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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  minor things but a GREAT buy! - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By jase - April 30 - 2:00 am

  Hi, Compared to other models, we saved close to $5,000 with $1,000 rebate. The main reasons that we bought Kia Sedona are the followings: Safety (5 stars!), price, and Warranty 10 year/100,00 miles! You just cant beat that. Now the test, my wife is the main driver for the van, and she just LOVES it. Now the minor negatives. Everything was ok until after 3 months there was rust right above the license plate holder. The rust was dripping down from where the bolts were. I think it was coming from the non-stainless bolts. Another thing is the dome light. The light doesnt come on when the wether is cold.

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  Okay, but... - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By chief503 - April 30 - 2:00 am

  We bought this van new in 02, really like most features. Engine light came on and the dealer can not fix it. Through arbitration with BBB, I am receiving a new one. Factory and dealer had problems following through with their written deadlines. Selling new van when it arrives, not because of the van but because the dealer and factory are hard to work with.

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  Poor Reliability and Poor Service - 2013 Kia Sorento
  By neveragain727 - April 29 - 6:02 pm

  We bought a new 2012 Kia Sorento for our daughter in college in 08/2011. She put 9,800 miles on the car so far with all the normalized services being up to date. This Saturday 10/27/2012, she drove from Miami to Naple, and this car died on I-75! Thank the Lord that neither she nor her friend got hurt! She had it towed to Fuccillo Kia dealership in Cape Coral, FL. This dealership did the initial evaluation that day, but could not diagnosed the reason why the car died! Thus, my 20 year old daughter had to leave the car in the Cape Coral Kia dealership, and no one at this dealership offered to help her getting a loaner/ rental car through Kia warranty coverage! My daughter had to ask her friend to drive from Miami (an hour and 45 minutes away) to pick her up and bring her back to Miami that evening! Of course, nothing was done on Sunday. On Monday, the Cape Coral Kia dealership had to ask that we should contact our Kia dealership in Clearwater to fax all the service records to them as all the Kia dealershipsservice databases are separated with no connectivity or sharing capability among them. I called the National Kia Customer Service to ask for help as the Clerwater Kia dealership did not respond initially to our request. The toll-free National Kia Customer Service lady said that Kia National headquarter does not have any data on services at any of their dealerships, but she gave me a case # and her extension to call back or communication, which I thought initially as being very nice and helpful ( I even did a survey for her and gave her high marks!) I have to call the Clearwater Kia dealerships service manager to ask for help in faxing the service records to the Cape Coral Kia dealership to finally getting this done. After reviewing the well documented 3 services (on 08/11/11, 1/13/2012, and 06/11/2012), the Cape Coral Kia dealership agreed that we have had the car well-maintained by a Kia dealership during our short ownership, but th engine died fro unknown reason. The service manager there suggested that they will have to rebuilt the engine! We asked if this issue had been reported on other Kia Sorentos, and he replied that he does not or aware of any national recall nor issue with the Kia Sorento having premature engine failure. We asked that the engine should be replaced with a new engine from Kia factory in the Atlanta, Georgia plant in USA, rather from a rebuilt engine. The manager said that he will try to request for that. We requested that while the car being serviced under a Kia warranty-issue if my daughter could get a rental or loaner car for her to get to class at college. The dealership reported that they could do a rental car up to $30/day coverage only. However, since our daughter is 20 yo, she could not rent the car from any rental companies! The dealership insisted that they have no loaner car available for her to use! I called the Kia toll-free national customer service four times (twice on Monday 10/29/12 and twice on Tuesday 10/30/2012) using the previously given extension # to the service lady, Melinda. I was not able to get in touch with her either time, and upon calling back other customer service agents reviewed our case #, reporting that nothing was in our case report! So why created a case # and giving me an extension #!? At this time, we are waiting for Kias decisions to replace the engine, and to consider helping our daughter a way to get back from Miami to Cape Coral! With this occurence of the failed engine on a new 2012 Kia Sorento with 9,800 miles after one year of ownership, I have to say that I am very disappointed in this car and with the above service issues from Kia National Customer Service Center! Thus, I would NOT recommend this car nor this car company to anyone at this time! Hopefully, this automotive company will learn to improve their quality and service in the future!

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  YOU GOTTA DRIVE IT. - 2007 Kia Rio
  By SKI - April 29 - 5:16 am

  You gotta drive this thing, I love it. I read a review that said this was not a good car. Go drive one. I drove some of the other cars in its class and the Rio is bigger than most and more power than most. 6 airbags and an awesome look to it. Plenty of room for all my junk. I have 3 kids that I take with me when my wife is at work and we fit perfect.

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  What a great value - 2006 Kia Sportage
  By mcrews - April 29 - 5:16 am

  What a turn around for the Sportage. Amazing attention to ergonomics. Just bought Black/black leather XE for my 18 year old daughter. No more worries! The same eguipment level from Honda or Toyota is $6k more and doesnt have the warranty.

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  So Close... so, so close... - 2015 Kia Optima
  By cbevil - April 28 - 6:40 pm

  First, let me say that I bought the 2015 Kia Optima to replace a 2014 Ford Fusion that was an absolute POS. After spending a solid year fighting with FoMoCo about transmission and interior issues, I traded the Fusion at a severe loss because I just couldnt trust the car. For Edmunds to prefer the Fusion over others is mind boggling. The Optima is almost a great car, but it is beyond me how you can screw up something like stereo features on a 2015 car. Ride is good - not great. Interior is roomy and comfy. Performance is much better than the Fusion... But the stereo and steering wheel controls are just goofy - bad layout and bad function.

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  We love it! - 2006 Kia Amanti
  By Irving & Sally Katz - April 28 - 9:53 am

  Weve owned or leased many classy cars, i.e. Volvo, Lincoln, Cadillac, etc. and we read about the Kia Amanti and decided to look at it after dinner one night. We didnt even do a test drive, but fell in love with it at first sight, and ended up buying it that night and driving it home. We felt like we were driving on a cloud, and the Jaguarish styling was a definite plus, not to mention the classy interior and all the luxury extras that Kia installed into the Amanti. It definitely is one of the best cars we have ever owned, and we would highly recommend it to anyone looking to purchase a new car.

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  I bought a Lemon - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By Garcia - April 27 - 9:06 pm

  This would have been great, especially for the price. Unfortunately, I bought a lemon. The car needed an alignment when we test drove it. That should have been a sign. But we liked the car and what it had to offer compared to the other compact cars. So that was the first thing wrong with this car. The O-2 sensor has gone out twice in the car. The odometer messed up so the whole dash had to be replaced. Countless times the check engine light has come on supposedly because the gas cap was not closed right. When youd think wed learn the by the second time how to put on a gas cap. Now to top it off right now our car is in the shop because the transmission needs to be replaced. LEMON!

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  Excellent car - 2005 Kia Spectra
  By Rachel - April 27 - 5:23 pm

  This is a nice car for the money. We are very happy with ours. It seems like a very safe clean car - we love it.

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  pay less, get less - 2002 Kia Optima
  By scruff - April 27 - 9:00 am

  I have owned this car for 3 years now, and cant wait for the moment I can get out of it! I spend about $1k in repairs a year on this car, and Im not talking about routine maintenance. Speaking of that, it doesnt like to go more than 3k miles without an oil change. It needs to be babied. Its a comfortable car and a Nice look, but unreliable. Interior components falling apart/peeling/breaking. Wears tires out like no ones business, but thats due to the factory recall of a rusting sub frame! Hard to find someone that knows how to work on it too... Parts are never available and needs to be ordered. All in all, if you want a cheap car, go Hyundai, my brothers car has lasted way longer than mine