| About OzKia |
Hello and welcome to my site; OzKia.com My name is Phil although I'm known as 'Bear' to many of my friends. As you may have guessed I have a Kia Sportage 4x4 and is the reason for all of 'this'. I'm by no means an expert in web site design as you may have already worked out but I'm sure over time I'll get the hang of things and will continually update and improve as my skills develop ! OzKia came about in Febuary 2002 by which time I had owned my 2000 Kia Sportage for about 18 months. I bought it brand new in July 2000 and is the Australian spec 'Longbody' design which is only available in a couple of markets worldwide; most still have the original 'shortbody' design. I haven't seen much in the way of modified Sportages on Australian roads so my guess is that not many actually make it off road. This is a shame and total waste as the Sportage is a very capable machine for off road use due to its inherest structural strength thanks to its ladder box section chassis, low range transmission and excellent wheel articulation. Determined to use my Kia as a '4x4' I went looking for aftermarket accessories and parts to further enhance the overall comfort, functionality and off road ability. As many of you in Australia reading this will probably know such accessories are quite scarce and hard to come by. This seems to be the case overseas as well. Soon I found myself spending endless hours on the internet and scouring magazines for any clue to suppliers of the much sought after accessories. As I acquired such odds and ends and applied them to my own vehicle I had Kia dealers, other Kia drivers and complete strangers asking me 'where did you get that ?' and 'how do I get one like that ?' Well OzKia is my way of spreading the knowledge many of you will be looking for. This isn't a page for 'dreamers'; its a real world forum for replacement parts and accessories for you and me. Most of the modifications in these pages have been applied to my own Sportage and the opinions and conclusions derived from these experiences are my own. All parts are bought and paid for by me and not supplied in the hope of a favourable editiorial. I'll recommend it if I like it just as much as I'll bag the hell out of it if I don't. So there ! More information comes from two very useful Yahoo! newsgroups which anybody can join. 'Extreme4x4sportages' and 'Kiasportagevstheworld' are both forums for Sportage 'faithfuls'. Post a question on there and I will guarantee someone out there will know more about what you're looking for. Check it out. Further input comes from people like you. I encourage e-mails asking questions, providing information as well as comments and criticisms via the link below. Send in a pic or two as well and I'll post it on the site. Hopefully together we can go some way into finding the 'dunnitandlovedit' stories and learn from others who 'trieditandbrokeit' and see where the limits really lie ... The driving force behind, and ultimately the success of this site lies with you and others like you. Please share your stories, pictures, information, links and anything that may related to four wheel driving, Kia vehicles and anything you think may have a place on this site. I'm happy to put links in for any suitable business or web page so tell me about it. Send your e-mails to admin@ozkia.com and be assured I will get to all of your submissions in time ! Please keep your pictures to a decent resolution without overdoing huge file sizes and will post the best ones in these pages. I'm happy to take the bad criticism with the good so c'mon down and drop me a line. |
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