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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  Overall good - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By L. Roberson - April 28 - 7:33 pm

  I like the car, although it fails to have enough leg room for medium to tall height drivers. It has a slow start-up speed but once it gets past about 30 its smooth sailing. For an economy car, its overall good.

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  So disappointed! - 2016 Kia Sportage
  By Sorry Gal - April 26 - 7:15 pm

  I owned a 2009 Kia Sportage and was happy with it so I decided to get a 2016 model. I thought I upgraded by getting th EX with lots of bells and whistles. Little did I know that they design was changed and made to be less versitable than my 2009 because the rear window of the hatch does not open. Why the manufacturer would change this is beyond me. Never imagining that they would make a good car worse, I didnt realize ituntilI triedto open the hatch window and found that couldnt. So disappointed.

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  So far so good - 2001 Kia Sephia
  By skiir - April 23 - 10:00 am

  I bought my Kia on Valentines Day of 2008. It will be paid off in Feb of Next year (2011). When I bought it it had 30,000 miles on it and the dealer said I would thank him in a year after buying this car. So far I have had to replace the battery like 3 times (no big deal), the belts because the AC belt broke so I just replaced them all. I have put in new spark plugs and they say that I need to re-gasket the tranny and engine. So I just have to watch the oil levels and I will get the tranmission reconditioned as soon as I can afford it. I also need to replace the timing belt so far from what I have read about the car. It gets great mileage, it has been very reliable, and the sound system rocks

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  Buyer beware - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By Jeremy B - April 16 - 2:00 am

  Ok..I got rid of a 03 Kia Sedona that was literaly falling apart as we drove down the road. We decided to buy a middle of the road 11 Kia Sorento since the price was 10k less than comparable SUV. SO, biting the bullet and thinking that KIA, after years of bad press and horrible customer satisfaction would IMPROVE quality when they built 11 Sorento in GA., we were shot point blank. Car has driven 250 miles and the car needs back rotors replaced, front realignment due to a hard right pull and an alternator recall service, this is after two recalls. To top it off, the airbag module box on the front passenger dash creates an outline through the dash covering. Warranty may fix but this is bad!

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  Disappointed - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By Disappointed - April 10 - 6:23 pm

  Its been 3 months since my unfortunate purchase. Vehicle shimmies on first morning start up. Burning smell in cabin -interior lighting shuts off by itself -Electrical problems in general. Bad customer service. I thought $45,000 would go further than 5000km. I guess not by Kia standards. Service manager said the shimmy on morning start up was "the natural characteristics of the vehicle" Like that was going to make me feel better. I havent even mansion the loud undercarriage noise when you hit small bumps. In short, I took my chance with Kia and lost miserably

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  Disappointed - 2012 Kia Optima
  By swkia - April 9 - 4:37 pm

  Poor gas mileage especially in the city. Under 16 mpg avg(mostly city) Never been gentler on a car(BORING) cant get it get anywhere near rated mileage. Dealer no help. Sirrus radio sounds awful when using Sirrus. I leased this vehicle expecting to save on fuel consumption. This low mileage is hitting hard at $4 a gallon. When researching I saw the low mileage warnings and bought into break in in period malarkey. Not true, got worse. If it werent for the poor gas mileage. I would give it high ratings. I like most everything else.

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  Dont buy a used one - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By Moore - April 5 - 1:16 pm

  The warranty is not honored if you are NOT the original owner. They have have problems with steering due to winter salt but no recall. Also a problem with the cooling hoses to the rear and again no recall. They have been aware of these but will NOT cover the expense since we were not the first owner even though we bought it with 48,000 miles. We now have a car with 78,000 miles and NO warranty.

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  2011 Kia Sportage SX - 2011 Kia Sportage
  By scha - March 28 - 8:05 am

  I purchased the Sportage based on the long list of features, engine performance and styling. I regret to say the build quality, reliability and performance have been poor to say the least. This was my first experience with Kia and will be my last. I was really hoping this would be a vehicle I could depend on for years but found out after only two I must replace it or risk becoming stranded and once out of warranty, paying dealer costs for repairs, TSB and recalls. Fuel mileage average during ownership (30,000) = 22.4 MPG (well below advertised) 5 trips to the dealer for warranty repairs in two years, 30,000 miles.

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  not happy - 2006 Kia Sportage
  By thomas89 - March 19 - 8:08 pm

  I have a 2006 KIA Sportage 2.7 v6 4x4. I like the car but lately it has not been good. I only have 19000 mile on it and keep it in a garage. At 18000 miles the engine started to miss and the check engine light came on. I took it to the KIA dealer and after 5 visits and changing parts that did not fix it and paying for them, they finally fixed it by changing the plugs and the ignition wires. I was charged 5 times the price I would have paid at Auto Barn or Pep Boys. For what KIA charges for the plugs and wires they should last a lot, lot longer then 18000 miles and they should have changed them first. These parts should have been changed under the warranty.

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  Good Commuter Car - 2003 Kia Rio
  By Baunie - March 14 - 7:10 am

  This baby gets me back and forth to work with no problems. Takes $20 to fill up. It goes to 0 to 60 in five minutes, but once it is up to speed, it zips around. Just dont expect to get back up to speed if you have to suddenly brake. And dont dart out in front of traffic, you will be sorry. I did not buy it for luxury. I needed a car and this was affordable and has been reliable for the last two years. However, I think I am going to be out of luck on re-sale value.