You've probably never seen this car...

[soldierguy]

I'm in the US Army stationed in Seoul Korea. When I first got here I bought a VERY used '92 Hyundai Elantra just to get around it...I had no love for it at all, so I sold it after a while. Being a car nut, I wanted to drive something that I wouldn't be able to drive in the US, so I bought a used 2002 Kia Visto.This Kia is a trip...it's a city car, so it's tiny. Comes with a 50 hp 800cc 4 cylinder engine and a 5-speed manual...the gearing is REALLY tight to take advantage of what little torque is available. There's no tach so I don't know exactly what the max speed is in each gear, but my ear tells me that 1st is good for 18 mph, 2nd is good for 35 mph, 3rd is good for about 52, 4th about 68 mph, and I've never had it beyond about 75 mph in 5th, but it's pretty well wound out.Acceleration is borderline glacial....I did a search on the net and the equivalent European model did 0-60 in just under 17 seconds...LOL!!!I'm 6 ft tall and I just barely fit in it...wearing thin soled shoes helps.I get about 33 US mpg in the city, 40 on the highway. The car makes total sense in Seoul though...traffic is horrible, parking is a nightmare, and gas is currently running about $4.50 US per gallon (converting liters to gallons and Korean Won to US dollars). I'm just glad I can buy gas on post...currently it's $1.91 per US gallon on post in Seoul.It's slow, cramped, doesn't ride smoothly, doesn't handle all that well, but I love it...I can park it anywhere and I can drive it flat out almost all the time (I have to to keep up with traffic!)Just thought other car nuts might be interested to see what others around the world drive.

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[ragingfish]

Looks a lot like the Aveo...

[rasermon]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Looks a lot like the Aveo...Lol, a mini Aveo. Soldierguy, thanks for sharing your story and pic. I bet that would be a bast to drive around.

[joatmon]

awww, it's so cute!(just kidding)

[Viben' round]

looks like a 4 door version of the car used in that Ashton Kutcher, Britney Murphey wedding move from a couple years back.

[ragingfish]

Is that RHD?

[soldierguy]

Nope...it's left hand drive...they drive on the right side of the street here. Strange thing though...they drive on the right side of the street, but walk on the left side of the sidewalk...I can't even begin to count how my times I've run into people on the sidewalk. And as another side note, they sometimes drive on the sidewalk here...motorcycles are always cruising down the sidewalks, along with the tiny delivery vans.Here's another shot of it.

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[Viben' round]

what size rims are those like 10's? Hot man!

[soldierguy]

They are 13 inch wheels...15570R13 tires. I spun the tires once, but I was turning sharp and taking off from a dead stop, and the road was wet. LOL!I should mention too...I did a spec comparison once...found out that the Kia is 12 inches shorter in length than a Miata, 8 inches narrower than the Miata, the Kia is 14 inches taller than the Miata, and the Miata outwighs my Kia by 650 pounds. I think if I push real hard on the top of the door I could probably knock it on its side...LOL!There was actually a Korean domestic market turbo option on my engine...bumped power from 50 hp to 70.

[pmh013]

Quote, originally posted by Viben' round »what size rims are those like 10's? Hot man!I was pondering the exact same thing when I saw that picture.That thing looks like a match-box car! Any plans to bring it back home with you, or would the freight be outrageous?

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by soldierguy »There was actually a Korean domestic market turbo option on my engine...bumped power from 50 hp to 70.A turbo that boosted power 40% would kick a GT up to about 250 HP! probably sell a bunch of those.

[soldierguy]

I'd love to bring it back to the states with me, but there's no way I could. It doesn't meet any US specs that I can think of...no airbags, no side-impact door beams, no 5 mph bumpers (not even 2.5 mph bumpers!), the speedometer and odometer read in kilometers, no submarining protection (the pads that prevent you from sliding under the dash in an accident), and I'm sure the list goes on. So I'll sell it before I leave...it's easy to sell used cars here from one military person to another since very few people are allowed to ship cars over here.Here's a pic of the inside by the way.

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[soldierguy]

and one of the engine. Yes you'll see red overspray...it was in an accident before I bought it, but it was a pretty good repair job except for the overspray. And I put the dollar there as a size reference...it's sitting on the airbox. The airbox is almost as wide as the engine itself...LOL!!!

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[soldierguy]

and one of the inside, looking in through the driver's door.

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[ColonelPanic]

That thing's cool, soldierguy... I'd say that it's a kick to drive, even though it isn't that powerful.

[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by soldierguy »I'd love to bring it back to the states with me, but there's no way I could. It doesn't meet any US specs that I can think of...Isn't there an exception for used cars, or did Uncle Sam close that loophole?

[soldierguy]

After looking at the NHTSA guidelines available online at their website that govern importation of non-US spec cars, there's no way that my Kia could be imported.For legal importation, it would have to be brought up to US-spec. The emissions probably wouldn't be an issue since all the domestic Korean cars have mostly the same emissions requirememnts that US spec cars do (except the diesels). The killer would be the safety part...it'd need bigger bumpers, side impact bars, and airbags. The Visto has none of these, although the Euro-spec Hyundai Atos Sport (same as my car) does at least have airbags. Lots of dollars required to import legally if it's even possible to retrofit all the equipment. Cars that are 25 years or older don't require retrofitting.It wouldn't even be possible to import under the NHTSA rules governing importation for show and display purposes. Those rules specify that a car must be of great historical or technological importance to be imported, and no federalization is required. However there is a list of questions that must be answered negatively...the killer is the production numbers. If there was more than 500 produced, no dice.So the Kia will stay in Korea . It's too bad...the car has sparked more conversations with total strangers than I can count. Just yesterday I was stopped going on post for a vehicle inspection (they do random vehicle searches here for cars going on post), and I spent about 15 minutes talking to the military policeman about the car...he loved the fact that his Harley had a larger & more powerful engine. But that's one of the reasons that I bought it...I like driving vehicles that make other car nuts want to stop me and ask questions. I get questions all the time on my truck in the states simply because of what I did to it...it came from the factory as a two-tone (dark green over a sandy metallic color), and I covered the sand-colored portion of the body (and the bumpers) with black spray-on bedliner material. It looks tough as all heck and it's functional...no worries about road tar and no more rock chips.Off-beat or unusual vehicles with personality are the best! That's one of the reasons I ordered a Vibe GT instead of going with the Volvo V50 T5...sure the Volvo is a more powerful and faster vehicle, but the Vibe has personality all over the Volvo.