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My current whip is a 2016 Kia Forte 5 LX in pearl white, which I have dubbed: Snowflake. I was upside-down on my 2003 Ford Explorer XLS and between the mileage and repairs it was starting to get really expensive to own. Then Kia of North Grand Rapids, now Summit Place Kia, took my Explorer as a trade-in, paid off the loan, and got me into the Forte for no down payment. I was surprised to find out that the 2.0ltr 4 cyl motor the 5 comes with (it's a 1.8ltr 4 in the sedan) is actually fairly peppy. It makes 174bhp and has D-CVVT (dual variable cams), variable intake length runners, direct injection, a timing chain instead of a belt, and electric steering. There was a turbo option for this car, the SX, but that was a 1.6ltr 4 cyl that makes 205 hp. I didn't see the point of going up two trim lines and several additional options packages for 30 more hp and less economy.
This was how she looked when I brought her home:
So bland, much stock. Almost immediately I changed the turn signals, brake lights, tail lights, reverse lights, and license plate lights out for Sylvania Ziva LED lamps. I found a sweet deal on some used 16" MB wheels (nothing fancy, but they look a lot better than the steelies with the hubcaps) and moved on to the radio.
The car came with a fairly decent radio for a base model. Bluetooth, Sirius XM, CD Player, but I don't really listen to the radio, had terrible signal with Sirius XM no matter what I tried, and can't remember the last time I used a CD (my how the times have changed). I picked up a Pioneer AVH-4200NEX on sale along with an iDataLink Maestro kit to integrate the steering wheel controls. I went with the Pioneer because of the AppRadio functionality, I didn't read the fine print though that it only works with apps compatible with AppRadio. Fortunately I was able to find a 3rd party app that "hijacks" Pioneer's app radio functionality to allow full phone control via the radio's touchscreen. It took a lot of doing and going in to detail on that is probably best left of a post of its own. Here is the final install though:
After that it was on to some cosmetic updates on the outside of the car. I really hated how the black strips covering the welds where the roof meets the side of the car just stopped at the hatch spoiler. That and the way the grille had a chrome surround that seemed completely out of place given it was nearly the only piece of chrome on the whole car. I contacted Kevin Burke of KBCustoms and a plan was put in to action to fix those nasty errors. The result is subtle enough that no one really notices, unless I park near another Forte 5, which is exactly what I was going for. Nothing flashy, just trying to fix what I thought looked wrong with the car.
Along the way somewhere in there the fog lights and headlights both went LED as well. The fog lights are actually switchback; amber/white but I prefer to run them as amber most of the time.
I also (poorly for now) added a tablet to keep an eye on engine function. I could do this with my phone and the radio but wouldn't be able to see if when I'm Ubering or otherwise using GPS. Menards had this little Polaroid tablet on clearance for $30 so I scooped it up.
I started to have a lot of riders drop things under the seats and I'm used to old cars that used to have floor lighting, so I added some of my own. It's hilarious how many riders now comment "I didn't know Kia's came with limo lighting..." Yeah they actually say that, a lot.
I think that covers everything I've done to it at this point. but I've got a couple things in the works yet as well.
This was how she looked when I brought her home:
So bland, much stock. Almost immediately I changed the turn signals, brake lights, tail lights, reverse lights, and license plate lights out for Sylvania Ziva LED lamps. I found a sweet deal on some used 16" MB wheels (nothing fancy, but they look a lot better than the steelies with the hubcaps) and moved on to the radio.
The car came with a fairly decent radio for a base model. Bluetooth, Sirius XM, CD Player, but I don't really listen to the radio, had terrible signal with Sirius XM no matter what I tried, and can't remember the last time I used a CD (my how the times have changed). I picked up a Pioneer AVH-4200NEX on sale along with an iDataLink Maestro kit to integrate the steering wheel controls. I went with the Pioneer because of the AppRadio functionality, I didn't read the fine print though that it only works with apps compatible with AppRadio. Fortunately I was able to find a 3rd party app that "hijacks" Pioneer's app radio functionality to allow full phone control via the radio's touchscreen. It took a lot of doing and going in to detail on that is probably best left of a post of its own. Here is the final install though:
After that it was on to some cosmetic updates on the outside of the car. I really hated how the black strips covering the welds where the roof meets the side of the car just stopped at the hatch spoiler. That and the way the grille had a chrome surround that seemed completely out of place given it was nearly the only piece of chrome on the whole car. I contacted Kevin Burke of KBCustoms and a plan was put in to action to fix those nasty errors. The result is subtle enough that no one really notices, unless I park near another Forte 5, which is exactly what I was going for. Nothing flashy, just trying to fix what I thought looked wrong with the car.
Along the way somewhere in there the fog lights and headlights both went LED as well. The fog lights are actually switchback; amber/white but I prefer to run them as amber most of the time.
I also (poorly for now) added a tablet to keep an eye on engine function. I could do this with my phone and the radio but wouldn't be able to see if when I'm Ubering or otherwise using GPS. Menards had this little Polaroid tablet on clearance for $30 so I scooped it up.
I started to have a lot of riders drop things under the seats and I'm used to old cars that used to have floor lighting, so I added some of my own. It's hilarious how many riders now comment "I didn't know Kia's came with limo lighting..." Yeah they actually say that, a lot.
I think that covers everything I've done to it at this point. but I've got a couple things in the works yet as well.
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