Our Mission

 NWKT's mission is to provide an informative, energetic, and supportive car enthusiast community, develop quality leadership and communication skills among it's members, and portray a positive image of itself, and the sport of car tuning to the community by supporting several charitable organizations, and being active in the community.

About Us

 We’re living in a time where more than ever, affordable, fuel efficient cars are now fun to drive. Kia is building quality products to do just that - bring the fun back into owning, and driving an affordable, well built, fuel efficient vehicle. And, as with most vehicle makes, there is always a small group of owners that want to take their vehicles to the “next level”, trying to improve on a vehicle's performance, handling, and appearance. Kia owners are no exception.

 The idea for NorthwestKiaTuners started way back in the Fall of 2005. Where several of us were already registered members with one of the largest, and original Kia tuning communities, StreetKiaz (otherwise known as SK). It was planned to have a “Meet-n-Greet” event at a Puyallup, Washington, Kia dealership in September of 2005. And, on that rainy day in September, one of the many discussions we had was about the Pacific Northwest region of SK, and how the events in the region were few and far between, and their attendance numbers were modest at best, and morale was getting worse. The idea was presented that maybe we could create our own “side-community” to SK, but have it focus on the Pacific Northwest members.

 A few weekends later, we had another Meet at a local restaurant, talked what we all were looking for in a car club, and created an outline. We soon found out that we all came from various backgrounds from within the automotive sports field. From racing, to car showmanship, to your everyday car enthusiast, and we had a wealth of automotive knowledge, and expertise that we could devote to this project.

 A few days later, NorthwestKiaTuners was born. Then, in January 2006, we launched our community on the world wide web.

 We're primarily based in Western Washington, but we also welcome, and encourage other Kia owners from within our state, and region, to join us. We have members in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and lower British Columbia, Canada. Knowing the Kia Corporation opened up it’s first Kia dealership in the United States right here in the Pacific Northwest (Portland, OR, in 1992), it was inevitable that a community like this was to be created.

 We're here to support the Kia owners that want to indulge in the sport of car tuning, showing and racing. Through an amazing network of members, we're able to provide competent informational resources for them to locate factory, or aftermarket parts and accessories, and provide any general knowledge that would be helpful in maintaining, or modifying their Kia, as well as maintaining their enthusiasm in reaching their goals with their vehicle.

 Northwest Kia Tuners promotes a family-like atmosphere among our members, free from inter-competitiveness, “drama“, and selfish showmanship that is commonly found in many of today's car communities. We want to maintain a respectable, informative community, that people can feel comfortable with, and proud to be a part of, and a website that they can enjoy coming back to again, and again.

 Northwest Kia Tuners also supports several charitable organizations, both locally, and nationally. We want them to see the positive side of an organized car community like ours, but more importantly, all of us at Northwest Kia Tuners know, and understand that giving them our support is just the right thing to do. You can find links to these organizations on our Links page.

 So, it doesn't matter if you own an Amanti, Cinco, Rio, Rio 5, Optima, Rondo, Spectra, Spectra 5, Sedona, Sephia, Sportage, or a Sorento... as long as you meet our membership requirements, you're all welcome here.

Our Name

 It’s pretty easy to figure out why we call ourselves NorthwestKiaTuners. Although, you might be asking yourself, "What exactly is a "tuner"?", and that's a really good question. A "Tuner", as defined by the UrbanDictionary.com, is:

1. A person who tunes ANY type of vehicle. (Can be anything from a Honda s2000, to a 1970 Dodge Charger). This breed of human lives, eats, and dreams cars. This person primarily does performance mods before appearance mods.

2. A person that overcomes the factory limitations of their vehicle to gain more power, lower times at races, and/or better handling.

3. Any car with altered factory parts, fabricated parts, or specialty aftermarket parts is considered a tuner car.

4. Any driver who builds or installs those parts is a tuner. Tuners also adjust things like the mixture screws on a carb, or the programming of EFI. When emissions standards were introduced, many tuners gave up, but others learned about HC, CO, NOx, CO2 and were able to improve those numbers. What stands in the way of tuners now, is quite frequently, illogical laws that ban tuning outright, despite the fact that a well tuned engine can have lower HC, CO, NOx, CO2 and fuel consumption than one in factory specification. Still, many locations have laws written by people who aren't familiar with automotive physics.

"Well, isn't that the same thing as a "ricer"?".

 Again, another good question. And, no, a “Ricer”, is not the same thing as a “Tuner”. We turn to the UrbanDictionary.com again, which defines “Ricer“ as:

 A person who makes unnecessary modifications to their import car (hence the term "rice") mostly to make it look faster. The most common modifications are, but not limited to:

• Huge exhaust that serves no purpose but to make the car louder
• Large spoiler on the back that looks like something Boeing made for the 747
• Lots of after-market company stickers they don't have parts from, but they look cool
• Expensive rims that usually cost more than the car itself

 Most of these “riced” cars are imports (Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Honda CRX, Honda Del Sol, Acura Integra, Acura RSX, Mitsubishi Eclipse, etc.), however there are a growing number of domestics such as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Dodge Neon, and Ford Focus, that sometime fall into this “ricer” category. They’re nothing more than compact cars that are designed for fuel efficiency. NOTE: some Supras, Skylines, WRX's and other higher performance imports are designed to go fast, and are therefore not always considered "ricers". Import cars with fully built engines, drive trains, and suspensions, regardless of appearance, are not considered “ricers”.

 All NorthwestKiaTuners.com members take great pride in their rides, and make every effort not to fall into the "ricer" category. All modifications are truly performance oriented, and can all be back by Dyno proven results.