Lost my order !!

That is not the point. The car and chassis was tuned for the 19" wheels and staggered front/rear tires, not the 18's which are not showing up well in road tests. The fact that I don't like the 18" wheels is a minor factor, but important as well. I don't want or need all-weather tires. That is non-negotiable.

The other thing is that totally non-negotiable is that I don't want to pay a full new car price on a car with 100 miles on it, used as a demo. I know how people drive cars on "test drives" and I don't want any part of one of those cars. I keep my cars for many years and over 100,000 miles and I want to break them in according to my biases. And I should be able to get the color I want on a $50,000 car. Is that too much to ask? Do you understand why every car I've ever owned has been a factory custom order? I've never bought a car off the lot on an emotional trip in my life, which is also why I hate high pressure sales. I do my research, figure out exactly what I want, and order it to spec. Obviously I can't do that with Kia. If the rep doesn't come up with something tomorrow, I'll ask for my "non-refundable" deposit back and keep driving my faithful G8 for another year or two. I don't "need" a new car yet, I just liked the Stinger.

The limiter can easily be removed once the ECU flash comes out.

For sure and hopefully soon.

Exactly. [MENTION=291]MurlinatoR[/MENTION] is right. There are several things that were screwed up with my order which NO ONE told me or the dealer when we submitted it, and which apparently caused it to be cancelled without notice.
1) There are NO cars with GT1 AWD DriveWise anywhere on earth. They do not build them that way. Pick one. You cannot have both.
2) There are NO cars with GT1 AWD DriveWise with 19" tires, obviously - all DriveWise GT1's are RWD only, and you cannot get LSD with GT1's, but you can with GT and GT2's. Go figure.

[MENTION=456]mldavis2[/MENTION] tell the dealer to make it right and give you a GT2 for the same price

I don't really see this as the dealer's fault. It is the arbitrary restrictions placed on certain combinations of options by Kia that are not shown in the literature, combined with the apparent fact that Kia either has no respect for or no way to know that an order is a "sold" car, or that Kia simply $hitcans orders that violate their arbitrary rules for option combinations that only they know and understand, and then never tell the dealer they canned the order. In my case, they apparently just shipped a black/red GT2 in place of my red GT1 and assumed I'd just suck it up and pay the extra $4,000 for a car and color I didn't want. Never said a word to my dealer, and if I hadn't just happened to ask for the VIN I would never have known until the wrong car showed up 2 months later.

Hey [MENTION=456]mldavis2[/MENTION], I'm not going to say that your dealer is lying but I know that Kia will never assign a car that doesn't match a customers request. I believe that car is simply a car that was assigned to your dealer and they assumed it was for you and passed on the VIN to you.

I'm getting more information today to figure out more detail for ya.

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I have a GT1 with AWD and Drive wise on my lot. It just has the 18" wheels.

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Don't spend a lot of time on it. The main reason I will NOT accept any car with 18" tires is because the chassis of the Stinger was developed and tuned for the staggered 19" tires, not because of the 140mph speed restriction. Aside from the power, the main attraction to drivers (and not dash-swiping passengers) is the handling, which is significantly compromised by the cheap tires.

I've done a lot of net-surfing looking for Stingers in and around my area. What I am seeing, compared to over a month ago when I first started looking, is that 18" tires are piling up on dealer lots and people aren't buying them. Kia needs to wake up and realize that early buyers are usually car fanatics and they darn sure notice and care about things like tires on their cars. If they don't begin catching up with the 19"'ers they are going to take a hit on sales very quickly except for people who either don't know the difference or don't care.

Actually there is BMW and Audi dealerships in Springfield. They aren't any farther from you than Fayetteville (assuming that's who got your deposit money).


There's also a Mercedes dealership on 32nd in Joplin. And a Lexus dealership in Springfield.

Dealers don't have to take cars. LOL. I have only been taking 19" wheels once they started allowing dealers to request cars. The first batch were given without choice and those all had the 18" wheels.

A lot of buyers have been interested in the all season tires.

I'll give you a heads up when I get more info for ya.

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Yes, thanks. There is a Kia dealer in Joplin but they were way high on price and I went elsewhere.

Yea, I remember you saying that. That's why I figured you went to Fayetteville instead.

Is there really a shortage of 19" wheels?

I have heard nothing about there being a supply issue.

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My theory is that the early buyers all pretty much went for the 19" wheels -- the car fanatics. Canada is a bit different because of weather. But now the 18" wheels are piling up because people want the 19" wheels. Kia also makes more profit on cheaper tires so they are eager to sell as many 18" as they can. I think it will backfire.

[MENTION=291]MurlinatoR[/MENTION] I've noticed in Canada they get these really nice 10 spoke wheels, any idea why they aren't offered here?

Hey bud!

If you look closely at that Stinger, you'll see that the windows are tinted and that it's riding on Hankook tires. This Stinger is NOT stock. You cannot order the Stinger in Canada with those wheels or with tinted windows. Those rims and tires are after market. Either the dealer or the customer put those wheels on.

Mahalo, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a winter wheel package they get up there

Quick update on my "lost" order status. No explanation of what happened. I have completely given up on getting a GT1 with the cheaper (better) windshield and manual linked shifter (my preference) and have defaulted to a GT2 which is the only thing available. If we can arrange a dealer swap, the Kia rep said they could get a new one sometime in March and will call with delivery date tomorrow. Still not happy to have to pay another $3,900 over the GT1 I spec'd out but I'll do it, I guess. No help from Kia for losing and cancelling my original order and not telling anyone they canned it. They will get an ear full once this saga ends. I tend to keep my cars for a decade or more and I know, as a former service manager that complexity is the enemy of reliability.