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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  Former Sales Person - 2001 Kia Optima
  By salesperson&owner - July 24 - 2:00 am

  OK Who would have thought during the demo drive, that the interior dome light was positioned too far forward to service the rear seats, much less the rear floors. Even basic-bare-bones- buckets for automobiles, sold in America, ironically have big-bold- bright-bulb-ed interior dome lamps better served as light houses on the rocky shores of New England with doors closed. Understandably the 2001 Optima engineers could not have foreseen how impossible it would be, to locate any item on the rear floors or rear seats in our Optimas after dark. Why? Because their drawing boards were well lit during the design phase of the Optima’s interior. For crying out loud!

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  Kia Rondo snow test - 2007 Kia Rondo
  By Susan - July 23 - 1:06 am

  Rondo was an interest to me because of the fuel mileage and 7 seats. It has a great amount of room in the inside but doesnt look like a huge vehicle. Fuel mileage is okay not as great as I expected. In the snow and over bumps the brakes are locking up on me. I took it to the dealer and they say that they found no problem. I almost got into 2 accidents at 10 or 20 miles an hour. I might try snow tires. I was given no help at the dealership. I dont feel safe driving in the snow and I have owned a lot of different cars and am not afraid of the snow but in this vehicle I am afraid and I will not be able to drive when the roads have snow on them.

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  2009 Kia Sedona - 2009 Kia Sedona
  By 09_kia_sedona - July 22 - 3:37 pm

  We bought our 2009 Sedona in 2011 - it had 30K on it. I LOVED that van. It was roomy, reliable, and had very few problems (the rubber on the sliding door came loose but that was covered by the warranty). The ONLY reasons we got rid of it were because of the high miles (115K) and its not the best with gas mileage. I would bet that van couldve easily lasted another 100K but I didnt want to deal with any age-related issues.

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  1st time KIA owner - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By Richard Griffin - July 22 - 7:30 am

  I bought this 1 year ago with a little concern because I had never heard anything about the KIA Sorento. But loved the look and feel of it when I drove it. We have had some major snow storms in Reno this year and it handles very well in the snow. I have to tell you, I have had no problems with it and taking it back to the dealer for it services has been a positive experience. I can not say that about some other dealers that I have purchased vehicles from. Im very impressed and would recommend to anyone.

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  Enough Car for the Road - 2004 Kia Rio
  By Light foot - July 22 - 12:43 am

  My only beef is that if you happen to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a burned out tail light, and eager to replace it before you get back on the highway, dont rely on the owners manual for proper instructions to replace it. Even the dealers tech had difficulty. The company needs to send every owner an addendum that truly instructs on how to replace a tail light. Otherwise you will be one frustrated driver and prone to a police stop. The existing manual has only two instructions. The second one is "Carefully remove the tail light assembly from the body." Duh!

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  How could I - 2011 Kia Optima
  By slownomore - July 21 - 6:25 pm

  I never thought I would leave the US market but when kia came out with the new design on the optima I said I want that car.So far I have no regrets on buying my 2011 optima even though I have the LX with automatic and conv.package upgrades I love this car.With my bad driving habits I still get 30mpg.The 2.4 liter has plenty of power for me.The ride is nice and fairly quiet.I like the new design inside and out

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  2014 Kia Soul, my third Soul! - 2014 Kia Soul
  By fhgardner - July 21 - 6:23 pm

  This is my third Soul, having purchased 2011 and 2013 Exclaim models (I still own the 2013 Exclaim model), and they keep getting better and better! Budgetary limitations forced me to purchase the Base A/T model this time. Have had it for 10 days and 400 miles and it is a dream! The redesign of the chassis/frame and the suspension system has resulted in a much quieter soother riding car with a stiffness that is screaming "quality!". Time will tell if my impressions will last, but if the 2013 and 2011 models are any guide, Im in for another pleasurable ownership period!!!

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  3 months ownership of used 2015 Sedona SX - 2015 Kia Sedona
  By Kee-ah - July 21 - 11:39 am

  On Purchase: Purchased used with 17k mileage, very happy with it, but will replace OEM (kumbo) tires as they are real noisy. No DRLs, mileage is 18-19 mpg in city, but great acceleration and brakes. Watch out when folding up/down 2nd row seats , seatbelt buckle can hinder seat movement to lock in seating position, found out the hard way and mashed the buckle mechanism not knowing it was the problem. Overall very pleased so far, last van was 2004 Odyssey. 3-month follow-up: Follow-up after 3 months - still very impressed with Sedona especially after replacing tires with Bridgestone equivalents (from Costco), now quiet ride. Transported two twin beds (mattress, box, headboards and rails) all in one trip after moving middle row seats all the way up. Noticed brakes were not as solid as I braked one time hard with seven passengers onboard and the van didnt quite stop as quick as I wanted as the brakes faded, no harm, but need to have dealer check it out. All in all, still impressed and pleased with my purchase, will see what my first check-up experience will be with the dealership is like at 30K service. 18-month followup: Still enjoying the Kia - no problems to report. I checked the brakes at the 30K service, dealership said no problems on brakes, but I know that they fade when I brake hard with full van of my 5-6 kids due to weight? I may replace brake pads soon and hope this remedies this problem. I really like using the Android Auto with the Kia big screen - works nicely with touchscreen. I would recommend Kia (this is my first one) and hope the reliability continues.

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  Noisy - 2013 Kia Soul
  By drspacs - July 21 - 5:06 am

  If you havent bought one of these yet when on your test drive make sure you take it out on the interstate then roll the back windows down about halfway. The noise and vibration you will have is un bearable. You cant even talk to anyone not even the passenger. In addition roll down the drivers window about two inches while the back windows are down. It will shake so violently you will think it will shatter. I have spoken to many KIA dealers and they say this is a definite design flaw on several of their vehicles and cannot be resolved. They have contacted KIA engineering and they suggest keeping the windows rolled up at high speeds. Yeah right. Had I know this I would have NEVER bought one

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  25miles per gallon hybrid - 2017 Kia Optima Hybrid
  By Aric Pease - July 20 - 5:19 am

  At 11k now in a lease for 39 months and it only gets 25mpg in city. 3 times dealerships say it just not broken in yet. Do not buy!!! Very poor service follow up. Filed case with corporate and still have yet to hear from them. Over a month now.