KIA Cerato (4G) GT-Line ++

Instagram: gt_line.forte

Sometimes your life could change dramatically in one day. Black day. February 24th to be more precise. Despite having been to the US multiple times before, I had never considered relocating here due to various reasons. However, life has a way of surprising you and it now appears that moving here is the right decision for me. New life, new country, new car... Let's start from a very beginning.

Choice

In a new country, you know nothing about the auto market and its rules. You don't have a good mechanic, electrician, or detailer. You have to start everything from scratch. Even if you have experience with many cars in your native country, it takes time to adapt. There are many things you can't do yourself, just because you don't have all your familiar equipment. So, if you purchase a new car, you basically have two options: do as much as possible yourself or minimize the things you need to do on the new car. And I really like to do the things with my own hands in a car... Yeah.

So, taking into account all of this, your choice would be a brand new car, but your budget is very limited. You don't have a credit score and you only have some savings that you brought with you during the relocation. In this situation, no option except a used car is available for you. So, I began looking for a used car. Because I'm kind of a petrolhead, I like cars with some styling. Actually, I don't care about 0-60 acceleration, I just need a reliable car that brings me pleasure when I see it early in the morning.

Initially, I planned to buy one of the same car models that I owned in my home country and customize it in the same way. I've spend a lot of time on CarGurus for searching these cars and was surprised with awful conditions of the cars available. Even cars with low mileage looked like previous owners really didn't care about them. Many sellers just want to sell you their car and forget about it. They're telling you that you have a good choice because this particular car has 8 inch display, parking sensors, bla-bla. But when asked what was the reason of "transfer case removal for complete repairs" reported on Carfax or "was the head gasket replaced because it's a well know issue", many of sellers just stop responding.

So, then I decided to go with something more "native" to the local market, but still fun to drive. My choice was a 2017-2018 Elantra Sport with manual transmission, because I really like the way this car looks like. I found two Elantras that I was interested in. The first one was a "Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned". I scheduled a visit to the dealership, but before that, I asked my friend for a simple OBD device. So, in reality, "Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned" car meant:

• Deep scratch on the rear bumper
• A difference in color between the rear bumper and the rest of the car
• Corrosion on the trunk lid in several areas
• The potential need for replacement of air temperature sensor (DTC error)
• Unknown reasons for the "clutch master cylinder" replacement

All of these issues were discovered in just one hour, before even taking a test drive or lifting the car. How this car could've passed all these 173+ checks declared? Open-ended question... I was also surprised when a dealership representatives told me that this is a used car and it can't be in perfect condition. I understand that, but at the same time, a car is not an iPhone that can be replaced every year. It's still a significant amount of money, it's still an expensive purchase and nobody but me is interested in saving my money.

So you get the idea. The second Elantra was from CarMax which claims that "it's OK to be picky". But, as you already may have guessed, it was in similar poor condition with "one more thing". Price with +$2000 above the market.

Purchase

After spending several months searching for a used car, I gave up. If you want to get a car in good condition the only way is to purchase a new car from a dealership. So, I decided to apply for financing to buy a new car. I prefer compact cars. Especially diesel cars. Especially diesel cars with manual transmission. However, as you know, there are no such cars available in the US market, at least in compact segment. There is no BMW 1er, Ford Focus mk4, Kia Ceed, Seat Leon, Skoda Octavia or Volkswagen Golf GTD.

Nevertheless a couple of cars that I like are available in the US market. I'm talking about Honda Civic and Kia K3 (aka Cerato/Forte). I was interested in purchasing a mid-trim model and upgrading it later with an S/RS/GT/N whatever look. To be honest there is also Mazda 3, but Mazda 3 is not exist in MPS trim at all, so this was not an option for me. Additionally Hyundai Elantra GT N-Line is also not an option in the US market. So Civic was the first one.

In mid-December 2022 we visited a dealership to take a look at the Civic Sport. In general I was OK to purchase it with MSRP price. However, when we applied for financing we we're shocked, to find out that out-of-the-door price was $7000 above MSRP and the APR for 3 year loan was 14%. I know that I have no credit score yet, but 14% APR is not even possible in my home country! So, we rejected this "best-market" offer. More or less the same offers were provided by other Honda dealers as well.

A week after I was browsing CarGurus for used cars in good condition, if any. Suddenly I noticed the "New Cars" button. As far as I understand dealerships post their inventories to CarGurus. Of course the prices listed were MSRPs. But I decided to apply for a couple of Fortes in GT-Line (not Premium) trim. I was surprised when two dealers responded that it was Christmas time, so they would do their best to make a deal with me, even though I didn't have a credit score. So, on December 23rd my spouse and I went to a dealership for Forte GT-Line at MSRP.

Surprisingly there were 20+ Fortes in different trims at the dealership. We were able to select from different colors and compare different trims. Finally, we decided to go with GT-Line Premium, which was just $140 above MSRP and had only 9% APR for 3 years. My spouse said she never had a sunroof in a car, so it should be. And I wanted to have the car equipped with all assistants available, to save money and time on retrofitting in future.

Specification:

- Model: Kia Forte (BD)
- Model Year: 2023
- Engine: 2.0 MPI
- Power: 147 hp @ 6200 rpm
- Torque: 179 nm @ 4500 rpm
- Transmission: 6 speed IVT
- Brake system: disc
- Tires: 225/45 R17 (all season)
- Trunk size: 433 liters
- Fuel tank capacity: 11.9 gallons
- Safety: 4 stars in NHTSA rating (6 airbags)
- Mileage at purchase: 17 ml
- Trim: GT-Line Premium

Despite the fact the car is fully packed with the options I still want to add more. Especially those that I had in my previous cars. All the options should be OEM only or look similar to OEM.

Plans:

- Rear tunnel with vent and USB port​
- Heated steering wheel with red stitching​
- Lowering springs​
- Parking sensors (front + rear)​
- GT rear bumper valance and exhaust

Changes:

1. LED headlamp bulbs (Auxito)
2. LED license plate bulbs (Philips)
3. LED trunk bulbs (Philips)
4. Glossy black roof (Oracal)
5. Glossy black front side markers (Oracal)
6. Forte decal off
7. Glossy door pillars
8. Red stripes on side skirts (Oracal)
9. Red vinyl on rear bumper decor (Oracal)
10. Leather owner's manual case (Kia)
11. Alcantara-lined glove box
12. Alcantara-lined arm rest niche
13. Wheel nuts protection caps
14. Glossy black rear bumper extensions with red vinyl
15. GT-Line front grille logo
16. Trunk umbrella hooks
17. Glove box net pocket
18. Trunk floor handle
19. Parking ticket holder
20. Tire stickers
21. Rear spoiler extensions
22. Dash cam (70mai)
23. Convex driver's mirror
24. GT shifter boot (Kia)
25. Auto-dimming interior rearview mirror (Kia)