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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  Constant Electrical Problems - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By Chris - October 4 - 10:00 am

  Im glad to see Im not the only one with a horrible experience with my KIA. Ive replaced batteries, head lights, tail lights, etc, etc. I keep telling them that four batteries in 5 years is not normal,same with all the lights going out - there has to be a major problem with the electrical system but they say no everything is fine. My warranty expired in August so I am looking to dumb this thing fast. DO NOT BUY A KIA.

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  visors - 2006 Kia Optima
  By luigi54c - October 2 - 5:59 am

  There is no reason that a car manufacturer can not use a proven design of a part that has never had any problems in the past, for any car make. I had my driver side replaced at the dealership, and although I used it normally, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. But when the passenger side went bad, with hardly any use, it sure made me wonder about their quality of product. Kia should stand behind it and provide a product that does not break!!!

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  kias dont tow - 2000 Kia Sportage
  By gregg nagelhout - September 30 - 2:00 am

  this vehicle was not purchased to tow a boat but since it is three years old and we are still upside down on it we have to make the best of it. the specs say we can tow 2000 lbs w/ the vehicle but our boat motor and trailer are about 1800 lbs and its almost dangerous to tow it. not to mention that we have already broken a drive shaft and now the rear brakes are failing. after using it to tow, each time we use reverse the brakes lock up on it

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  Standed and Confused - 2007 Kia Optima
  By Stranded - September 25 - 12:56 am

  I purchased the Kia Optima 1 year ago- this is my 3rd Kia. I received a Happy Birthday card from the dealer about a week before the shifter cable disengaged and nearly caused me to crash into a car while trying to park. The dealership examined the cable and said that they had never seen anything like it-nothing was broken or damaged, the cable just came off. Now, almost a month later, I am riding shotgun in my husbands truck as the cable once again has "disengaged". I seriously think there is a design flaw in this model and I am just glad I have never tried to used the manual shift feature-- imagine having the cable "disengaging" at 75 miles an hour on the interstate!

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  This car NOT OKia - 2004 Kia Rio
  By carl - September 9 - 1:13 am

  Extremely disappointed in the car, have made 7 trips to the dealer for warranty service on a wind noise, door handle operation, transmission has been replaced twice within 24,000 miles and the car is way underpowered and loses speed rapidly when going up any even slight incline. God forbid you are running the air conditioner as it sucks the remaining horsepower right out of the engine and the engine runs extremely rough with the A/C compressor engaged. Great that there is a 100,000 mile warranty, but believe me you have to use it all the time! Dealership service mechanics are also incompetent.

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  Dealer Good, Van Lousy - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By Doug Smith - August 30 - 5:20 pm

  We have had numerous repairs for our 2002 Kia Sedona EX. However, the dealer has been great about doing all repairs under the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. Sometimes repair work is slow, but the dealer always tries, and never charges anything. Biggest problems with the car are bad gas mileage (but the heavy weight makes it a nice interstate cruiser) and weak A/C. Strange problem we have had is bad transmissions. Would not go in reverse at all, two repairs with rebuilt KIA trannys did not work, but the ultimate new KIA tranny at 40,000 seemed to work. However, we are having the knocking again now, at 50,000, so we may be up for another tranny. Great dealer, lousy vehicle.

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  Buy american - 2003 Kia Optima
  By thomas frye - August 26 - 7:20 pm

  Had problems with ac, tried to have door locks fixedseveral times never could find problem. In my opion Kia not much help, seems all work should be done at Kia dealers only. Will only buy American only, have owned VW, Toyota

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  PLEASE, NO OTHER PROBLEMS - 2003 Kia Sorento
  By DOROTHY - August 24 - 10:00 am

  I HAD BEEN SHOPPING FOR A JEEP OR TOYOTA HIGHLANDER. I BOUGHT A KIA SORENTO EX, AND HAD TO HAVE IT TOWED 6 DAYS LATER FROM MY GARAGE TO THE DEALERSIP FOR REPAIR. IT WOULD NOT START. IT HAD 260 MILES ON IT. IT IS AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM, AND WILL BE IN THE SHOP FOR 4 DAYS WHILE WE WAIT FOR A PART TO COME IN. IM NOT SURE I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION ON BUYING THE KIA.

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  Terrible MPG - 2005 Kia Spectra
  By Christina - August 20 - 6:43 am

  The car is okay. It is a very noisy ride. It is slow. Miles per gallon are terrible. Consumers Reports also gave it a poor on front crash tests. I wish I would have done more homework on this car. Spend the extra money and get something good if you can.

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  Sorry Sorento - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By MrFixit - August 9 - 4:13 am

  I bought the car 9 months ago and since then had a new transmission put in (2 months), new steering wheel (crooked) and a few shimmers and creaks fixed as well as dash rattling. Now the one that kills me is having the harmonic balancer (main pulley) bolt break off while doing 70mph down the freeway and losing power steering and a few other important driving features. Keep in mind that the bolt is connected directly to the crank shaft which is now going to be replaced because KIA doesnt ship complete motors and this after owning it 9 months with only 8000 miles.