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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  Bad Bad Bad - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By Allison - November 8 - 5:20 pm

  Looks great, love all the options, but would never buy again! Too many major mechanical problems! 40,000 miles I have almost a whole brand new engine. The radio display went, new radio. New power steering rack, new driveshaft. And now the recall of the part that I have already replaced once. The paint is also peeling is some spots!

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  Poor Reliability - 2007 Kia Optima
  By JonBoy3109 - October 20 - 10:06 am

  Car ran perfectly fine for the first 42,000 miles and then everything went downhill. Head gasket blew, then the automatic transmission went crazy on me & blew, cruise control went out, car has died three times on the highway and left me stranded. I babied the heck out of the car. Mobil 1 full synthetic oil every three thousand miles, new transmission fluid, all scheduled maintenance, everything. The car really seemed to be perfect until it hit the 42,000 mile mark I sold the car last month and the new owner has informed me that the car has had numerous insanely costly problems. I warned him before he bought the car but he fell in love with the style and he said he read some great reviews.

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  Love this van BUT - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By Billyio - October 19 - 2:00 am

  ok just one gripe I am 59" tall and the roof seems to come down on my hear if I didnt get the sun roof it might have been a better deal but the seat sits to close to the roof for me.. other than that. I love the cost and with the exception of the timeing belt that must be changed at 60,000 miles all is well wiit owning the machine. Thanks Kia the same EX in an American brand would have cost me about 14K more dollars, well see if I get a great trade in deal in 6 years BTW, I have a 2002 Sedona

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  How can we all have the same problem? - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By Kia 04.5 Owner - October 14 - 11:26 am

  Reading the reviews I couldnt even laugh. I have replaced the dash (odometer problem - forgot about that until I read another review). C02 censor is being replaced (again 3x); car shakes (BADLY) at 70mph. Taking it in (AGAIN) so I can pass emissions test. I did not buy the extended warranty so I am out over $2K (YIKES). If I could have afforded $2K in repairs I would have stayed with Honda and put more money in the INITIAL investment. Looks like it is time to trade out before the transmission goes out. {sigh}

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  Still Up in the Air - 2010 Kia Soul
  By mildly annoyed - October 14 - 8:30 am

  We bought this car for the fuel efficiency and we got a good trade in as well. Got the base model but made them put in after market cruise control with the purchase. The cruise control looks and behaves cheaply. The dealership was shady and Im not sure they arent screwing us. It seems that after the last time i took the car in for its scheduled check-up some warning lights came on. Even after they did a diagnostic! Im going to get the equipment to run diagnostics myself. The check engine light comes on for a loose gas cap.

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  Built on Monday after beer blitz? - 2003 Kia Spectra
  By BBBBombshell - October 11 - 11:53 pm

  This car is my 2nd Kia. The car is fun to drive and has actually held up pretty well for a car of its price range. However, this baby was in the shop 8 times for a throttle problem. The first 7 times they said the problem was the throttle positioning sensor and it was replaced, reset etc. We were fairly irate because they would reset the sensor and it would be fine for about 3 weeks then it would have no power at all and I was getting 14 mpg - yep I said 14! Finally, they changed the whole throttle body and components. We also lost a bolt out of the flywheel, and they had to remove a chunk of foam from the back door so we could roll down the window.Tomorrow I am buying a Ford! Seriously!

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  Not worth the money - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By Beach_Baby - October 6 - 4:53 pm

  Of course a new van is gonna be nice and not have problems, but after a year the transmission was making noise and not performing well. Than 4 years later, the power steering pumb and something else is out, tranny is bad and motor acts up. Only has 32,xxx miles and should be running great! It doesnt. It was the main transportation for my handicap grandmother, who now has to relay on finding other people to take her places like her doctors apt! The van sits in the street broke down, and we still owe $3,000 on it. Cant trade it in, cause we owe more than its worth. Quilfys for a Clunker, but we ow money. So we are stuck with this piece of junk KIA. Never get another one!

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  KIA...Car Paint Job is a Joke - 2005 Kia Amanti
  By coachshopper - September 23 - 1:58 pm

  Bought this car 4 years ago; wanted a luxry car but not the price. Saw this beauty and took it home. Had the car a month and the paint on the front bumper started to bubble and the paint clear coat started chipping. Took it too the dealership and was told there was nothing they could do and it was my fault. Took it too a paint and collision shop and I was told when it bubbles it is bad paint & clear coat from Kia. Went back to talk to the manager and still refused to fix my paint. Then the electrical need to be replaced and the fuel injectors went bad and air conditioner went out. Stay away if you can! Kia doesnt care about your or there cars.

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  Spotty quality. - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By njw1224 - September 20 - 12:36 am

  Terrible gas mileage - about 12 city, 16 or 17 highway. Eats front end tires quickly due to the heavy weight. At 49,000 miles Ive already gone through 2.5 sets of 60,000 mile tires on the front. Ive had to have the front brakes worked on twice, already replacing the brake rotors - not covered in warranty. A/C isnt very cold anymore, and the engine (or tranny?) is getting very noisy at only 49,000 miles. Im expecting something to go wrong within the year. Also - BEWARE - make sure you do all of the required servicing at the required mileage intervals or your warranty may be void. Check with dealer. There are a number of services that need performed at various intervals.

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  Kia Rondo - 2007 Kia Rondo
  By Anne - September 16 - 8:23 am

  I purchased a black Kia Rondo with beige fabric interior. From the first week of ownership had problems with water stains on the seat. The dealership detailed the interior several times to clean the stains which led to additional stains, each time trying new protectants which they stated should take care of the problem. According to the service manager Kia could replace the seats with the same fabric, at the time we decided to try the new fabric protector. One year later my interior looks like we have poured liquid all over, every stain shows, many from water. I am very frustrated, would not recommend fabric interior. I know if I try to sell my car this will lower the value.