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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  Please be aware - 2005 Kia Rio
  By buyerbeware9 - March 23 - 11:12 pm

  Purchased this car from the original owner and at first was delighted with car. Kia was in great shape inside and out about 40k miles. Car was maintained according to manufacturer. Took car for oil change to dealer and was told because I was second owner warranty was not transferable so any repairs would be on me. At 74,000k car just stopped dead no warning. Had car towed to shop..what do ya know the timing belt broke and destroyed top part of engine. I was never informed of this until after the fact you are to replace the timing belt at or before 60,000 K. Kia said so sorry we cant help you. I have owned many cars from Lexis, Toyota, Honda and American and NEVER had this issue BEWARE !

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  Rear sunroof Problem! - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By cmgf - March 23 - 12:03 pm

  Leaving the lot in new sorento and realized the rear sunroof cover wouldnt open. Salesman couldnt open it either but assured me Service could take care of it with no problem. 5 weeks later I am still dealing with this. It is a Kia problem that the dealership has never seen before although apparently there are several cars on lot with this problem. They had to take the entire interior roof lining out and redo the whole sunroof. Two days to fix. Never drive it off the lot with a problem, even if they tell you its an easy fix.

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  Glad they are out of Production - 2001 Kia Sephia
  By Kaylalee - March 23 - 8:30 am

  Honestly, I thought we were getting a good deal. Really cheap...SO NOT WORTH IT! Since we got the car we have put about $6000 in repairs. Not only have we replaced the ENTIRE brake line once, we have also replaced the roters twice, the battery twice the spark plugs about 12 times, the alternator, a cylinder, the fan belt (4 times in less than 4 years). The driver side door no longer works (leaving the driver to climb over the seat and try their luck at the passenger door which only opens from the outside. When its cold the doors dont close so you have to wait for the car to heat up enough to close them or hold them while going down the road. The car is quite literally a death trap.

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  Great Value, but you get what you pay for. - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By sorentofamily - March 23 - 1:54 am

  We have a 2005 Sorento with a 158,000 relatively trouble free miles. So when we went car shopping, looking at a new Kia seemed logical. We have had this 2011 Sorento for 2 weeks and 749 miles. We get about 22.5 mpg due to the hilly commute to work. We chose the Sorento after test driving a 2009 Cadillac CTS, Optima Turbo S, and a cool white tiger Soul. We sat in a Forte but deemed it too small for our comfort. We couldnt help but compare all the different ride qualities to the Cadillac CTS. Surprisingly the Sorentos ride quality is comparable to the Cadillac, although somewhat noisier. The Kumo tires are good but occasionally sound like over inflated balloons when driving over rough road.

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  I hate this car... - 2002 Kia Rio
  By alvaniceia - March 22 - 10:00 am

  I bought my Kia in October of 00 and was pushed into it I felt like, by the dealership and sales guy. I bought the car basic. No A/C no radio, no power steering etc. Manual...First of all the air bag light has been on since about 25thousand miles have been on my car, Im up to about 80,000 miles and the air bag light is still on for no apparent reason, Ive taken it to the dealership in Highland IN several times in the past the service is HORRIBLE, they treat U like CRAP! Every visit to try to get the light right I waited 4 and 5 hours at a time only to leave and before Id make it to my door step the light would be on again. I love the model but hate the car

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  Impressed by this little car! - 2002 Kia Spectra
  By Joel Dziak - March 22 - 10:00 am

  I bought this car as a price point issue. Little did I know what I was actually getting! It had plenty of zip under the hood and handled quite well! I was impressed most however when I recently had a very bad accident in my car. I Had a car pull out in front of me while I was traveling at 70 mph. I broadsided the car and suffered no more than a concussion and whiplash!. This car held up great! the passenger compartment was left fully intact. Well done!

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  loved it but bad gas mileage - 2006 Kia Sorento
  By krista57 - March 21 - 9:10 pm

  I did absolutly love my Kia but the gas mileage was un beleivable. I checked it twice on the gas mileage to see what I was getting and both times it said 15.5 mpg. I could not believe it. I just traded it in on a Pontiac g6. But if it werent for the gas I would never have traded it in.

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  Very Solid Car - 2007 Kia Spectra
  By SH - March 18 - 6:56 pm

  This was my first Kia, I had known a lot about Kia before, and was waiting for the lease on the current vehicle at the time to run out. When it did, I went straight to the dealership. It was February, and it was COLD (Michigan) so I took the red EX on the showroom floor with a spoiler. It was an 06 model. It was a great car, loved the gas mileage, and very comfy. Handled the snowy icy roads surprisingly well, got many good looks. Couldnt believe the power for a 4 cyl! Took it to Florida a year later (3,000 mile round trip) and drove mostly 90 all the way there and back, the spedometer doesnt lie, it goes 140!! It was very solid, very little wind noise. Faster you go, the less wind noise.

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  Follow-up - 2011 Kia Sorento
  By skiboji - March 17 - 5:54 pm

  I currently have 45,000 miles on the Sorento and interior plastic is starting to crack in the door panels. The car is more hesitant in acceleration than it was previously and the original Kuhmo tires are by far the worse tires that I have ever driven in snow. The summer performance tires that I have had on rear wheel drive cars got around better than this awd vehicle. Got new Michelins this winter, but no snow to test them yet.

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  Great Van - 2006 Kia Sedona
  By TE - March 17 - 4:03 pm

  We bought the Kia in July and really love it. It is so much more comfortable than our Ford Windstar as well as my daughters Venture and another relatives Dodge Grand Caravan. We also got features that would have cost $6,000 to $8,000 more with a Honda or Toyota. Mileage overall has been running from 20 to 22 mpg. I have back trouble and really suffered on trips with the Windstar but have not had any back problems with the Kia. So far, we couldnt be more pleased. Our only problem is learning how to work all the features and gadgets. It has so many features, you need a week class to learn everything.