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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  No Brainer - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By Mike - January 9 - 8:40 am

  We bought this car with a considerable rebate, and to date it is an excellent value. Outside of a couple of minor trim issues on the inside, and malfunctioning of an interior warning light which were promptly fixed, the car has been no problem whatsoever. The car looks nice, is comfortable, and does what it is supposed to do. With the warranty, it is a no brainer.

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  One major problem..... - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By penguin103 - January 8 - 5:18 pm

  I love almost everything about my 2011 Kia Sorento. Its very roomy, comfortable, tons of standard options and very functional. Also averaging about 23 mpg, which is better than I expected. The biggest downfall, so far, of my Kia has been a transmission issue where my car will automatically downshift into 4th gear and stick in that gear until I turn the engine off. Its done this twice and my wife is now scared to drive it. I just pray it doesnt shift into 1st or 2nd gear at 55+ mph.

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  Pleased with my New Optima - 2007 Kia Optima
  By John M - January 7 - 4:33 am

  I have the LX AT version with the Appearance package. Ive had it for 3 and a half months at the time of this writing, and I am convinced that I made the right choice when purchasing this vehicle. I owned a Kia before this and had a couple of problems that needed warranty work, and the fit and finish were not that great. This has not been the case with this vehicle. I have yet to have any issues and no matter how much Ive inspected it, I havent identified any fit and finish defects, and the material seems high quality. The interior with the appearance package is just plain beautiful, worthy of a $30,000 vehicle, and I paid about half that after rebates; WAY LESS than an equivalent Accord.

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  Kia is reliability... - 2005 Kia Sportage
  By Big Ski - January 6 - 7:10 pm

  Great vehicle! I am 66" and the CR-V nor the RAV-4 had any space for me. A big plus is the price. I got what I wanted and stayed BELOW what I wanted to spend. My wife and I own a Sedona already as well and that has held up great as well.

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  improvements - 2008 Kia Rio
  By varmit2 - January 6 - 12:36 pm

  just bought this car, i had previously bought a 2002 model for my daughter to attend college, never drove hers much, hers lasted so well, that i decided to buy one for myself, I am overall pleased with mine so far, but motor is a bit noisy when accelerated moderately, and suspension is a bit choppy at times , have just got 800 miles on mine so far, but it getting right at 35 mpg and this beats my dodge ram 1500 14 mpg to death. I believe that i can get used to the Kia small quirks.

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  Green lemon on the road. - 2003 Kia Spectra
  By lemonowner - January 6 - 10:00 am

  I purshased my Kia on June 1, 2003and it has been in the shop four times already. This is the worst car I have even own, drove or even been in because it is a brand new car and has so many different problems including but not limited to poor gas mileage, water pump, radiator pump going and a few more problems.

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  This little beast kicks serious %$*^! - 2003 Kia Sorento
  By RedhairMac - January 6 - 10:00 am

  Ive been the proud owner of a Kia Sorento for 6 mos and love it more every day. I fondly refer to it as "Beastie" because of how efficiently it devours the road. It looks so good too, at a price way below the competition. Do yourself a favor and before you buy anything, try the Sorento! (Have you seen the movie "Seabiscuit"? Well, this tough little SUV is Seabiscuit!

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  GREAT VEHICLE FUN RIDE - 2003 Kia Sorento
  By MARC - January 6 - 10:00 am

  IT HAS LOOKS PERFORMANCE AND GREAT HANDLING.RADIO AND CD PLAYER HSA THE FASTEST RESPONSE WHEN CHANGING STATIONS OR CDS.OVERALL I WOULD RECOMMEND THE KIA EX.WELLWORTH THE PRICE.

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  Rio Timing belt problems - 2004 Kia Rio
  By mttom - January 6 - 5:27 am

  Im tearing down a 2004 Kia Rio with 32000 miles, well cared for, Not Abused, fresh oil change and Fram filter, LOCKED engine, failed timing belt, At first I thought inferior quality belt and poor components, but this is a rugged copy of the Mazda which can run many miles, everything looks great but the belt is hard and not very flexible. Maybe Kia scrimped on this but I really doubt it, seems like a heat problem so I did a closer look. To keep engine noise to an absolute minimum, the hood is heavily insulated as well as a plastic cover plate over the engine, But in addition to that Both fenders and the firewall have a continuous rubber gasket as does most of the front of the hood,

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  My Car and its Value - 2004 Kia Optima
  By Robinson - January 6 - 5:16 am

  Driving this car is really good. I love my car the color is great it green. And it handle the road great, driving it is fun. My car has a sun roof a great feature. It has a great attaction to it. People love the look of my car. The price of the car is to high because it does not hold it value and it does have great potential.