Kia Reviews & Ratings

2008 Kia Sorento EX Review

By William C Montgomery
January 4, 2008 - 51,702 Views

Heavy frost blanketed Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma, where my sons and I bade farewell to 2007. Thirty hearty souls braved the sub-freezing night for a fly fishing adventure. Predawn light revealed our trucks standing sentinel over the smoldering remains of the previous night’s campfires. Through my billowing breath, I examined ice crystals forming a thousand little shrines on the SUVs’ sheet metal. A thought occurred to me: everyone that made the journey to our pine needle-carpeted glade did so in a heavy bodied American SUV or pickup. In that early morning chill I wondered, is the Kia Sorento ready to join the club?

2008 Kia Sorento EX Review continued »

2008 Kia Sorento EX rating summary and performance review

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 25 comments

Kia Optima LX Review

By Tony Sterbenc
September 5, 2007 - 53,753 Views

As I drove to my neighborhood Kia dealer, the window signage caught my eye. Actually, make that grabbed both eyeballs and ripped them out, Oedipus-style. DRIVE TODAY! NO CREDIT! BAD CREDIT! I wondered how long before the words “What price are you looking to pay?” would effect the same injury to my ears. While dealerships like this make Kia’s 100,000 mile warranty look like a mixed blessing, let’s face it: they know their market. As does the Kia Optima.

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Kia Optima LX rating summary and performance review

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 44 comments

Kia Sedona Review

By Samir Syed
August 17, 2007 - 47,803 Views

Chrysler has just unleashed its new minivan, hoping to jump-start sales in a sector that's been shrinking for a decade. During this slide, the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna have moved their people movers upmarket, banking healthy margins on the back of tremendous customer loyalty. Meanwhile, Kia entered the fray with a more budget-minded alternative, the Sedona. Although Kia missed the obvious marketing opportunity (My my my, Sedona), the not-so-fancy shmancy minivan has proven itself a sales winner. Why?

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Kia Sedona rating summary and performance review

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 42 comments

Kia Spectra Review

By P.J. McCombs
August 15, 2007 - 53,450 Views

Lazy automotive writers love assignments on Korean vehicles. The review practically writes itself: just recap a few Letterman-esque Hyundai jokes, feign shock at how much the brand has come along, issue some heavily-qualified praise ("it's endearingly almost Toyota-like!") and Bob's your uncle. We here at TTAC reckon it's time to stop treating the Korean brands like they're special-needs children. It's time to judge these vehicles against their own self-proclaimed brand values. The Kia Spectra: "Simply put, it's a blast to drive." Simply put, we'll see about that.

Kia Spectra Review continued »

Kia Spectra rating summary and performance review

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 50 comments

Kia Rondo Review

By Justin Berkowitz
April 16, 2007 - 93,330 Views

If Toyota is the new GM, Kia is the new Toyota. After establishing a U.S. beachhead with price-oriented products, the Korean automaker has gradually expanded its reach by replacing its penalty boxes with vehicles sporting upmarket features and class-leading safety, while maintaining the brand's value promise. The Rondo is yet another example of the kind of mass market machine The Big 2.5 should be building, but isn't.    

Kia Rondo Review continued »

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 64 comments

Kia Rio Review

By Frank Williams
October 5, 2006 - 85,516 Views

There are three basic ways you can build a low-priced automobile. You can use lower-cost materials (and workforce). You can limit the standard features. Or you can keep variations to a minimum. When making the Rio, one of the lowest priced cars sold in American, Kia employed all three strategies. Is that a good thing? It depends entirely on where you draw the line between “cheap” and “inexpensive.”

Kia Rio Review continued »

Kia Rio rating summary and performance review

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 66 comments

KIA Sportage EX 4WD Review

By Robert Farago
April 25, 2005 - 16,540 Views

I have no desire to piss off the Koreans, Northern or Southern. For those of you involved in that region's automobile industry, who probably view anything other than a puff piece as an affront to your family's honor, let me say this: the Kia Sportage EX 4WD is a nice SUV. It's nice-- in the same sense that attractive women used to call me a "nice guy". In other words, the Sportage is about as sexy as mitosis.

One look at the Sportage proves that you can't reverse engineer style. The exterior incorporates all of the standard SUV design cues: blistered wheels arches, bisected radiator grill, integrated roof rack, blacked-out window surrounds, letterbox exhausts, etc. Like every other occidental pastiche, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The Sportage is too big here (back end), too small there (rear three-quarter glass), not enough aggression anywhere.

KIA Sportage EX 4WD Review continued »

Posted in Kia | Car Reviews | 2 comments