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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  BECAREFUL - 2001 Kia Rio
  By SHELLY - August 7 - 10:00 am

  IF YOU WANT YOUR CAR IN THE SHOP ALL THE TIME NEEDING IT TO GET FIXED THIS IS THE CAR FOR YOU. ALSO THAT ROTTEN EGG SMELL COMING FROM THE CAT. CONVERTER. OH SO NASTY. CAR DENTS SO EASY WITH JUST SOMEBODY HITTING IT WITH A SHOPPING CART.

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  HORRIBLE piece of junk - 2004 Kia Optima
  By David - July 20 - 3:43 pm

  Have had my Kia for about 2 years. Constant trouble. Timing belt, pully, power steering, and now the computer is out. Guess I will have to sell it on ebay for a few hundred bucks.

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  Cheap and Crappy - 2002 Kia Rio
  By jjepps15 - July 7 - 1:55 pm

  I bought this car with 50,000 and it has been nothing but problems from day 1. I want to sell it ASAP so I dont have to keep paying for it. My mechanic said that is just a cheap car.

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  I hate this SUV - 2001 Kia Sportage
  By Keith - June 22 - 12:23 pm

  My wife bought this. Worst mistake ever, spend the extra money, get a Honda or Toyota. I cant even give this thing away. No power, bad transmission, shakes over 65, even on brand new tires. I feel every bump in the road. I have 77k miles and it feels like its going to completely fall apart. My wife wont drive it anymore because its a death trap. I cant even sell it because I would feel bad for whoever buys it. Dont buy one of these!

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  Do not waste your MONEY - 2002 Kia Sportage
  By I hate this SUV - April 25 - 10:00 am

  This vehicle has nothing but problems. I have been to the repair shop at least 12 times with a stack of repair slips all for different problems. Unfortunatly the vehicle doest fall under the lemon law, so I cant get rid of it. Some probles were: Twice the starter went out, Twice the window mechanism broke. There was 3 recalls with the vehicle. Some problem with the engine that was not explained to me very well, but it could have caused a very bad accident according to the technicians. I know that all there vehicles are not like this but, you should consider money and saftey. Two of which Kia doest.

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  KIA Voids the Warrnaty where ever possible - 2013 Kia Optima
  By Liz Walsh - January 23 - 9:40 am

  Bought a brand new 2013 KIA and the engine failed with just 43k miles Trust me KIA goes out of their way to not honor the warranty Plus their service departments are so understaffed that it took weeks just for them to decide not to honor their warranty they wanted 7k for a new engine and said it would take 5 weeks to fix What a complete joke We called every KIA dealer in the DFW area and the one we took it too in Lewisville was the only one who said they could look at it in a week. And this was before they knew it was an engine problem. Why should a customer have to wait that long just to find out whats wrong with the car? What is the average customer supposed to do when they dont have enough staff to fix their vehicles? Took the car to a local person who will fix the car for 3.2k and have it done in a week. I will never buy a KIA again research carefully their engines fail often and they will find someway to void the warranty. Also they charged $118.00 just to tell us they wouldnt fix the car They have a "goodwill" program that the mechanic said had never once been accepted by KIA

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  No so good - 2001 Kia Sephia
  By Mikesue98 - January 11 - 2:00 am

  Not to be trusted, in 2 years had 3 brake master cylinders changed, 3 mufflers (they would brake), molding would come off, auto transmission stick would freeze in the winter, doors would freeze frequently in the winter, electrical problems, would get a burnt smell on long trips, wheel bearings had to be replaced

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  Very unhappy kia owner - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By william - December 22 - 5:46 am

  I am very dissatisfied with this vehicle. To pay this much for a vehicle and have it develop so many rattles so soon is very disappointing, also the strut noise is constant, something I would expect in a $12,000 car, not a $30,000. very unhappy customer, would not buy again

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  Yet another big mistake - 2003 Kia Spectra
  By dswanson1 - August 9 - 2:40 pm

  We bought it and withing 3 months had to put a new transmission into it. That was under 100000 miles. It has been back into the shop 6 more times so far and we are only at 106000 miles. Nothing but issues left and right. Everything seems to break. Unfortunately we financed and are stuck with it for the next 2 years.

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  Dont Buy a Kia - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By barb niccum - July 3 - 2:36 am

  We have owned/leased/operated 9 new cars. Most we have traded in within a few years. A few we have kept past their shelf life; but with great results. Bottom of the list? you got it. My 2002 kia sedona mini van. Purchased brand new in may 2002. Fast forward 7 short years; yes only 7 short years…to a complete and utter piece of junk. Evidently there is a ‘line’ that runs the length of the van that holds and circulates your engine coolant. Well its a very bad thing when the line rusts completely through and you leak said engine coolant. You would think that there would be light for this type of complete malfunction…but the only light is the one telling you that your motor just burned up.