A rocky start to Stinger ownership

[MadScientist]

Hi all,

Just into my second week of Stinger ownership and unfortunately I’m unconvinced this is going to be the car for me, but I’ve always tried to participate in owners clubs and communities so here I am. Also thanks to the community for all the content already on here, it was very useful when researching the car.

Bit of background: I’m U.K. based and have a red over black Stinger GTS (which I think is a GT2 RWD everywhere else in the world). I’m coming to this car from the love of my automotive life, a 2004 350z that I owned for 15 years, maintained mostly myself and did some significant but tasteful mods to. The stinger is supposed to be my grown up car now that I’ve got a new 120 mile round trip I’ll have to do once or twice a week.

I was sure before buying that this was the car for me but I have to say it’s not been a great ownership experience so far, although a lot of that is to do with the dealer and the particular car, not the Stinger in general. Buying an in-warranty car from a main dealer I figured I’d be pretty safe, but every time I drive the car I find something else not right with it. Some of this I’m just annoyed at myself for not noticing when I viewed the car, but some of this is stuff that the dealer had hidden or was done to the car between me seeing it and it being delivered, which is the kind of thing you’d expect from shady used car types, not a main dealer franchise.

I’m pretty much 50/50 right now on whether I keep the car and try to make the most of it or cut my losses and take the hit on trading it in for something else. Hoping the community can inject me with a bit of enthusiasm, as it’s running really low right now.

Many thanks,

MS

 

[Brotherspoon]

Do tell of the issues you're seeing.

 

[Thomby]

Stinger GTS (which I think is a GT2 RWD everywhere else in the world)

This part confused me because I always understood the GTS to be a limited edition model with AWD, rear LSD, and "drift mode". Apparently the UK got a "GT S", where the S means the highest GT trim, RWD with a mechanical LSD.

In general, these cars don't tend to have major problems, but if your particular one was used hard it could be an exception. If you want to post some of your issues, people here might be able to help you on whether they're straightforward fixes or not.

 

[MadScientist]

This part confused me because I always understood the GTS to be a limited edition model with AWD, rear LSD, and "drift mode". Apparently the UK got a "GT S", where the S means the highest GT trim, RWD with a mechanical LSD.

In general, these cars don't tend to have major problems, but if your particular one was used hard it could be an exception. If you want to post some of your issues, people here might be able to help you on whether they're straightforward fixes or not.

Yeah for some reason it’s not unusual for us in the U.K. to have totally different engine and trim options from the rest of the world. The GT S was the only way of getting the 3.3 over here, and it automatically came with all the options ticked. We never got the AWD here either which is confusing because as a rule the U.K. market loves an AWD performance car.

I don’t think any of the issues I’m finding are unfixable, just that the list is growing.

The main one I’m pissed about is that between me viewing the car and the car being delivered (I had it delivered because I live 3 hours from the dealer, these are rare cars over here) the dealer replaced the windscreen due to a small chip. It turns out they’ve replaced it with a very poor quality one that isn’t HUD glass, so the HUD is almost unreadable and I’ve just turned it off. The ADAS and rain sensors also behave oddly so I suspect (but can’t prove) they didn’t recalibrate these after fitting the new windscreen. I don’t know how reliable these systems generally are on these cars, but the lane keep assist in particular has about a 50/50 chance of spotting a white line or just totally ignoring it, so I’ve got all that turned off too (although I probably would anyway). My main issue here is that not having an ADAS recalibration can invalidate your insurance, which is a legal requirement in the U.K. so is a big deal.

The car has also developed a pretty serious suspension knock from the right rear which wasn’t there on the test drive, so I’m wondering if they pulled the “stuff it with grease to keep it quiet for a few miles” trick.

The brakes are also completely knackered. I noticed a serious lip on them when I went to view the car and was told they’d be fully inspected as part of their thorough pre-sale prep yadda yadda and would be replaced if necessary. Apparently Kia thinks brakes that grind going forwards, squeal going backwards and judder over 50mph are perfectly satisfactory.

The climate control seems to randomly adjust fan speeds without any input. I don’t know if this is a fault or something the car does for reasons I haven’t figured out yet, but I can’t see a pattern to it.

Yesterday I also noticed the plastic strips on the roof are totally cracked/crazed all over, which is just on me for being an idiot and not noticing.

As I say, none of these are unfixable, and I’ve fixed worse on my driveway. The problem is that all together I’m looking at throwing about 3k at a car I only just bought and was supposed to have been dealer prepped as an approved used car. Needless to say the dealer are refusing to accept that any of this is their problem.

For context this is an MY20 car with 55k miles on it and full dealer service history, so am I being naive in thinking it shouldn’t be at the kind of age where stuff just starts randomly failing?

I really want to love this car but I’m now at the point of spending most of my time driving it worrying about what I’m going to find next, which is really ruining it for me.

Thanks all,

MS

 

[Thomby]

they’ve replaced it with a very poor quality one that isn’t HUD glass

This one seems worth politely but firmly pushing the dealer on, especially given the other systems it's impacting.

pretty serious suspension knock

Could be something simple like a worn boot or bushing. If you're so inclined, you can start by putting it up on jack stands and yank on each suspension link to locate any obvious play.

brakes are also completely knackered

This is the first one that sounds Stinger-specific: some drivers encounter brake/steering wheel vibration from pad deposits (seems linked to the softer American compound, but what you're encountering). You can try a series of heavy braking passes (maybe half a dozen, 8/10 effort, from say 60-70mph down to 10-15), which will get the rotors hot and hopefully scrape any deposits clean. Then swap pads for something like Power Stop Z23s to keep it from coming back.

climate control seems to randomly adjust fan speeds

The HVAC normally spins up and down to hit your target temp, and in my experience can be aggressive when you first start a hot car. You can use the fan speed up/down buttons to override and keep it at a fixed 1-8 speed.

plastic strips on the roof are totally cracked/crazed

This is the second one some Stinger drivers have encountered. Some have masked/sanded/repainted them, while others have just ordered new sets and replaced them.

this is an MY20 car with 55k miles on it and full dealer service history, so am I being naive in thinking it shouldn’t be at the kind of age where stuff just starts randomly failing?

No, from both experience and reading a lot of threads here, these cars really aren't problematic. The two items I noted above (brake vibration, trim rails) do impact a minority of drivers, but it's possible your particular car was used a bit harder than is typical.

 

[Snicklefritz]

@Thomby pretty much covered it. But I am one who has replaced the drip rails - what you called plastic strips - on both of our Stingers. The "snake skin" look and hazed finish, worsening by passing time, did not pass my level of acceptable imperfections. I have brand new drip rails, unpainted, so, that means bare rubber - which is over steel, by the way, there is no plastic involved except the retaining clips and the end caps, and they come unpainted black. My permanent solution is to apply tire shine to them occasionally, so that the rubber isn't exposed or dry out over time.

Our Premium has all the stuff your car has except HUD. I turn everything OFF, and don't like rain sensing wipers either. Your not missing much if you drive without the "driver assist" nannies, just my opinion.

My advice is to give it some time and fix the stuff that bugs you. It all seems minor and shouldn't involve any large amount of money and should be easy to address. And my advice is based on experience, eight years of it, with the Stinger. I love it, both of them - we've had the Premium since November 2022, and bought the GT1 brand new. So far, no issues with either of them that weren't easily rectified. An intermittently recurring starting issue with the Premium was solved by a "reflash" of the software - and the replaced HPFP was a recall. And the GT1 hasn't had any trouble at all after one coil pack was replaced at c. 45K miles. It has nearly 82K miles now. Both cars look almost brand new, but that's on me, keeping them clean and out of the sun.