Overview & Reviews

Kia Motors is a South Korean automaker that's relatively new to the United States. In its early years, Kia largely catered to budget-minded consumers with well-equipped vehicles priced below competing models. More recently, this growing brand has kept value a priority while also emphasizing technology and sportiness.

Founded in Korea in 1944, Kia started as a producer of steel tubing and bicycle parts. The company's name has its roots in the Chinese language, and means "to arise, to come up out of Asia." By the early 1950s, the company had produced Korea's first bicycle; by the latter part of the decade, Kia had branched out into motor scooters, with the rollout of the C100.

The 1960s saw Kia expanding its lineup to include motorcycles and three-wheeled cargo vehicles. Naturally, the next logical step was automobile production, and the company began moving in this direction in the early 1970s. By 1973, Kia had built a facility designed to make its automotive dreams a reality; its Sohari plant held the distinction of being Korea's first fully integrated automobile production facility, and went on to spawn Korea's first internal-combustion gasoline engine. A year later, Kia unveiled the Brisa, Korea's first passenger car. By the end of the decade, Kia's technology was being used to manufacture vehicles like the Peugeot 604 and the Fiat 132.

By the late '80s, Kia's lineup included new models like the Concord, Capital, Potentia and Pride. In 1987, Ford brought the Pride to U.S. shores, rebadging it as the Ford Festiva. Seven years later, Ford dealers got a replacement for the entry-level, subcompact Festiva in the form of another Kia constructed product, the Aspire.

Kia finally began selling vehicles in the U.S. under its own name in the early '90s, trumpeting its presence with the introduction of the compact Sephia. The car's rollout was gradual; in the early days of its production, the Sephia was only available in select Western states. By the mid-'90s, SUVs had emerged as a phenomenally popular and profitable vehicle segment. Kia responded with the 1995 Sportage, a compact SUV. By the end of the '90s, Kia's nationwide rollout was nearly complete.

Financial difficulties in the late '90s prevented Kia from expanding its lineup beyond those two models. Hyundai, South Korea's other major automaker, acquired the company in a merger in 1998.

Kia has been on a major upswing since its purchase by Hyundai, with improvements in build quality, performance and overall refinement. Reliability, previously a weak point, has also improved markedly and consumers' confidence was further bolstered by Kia's substantial warranty program. Today, Kia is on a dramatic upswing and offers a broad lineup of well-built coupes, sedans and crossovers that stand out for their value, performance and sporty styling.

User Reviews:

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  Great car - couple small issues - 2003 Kia Optima
  By lowlow - July 26 - 1:13 am

  I love my car. In the 7 years I have had it there has only been a few issues. The alternator went, but that was covered. Same with the switch for my power seat. My biggest issue is with the locks! Had it fixed when the car was 5 yrs old. covered. But now the same issue. When I go to open the door (passenger) all the doors will lock. Now the door will not open at all. The dealer want $360. Guess my passengers will have to crawl through the window for now. Over all I have spent $500 in 7 years other than brakes and tires. Still have the original battery even.

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  Cant beat em - 2008 Kia Spectra
  By AJ - July 26 - 12:50 am

  I traded in my 05 Kia sportage v6 for the spectra5 sx and I gotta say, you cant go wrong with these cars. I had to trade for better mileage which wasnt very good on the sportage and Im glad I did. The spectra is fun, sprite, well equipped, and a lot of bang for the buck. I compared Mazda3, Pontiac Vibe and Chevy Malibu and in the end I stuck with what I knew.

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  so far so good. - 2011 Kia Soul
  By tegen - July 24 - 9:36 pm

  I have had my Soul for a week and so far I like it. It handles well, Takes wind pretty good, taking a little adjusting since I had a Kia Rio5 before. Its taller then my last car. but has more space for the kids. though it wasnt my first choose. we looked at everything else on the lot. had a hard time getting past how ugly it was. looked at the books for the soul in the dealer ship. dicided it didnt look so bad when it wasnt Green. So we test drove one and now its sitting in my drive way still a little ugly but not so bad since its the Java color.

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  Former Sales Person - 2001 Kia Optima
  By salesperson&owner - July 24 - 2:00 am

  OK Who would have thought during the demo drive, that the interior dome light was positioned too far forward to service the rear seats, much less the rear floors. Even basic-bare-bones- buckets for automobiles, sold in America, ironically have big-bold- bright-bulb-ed interior dome lamps better served as light houses on the rocky shores of New England with doors closed. Understandably the 2001 Optima engineers could not have foreseen how impossible it would be, to locate any item on the rear floors or rear seats in our Optimas after dark. Why? Because their drawing boards were well lit during the design phase of the Optima’s interior. For crying out loud!

