Great car, value minded shoppers take a look at Sephia
Pros:
Value price, front passenger amenities
Cons:
Problematic at times
The Bottom Line:
Overall, I am happy with my purchase, and would buy another one.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
WALK AROUND
On the exterior, the car looks simple and stark. With a cute face and a nice rear(hmm are we still talking about cars?) The car looks great. You will not stand out in traffic by any means. The rear tail lights reach around the back, looking very great. This car looks good going down the road.
INTERIOR
The interior is kept very simple, with a plain black front on the large section of the dash. The car has plenty of little nooks and crannies. Front passengers have 3 cupholders, or two drinks and snacks in the other. Back seat passenger do not have any cup holders, but I have found that the little drawer that comes out of the console is useful for holding canned drinks. Some people would say that the interior looks cheap, but to me is screams Value!. A squeak has started in the middle of the dash, like above the radio and air vents, its not too bad. The front seats are pretty comfortable, I just wish that the passenger seat could be raised in the front. Everything on the interior is made of hard plastic, hardly any cushioning anywhere. Problems have started to arise at 24,000 miles. For one, the interior lights flash on and off sometimes. And when you have the blinker on, everything inside the car blinks, like the D for drive on the dash. And once, the automatic gear shifter froze and took a lot to get it out of park. This is not interior but, when you get the car put some new tires on it, it will greatly improve the ride. When I got this car, it rode ok, and I kept the factory Hanook tires on it, and when they wore out at only 23,000 miles, I put some goodyears on it it rides so much better now!
ENGINE AND DRIVE TRAIN
The engine has power when on level ground, you are able to get up to highway speeds at a decent rate. But, when climbing hills, it has nothing. I would like to see a hold button on this car, to keep it from shifting out of 1st or 2nd gear so quickly. It gets tiring to shift down so much. The transmission is nothing special, it goes and shifts when its supposed to. This is no luxury car, neither was it designed to be one. So, some of its quirks are to be expected.
OVERALL RIDE AND FEEL
The ride is awful, you hit a bump and you better hold on. Plus, there is lots of road noise. But for people who are just starting to drive, feeling the road to that extent is good. Todays cars are designed to desensitize you from the road so much, that it becomes a danger.
STEREO
The stereo sounds OK. But the stereo is very simple, no neat adjustments. It has good bass but has lack luster highs, even with the tweeters found with the LS model. The CD player works good, does not skip, and is not too sensitive to scratches or fingerprints. But the beep that it makes when you press a button is very annoying.
SAFETY
The car feels semi-stable at highway speeds. I was being chased by an ex one time and got the car up to 100 MPH and the steering wheel starting shaking violently and the car was very hard to control. And I have had to slam on the brakes before, and the car started going back and forth, into both lanes, running other people off the road.