Thursday, December 1, 2011
Kia Optima LX Complete Report Manual
The Optima is Kia’s first run at the mid-size class, and while it might not be on the same level as the Honda Accord or
Toyota Camry, it has most of the right stuff to compete. For 2005, this Hyundai Sonata clone receives only minor updates, including clear turn signals and updated leather seats. The standard engine is a 2.4-liter, DOHC four-cylinder unit making 138 hp. An optional 170-hp, 2.7-liter V-6 is also available. The four-cylinder is offered with a Sportmatic automatic transmission. The Optima comes in two trim levels: LX and EX. LX’s get standard power windows, a CD player, cruise control, and air conditioning. The EX adds alloy wheels, a sunroof, leather, climate control, and keyless entry. The Optima is a sophisticated car-right on target for the mid-priced class and, as a bonus, it carries Kia’s killer 10-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Kia, until now just the ankle-biting junior division of Hyundai, is ready to start banging pots together for attention. It aspires to be perky and sporty, a quasi-Honda to Hyundai’s staid line of quasi-Toyotas. There’s been loose talk of a Kia pickup truck.
There have been a two-seat sportster concept and a boxy urban hipster concept. There’s been management roiling that put former VW of America executive V-P Len Hunt in charge of Kia’s U.S. operations. Now here comes the 2006.5 Kia Optima. Perky? Playful? Not terribly. Somewhere along the way, priorities once again got shuffled, as they did two years ago when Kia launched the Amanti neo-Buick. This Optima — production in Korea started too early to legally label it a 2007 — instead strives for a new high-water mark in build quality and refinement. In this, at least, the Optima succeeds.
Kudos goes to a decision to offer the superb V-rated Michelin tires. The Pilot HX MXM4s are big boys’ rubber (Tire Rack replacement cost: $185 each — the Optima’s base tires are cheapie Hankooks), and they serve up squeal-free corners in nice clean cuts. By and by, the ride remains relaxed, and the cabin is a hushed space largely insulated from tire thrum and road roar. But faster, livelier steering is needed to wake up our slumbering perkiness meter.
The Optima is the best Honda that Kia has produced so far. Will buyers walk past the real thing just to share in Kia’s personal triumph? It may not be overtly playful, but the new Optima launches with at least one key asset: boundless optimism.
