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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  AWESOME!! - 2005 Kia Sedona
  By Dustin - April 17 - 3:33 pm

  I would recommend a Kia Sedona to any family that needs the room. All the power and style of a car put into a van. 10 thumbs up!

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  The New Sportage - 2005 Kia Sportage
  By Adam Fay - April 17 - 2:03 am

  Probably the best handling compact SUV Ive ever driven compared to the Escape, Element, etc. Excellent fit and finish that Id expect from a European manufacturer. Stereo sounds great and all the controls are well marked and within easy reach. Headlights and fogs are very bright. 2.7 liter V-6 has a nice little low end grumble and decent pick-up off the line. More cargo space than I know what to do with. Excellent car for the money and a bargain for $21,000 with all the equipment mine has. Love it and planning on keeping it until it turns into dust, probably a very long time from now. Whod of thought 10 yrs ago Kia could build an SUV like this?

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  Second time around - 2003 Kia Sedona
  By PapaDon - April 16 - 4:50 pm

  This is a long-term followup on our second Sedona. We rode the first for over 55000 miles until it was totaled in a freak accident at the dealership (broadsided by a runaway towtruck while in for an oil change). Our first sedona was bought right off the truck shortly after introduction, the second one sold in Tulsa. In its 55000 mile life, had to replace the radio (failed within two weeks), fix the lumbar support switch (wires were a tad too short - did it myself) and thats it. Period. Had absolutely no hesitation in buying another one (dealer made us the offer we couldnt refuse). Have had NO warranty issues with this one either, now with about 33000 on the clock.

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  KIA SPECTRA 5 - 2005 Kia Spectra
  By SPOILED007 - April 16 - 11:06 am

  I LOVE MY NEW 2005 KIA SPECTRA 5 (5 SPEED 2.0). I bought it with every option you could have and its a head turner. People stop me everywhere and question me about my car and where I bought it from.....

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  Nice Tweener Car - 2012 Kia Forte
  By brianth - April 15 - 8:23 pm

  The five-door SX lives between base-level economy hatches and higher performance (and higher cost) cars like the GTI, WRX, and Mazdaspeed3. You will likely not see many of these, probably because the Soul gets most of the attention in Kias sub-Sportage slot, but we use ours as an urban family car, and for that purpose it is an excellent value--ample interior room and good cargo space with the rear seats in use, nice standard features and reasonable options, and classy "European" styling. Given the pricing available on this Kia, particularly in relation to newer-model used cars these days, we are still very happy with our choice.

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  Ks Amanti - 2006 Kia Amanti
  By RVEIL - April 15 - 9:23 am

  This vehicle is a nice handling and riding car, but has a little too much herky-Jerky on acceleration.

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  NEVER BUY A KIA!! - 2004 Kia Rio
  By akheier - April 15 - 2:33 am

  I was driving home down hwy 50 and the car suddenly shut off. There were 2 semi-trucks behind me that had to swerve to miss me! I was almost killed over this stupid car! As I drove it happened a few more times and it turned out to be the circuit breaker. Since then I have had probs with brakes, AC, axle, and now the trans! The car I drove before this gave me very few minor probs until the trans finally went out at 206k miles. The Kia only has 52K! Please listen to my advice and stay away from Korean cars or any Asian car for that matter

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  2013 sxl lIMITED - 2013 Kia Optima
  By aussie333 - April 13 - 11:52 pm

  WOW, what a head turning model. the SXL Limited edition. Red caliper brakes, 18 inch chrome wheels LED running lights. All the options in the SX model and more.

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  Wow... Kia - 2013 Kia Optima
  By mariod - April 13 - 2:34 am

  I have been a Honda owner for the past 12 years, various models... my last was a 09 accord. I can NOT tell you enough times, these two cars dont even compare! Looks and overall performance... Great car! and looks awesome!

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  Run,dont walk-AWAY from the KIA dealership! - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By babayaga - April 12 - 11:33 pm

  After much saving and even more reasearch, my wife and I finally decided to make our first purchase of a new car in over 25 years a Kia Sorento(yes 25 years,I was in sales and was lucky to always have a company car) Well, let me tell you,we purchased the loaded 2011 Ex in April of 2010(SX not even available) and the joy lasted about one month.That was when the transmission went.It has been downhil ever since and we are seriously considering retaining an attorney to pursue the Lemon Law defense. The car was in repair for almost 2 months and now we are experiencing new transmission issues along with a plethora of new annoyances. DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE!