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 CAR - 2004 Kia Optima
  By BUDMAN87 - October 30 - 10:56 am

  I just love my car.If you buy the EX V- 6 leather interior you will hard pressed to tell it from a 30,000+ dollar luxury car.

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  Lexus? - 2003 Kia Sorento
  By ken10 - October 30 - 10:00 am

  No its a Kia Sorento! for the Past 3 years I have drove a 1999 Lexus Rx300, decided in stead of trading it in for another Lexus RX330 at 41000, I opted for the Kia Sorento 4x4 ex luxury Package for 27,500 fully loaded! It rides if good or not better than my Lexus RX300. With the money I saved I am driving my Kia Downtown!

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  The Worst Vehicle I have Ever Owned - 2007 Kia Optima
  By Miles - October 29 - 8:56 pm

  Well I am on my third automatic transmission. The first replacement was under warranty but the latest one cost me 2500 bucks. What happened to the "Best Warranty in America"? Totally bogus. This car has horrible build quality. Mechanically this car has by far been the worst vehicle I have ever owned. Starters go out and leave you stranded, unable to start the car. Even with synthetic oil changed every 3,000 miles my engine had to be replaced at 65,000 miles. My neighbor has the exact same car as me and hes had even worse luck mechanically with the car so I should consider myself lucky I guess.

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  First Impressions - 2011 Kia Sportage
  By happi81 - October 29 - 6:26 pm

  I purchased the Sportage EX with the Leather/Navigation package which gives you all the toys and still came in under $30k. They present a great value when looking at price, features, and warranty but at the same time they look amazing...at least in my opinion. However, here are the cons for me. 1. Our volume button on the steering wheel broke within 2 weeks 2. Rear dimming lights are too dim. Cant really see anything except for headlights of other vehicles. 3. Almost impossible to navigate through back window.. too small 4. Seatbelt indicator is beyond annoying, beeps incessantly. 5. Seatbelt on the passenger side bangs against door when not in use. 6. Ride is very stiff and unforgiving

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  Great Value - 2009 Kia Spectra
  By Kev.NY - October 28 - 4:56 pm

  I purchased this vehicle this past June so wanted to give it time before passing judgement. The peace of mind of having such a great warranty is priceless, and the added value of such a good MPG vehicle (getting 29 to 34) was an important factor. The controls are in easy reach, and the vehicle drives very comfortably. The interior is spacious and overall very pleasant to drive. I purchased the gold color with black and tan interior which gives off a mature but stylish feel to the vehicle. I never thought I would say this but so far this vehicle from Kia is a pleasure to drive.

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  Great Buy And Full of Value And Safety - 2008 Kia Sedona
  By Douglas lower - October 28 - 1:00 am

  I previously owned a 2006 Sedona and loved it. I traded it in on a 2008 Dodge Gr Caravan SXT. I was very unhappy. I purchased a new 2008 Sedona LX w/rear DVD system. It comes very well equipped in LX trim. Extended wheelbase is the one to choose over the short. Safety features are the best in the industry. I would prefer power seats, but it was not worth the extra money of the EX. The powertrain is fantastic, powerful and smooth. It possesses confident handling. Braking is excellent. I chose Midnight Black w/Beige interior, the interior color is very soothing to look at. My 2006 was White w/Grey. I became tired of the grey w/the grey skies of Seattle. I love all the room, especially the headroom. PLEASING !

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  vegas daily driver - 2002 Kia Rio
  By vegas driver - October 27 - 10:26 pm

  Great little vehicle. Gets 35 mpg mixed city driving. Was a vehicle from michigan and had little spots of rust on trunk, undercarraige. replaced breaks, wipers, basic items. May need Motor mounts eventually. 1st car Ive had without p/w, p/l. Compact little car I use synthetic oil for daily driving. Avg.300 miles on 9 gal tank. Wish it had criuse as an option. Nice little vehicle for the money and certainly for the year. Could see another 100k, with minimal costs involved. Oh,A/C great on 1st setting here in the desert!

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  Very Disappointed! - 2004 Kia Sedona
  By Leslie - October 26 - 2:03 pm

  Our 04 Kia Sedona has been reliable for the most part. We have had a few major problems with the air conditioning. The size of this van is very small and is not a 7 passenger van but more of a 6 passenger van. I cant fit all my groceries in the back cargo space. 13 mpg is not acceptable. The third row and second row seats are very hard to remove. The driver and passenger seats and head rests are very uncomfortable.

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  pleasantly surprised - 2017 Kia Forte
  By joe mccorry - October 26 - 11:38 am

  first let me say tis is the first brand new car I purchased/leased since 2001. Until oct. 2014 I was driving a Chevrolet cavalier. in 2014 it was going to cost me over $4000 just to get it ready to pass inspection. surprising to mea s it only had about 80,000 miles on it. so I traded it in on a 2008 Hyundai elentra. very pleasant surprise. it got about 6 mpg more then the cavalier. had the elantra for about 2 and half years. had 78,000 miles on it. when I traded it in on the 2017 kia forte lx it had a little over 86,000 miles on it. as you can see I dont do a ton of driving in a year. decided to check out a deal I heard on the radio from a local Pennsylvania dealer. very misleading ad. in the ad they stated that they would guarantee $6000 for your trade and $9000 off list price of a new 2017 sonata. called the dealer as I did not want to drive over an hour for nothing. the salesman told me I had misheard the ad. it was either the $6000 trade in or $9000 off list price. I was not the only one who heard the ad the way I did. so I started looking at other Hyundai dealers. after talking with the sales people they informed that an elntra might be a better fit for me. as the incentives were better.got some ok deals. then remembered that kia was the sister company of hyundai so I called a couple of kia dealers and asked about the optima. but since I wanted to stay at roughly the same monthly payment I was at they recommended the forte. took one out for a test drive and found I liked it better than the 2017 elentra I had test driven. comparing the elantra and forte to me I found the forte better handling and as good a ride. the interior of the forte again to me seemed better quality. got the forte on 4/7/2017. have had it a month and I am very happy with it. I am getting over 30 mpg in what is basically local driving. would recommend this over the elantra. also have to like the 5 yr warranty.

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  Electronics a problem - 2017 Kia Sorento
  By Thomas Ewell - October 25 - 11:45 pm

  The BSD console has a problem and it does not register in the cars computer. The manufacturer is reluctant to repair it. We will return the car under the Lemon law after 3 months if they refuse to repair it.