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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  Kia Rio - TIMING BELT FAILURE low miles! - 2004 Kia Rio
  By Henry - July 27 - 10:06 am

  Original owners of a 2004 Kia Rio with 10/100000k warranty, the other morning the car died at intersection. Had it towed to the dealer who says the Timing belt broke. The car has less than 60k, and is just barely 6 years old, and the timing belt is not covered under warranty. Now we have a lawn ornament because while Kia admits to a poor design in those 1.6L belts, they are sorry for our luck. Needs new engine! Recommend replacing belt at 5yrs or 60k

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  Kia does not stand by their warranty! - 2007 Kia Rio
  By Lindsey S. - July 20 - 3:30 am

  My Kia Rio5 has been in the shop this past month 5 times for the same issue! Kia will only approve the minimal amount of repairs and has yet to fix my vehicle. For the last month, I have been without my car and after the engine and oxygen sensor has been replaced, the vehicle is still broken. What does Kia say??? Nothing. They will not return my phone calls. Whats the use of a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty, if Kia will not make good on it! Dont buy Kia! The cars are cute and fuel efficient, but not dependable and Kia does not stand behind their product!

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  Good Build, Poor MPG - 2013 Kia Sportage
  By smealio - July 13 - 6:43 am

  I hope anyone considering this car takes 3 minutes to read this. I traded in a 2005 honda pilot that was literally running on dollar bills for this 2013 Sportage EX on both the sticker and dealerships notion that the MPG rating was true to form in our terrain. A week into ownership I was only logging 18mpg on hwy. I called it in and they said let it break in at 5k miles. I continued to log complaints to be heard and at 5k miles on my 50 mile, 80% hwy 20% rural (Pennsylvania) commute i logged 19mpg. I did a controlled fuel test with the same result. Kia issued their mpg program but its pennies. This is a terrible vehicle performance wise and is extremely overrated...take heed.

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  Burned twice by Sorento - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By OCgrassgirl - July 7 - 4:43 pm

  I made a deal with the dealership to trade from my defective unrepairable 03 Sorento that had major electrical problems to a new 05 Sorento and within 2 weeks of receiving the replacement vehicle I began having major transmission problems. At 10,300 miles now they have tried everything to repair it and now want to replace the transmission. Have had the defective clock replaced 3 times and it still doesnt work. LOOK ELSEWHERE! When something seems too good to be true it usually is!

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  Are they using rubber in the tires? - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By skohansk - July 5 - 1:34 pm

  Dont get scammed by the cheap tires. Okay, frustration has set in. An online Kia survey and a call to my Kia dealership regarding the lack of traction have fallen on deaf ears. Well this morning my wife lost traction and caused an accident. For those thinking that the tires are probably bald.....the vehicle just hit 3000 miles. Finally ready for its 1st oil change. Just got off the phone with the dealership again and they said "well take a look at them when you bring it in for the oil change." Use this information for your own good.

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  Awful Build quality! - 2010 Kia Forte
  By usereks1187 - June 29 - 1:03 am

  We purchased our 2010 Kia Forte brand new car has been the worst car we have every had, heated seats never worked it came from the factory with them not connected, sunroof cracked for no reason took a month for Kia to pay for it. Then windshield cracked overnight for no reason. now at 7000 miles transmission has went out and Kia said it will take two weeks to fix it and will not provide us with a loner car. We will be trading this car in when we get it back but it has awful resale value. We will never purchase another Kia.

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  Worst car Ive ever owned! - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By wmumpower - June 27 - 1:26 am

  Ive had nothing but transmission problems with my car since 9,000 miles. The dealership has made every excuse they can think of to not fix the problem. Supposedly at 18,000 miles they replaced the transmission with a rebuilt one. Problems still existed after the supposed replacement. Now they say that the transmission is no good because of the tires being of a different circumference even though they are marked the same size, refusing to fix the transmission. The car is in my opinion, junk and the dealership is a sham. Oh, they also had to replace the engine 2 weeks after the worked on the transmission. Seems the serpentine belt broke and got into the timing belt.

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  Its a Kia not a Lexus - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By JEFF HARRIS - June 23 - 10:40 am

  im 63" 275. its just too small for people of this size .im always hitting my head on the roof. the seat doesnt go back far enough so my knees are always bent. the transmission shift pattern is too sluggish,overrevs under hard acceleration. oem tires are not good for snow; has to be in 4x4 when there is lots of snow and ice due to loss of traction. Its a Kia not a lexus give it a better price I traded mine in and only got 17,500 with only "4500" miles.whats wrong with that picture!

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  nice suv - 2004 Kia Sorento
  By MOTOMOM123 - June 23 - 2:00 am

  NICE SUV EXCEPT FOR THE GAS MILEAGE AND THE INSIDE (PLASTIC) INTERIOR COULD BE BETTER QUALITY.

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  Second owner, purchased with 50,000 miles on it - 2003 Kia Spectra
  By kimllopez - June 15 - 11:43 am

  Purchased this car in 2009 with 50,000 miles on the engine. With the bald tires on the car, it road like a roller coaster ride on the freeway. Purchased new tires and it drove almost 100% better. Replaced the entire radiator about 2 years later. Replaced the ball joint 6 months before that. Replaced the right passenger side head light about 5 times since we purchased the car, at some point it completely stopped working and my husband switched around the light from the brights to the regular headlight to salvage it. Parts are extremely hard to find for this car, weve usually have to purchase online and when we do find the part in store it is usually more expensive than say a honday or acura.