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 Sorento
  By John Schleifer - July 21 - 10:00 am

  This is a great vehicle and not everone has one (see Hyundai - Santa Fe)! I looked up the TMV price through Edmunds and negotiated my deal. Gets tons of compliments! A lot of people think its a Lexus!

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  CUVs are for chumps - 2016 Kia Sedona
  By ahightower - July 21 - 3:06 am

  If you need three rows of seats every day, and do not have $65K for a new Suburban, minivan is the ONLY way to go. We had downsized from 2005 Yukon XL to a 2014 Pathfinder, and that was fine for a while. But when surprise baby #4 came along, we realized the limitations of the CUV. Access to third row was a daily nuisance (constant flipping and folding of seats - easier in the Pathfinder than most of the competition, but still a thing that has to be done), and most importantly, cargo space in the way back is very limited. We took our annual Florida trip with two adults, four kids. Luggage stuffed to the gills, and a cargo platform hanging off the trailer hitch for extra capacity. We had some serious saggy butt. It handled alright, but clearly was not designed to actually carry a full load of people AND stuff. This was the trip that convinced me it was time to return the lease a bit early and get into a van. Wife wasnt quite ready to go dork mobile, but she eventually admitted if there was a really nice van than looked okay and had all the features she wanted, she would consider it. The Sedona and new Pacifica made her very short list. 3 minutes walking around the Sedona and marveling at the space and luxury finishes, and she was sold before I could even test drive. This one evidently has a bit less room behind the third row than Odyssey and Sienna, but it is downright cavernous compared to even the biggest CUVs (Chevy Traverse). And loading the baby is so much easier with sliding doors. These are all things I knew, but Mrs. Cool needed to live with her Pathfinder for a few months before coming around. We went for the SXL Tech 8-seater in dark blue - its actually a really nice looking vehicle, and not just "for a van". Ive stored away that 2nd row "jump seat" to create an aisle for two of the big to easily walk through to the third row. But I did want that 8th seat, just in case we have an extra passenger (grandma) for a long trip, or perhaps we will want to fold half of the third row to max out cargo space for beach gear next summer. And, I didnt really need the sun roofs, which we never used in the last car, and which they say compromise headroom in the third row where two of our growing young teens reside. Also didnt really care about the "lounge seats". One of them just has a baby carrier on top, and honestly theres not enough leg room back there to really utilize the "ottoman" feature for a teenager, unless he scoots all the way back and steals all the leg room from the third row. Just not something we would ever get any use out of, while the 8th seat has potential uses. Anyway, this is quite simply the most luxurious vehicle weve ever owned. The interior materials are beautiful, and I hope they are durable as well. Id prefer darker leather, but other long term tests I read say they hold up well. The gadgets are "Sofa King" cool - Ive never had many of these features before. Xenon headlights, automatic high beams (this really works!), radar cruise control (again, this actually works great - it cant do stop and go traffic, but it will take you down to about 5 mph and back up again), blind spot monitors, birds-eye-view camera for parking. I dont love the chrome wheels, although they look sharp its going to be a lot of effort for the boys to keep them clean :) The bluetooth audio doesnt seem to work with the newest iPhones, you have to plug in to USB to get any sound from your phone. Nor does it read texts as it says. Wish it was apple car play instead of UVO. But the navigation is decent. I thought Nav was stupid, since that is free on everyones phone anyway. But having it integrated into the dash is nice, and its directions on the info screen between the gauges driver side is cool. When we get the XM activated, will see how good it is at traffic. Cooled seats are a Texans best friend. Im 63" and have plenty of leg and knee room, even with the bulky baby carrier behind me, and his seat scooted forward a bit to give the third row boys some extra space. Wife is 51", so memory settings for seat and mirrors were an essential feature for us. We had the dealer install remote start, and it works fine with the factory key fob, though it will only run for 30 seconds once a door has been opened. We had been used to starting up the AC and taking our time loading groceries. Instead, you have to jump up front and hit the ignition if you want it to keep running, but thats a minor complaint. The ride is very quiet, and it really smooths out with a full load. Enough power, transmission is responsive. Steering is very light at low speeds but firms up nicely for the highway. The price was very fair, lots of features for the money. I am a little bit hesitant about Kia long term reliability in general, but we will be covered b2b for the duration of the lease, so I was willing to give it a chance. Overall, we are both very pleased with this vehicle.

