It must’ve been two years ago now. Maybe three. I dunno, time gets to be a bit of a warp and unless I have a Red Wings Stanley Cup (it’s been a while) or a Spartans championship (even longer) as a date & time stamp of semi-permanent ink upon my memory, I’m hopeless.
Once after a 3rd grade day, early in a school year, the youngest kid came home with an assignment. It was more for us then her.
Her mom and I were each tasked with choosing a word, one single word to describe us as people. Oof. That’s a weighty ask, teach.
Do you go with loving or caring, something flowery like that, and showcase your tender nurturing side, or funny to indicate you aren’t one of those hardass dads, or maybe kind because shit, that’s fairly all-encompassing and the shoes fit pretty well and, I might add, look positively dashing with these slacks.
I probably put too much pressure on myself but this was a new school year, a new classroom, a new teacher and I wished desperately for her to pause upon reaching my slip of paper, my one single word, and think, my god that’s freaking brilliant, this guy must be amazing.
One word can say a lot.
None of my words were ever able to impress a single teacher during my dozen years of schooling. With this assignment, I was clearly overcompensating to make up for lost time.
My one word: RELIABLE.
Brilliant and amazing, right? Ok, maybe not, but…
Reliable was and is the perfect word to describe me. I can be counted on to be there, to show up, on time, and to do my best for all involved in whatever it is we’re doing. I’m reliable AF, I’m extremely proud of it, and demand the same from others and from the stuff I use. Don’t even get me started on our shitty old toaster oven. Too soon, too soon.
There’s a detour here, so swerve out of your lane, but stay with me, this stretch will straighten out soon enough. I promise.
Kia sends out these media emails each month; awards won, year over year new car sales reports, teasing images of refreshed vehicles, that kind of thing.
Over the past year or thereabouts, there’s been a few emails pointing out a dramatic uptick in Kia used car sales. All the while, I’ve been thinking that that’s somethin’ worth thinking about more. Only, I haven’t really given it much thought. I stored the data away in the way back of my busy mind, figuring I’d come back to it when the time was right.
Yesterday was that day.
Queue the balloons, start the music, hire the clown (actually, no, please god don’t do that).
Just after lunchtime on Valentine’s Day came the lovely empirical evidence needed to write this story, the story that’s been squished into a corner of my brain for over a year alongside English 2nd tier football player names, driving times between various Norwegian towns, and at least one recipe for vegetarian Italian Wedding Soup.
J.D. Power brought all those emails, all that data, and all of those used car sales report thoughts back in a flood of pristine, mountain fresh spring water.
I’ll save you the trouble of sifting through the results of J.D. Power’s 2018 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study to serve up to you on a glittering silver platter the juiciest and most relevant nugget: Kia placed 5th in the ranking of consumers who bought new vehicles and are still be happy with them after three years of ownership.
Three years, man.
That’s no fluke.
Only 4 car manufactures are listed above Kia in dependability over a 3 year period after purchase, and only one of those is a non-luxury brand.
People all over America are saying yes to Kia and years later they are still smiling because their Kia cars, SUVs and minivans are still bringing them joy, still running smooth, still kicking ass from California to my driveway in ‘burbs of Philly.
It’s here where I’ll harken back to that massive rise in used car sales. New Kia cars are great and used Kia cars remain reliable investments. Because they are reliable. Like me. And my fellow Americans are demonstrating more and more each month, each year, that they get it. They freaking get it, finally.
That’s exactly what has been kicking around in my noggin when I’d see those used car sales figures, that people trust Kia to make reliable cars. Because if ya think they don’t there’s no chance you buy a USED one. I spied the sea change in consumer thinking in those emailed reports and now…
J.D. Power has iced the cake I’ve been mentally baking for a long while. Lucky it didn’t burn, burnt cake is the worst.
At this point, you may be thinking, if you haven’t yet Googled ‘reliable’, that that’s not the same word as ‘dependable’. Well, hah!:
In August of ’16 we put our money where my tweets are, we bought a reliable, dependable 2017 Kia Sorento.
That puts us at just about 20 months of ownership and in that span I’ve had my initial dealer concerns (yeah, I said it) put to bed and every single day I drive our Sangria-hued beaut, I smile and mentally pat myself on the back for pulling the trigger on it. It continues to be the best car I’ve ever driven or owned.
Our 2017 Kia Sorento mirrors me: fun, comfortable, pretty goddamn handsome and unbelievably reliable.
2 Comments