Chicago Auto Show: 2014 Kia Forte 5-Door

Alex L. Dykes
by Alex L. Dykes

Kia has officially entered the traditional hot hatch market today at the Chicago Auto Show with the 2014 Kia Forte 5-door. Based on, you guessed it, the redesigned Kia Forte sedan, the four-door-plus-hatch seems to have Volkswagen’s Golf in its sights with an optional 1.6L direct-injection turbocharged engine good for 201 horsepower. Kia has yet to release full details but with 201 ponies and a curb weight likely to be under 3,000lbs, it should give VW a run for their Euros.



Kia seems to have heard the complaints of hard interior plastics and the model on the show floor is a definite improvement over the first Forte. Kia is also throwing in their revised UVO infotainment systems that seem to look Ford SYNC without the glitches. It may be hard to notice in the pictures, but Kia decided to give the 5-door a more aggressive bumper cover, smaller grille and large lower air intake for a sportier look than the sedan.




Alex L. Dykes
Alex L. Dykes

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  • Ehaase Ehaase on Feb 07, 2013

    My favorite small car is the Golf. This is the first Kia I would consider buying.

  • Sportyaccordy Sportyaccordy on Feb 08, 2013

    Keep in mind, this is not conventional HP, but Hyundai/Kia's own brand specific HP, which amounts to about .8-.9 conventional HP. Conversion is the opposite for the "gallons" they use in their fuel economy calculations.

    • Bd2 Bd2 on Feb 08, 2013

      And yet, H/K has faster times and better fuel economy than Ford's ecoboost engines. Btw, 0-60 times has more to do with H/K's still balky MTs - Car & Driver got a significantly faster time in the Veloster Turbo with the AT than with the MT.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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