An Atlanta woman is dealing with a tough situation after buying a Kia Sportage that keeps breaking down. Ashley, who uses the name @its.aferg on TikTok, thought she had found the perfect car. But now she’s facing constant problems that her dealer can’t seem to fix.
Ashley has been posting TikTok videos about what’s going wrong with her SUV. Her dashboard keeps lighting up with warning messages about different problems. She’s taken the car back to the dealership several times, but the same issues keep coming back. Things have gotten so bad that she might have to get rid of the car and start over.
In one video that over 140,000 people have watched, Ashley talked about how upset she is. “With my car acting up and them not being able to figure it out, and me possibly having to get a new car, it’s really upsetting to me and my homegirls because I love this car,” she said. She also explained that she can’t find another car in her budget that she actually likes. Everything else just looks ugly to her.
People are fighting online about whether she made the right choice
Ashley’s problems started a big argument on social media about what really matters when you’re buying a car. Should you pick something that looks good, or should you only care about whether it will last? Ashley chose her Sportage because she loved how it looked. She was drawn to the red seats, the heated seats, the fancy touchscreen, and the fact that it didn’t look like every other boring SUV on the road.
People in her comment section had strong opinions on both sides. Some critics said she should have done more homework about how reliable the car would be before buying it. One person flat out said she should have cared more about reliability. But other people stuck up for her, saying things like “Let the girl want red seats.” They argued that there’s nothing wrong with wanting a car that makes you happy when you look at it.
The 2024 Kia Sportage got a complete makeover when Kia redesigned it for 2023. It has eye catching LED lights shaped like boomerangs, bold lines along the sides, and two big digital screens inside. These flashy features have helped it stand out from other small SUVs. Kia sold nearly 588,000 Sportages around the world in 2024, making it their best selling model.
When you look at the numbers, the Sportage actually does pretty well on reliability tests. Consumer Reports says it should be more dependable than most new cars. RepairPal ranks it 6th out of 26 small SUVs, and owners typically spend around $462 a year on repairs. Her story also shows how tricky things can get when you’re working with car dealerships, where buyers sometimes run into situations they never saw coming
But that doesn’t mean every Sportage is perfect. Some owners have complained about transmission trouble, electrical glitches, and warning lights that won’t go away. The 2024 version has also been recalled twice for problems with the power steering and roof molding.
What happened to Ashley makes you wonder if you can really have both. Can you buy a car because it looks amazing and still count on it to work properly down the road? When cars have serious ongoing problems, some people end up looking at completely different brands just to find something that actually works.
Published: Nov 3, 2025 01:45 pm