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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  No Quality Control - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By tschux - February 2 - 2:00 am

  I bought my Spectra brand new, the air conditioner went out on the drive home. Parked it on my driveway and noticed a puddle of oil under the car, after owning the car for 30 minutes!!! The car has been in the shop 6 times in 9 months, all different things wrong with it. Spend a few extra $$ and get something other than this car.

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  Wanted to buy my first car soooo bad.... - 2001 Kia Sportage
  By McFly - January 28 - 10:00 am

  Im still waiting to be right-side up on this car... Darn thing loses value every day!

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  buy a better car - 2002 Kia Sportage
  By thisis the worstcar - January 19 - 2:00 am

  this is the worst purchuse of a car i have ever made. the sportage looked like a good value at the dealership and in ads but was i wrong. 3 weeks after i bought it the ac gave out and the power windows broke. it has been all downhill since that. i will never buy a cheap kia again

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  Not the best - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By Unhappy - January 17 - 11:50 pm

  Unless you get a newer model Kia, they are not one tenth as safe as they are supposed to be.

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  This car sucks - 2005 Kia Amanti
  By Kayla - January 4 - 3:22 am

  Ive only had this car for two months and it has broken down 3 times. Once while I was in the middle of diving and the other two times it just wouldnt start. The brakes suck and the side mirrors never stay set. I have to reset them every time I get in the car. Kia dealers are annoying. They told me I needed a new computer which would cost about $4000 so I towed it home and jumped it because they kill r my battery and it ran just fine. All it needed was a coil pack. Please dont buy this car ever.

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  horrible service/vehicle - 2004 Kia Spectra
  By cjhammen - December 22 - 6:26 am

  Not only have we had to fork out over $1000 on repairs but Kia finally decided to put a new transmission in at only 58K, but that took 25 payments for them to do that. There is NO power to the vehicle. The seats are uncomfortable and if I didnt drive 50 miles each way to work and needed something to use as a "throw away vehicle" I would never have bought this piece of JUNK. I will not even give it to my 16 year old son to drive.

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  poor engine quality - 2002 Kia Sedona
  By bepeace - December 21 - 2:00 am

  we didnt expect it to perform like a Honda, but we were hoping for atleast Winstar quality...we got yugo! To date, we have replaced: a #2 engine cylinder 2 (TWO) catalytic converters the drivers seat belt/airbag system an oxygen sensor the drivers cup holder (TWICE) (which is insult to injury b/c they brag about their cup holders) and the factory stereo each fix requires 2 trips to the dealer...with a long wait in between for the part to arrive This vehicle has only 33,000 miles on it DO NOT PURCHASE this vehicle (check milage of vehicles people gave high ratings...everything fell apart at 20,000 miles)

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  NOT A RELIABLE CAR - BUYER BEWARE - 2013 Kia Sorento
  By Nicki - December 20 - 10:57 am

  I bought this car second hand from a dealer that my husband and I have purchased other cars from. I was very excited with my purchase because I spent time reading online reviews of owners which overall were pretty much positive. I bought the car in early 2015 and it was a 2013 model with 45,000 miles. I drove the car for almost 3 years with no issues. At about 70,000 miles the car starting to give me problems. And by problems I mean major costly issues. Within 8 months I had to have the AC Compressor replaced, engine oil pan replaced, rear back-up camera replaced, and then finally when the engine died I called it quits and traded in the car. The reason for the engine failure was because the oil sensor failed and the car was sending oil into the engine. The car did not drive any differently nor was there any alert on the dash board! I just happened to take the car in for an oil change and the dealer said they couldnt return the car to me and explained what was wrong. After about 3 days of fighting with the warranty company to cover the cost of replacing the engine I had my car towed to another dealership and traded it in. I was disgusted that a warranty company would not cover what was clearly a glitch with the car. They do not have to worry about me ever purchasing a Kia.

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  wont get burned again - 2006 Kia Spectra
  By cobbra2000 - December 14 - 12:10 am

  I bought my spectra used with about 20,000 miles on it, so this reduced my warranty to 60,000. as soon as I hit about 70,000 it started to happen. My airbag light came on, check engine light, catalytic converter went out, and that is 800 dollars before installation, knocking on the front end, the motor has a bad knock, alternator, and a rear brake light that goes out once a week, and the cam shaft sensor, and crank sensor. This was the worst mistake of my life. First I would say do not buy a kia, and if you do, get rid of it before the warranty runs out. They sell it to you cheap and then stick it to you when it breaks down, what ever you get fixed will cost about a quarter of the car cost.

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  Dont buy a Kia!!!!! - 2005 Kia Sorento
  By maureen26 - December 13 - 1:07 am

  I bought my Kia used. So of course the 100,000 mile warranty was not valid. I have poured so much money into this vehicle over the 3 years Ive owned it. I maintain it properly, oil changes, new tires, etc. Well, I just found out the entire rear axle and differential completely rusted/rotted away to nothing. The only thing holding up the car was a shock! I truly believe this car was made poorly with cheap metal. Kia will not help me or stand behind the cars they build. When replacing the rear axle the mechanic found a part that was manufactured wrong in the factory and put on backwards. Again, KIA stands behind nothing! I could have purchased a rental car with all of the times Ive had one.