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  And the winner is? - 2013 Kia Optima
  By autonut134 - July 20 - 12:41 pm

  Thats it Im done. I finally bought a car after a solid month of research and test drives. I looked at and considered ford fusion, Nissan Altima, vw jetta and passat, Mazda 6, Honda accord, Hyundai sonata, Acura tl and ixl, and maybe I forgot some.the Optima provided the most bells and whistles, and Im a sucker for those things, for and unbelievable price. But price alone didnt do it. This car drives and looks great and has an awesome warranty. The interior looks refined and the exterior is youthful and aggressive in a sea of boring cars. The other car that came close was the fusion but it was much more $. I hope the quality is there in the long run but right now Im very happy with it.

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  3 weeks old and already back for repair - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By jakesharet - July 20 - 8:50 am

  My car is 3 weeks old, 450 total miles. It developed a high pitch noise coming from under the car. The dealer has my vehicle already 3 days waiting for some kind of special grease. Just a heads up for everybody thinking of buying a 2011 sorento

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  not so bad - 2010 Kia Forte
  By malicioustoast - July 19 - 4:18 pm

  2010 forte ex sedan 2.0L 4 cyl automatic. overall, id have to say i love this car. traded my nissan titan for this in 2010, and im LOVING the gas mileage. now has 26k miles. the exterior and interior both look really nice, and the ride is comfortable. i drive from dallas to corpus almost every other weekend, and it handles like a boss. pick up isnt that great, but thats to be expected with a 2.0. only thing i dont like is this thing is prone to dents. i just leaned on the car and i got a dent on the drivers side door. a girl from my university also hit the passenger door with her purse and dented it, and her purse was freaking tiny lol. despite that, KIA made one nice little car :)

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  Excellent car! - 2005 Kia Optima
  By prodigit - July 19 - 12:03 pm

  Bought it in 2012, second hand, for $3000. Cant complain. A little low on MPG though... Very luxurious, but after 50k miles starts to have lots of issues.

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  Rondo For All Seasons - 2007 Kia Rondo
  By Mr_Orting - July 19 - 7:33 am

  This is really a good car. Very good gas mileage on the I4 (27 mph) mixed driving. Fit and finish is excellent and beats Detroit models costing more. Holds the road like glue. Very responsive for a 4. Driver protection program beats the industry. Visibility is outstanding.

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  Love the Car - 2013 Kia Optima
  By mjland - July 19 - 4:28 am

  Ive only owned the car for 5 days. From this short time Ive ascertained 2 things: - Plenty of Luxury for the Price - Ride is smooth and quiet

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  Bought a 2011 SX fully equiped - 2011 Kia Optima
  By acerava - July 18 - 9:54 pm

  Bought 2011 SX graphite color and everysingle day people are asking what is that "the new audi? the new infiniti? the new saab?". I love it! great pick up, quiet (not as loud as people exaggerate but I have the luxury wheels) i owned a 2002 nissan Altima and that was loud to me. There is zero complaints aside from the engin start in the mornings (I live in LA) its a bit loud but quiets after 10 seconds. I absolutly had to add the K5 leds in the front and man does it make a difference! Im still in awe over the car and I drove it 1600 miles already. I would have never bought a Kia in my life but after testing the C300 and audi A4 this had a lot more for the money. I did rebadge though for K5.

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  very unhappy - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By Henry - July 18 - 5:50 am

  I have driven many minivans, most drive more like a car. This one feels more like a truck. Vibration at low speeds and an engine hum all the time. Pick up isnt very good. Turning radius is very poor, but above all gas performance is extremely bad; like 13 miles to a gallon. I wish I would have paid a little more and gotten another brand.