Overview & Reviews

For 2008, the LX trim is added for the Rio5. This means that those who prefer the versatile hatchback body style over the sedan are no longer forced to spring for the top-of-the-line SX trim.

• Smooth ride, stable handling, attractive interior, standard side curtain airbags, generous warranty.

User Reviews:

Showing 21 through 30 of 54.00

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  one month - 2008 Kia Rio
  By rioowner - January 18 - 1:40 am

  The basic Rio is pleasantly surprising. All is well with it, except filling the gas tank today, I got 30.1 mpg. On the lot where I bought my Rio were signs on some of the Rios stating 44 mpg. Now, I know that is highway miles, and the sticker only said 27 city, 34 highway, but something is amiss here. I am thinking, if I get 44 highway, then I think I should get at least 35 city. And driving it slower than two thirds of other vehicles, I think that should have been accomplished. I am disappointed in the mileage I got for 9.98 gallons, traveling 301 miles. The reason I bought it was for the mileage. But.....

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  Nice, a no frills but great on gas car. - 2008 Kia Rio
  By rkkeller - September 16 - 6:13 pm

  I bought my Rio as I needed an inexpensive but good on gas car. I was not expecting a lot but I really like it and glad I bought it. It is fun to drive and handles well but it can be slowish at times. The interior is really roomy for a small car and its way bigger on the inside than you might think. I have a Jeep Cherokee and the Rio has way more front seat room and better seats too. The radio with single CD and 4 speaker setup sounds nice and is just loud enough if you want to turn it up. It might not be loud enough for some though but for me its fine.

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  beware - 2008 Kia Rio
  By gmclover1 - August 25 - 3:12 pm

  this is in response to some who say they need to purchase a good car great on gas. This car does ok with those two aspects but I recently had to take the car in to have the motor taken out of the car for the air conditioner. Not under warranty when they say it is your fault and you have put papers in the glove box!!! Who says you cant put papers in the glove box, there was nothing saying we couldnt, but now that the air conditioner has sucked in my oil change receipt, because of their design flaw in leaving a hole in the glove box, I shouldnt have to pay for this, now they are saying I cannot have my car back if I don;t because they fixed it!!! Did they fix the hole?????

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  Great little car! - 2008 Kia Rio
  By roger - July 22 - 11:56 am

  I have had my Kia Rio for two years and I am very happy with it. The price was great. I get 30-34 mpg. I drive it daily 50 miles to work and back and like it fine. I have also driven it to Florida and several times (2,000 miles round trip) and it was comfortable. I have had no mechanical problems at all. It is a great little car for the price and with the back seat down has lots of room to haul stuff. Yes, I would buy another Kia.

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  Being intelligent helps - 2008 Kia Rio
  By Big John - June 20 - 5:06 am

  You dont have to be stupid to buy anything else, but it helps. 100K warranty, low initial price, 35 miles to a gallon endlessly on regular. Smooth ride, great seats with lumbar support, a/c, at, pw/dl, tilt wheel, am/fm/cd/st, spacious trunk, arm rest, power hook-ups, ample head room in back seat for six footers. All this for around $13K. Are you kidding me? Why buy anything else? This is my 6th Rio in 8 years. I still own four of them and all except this one have over 120,000 miles on them and still run strong, use zero oil and get 35 mpg HW. I change the oil myself at 5,000 mile intervals, religiously. Routine maintenance essential. Nobody builds a better car at these prices.

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  My other car is a Rio... - 2008 Kia Rio
  By Big John - April 3 - 8:23 pm

  Ive been sold on Kia since 2001. Always a long distance runner, I need a car with better than average MPG and durability. The other things dont really matter. I want some money in my pocket after the bills are paid. Before 2001 I was driving a 1970 Pontiac Catalina for 15 years. It ran great until my nit-wit son took it for a spin. He spun out and drove it into a tree. It had huge miles on it. The Catalina averaged 18 MPG. All my Rios average 35. It doesnt take long for the savings to pay for the car. Essentially I am driving a new car for free. The 2001 made a lot of noise but so does a Harley. You dont get wet in a Rio. A 2008 much quieter. I also own an 01, 03, and 06.

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  New Rio 5 LX - 2008 Kia Rio
  By Peter - March 28 - 1:56 am

  We got the 2008 Rio 5 LX with 5-speed manual. We are very pleased with our choice so far. The car is attractive, fun to drive, and it is good enough power-, handling-, and feature-wise for us. Shortly after break-in, we took the car to TX (1800+ miles each way). Never dawdling, with two adults and two kids, fully loaded with toys and gear, we got 33 mpg. Not bad! It would do better, though, if Kia put a 6-speed in this model. 3500+ revs in 5th for typical Southern and Western U.S. interstate driving is too much. If I often drove on Southern or Western interstates, I would be less pleased with the car. But in the hilly, trafficky Northeast, where I live, I highly recommend it!

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  Love my Rio - 2008 Kia Rio
  By Mike K - February 2 - 4:43 pm

  So when my 2000 Hyundai Elantra finally had enough and overheated (after 160k miles by the way), I planned on replacing her with a new Accent but luckily shopped Kia before buying it. Same engine, parent company and warranty, but I preferred the more mature styling of my Rio over the somewhat prepubescent look of the Accent. Anyhow, I bought the extended bumper-to-bumper warranty for 10 years and couldnt be happier. My first tank got me 33 mpg and itll keep improving up to around 5000 miles. Ok, so its not the fastest ride out there, but it always gets there smoothly and surely. I also like that not everyones driving it, and that it looks like a mini-lexus if you squint hard enough!

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  I HATE THIS CAR - 2008 Kia Rio
  By casey - January 28 - 4:50 am

  My car also is slow to shift from park reverse or drive to revervse. It also has been in the shop five times because something is draining the power from the battery that no one can figure out why. It has been thru two batteries and they put in a whole new fuse system... i drove it three weeks and the battery is dead again. They still cant figure it out so while it sits in the shop i have to borrow parents and friends cars because good ol kia doesnt provide loaner cars and i dont have the money for a rental. All this for a car ive only had four months!!!

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  LOVED THIS LITTLE CAR! - 2008 Kia Rio
  By joy_bell - May 25 - 7:48 pm

  PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO ALL OF THE HORRIBLE REVIEWS ON THIS CAR! Every type of car can have these issues. Honestly, I had my little kia for 3 years, and it never failed me. Even with all of the bad weather that we have up in Wisconsin, it kept going strong for my kids and I. The only issue that I ever had was that the headlights are supposed to be automatic, but if I didnt manually turn them off, sometimes the batter would drain. but that only happened a few times in all the years that I had it. besides that, never had a single issue. I have several friends and family members who also have these cars, and they never have major issues either. great car for a small family.