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:

• 

  Defective part that can cause catastrophic failure - 2006 Kia Sorento
  By Kathy - May 24 - 4:43 am

  Model years 2002-09 contain a defective engine crank sprocket that when the bolt breaks, causes you to loss your power steering and the engine is JUNK. The bolt broke while I was on the highway doing 65 MPH. When I went to steer on to the on ramp, I had NO power steering and almost went off the road. I had the car towed to the dealer and they told me the crank shaft bolt broke and I needed a new engine to the tune of $5000.00 I purchased the car used 6 months before for $8900.00 and there was less than 91,000 miles on it. I ended up losing my shirt on this piece of junk that Kia KNEW was defective. They dont seem to care that someone can get killed when this happens.

• 

  Always look forward to driving it - 2008 Kia Rondo
  By Jesterle - May 22 - 4:56 pm

  We love the roominess of the interior plus the storage is great. It has more cupholders than all of my previous cars combined (6 cars). I love the high seating that doesnt require me to climb up into it. We did have the check engine light come on after the first fill-up due to not tightening the cap correctly, but no problems since. I do mostly city driving and have gotten between 19 and 21 mpg. I like having the multiple 12v ports, espcially having one in the back that we can use for our electic cooler or a car vac. No complaints about wind noise. We had a very thorough test drive with this vechicle before buying it so we could dectedt any obvious flaws or even not so obvious. Great car.

• 

  Very surprised with this car - 2003 Kia Rio
  By Trawick - May 20 - 10:00 am

  My younger sister bought one at the beginning of 2003. Although hers is the Spectra, she has raved on how she loves it. Since I drive about 100 + miles per day, I was using tons of gas on my Toyota Tacoma. Since Ive got this car, Ive actually hit 40 mpg several times. With 3000 miles on it, I am very impressed. So impressed we bought two more. One for my other younger sister and one for my sister- in-law.

• 

  New Owner - 2003 Kia Sedona
  By atm - May 20 - 10:00 am

  After several trips to different dealers we finally bought a Sedona. With only 300 miles on the vehicle it is a joy to drive. Weve had several other mini vans, and so far this is the only one I cant wait to get in to drive.

• 

  Glad I bought Kia - 2005 Kia Sportage
  By maryt - May 18 - 3:36 pm

  I had my Sportage 3 years and really love it. Handles well, carries everything I need. I downsized from a Blazer and could not be happier. The few times I have had to have it serviced have been good experiences.

• 

  Buy a donkey not KIA - 2010 Kia Forte
  By jack234 - May 17 - 6:20 pm

  I have had this KIA for a year and 1/2. Been in shop more than a dozen times but still have problems with it. Even worst, in the last 1 1/2 year it lost more than $15,000 in value. Payed $19,000 for it in May 2011, it is now August 2012 and the trade in value is at $4,000. The exterior and interior are in great shape. DO NOT BUY KIA you will loose big time. You and american economy.

• 

  Excellent Overall Package - 2005 Kia Sportage
  By RandM - May 16 - 10:43 pm

  Finally it arrived, and just in time for my wife and I to trade our ailing Passat in for such a fantastic vehicle. If you look at the interior fit and finish alone, youll be astounded like we were. The performance is great, the ride is awesome and the look (and ride) is much better than its cousin Tucson (by Hyundai). What makes my wife and I smile is that we get a bigger vehicle, with better saftey features, better warranty and V6 power at a price that was less than our 5-speed 1999 Passat. No wonder these are selling so fast! You really need to check em out, there are features galore (including adjustable height on center armrest, shopping bag hooks, MP3 player). Great Job Kia!!!

• 

  Great SUV - 2006 Kia Sorento
  By Stephanie - May 15 - 2:00 pm

  Weve owned our Sorento for 3-1/2 years and have been pleasantly surprised. We had never owned a Kia or knew anyone who owned one and were worried about the quality as a result. It has over 30k miles on it and weve never had a single problem, issue, or bug with it. We mostly use it for short trips around town, but it has performed well in all sorts of conditions (snowy mountain, rural desert roads, regular big city driving with constant breaking and fast accelerating). Weve gotten the oil changed regularly and done the recommended maintenance, but other than that, its required no trips to the dealer or shop.

• 

  A great little car - 2006 Kia Spectra
  By Richard - May 15 - 3:30 am

  Bought my Spectra about one year ago, currently has about 18,000 miles on it. I have had absolutely no problems with it. I had cruise control added at the time of purchase, other than that its stock. This is my daily driver, its comfortable, reliable and gets decent mileage. The Spectra happens to be my second Kia, I have a Sedona van that has been to the dealer several times (however everything was covered by the warranty) it currently has 58,000 miles on it. The Spectras a great handling car.

• 

  shopping for my wife , got two instead - 2010 Kia Soul
  By FredR - May 14 - 1:30 pm

  Went to get my wife a review for her car choice and wound up coming home with two of them. I thought they would be small but there is plenty of room inside and plenty of selling features to draw you in. Time will tell on the reliability questions, but with the decent warranty that should be ok if problems arise over the next ten years. Whod of thought a little wind up toy like this would make practicle sense for us. Hope everyone else is loving theirs as much as my wife and I are. For the first day anyway.