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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  Love it!! - 2004 Kia Optima
  By KjunDreamer - January 2 - 10:00 am

  We searched all over for a car that was dependable, priced within our budget and fun to drive. We wanted a car that looked good (sporty, yet classy). And we found it with our Kia Optima EX. Weve only had it a few months but so far, we love it. The gas mileage is great and for comfort, its better than anything weve driven in a while. It handles well and responds quickly. The stereo system is awesome with the surround sound. Our next one will be a Kia, as well.

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  the perfect car - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By bubuhu - January 2 - 10:00 am

  The kia sorento is a wonderful car to own and drive. It is big enough to haul things in, yet small enough so you do not feel like you are driving a tank. The ride is smooth. It handles excellent. My overall rating is a 10! I drove a lot of other vehicles before choosing the Kia Sorento. I have owned over the years, a volkswagen, 2 chevys, a dodge, a ford, a mazda and 2 other kias. The warranty itself is a plus. I chose the Sorento because I believe it was the best overall value.

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  driver - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By christinepires - January 2 - 10:00 am

  i love my kia suv

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  Honest Opinion - 2007 Kia Optima
  By Not sure - January 1 - 8:53 pm

  I bought my car in September 2007, I drive about 40 miles to work every day. Since September I have the weather stripping on my windshield come off, I have had a bad tire, and the gear shifter cable undone twice leaving me stuck because my car was stuck in reverse, I have had it towed to the dealership twice within a month. Thank god the warranty covered it but not fun when you rely on your car to get to work.

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  THE SMILING COBRA - 2005 Kia Optima
  By alantalbot - January 1 - 4:27 pm

  I bought it used from Enterprise Cars in Jan 2007, it had 40K miles on it then. Had it for almost exactly 5 years. In that span of time, nothing really ever went wrong with it. It drove great. I did all the required maintenance on it. Timing belt was done at 75K. After about 4 years, gas mileage started to decline. Took it in for fuel system cleaning and a few other things. Suddenly, with no warning, there was an engine malfunction. It wasnt even overheating or making noise, but it was permanently damaged. I said goodbye to it was it was taken away to the junkyard, got 600 bucks for it. I was told by others that altho Kia is kinda cheaply made, that theyll run forever. What a lie.

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  Great car for the money hands down - 2012 Kia Optima
  By sassy1866 - January 1 - 1:15 am

  I just bought a 2012 Kia Optima EX Turbo. Spicy Red with Beige interior. Absolutely love it. You cant find any other car with the amount of options at the Kia price. I bought the tubo because the regular 4 seemed noisy. Plus I love the power. Only two complaints I have are the wind noise around the windows when driving on the highway and the passenger seat is too low.

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  Fun car to drive - 2012 Kia Optima
  By robert202 - December 30 - 7:02 am

  Pros: Fun to drive with great performance Outstanding appearance inside and out Love the UVO system, especially the back up camera, large interior and trunk for a small car, Cartersville, GA. Kia dealer was good to work with and treated us well. Good value. Cons: Seat cushion could use more padding, becomes uncomfortable after 2 hours of driving, gas mileage overstated my best is 30 MPG but average 27 - could be my foot in the Turbo, road noise on rough roads transmits into the interior excessively. Bought the car in December 2011 it now has over 9K miles on it. All in all, Im happy with the purchase.

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  Yes, buy a Kia - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By BretAndStaci - December 30 - 5:56 am

  We really enjoy our new Kia Sorento. It is very comfortable, lots of room, drives great. We needed to have the digital clock fixed within a week other then that no problems as of yet. For the money, you get what you pay for and more with the Kia Sorento.

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  Dont buy this car! 2000 Kia Sportage - 2000 Kia Sportage
  By dewfuss - December 30 - 4:03 am

  This car is good looking, good 4x4 action and nice interior but thats it, its really bad on gas for a small 4 cylinder, underpowered, and annoyingly noisy. If you have one with about 150k and its extremely underpowered then your catalytic converter might be clogged, that was my case.

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  kia hits a home run - 2017 Kia Sportage
  By Rick Derr - December 30 - 2:44 am

  this 2017 sx turbo sportage is our 4th Kia.Had a 2007 sportage that was great, traded it for 2009 BMW X3 when service contract ran out it was very,very expensive for service,traded in for 2014 Sorento Limited absolutely loved the vehicle,lease up in March 2016 and released 2016 Soento inhancements make it even better than 2014.Decided to trade 2013 Toyota RAV4 Limited for all new 2017 Sportage SX turbo,absolutely love it the handling,power,and equipment are superb.Kia is putting BMW etc to shame with standard equipment and options.Well done Kia.... I now have approx. 5,000. miles on my Sportage and have found around town keeping it in sport mode increases the gas mileage to around 25 mpg.Also have driven it in our first snow storm and was really impressed with the over all handling.The options like auto high beams and auto stopping are very impressive and have recommended the 2017 Sportage to several friends that did go and purchase one.