What to do with a Sephia?
 

Ok, took over my mate's 99 Kia Sephia. Ain't as pretty, nor as big as the Flying Post Box, but it's big enough for my job, and should offer better mileage (though not much according to the government site). Gotta fix a CV joint, and money's going to be tight for a month or two, but once things are rolling, what would you recommend I do? The car's never been well maintained, but its been amazingly reliable despite that, so knock on would, I might wring another year or so out of it (with days as high as 350 miles, might not last quite that long).

If it's the auto based on the Ford F4EAT, then fit a tranny cooler. They are great trannies for autos, and when you've got the hang of them you can make it dance up and down the ratios with mere twitches of the foot, but they don't like heat. Also adding Lucas Transmission Fix to the fresh fill will firm it up very nicely and also help keep heat out of it (May actually be worth an mpg or two just from crispening it up)

I've heard these are on the same platform as the Elantra, which has a very impressive tow rating, so the underpinnings should be fairly rugged. I guess the majority of problems you'll have really will be fit and finish, not so much mechanical.

Nope, its a stick. When my partner got it, he was broke, so he got the cheapest thing at the dealer he broke down in front of, no AC, no radio, manual trans, no nothing. He titled it 5/99 and owned it ever since, but now I have it. Prolly needs coils, I did the tune up a couple months ago, the only one it ever had, and its got 110,000 miles on it. Leaks a little oil, but nothing major, might be able to get that fixed.