I originaly bought the Rio for my wife as a daily driver. I also purchased a new Ford F-250 the same year for myself. Due to the gas prices going up the last couple years, we decided to switch vehicles since her commute is about half the distance of mine. I first got into autocrossing two years ago thanks to my father-in-law. My first car (for racing) was a 1977 280Z, which has been dynoed at 169whp and has quite a few mods on it. The last year and a half or so, I've been getting into Initial D and have also been opening my mind up to other car setups rather than just FR. My favorite Initial D is #4 title the FR Killer, in which the opossing driver has an E-G Civic. So after spinning out in the Z a couple times last year, and doing some research on FFs and Kias I have decided to give her a shot at the autocross this season. The Rio weighs in at 2403lbs, has a very short wheelbase and has a suprisingly stiff suspension for what it is. I already have ran her in two races and I made better times than an '03 RSX Type-S, an '89 240 SX, a '95 Civic, a '92 MR-2 and another '95 Civic. With more mods and more practice, I'm hoping to do pretty well this year and rub it into everyone's face who's telling me "don't mod a Kia, get a better platform". FUCK THAT!!! I'm runn'n my Korean FR Killer!

Latest race update: This past Sunday (03/12/06) at the Autocross event in Everett WA, I placed 12th out of 27 drivers in the Rio! That's not to bad for my third race of the year. Also take into consideration I was competing against alot of WRXs, an EVO MR and many other high performance cars. The next race is April 2nd, so Rio fans, wish me luck!