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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  TOP FEATURES, TOP VALUE!! - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By RPS - February 15 - 10:00 am

  BEST VALUE IN THE INDUSTRY!!

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  This one is well worth the money! - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By SkyRydr - February 15 - 10:00 am

  I purchased the EX without any added features. Its wonderful, fun to drive, smooth shifting, and looks great too! I did 6 months of research, drove every true 4X4 out there, (not the soccer mom cars, the wanna be 4X4 - get a grip, buy a station wagon) The Sorento is the most comfortable, best value I could find

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  Great Car - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By DSDBergeron03 - February 15 - 10:00 am

  A great car to own and drive. It drives great on the highway and on the trail. The interior is layed out nice with a lot of features, that are nice to have. I get lucky every now and then and get the keys from my wife so I can drive it. The vehicle does ride like a truck, which is fine with me.

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  fourth kia - 2010 Kia Soul
  By dan gaffen - February 14 - 6:13 pm

  The Soul is the fouth kia I have owned and all have been trouble free and well made. The Soul is a unique design inside and out. Its loaded with features you would normally pay for as an option. The ride and interior sound level is excellent. My only upgrade is the 315 watt sterio with sub woofer, lighted speakers and front center speaker, 8 total. I would highly recommend the soul to anyone looking for a mini suv.

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  Best for the money - 2009 Kia Spectra
  By Mister Big - February 14 - 7:46 am

  I get 30 plus mpg around town, and got 37 mpg on a 1000 mile trip of hiway and city,and thats with automatic transmission. Bad stuff: Not the best paint job. Paint surface is rough down near and on the rocker panels, and the paint chips easily; ABS, floor mats are not standard. Good stuff: Peppy performance, great gas mileage; cool, intuitive dashboard controls; comfy seats (easy on my sciatica); solid warranty; roomy trunk; stylish, at least to my eyes. The Spectra is, I think, the best value out there. To get anything even slightly better, youd have to pay lots more. I love my Spectra!

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  Pleased with our Sedona - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By MIKE5 - February 13 - 10:00 am

  Solid, Runs Great, Its my wifes, and she loves it too, EX model,leather, sun roof, CD player etc. and still paid just over $20,000 , Great warranty, biggest complaint is gas mileage, but at least it runs on regular, when I was checking on Toyota and Honda they both had to have premium, Honda has changed that since. Could not deal with overpriced Honda also hearing more and more complaints about Odyssey anyway. Might have considered a Sienna if price was right.

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  Great Car for the Money - 2009 Kia Spectra
  By desertbob - February 12 - 8:06 pm

  No flaws... everything works as advertised. Looking forward to my first long-distance RoadTrip in this car.

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  Fell apart (& short of expectations) - 2003 Kia Spectra
  By pfft - February 11 - 6:40 pm

  I bought my Spectra used with about 100,000 miles on it and put 80,000 on it before the transmission completely blew (more expensive to fix than the KBB on the car). The seats were really uncomfortable and it wasnt good for long trips because the steering wheel couldnt be adjusted so it touched my knees the entire time. Little things started breaking (both sun visors fell off, the weather stripping completely dropped off two windows, all but one speaker blew out, heat/air conditioning issues, glove compartment latch broke, dome light switch got touchy, etc). The oil changes were nearly impossible to do at home due to inaccessible location of oil drain. The car only lived for 6 years total.

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  Piece of Junk - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By badluckbetty1 - February 11 - 10:42 am

  I have the 2004 Kia Sorento and nothing but a piece of junk! Every since I bought it has been nothing but a headache and not minor things major costly items.. water pump, the ignition fried and would start BY ITS SELF!! The relay box went bad, all the belts had to be replaced and now the mechanic at my near by kia dealership says the timing chain is going bad and the car will be ruined if not fixed! The headlight and tail lights go out every other month. Kias are pieces of crap and I will never buy another if you are looking into buying this vehicle please dont save your time and money! ohh by the way my vehicle only has 81,000 miles on it and still falling apart!

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  KIA? - 2005 Kia Sedona
  By TRIMENT - February 8 - 11:23 pm

  BANG FOR THE BUCK DESCRIBES THIS VEHICLE. YOU GET MORE THAN YOUR MONEYS WORTH AND CAN SURPRISE MANY HIGH END MINI-VANS WITH ITS TORQUE, POWER AND SMOOTHNESS. FINISH QUALITY EXTENDS FROM THE INTERIOR ALL THE WAY TO THE EXTERIOR, SO DONT LET THE PRICE FOOL YOU, KEEP THE MAINSTREAM GUESSING. THE WARRANTY IS NOT HALF BAD EITHER.