuit Red color - I had it in my RC and it was nice despite many preferring the Rioja Red. I still think (my opinion) they went too red, but in fairness, I am only going by videos and pics and never sat in one per se. For those of you that are huge Seinfeld fans, the whole red interior reminds me of the Kenny Roger roaster episode (lol) - My rods and cones would be all messed up (lol)

I have to say that the white interior (with the black panels) gives a very good contrast and is quite nice but I think you are referring to seeing the visual of when you walk up to the car and seeing the white exterior with the red seats inside. I will give you that point for sure but that is a very small percent of the whole visual experience because when you are in it, you don't have to worry about that effect.

 

MY initial impression was the red was too much red as well. I never saw the white personally but my brother did and saw it looked dirty in the showroom car. My options were between circuit red and black. I ended up going with the red because the black felt like it was engulfing me since the headliner is also black. I do wish they had tweaked the color options a bit but it is still a fabulous car. I am very happy with the red and don’t have the feeling like they went too far with it. No regrets there - it suits the car well.

My only first world complaints are: no turbo (yup a stinger would smoke this car), no memory seats (just means I share less), stereo is underwhelming, no place to set down a phone (expectation is it goes inside center console).

 

I have seen a Circuit Red interior in person, in the showroom so I could look inside for a good 15 mins without being a creep, and the seats still look Rioja Red, while the plastic parts (glove box, door panels, the part above your legs when you sit in the driver's seat) are a brighter shade. I am not a fan of the extra red pieces, but I would choose it over a black interior any day.

 

Hm, strange. I find the color blends quite nicely between the doors and seats. Though, I will say it looks less-bright in person than in photos, but noticeably richer than Rioja.

 

I am sure you know that in Canada, the memory seats are standard and even without the DHP I will say that I have never seen the red in the IS in person so you could be totally right that it looks perfectly fine - I was simply going by pics and videos. It helps that I don't have pets or kids to ride in my car, I am always alone so my interior is spotless and when clean, it looks great and no complaints on my end

 

You know, I kind of take my statement back.

The first pic is the Circuit Red interior, courtesy of a user on Reddit who got a '21 (with an Atomic Silver exterior, but that's beside the point). The other two are of a 992 Carrera with the Black/Bordeaux Red interior. Obviously I'm not comparing the IS350 to a Carrera, but if I find that the 992's interior looks good, why not the IS350's? They both have basically the same amount of red.

@wthrman2 Yeah, I was kind of referring to that visual impact when you walk up to (or away from) the car. I don't know if you know this, but some other Japanese manufacturers like using the white paint / red interior as a nod to their Japanese heritage (for example, Mazda's 100th anniversary cars). That's kind of cool to me, so there's that Also, the red interior is still present when you're in the car, you can still see the passenger seat, and still see the red Nuluxe on the door panels on the driver and passenger side. It really does brighten the interior up even if you're sitting in it and driving the car.

@arentz07 I did find that the red wasn't as blindingly bright in person as on the various pictures out there, so that's a good thing. Truth be told, I've warmed up significantly to it from the very first pics when the '21 was released, until today.

@BillCannon My '19 doesn't have AA/AC, so I have my phone mounted on a Proclip which goes into the trim gap at the top and bottom of the middle air vents (so it doesn't flop around or damage the air slats). I do sometimes take it off the mount and stick it in the center console to keep it out of the sun. When the AC is going, some air is being diverted to the rear seat vents, and some of that cold air does make its way into the center console, which helps keep the phone cool. With respect to the IS350's straight line speed, it's remarkable that a heavy car like the Stinger GT can still kill it. I kind of hope that the 2.4T engine (the same one in the '22 NX350) will help reduce that gap somewhat, as the T24A-FTS is supposed to be the V6's replacement. At the same time, it would suck to lose that 2GR V6 because it just sounds so much better than any turbo 4.

I had the opportunity to buy a Stinger GT (the 20th Anniversary edition with the red nappa leather and ghost grey paint), and I could have even bought cars like the C43 (not the overpriced $72k Avantgarde edition but the regular C43), M340i and S4. All of these are way faster than the IS350, however I had my doubts about long term reliability for all of them, and only the IS350 had the reliability that I wanted.

In particular, I learned more about the Stinger's AWD system and decided that it wasn't going to hold up long term - it uses the same Magna supplied xDrive unit, which is a clutch pack only system, but it somehow runs that 100% of the time. This means the clutch packs are always slipping to deliver full-time AWD. On top of this, the transfer case fluid cannot be drained. The Stinger's service manual says to remove and replace the whole transfer case (!) when the fluid wears out. This is kind of ***** engineering, IMO.

Also, the engine is direct injection only, so expect the valves to need cleaning every so often. It will suffer from valve lash, so it will need a shim job at some point. Add to this Hyundai's not so stellar reputation for building engines (ie. recent engine fires, the new 2.5T or 3.5T having excessive oil consumption) and it's just a mess I'd rather stay away from unless I was leasing the car.