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  Kia Rondo snow test - 2007 Kia Rondo
  By Susan - July 23 - 1:06 am

  Rondo was an interest to me because of the fuel mileage and 7 seats. It has a great amount of room in the inside but doesnt look like a huge vehicle. Fuel mileage is okay not as great as I expected. In the snow and over bumps the brakes are locking up on me. I took it to the dealer and they say that they found no problem. I almost got into 2 accidents at 10 or 20 miles an hour. I might try snow tires. I was given no help at the dealership. I dont feel safe driving in the snow and I have owned a lot of different cars and am not afraid of the snow but in this vehicle I am afraid and I will not be able to drive when the roads have snow on them.

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  Enough Car for the Road - 2004 Kia Rio
  By Light foot - July 22 - 12:43 am

  My only beef is that if you happen to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a burned out tail light, and eager to replace it before you get back on the highway, dont rely on the owners manual for proper instructions to replace it. Even the dealers tech had difficulty. The company needs to send every owner an addendum that truly instructs on how to replace a tail light. Otherwise you will be one frustrated driver and prone to a police stop. The existing manual has only two instructions. The second one is "Carefully remove the tail light assembly from the body." Duh!

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  3 months ownership of used 2015 Sedona SX - 2015 Kia Sedona
  By Kee-ah - July 21 - 11:39 am

  On Purchase: Purchased used with 17k mileage, very happy with it, but will replace OEM (kumbo) tires as they are real noisy. No DRLs, mileage is 18-19 mpg in city, but great acceleration and brakes. Watch out when folding up/down 2nd row seats , seatbelt buckle can hinder seat movement to lock in seating position, found out the hard way and mashed the buckle mechanism not knowing it was the problem. Overall very pleased so far, last van was 2004 Odyssey. 3-month follow-up: Follow-up after 3 months - still very impressed with Sedona especially after replacing tires with Bridgestone equivalents (from Costco), now quiet ride. Transported two twin beds (mattress, box, headboards and rails) all in one trip after moving middle row seats all the way up. Noticed brakes were not as solid as I braked one time hard with seven passengers onboard and the van didnt quite stop as quick as I wanted as the brakes faded, no harm, but need to have dealer check it out. All in all, still impressed and pleased with my purchase, will see what my first check-up experience will be with the dealership is like at 30K service. 18-month followup: Still enjoying the Kia - no problems to report. I checked the brakes at the 30K service, dealership said no problems on brakes, but I know that they fade when I brake hard with full van of my 5-6 kids due to weight? I may replace brake pads soon and hope this remedies this problem. I really like using the Android Auto with the Kia big screen - works nicely with touchscreen. I would recommend Kia (this is my first one) and hope the reliability continues.

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  Heels on Wheels! - 2017 Kia Sportage
  By Gigis mom - July 18 - 8:41 pm

  I just purchased my 2017Sportage EX in May 2016. I traded in my 2005 Nissan Murano AWD for it. I wanted something that was spacious enough for my daughter and her friends yet still stylish and AWD like my previous Murano. I looked at several models and based on research and my test drive, decided on the Sportage. I have NOT one regret yet! It is a 4 cylinder model so it doesnt have as much punch as my Murano but thats okay.. im not in a hurry.. My gas mileage (although low compared to other crossovers) is still better than my Murano. I love the design of the outside of the Sportage and the inside is just as nice. My only small complaint is regarding the USB. It doesnt seem to charge phones as rapidly as I would like and I dont think it is the actual cord. It worked better in the Murano, but this isnt a huge issue for me as long as i can get some charge.

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  Great value, like all the "kiadai" cars - 2008 Kia Spectra
  By Jose in Dallas - July 17 - 3:43 am

  Overall this vehicle is great for a subcompact. The Hyundai 2.0 L sounds fantastic at 6000 RPM but gets rather thirsty. Engine noise is very little until you get on the freeway. Very comfy suspension with the smoothness of a Caddy until you take a sharp corner where it leans like a pickup truck. The overall build and quality of these Korean cars (Hyundai & Kia) has been improving every year but they are still not on the same level as the Japanese. With the 100,000 Mi warranty the vehicle is a great value for the price.

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  You dont get a jack or spare tire!!! - 2013 Kia Optima
  By racorbett - July 17 - 2:08 am

  I just bought a new Kia on Saturday and looking in the truck, there was no spare tire or jack. Dealer did not tell me at sale that no jack or spared came with the car. I found out by looking in the trunk yesterday. I call Kia and they confirm that car does not come with jack or spare. Just a puny tire pump and sealant kit. That is crap. If I had know it didnt come with one, I would either have negotiated or paid the approximate $250.00 for it. Anyway, has to take time out to go back to dealer for it, some 1-1/2 hours wasted. I guess Kia doesnt care that customers may find out the hard way. This situation made what appeared to be a good experience a lousy one.