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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  Its a college student car but not!!! - 2002 Kia Spectra
  By Monica - March 2 - 5:26 pm

  The only great thing about this car is that it only cost $26 to fill her up. My AC stop working at a certain point now my heater stop working and also my trunk is leaking water which is causing my car to smell like mildew and also my dashborad is rising!!!

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  Hate/like relationship with this vehicle! - 2014 Kia Sportage
  By KJ - February 26 - 9:26 am

  I purchased a new 2014 KIA Sportage SX. I have owned the vehicle just shy of two years; now at 3,600 miles. I have avoided driving it due to the damage done to the dash by the KIA dealerships (makes me furious when I get in the vehicle). The overall vehicle appearance is nice; not the most comfortable vehicle and somewhat of a sloppy ride. It has decent power; would say fair. The UVO (navigation/stereo) is a major sore spot. The unit gives error messages in Korean (not helpful in U.S.), no one at KIA can provide any interpretation information. The unit locks up repeatedly; has been replaced 4 times (10 trips to dealerships). The only way I have been able to keep the music playing is to remove the SD card and hit the reset button repeatedly after it locks up. It became a source of entertainment having friends laugh about the Korean messages; the incorrect navigation (evidently normal per KIA). KIA needs some serious work on their customer service! It would be a decent vehicle if KIA could get rid of the useless technology that does not function correctly and provide a decent service center.

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  I wish I wouldnt have - 2013 Kia Soul
  By Livia Marrissa H - February 18 - 11:02 pm

  So I bought my 2013 soul new and have had issues with too many things, mostly it handles terrible the radio had to be replaced, (never got my free Sirius as promised) knock sensor has now gone bad twice, have the same wiper issue as others, when turning the wheel one way or the other out of the driveway and such it clicks, and it rattles when I accelerate under the hood somewhere, acceleration leaves me more likely to hit the brakes and wait my turn when merging ..and the blind spot are awful, not to mention the noise if back window is down.

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  Fun driving but seats are awful - 2013 Kia Sportage
  By latteaddict - February 17 - 4:52 am

  I waited for about a month to pass so I can review it better. We tried Ford Escape, Mitsubishi Outlander, Subaru CrossTrek - and finally given Sportage a shot since they updated their MPG ratings. (FYI, Kia has been sued and EPA made them update their MPG on the stickers.) Styling is great; its designed by Peter Schreyer, brains behind Audi fame. I owned Audi and I find lot of cosmetic similarities. Performance is acceptable, does well in corners. No interior noise, like in some other 20K cars. Im getting average 26MPG, with mindful driving. Only thing that peeves me so far is the interior seats are SPARTAN!!l i hate bucket seats period, but these are very firm and uncomfortable.

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  I like it but....... - 2002 Kia Sportage
  By Irishgirl - February 16 - 2:00 am

  I do like my Kia, but i have had a few problems, my rear window would not go up or down, every time i shut the trunk door the panel would fall off, a part was missing, both were repaired by dealer. I am hoping i made the right choice in purchasing my kia, time will tell.

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  Disappointed with Vehicle & Kia Service - 2007 Kia Sorento
  By SCLI - February 9 - 6:40 pm

  Purchase W/ 16,300 miles & Kia 2nd owner warranty. (60,000 mis) Within weeks the Sorento begins to hesitate & lose power while maintaining 70 mph on the interstate. Later while night driving I the headlights Dim & nearly going out, plus ALL the Idiot lights on the dash come on. Car nearly stalls. Problems were intermittent at 1st but became common in coming months. I took the SUV to the local Kia dealership where they examined it for 4 days. They told me the Lights Dimming was normal and to downshift with the Semi Manual shifter when the car hesitates. If dash boards lighting up, headlights going out and losing power is normal for a 07 Kia Sorento, with low miles then I want no part of it.

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  KIMS KIA - 2000 Kia Sephia
  By KIM - February 8 - 10:20 pm

  The drive and passenger doors power lock freeze up in the winter making it impossible to get in or out of. The car is very light which makes it hard to handle in the snow or ice little to no traction even with winter tires. The fuel economy is great though. This car runs the best in the summer. The car heats up and cools down very quickly never had a problem with the a/c or the heat.

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  Dont But a Kia - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By karen dowds - February 3 - 4:06 pm

  Experienced what felt like a transmission slipping problem before warranty was up - dealer test drove car with me and felt problem but wouldnt svc it without check engine light being on. Light came on finally and fun began. Murray, dealer, monkeyed with car 6 times and light kept coming back on - problem grew worse till car would stop. Had to go to Eastern Regional Office to open a case. After 6 more trips to dealer and a special kia tech having to come out to look at car (tech had to come out for other cars that Murray couldnt fix too) and replacement of wire harness ($900 part which did not correct problem), another tech FINALLY found o2 sensor problem, light off for 5 days.

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  yours forever - 2011 Kia Soul
  By doug - January 29 - 6:27 am

  Car has no resale value. Dont buy it unless you plan on keeping it or taking a big hit on resale / trade in value.

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  ANDREA - 2004 Kia Rio
  By ANDREA WHEELER - January 18 - 2:00 am

  MY SEALT HAS BROKE NOW 3 TIMES WITHIN THE TWO YEARS. I NEEDED A NEW STARTER. MY BRAKES WENT OUT AND THERE WAS NO WARNING IT WENT STRAIGHT TO GRINDING. MY FLUID WAS LEAKING THE FIST 5 MONTHS. MY WINDOW HAD AIR BLOWING IN IT. MY TIME IS SLOW