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:

• 

  Best Midsize Car for 2011 - 2011 Kia Optima
  By dankocke - November 22 - 6:07 pm

  Ok, so Ive owned several dozen cars over the last twenty years....I trade once a year or so. Ive had 3 Kias and 2 Hyundais and they have all been terrific cars. This Optima, though, is the cream of the crop. I traded a Lexus ES 350 which the Optima compares to very favorably, especially for the money. There is a difference between bying the EX/SX and the LX in respect to road noise. This one is quieter than my Lexus. I have the nav which is awesome and the interior of the car is just plain great. Gas seems to hover around 27 mpg mixed. Bottom line: quiet like a Camry, but feels like an Accord...which by the way is super noisy at HWY speed. More to come in a few months...

• 

  WOW, says it for me. - 2008 Kia Optima
  By BigChris - November 22 - 8:40 am

  As with many people my bias toward Kia was negative based on second hand knowledge of prior year models BUT Wow, I am so far amazed. I gave the car a 9/10 on Interior only because I feel the plushness of the cloth seat fabric does not fully live up to the quality level of this car. I am impressed with how this car measures up to my test drives in similar Lexus, Toyota, Volvo, and Mazda vehicles. Sweet! The cabin is solid and quite. Rear seat leg room and comfort beyond expectation. Ride, Steering, and Handling ... ahhhh ... so good. Love the Deep Sea Blue paint. Trunk - Deep & Wide. Standard sound system, pretty darn good, and thats VERY important to me. A/C works very well even in Texas.

• 

  great little kia - 2010 Kia Forte
  By carleyd - November 21 - 11:16 am

  I got my kia when they first hit the Parkersburg lot, and I have loved it! I live in WV and we have had a lot snow this year and my forte goes great! The traction control has been a big help on icy conditions and all the extra features just add to the wonderfulness that is my forte. It is a bit rough over bumps, but thats most small cars Ive driven.

• 

  Kia Rio - 2002 Kia Rio
  By The Cat - November 21 - 1:53 am

  I have had my car for almost four years and have not had any major problems with it. Outside of the routine maintenance, everything else has been just great.

• 

  Update - 2007 Kia Amanti
  By Jim - November 19 - 8:53 pm

  UPDATE: I wrote the previous post 3/25/2008. Since then I have not regretted this purchase for one moment. In fact Ive become a bigger fan of the Amanti. Extremely pleased and Ive upgraded my initial impressions because Ive had the chance to drive it. Great response, cornering. Wonderful highway feel, blows my Lincoln away. I would highly recommend this vehicle to anyone. At least - dont buy anything - until youve looked at the Amanti.

• 

  Great Value - 2006 Kia Optima
  By rich - November 19 - 5:46 pm

  Told my wife that this car was the best value for the money when she bought it. The only problem is that now it has very little trade in value. Have been trying to find a reason to dislike this car, but cant. Fit and finish are good. Everything is good. Nothing poor and nothing outstanding

• 

  WHAT A GREAT CAR - KIA - 2005 Kia Spectra
  By JACK FROM WA - November 19 - 6:46 am

  This car is great for the money. Paid $9450 for it brand new. Comfortable, fun to drive, good on gas, turns the heads from the "Honda Punks". People cant believe that its a Kia. The quality and performance is what you would expect from a toyota/honda. A great Bang for the Buck.

• 

  Giving KIA a try - 2017 Kia Sorento
  By J. Cox - November 16 - 6:58 pm

  Owned the 2017 KIA SXL 2 weeks now. Traded in a 2015 Toyota Highlander Limited. This was the second Highlander weve owned before trading. First of all the KIA has twice the warranty of the Highlander, This Kia is not a cheap car, in fact, I could have bought a comparable Highlander for about the same monies. But this KIA is every bit the vehicle the Highlander was, in fact, Im more impressed with its quality build.

• 

  Great van for whole family!!!! - 2003 Kia Sedona
  By kelopi98 - November 16 - 10:00 am

  I have purchased this van for more room and comfort for my two little angels who are 3 and 5 years old.. our first concern was "safety" of the van..and the second was value and options you can get.. For the safety, you cannot argue on Sedona which got five stars on four way.. On value.. how you can get the minivan has all those options (such as leather, cd cassette player, moonroof, ABS ...) for less than or equal to strip minivan from other manufacturer.. plus it ride really nice and seats are very comfortable.. powerful engine etc...

• 

  Four Week Review - Kia Sorento EX - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By Lee Martines - November 15 - 11:03 am

  My new Sorento EX has the luxury pkg, ABS, rear spoiler, trailer hitch and first aid kit options. After some heavy negotiations, my equivalent cost for this $27000+ vehicle was $22000. I have been pleasantly surprised with the performance so far after only four weeks of ownership. A recent 1200 mile trip at speeds of 80-85 MPH produced a shade over 19 MPG. Comfort was great for my 6 3", with two exceptions: Using cruise control, there is no handy place to rest the right foot, and the parking brake is located where it is in the way for resting the right leg. The ride was good, except for inferior roads, which telegraph most of the bumps. Its too new to evaluate reliability at this point.