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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  Last small car - 2004 Kia Rio
  By FRED - September 2 - 7:26 am

  this car has 80,000 miles on it. It speeds up very slowly and the revs are really high. also going about 70 the cars rpm are at around 4500. this car has no power. next it gets about 26 miles per gallon, but i do hammer it everytime i speed up because the slow acceleration, i probly could get around 35 if i really tried. also i slid into a curb in the winter under 5 mph and the frame bent. thats weak. also if you use this car in the winter the heat is poor. this is not a very smooth ride at high speeds either, but you get what you pay for!

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  A BIG JOKE - 2003 Kia Sedona
  By WOW - September 2 - 2:00 am

  All I can say is I spent over 20 grand for the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned. Three sets of Rotors, power steering pump, rack, AC, heater, door handles, ball joints, and all the junky plastic interior. Of course I cant leave out the fact that to change 6 spark plugs it took me 6 hours to do so. Either that or pay a mechanic $800.00 bucks to do it since the back three are practically inaccessable Oh and one more thing. Metal anti freeze lines from front to back rusted out. Im thinking some type of plastic lies would be to easy to use. Bottom line is they knew what kinda junk they were building so we as consumers would have to rely on the incompitent mechanics at the dealerships

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  Never getting a KIA again - 2006 Kia Optima
  By never_a_kia - August 21 - 9:12 am

  I will never own a KIA again. I had to get the AC replaced 2 months after getting it new off the lot took them 4 weeks. I have also had to replace the sun visors 3 times on each side. The visors are only replaced in the first 50K, and I am not going to pay $130.00 for the visor now. Even the dealer says they see them all the time with velcro, tape, and one person stapled them up. The computer says that I am getting 29MPG but I have NEVER gotten it that good. I keep up the maintenance and when I run the numbers while filling up I am getting 19 to 20MPG. I will not even get into how you cant set the castor and camber on the front end. If you are cutting tires you cant fix it.

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  Piece of JUNK - 2008 Kia Sportage
  By KIA Sportage - August 16 - 6:23 am

  Piece of junk. I will not buy another KIA. It is in the shop with more repairs being done than I am able to drive it. Heater blows cold air, Shocks and bearings have had to be replaced, ESC sensor goes out on it, Wiper blades stick to the windshield. This is just to name a few of the problems with it.

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  Get what you pay for - 2001 Kia Rio
  By Kalamazoo - August 6 - 10:00 am

  The price is very appealing (not to mention the warranty), but Ive had nothing but problems after purchasing my new KIA Rio. At only 900 miles, the computer was shot. I was without a car for over two weeks as the dealership in Lansing, MI had the part on order. No loaner car while waiting, never calling me with status, etc! Since then it has never ran very well .. makes a whistling sound going down the highway about 70MPH, hard starting, etc Steer clear of the 2001 Kia Rio!

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  Great SUV Except Serious Steering Issue - 2017 Kia Sorento
  By JAL - August 4 - 3:48 pm

  Love the car except for one important issue - the new electric steering system is lousy. We had a 2016 Sorento SXL for only 5 mos. before that was totaled when a driver ran a stop sign. We replaced with 2017 Sorento SXL ONe of the key decisions on the 2016 KIA was the great steering system. Unfortunately, the steering in the 2017 vehicle is a major disappointment. KIA changed the steering in the 2017 vehicle (upper level models) to an electric steering system. The new system lacks any "road feel". Furthermore, one is constantly making minor steering adjustments which is annoying at a minimum, but is dangerous if you look away for an quick look at something as the car immediately starts to wander. The dealer confirmed today that they are aware of the problem but there is no fix available to date. Hopefully there will be an updated software package in the future to correct the problem; however, until a fix is available, I do not recommend purchasing the SX or SXL!

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  this car awful - 2000 Kia Sephia
  By katie - July 28 - 10:00 am

  This car is horrible. My dad drives an SUV and get more gas mileage than mine does. I have had to replace everything on this car. I would not recommend it to anyone. The cup holders only hold cans and half the time they end up spilling.

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  Dont buy this car unless you are sure!!!!! - 2012 Kia Sedona
  By abeinoregon - July 17 - 11:09 pm

  The quality of this car is much worse than I expected. Seat material is thin, electronics unresponsive and unpredictable and the brakes are a safety hazard Kia will not own up to. They allow small pebbles from the road to get into the calipers and impede proper braking application. They call this an environmental situation and will not address it as a design flaw. The dealer wont fix it on his dime either. I have only 1800 miles on the car and it has been in twice for repairs. I live on a paved road! I cant afford to keep paying for brake repairs. Be ready for some disappointments if you buy this car and have previously owned a quality built vehicle,

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  Disappointment - 2010 Kia Forte
  By Patricia Wald - July 6 - 11:46 am

  This car is a major disappointment. Ride is rough. Brakes and gear shift poorly responsive, fuel injection uneven. No vision out rear window. Rear headrests further block vision. Back of car too high for vision. Drivers left vent for air very poor. Controls for sunroof make no sense in terms of open being opposite of closed. Takes excessive time for sunroof control to result in desired position. Remote key to open trunk is extremely slow. Have to be right at trunk for it to respond. The trunk door doesnt stay in the up position. Very narrow access to truck. Would recommend against anyone buying this car.

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  HEADACHES!! - 2006 Kia Spectra
  By PPower - July 6 - 9:26 am

  I had this car approx. 2 years, and put 25,000 miles on it. The car was a replacement for the other 2006 Spectra that dropped its transmission after just 150 miles! After 10000 miles, the car died in the middle of a very busy intersection. The fuel valve gave way, and it was in the shop for a week. Kia does not provide loaner cars. After 20,000 miles, the transmission began shifting hard. I took the car in, and the service manager advised the car would need a new transmission, however the head service manager would have to review the findings. Another week, and Kia called back to say that the transmission only need a quart of fluid. From a new transmission to a quart of fluid?!? YEAH RIGHT!