So this is what 14 grand buys nowadays: A Kia with five doors and a very spot-on interior, a nice style but, sadly, a creeping sense that all the good stuff may not last. But perhaps that’s a bit too caustic. After all, a day spent commuting with the 2006 Kia Rio5 didn’t end on the side of the road, head in hands and cursing lips against cell phone. In fact, it was quite a pleasant ride, almost spirited – that little 110-horsepower engine churning to the beat and getting down the road, over hill, dale and back again.

But there were some trouble spots. Especially if you want to break in this car and expect it to operate the way it does during those first few thousand honeymoon miles. As a brand new baby, there’s already a vibration that comes up the shifter, and the lever isn’t very precise – especially with the soft-riding clutch. Under mid-to-hard driving situations, there’s what sounds like the beginning of a really irritating rattle around the exhaust – maybe a bracket working itself loose. If that’s all the bad stuff, well sure, that’s pretty darn good – right now. But at 10, maybe 20, definitely 30 thousand miles, noises and rattles will likely become louder, more tiresome and not at all what you want to hear on a long commute home. In some cars, you can just turn up the radio. But the trouble is, you really can’t do that in a Rio5, as the stock audio box is a nasty little piece that gets terrible reception.

But that’s okay. You can still luxuriate inside the 2006 Kia Rio5, with its interior so well done that it could pass for one that might cost 20 grand. The seats are firm, the steering wheel nice to the touch, controls are simple to use and – get this – there’s actually an armrest on the driver’s right side. All that, yes, and more for an entry-level car, and side curtain airbags as well. Put it together and your 14 grand goes a long way, though buyer beware: what looks pretty and poised today may age into a haggard old witch, once subjected to enough time on the mean streets of traffic jams and stop-and-go traffic.