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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  Feeling sad - 2005 Kia Amanti
  By Hopeful - September 28 - 12:33 pm

  I purchased my car with 913 miles on it. It was primarily driven by the Kia manager where I purchased my vehicle. I have roughly 28,000 miles on my car and I am on my 2nd transmission. The new transmission is unfortunately not any better than the initial one. My 1st tranny was replaced at 22,000. Ive brought it back to the dealership and told them about the new 2nd transmission slipping when starting up. Now with cold weather its even worse and Im actually afraid to drive it any long distances until I get this transmission remedied or get another new transmission. Im very envious of the folks who have had good luck. I really love my Amanti, but its sick at the moment.

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  Regarding the below review regarding poor mileage... - 2013 Kia Soul
  By mazda5forme - September 26 - 1:03 pm

  Aparently the reviewer below mine hasnt heard about the problems the EPA found with the sticker listed on the KIA car models with wrong fuel mileage...caused by an error in the testing done by KIA in Korea on the KIA Soul and a few other KIA models. To make a long story short...the base Soul actual fuel mileage for example was LISTED on the window sticker as 27/35 mpg but new figures are 25/30 for the smaller 1.6 base engine...and for the bigger 2.0 engine it WAS 26/29 mpg listed and actual new figures are less mpg to. I signed up with KIA and now get a KIA debit card to use for gasoline based on how far I drive and they add 15% more for your trouble. Simply register with KIA.

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  love it - 2006 Kia Sedona
  By Ron - September 26 - 8:03 am

  Many more standard items and features than the higher priced competition. The only option we got was the power doors and tailgate, everything else we wanted was standard equipment. Love the warranty, where are the other manufacturers? Dont they have confidence in their product?

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  Theres a surprising amount of zip! - 2007 Kia Rondo
  By Peggy - September 26 - 7:43 am

  Weve owned this vehicle for a bit over a month. Its been a surprisingly fun, smooth and quiet ride. (I drive a lot and have become very sensitive to road noise.) This vehicle is very soundly built, with beyond expectations quality and accoutrements.

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  good car - 2008 Kia Spectra
  By bnk - September 25 - 10:23 am

  i had a rodeo before so it sucked the gas and I went and bought this car. Its not too fast but its the sx so its sporty. Wish it had chrome wheels and a system

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  Standed and Confused - 2007 Kia Optima
  By Stranded - September 25 - 12:56 am

  I purchased the Kia Optima 1 year ago- this is my 3rd Kia. I received a Happy Birthday card from the dealer about a week before the shifter cable disengaged and nearly caused me to crash into a car while trying to park. The dealership examined the cable and said that they had never seen anything like it-nothing was broken or damaged, the cable just came off. Now, almost a month later, I am riding shotgun in my husbands truck as the cable once again has "disengaged". I seriously think there is a design flaw in this model and I am just glad I have never tried to used the manual shift feature-- imagine having the cable "disengaging" at 75 miles an hour on the interstate!

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  DO NOT BUY A KIA - 2012 Kia Soul
  By Dont Buy A Kia - September 24 - 3:14 pm

  Dont waste your money on a Kia. The engine BLEW on my 4 year old car that I took wonderful care of - Connecting Rods failed. I had my car in my local shop for over 2 months and they couldnt identify the error. A month later, I receive a note direct from Kia that theyre extending the warranty of my car to 120,000 miles DUE TO THE EXACT REASON MY ENGINE BLEW (connecting rod failure). I had since sold the car to a junk yard for $500 (because no one wanted it) and I lost over $8,000 compared to the KBB value of my car. Now Kia wants nothing to do with it because I didnt choose to repair my engine for $8K (what the car was worth at the time...) BOTTOM LINE - Kia does NOT care about their customers - they do not care about brand loyalty or repeat customers. Theyd rather sell you a piece of junk car, wait for it to fail and then wish you luck with your next purchase. BUYERS BEWARE - DO NOT BUY A KIA.

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  2016 KIA SEDONA EX rules the roost. - 2016 Kia Sedona
  By Dave - September 22 - 9:49 pm

  This is our first experience of what was called a mini van, but what now is called a MPV, ( multi purpose vehicle ). We only considered the safer MPVs, Honda, Toyota and KIA, the others were considered too much of a health hazard to their passengers. All 3 we tested drove very well, the KIA Sedona just has had a firmer, more confident driving experience. The fuel economy of the Honda was the best of the bunch, but was let down by the poor access to the 3 row seating, very dated interior, and the price would be considerably more to get some the basic standard features of the KIA. So our choice was between the Toyota and the KIA in the end. The Toyota is good, just dash board looks and feels, if come from a different generation in the past, and price for a similar spec was nearly $5000 more than the KIA. The Sedona just has a modern design, inside and out, taken the best features of some the others, and made them better still, then backed by a ten year warranty, became a easy choice.

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  Great Deal - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By jamesh - September 22 - 10:00 am

  I am a new owner so I cannot say much about the vehicle other than the great value that I got in this purchase. I purchased an EX model fully loaded and paid $21K. All the other vans I looked at were all $30K+ for the same features. And on top of it all the 10 year warranty.

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  Love it! - 2000 Kia Sportage
  By Rae - September 21 - 5:20 pm

  I purchased my Sportage used, with a little over 44K miles. In the 2 years Ive had it, Ive put 51K on it, and enjoyed every minute of it. My mileage has stayed between 19 & 22 mpg. The few problems Ive had have been things designed to wear out, like the battery, brakes, etc. Ive kept it maintained and have not had any major surprises. I chose it for the car-like interior, with the height of a small truck, and not for towing or anything heavy duty, knowing that the engine is small and pretty easily taxed. I have truly enjoyed this car more than any other Ive ever owned, and have put the miles on it to prove it. :)