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Kia Optima News & Reviews

   Kia reveals hot new Rio

Toyota, Honda and Nissan? It's time to get worried. Even Ford, with its spicy new Fiesta should be looking over its shoulder as soon as Kia releases its new Rio on subcompact B-segment buyers.

The

The sporty new Kia Rio 5-Door should cause competitors to shake in their collective boots! (Photo: Kia)

Korean brand will introduce the new Rio in the metal at the Geneva auto show next month, at which time it will show more than just this 4-door hatchback example, dubbed 5-door in Kia-speak. Like the current Rio, the 2012 model will come in three body configurations, starting with a 2-door hatchback (3-door) and finishing off with a 4-door sedan.

"This new model is a big step forward," said Soon-Nam Lee, Director of Overseas Marketing, Kia Motors Corporation. "The Rio has always been successful, and with this new incarnation we have a car that people will want to buy for its looks."

The Rio boasts sporty styling influenced by other new products within the Kia family, the majority of which have already been updated with the brand's all-new design direction initiated by ex-Audi designer Peter Schreyer. Unique to the Rio, an even edgier corporate grille butts up right next to large complex headlamp clusters, all sitting above a sporty three-vent lower fascia with integrated fog lamps in this top-level example. Side glass with a wedge-like rake joins a strong shoulder line and deeply recessed door panels that collectively reach up towards a sporty C-pillar, before integrating into a steeply canted liftback. A large set of five-spoke alloy wheels give the Rio a planted look, enhancing its sassy personality.

Sharing underpinnings with Hyundai's next-generation 2012 Accent that's due this spring, most everything behind the sheet metal will be entirely new when compared to its predecessor, including measurements. Greater passenger space is achieved via a <Read More>

   Kia Sportage SX turbo debuts in Montreal

Kia's Sportage might be the darling of the compact crossover segment when it comes to styling, but with 176-horsepower at a lofty 6,000

Kia introduced its new 274-hp Sportage SX at the Montreal auto show this week. (Photo: Kia)

rpm and 168 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm from a 2.4-litre four-cylinder, it won't exactly challenge Toyota's V6-powered RAV4 off the line or, more practically, when pulling your boat home from the marina.

Kia's answer isn't a V6, as some might expect, but rather a version of the same turbocharged four-cylinder already in place under the sleek hood of parent company Hyundai's turbocharged Sonata 2.0T, and soon to be offered in Kia's Optima EX Turbo and SX (Optima trim levels are U.S.-specification and therefore may differ when introduced to Canada).

Despite less displacement at 2.0 litres, the twin-scroll turbocharged and direct-injected four-cylinder pushes out 274 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque with most <Read More>

   Kia KV7 Concept could be the next Rondo?

Is this the next-generation Kia Rondo? It might be a good alternative considering how well the similar looking Soul is selling and

The KV7 is nothing like Rondo, instead mixing emotions as effectively as the trend-setting Soul. (Photo: Kia)

how slowly the aforementioned family hauler trickles off the showroom floor. Kia has a full assortment of family-friendly five-door crossovers, the Rondo, a large compact model, just being one of them, and one that, thanks to an exciting new brand-wide design language, looks a bit tired and dated.

We're not going to speculate that Kia's new KV7 Concept is the next Rondo in disguise, or that it's even getting the green light for production, but by the response the South Korean automaker is getting from Detroit auto show-goers and attending scribes alike, they may want to consider gearing up a street version.

First and foremost <Read More>

   Kia teases with KV7 concept MPV ahead of Detroit auto show

January is an exciting time in the automotive business thanks to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and before it

LEDs are the name of the game for the new KV7 Concept. (Photo: Kia)

gets underway next week a few automakers have been teasing us with new models and concepts.

One of those teasers was a sketch of Kia's new KV7 concept shown a few weeks ago, and this week the South Korean brand teased us yet again albeit now with a photo. The image shows a close-up of its unorthodox headlamp cluster design that integrates vertical rows of stylish LEDs enhanced below by large L-shaped marker LEDs integrated into the front bumper.

"Conceived as a challenge to the industry's current interpretation of the van, the KV7 incorporates several innovative lighting elements currently being evaluated for future Kia production vehicles," stated Kia in a press release.

The previous sketch shows that the concept is a tall MPV similar to Mazda's 5, but with rear gullwing doors no less – a purely conceptual add-on that will likely be replaced with rear sliders if the Hyundai-owned division has any plans to follow this design exercise through to production.

And build it <Read More>

   Hyundai-Kia passes Toyota to become largest Asian automaker in Europe

   2011 Kia Sorento LX-V6 AWD Road Test Review

Chances are, if you were asked to name one of the best-value crossovers currently built in North America, the Kia Sorento wouldn't

For 2011 the Sorento moves from SUV to crossover status, and with that takes on a new more family-oriented role with greater sales opportunities. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

be the first thing that comes to mind. Sure, we all know that domestic competitors like the Chevy Equinox and Ford Edge are built in North America, and savvy buyers likely know that Toyota builds the RAV4 in Canada and the Toyota Highlander in Indiana, USA. But the Kia Sorento? Most buyers, if they think of the Sorento at all, think of it as a truck-based SUV built in Korea.

Well, times have changed, and the Kia Sorento has changed with them. While the previous generation Sorento was indeed built in Korea and based on a ladder-frame truck chassis, for the 2011 model year Kia moved manufacturing to a brand-new factory in West Point, Georgia, USA and ditched the Sorento's original architecture. The new Sorento is instead based on the Hyundai Santa Fe's unibody platform with front-wheel drive as the base drivetrain, shaving 475 kg (1,047 lbs) off the previous Sorento's weight and losing the low-ratio 4wd transfer case in the process. What is retained in the 2011 Sorento is Kia's typically strong value-for-money, <Read More>

   2011 Kia Sportage EX Luxury Road Test Review

What's going on Kia? You've gone from a rather dull automaker putting out decent cars to one of the coolest mainstream carmakers

The new 2011 Sportage looks good wearing Kia's new design language. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

on the planet in a matter of a couple of years!

It mostly comes down to design, or at least that's what initially gets the majority of us into dealer showrooms when it comes time to buy a new car. Like everything these days, from cell phones to laptops, jeans to eveningwear or even coffee shops and restaurants, image is what matters most. Oh, I know you're different, and therefore you don't have an iPhone, you don't wear D&G, and don't go to Starbucks or dine at the latest trendy nightspot. And while this is likely the case for many of Kia's long-time customers who previously bought the Rio, Accent, Magentis, Rondo, Sorento, Sedona, Amanti or Borrego (and there weren't many buyers of the latter two), plus, of course, the previous Sportage, those reading about Kia for the first time, as they're looking oh-so cool in their H&M duds and Aldo shoes, smelling like Hermes and scrolling through their Android PDA while sipping a decaf mocha latte <Read More>

   2011 Kia Rondo EX V6 Road Test Review

It has often been said that Canadians are more pragmatic than our southern neighbours. After all, while the U.S. enshrines "life,

The Rondo is an ultra useful little runabout, combining comfort, good fuel efficiency and a lot of space inside. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Canada was founded on the less romantic but equally compelling principles of "peace, order and good government." Our sensible-shoes approach shows up in other ways, too - like our continued demand for the Kia Rondo, for instance.

The current, second-generation Rondo debuted in 2007 at the Los Angeles International Auto Show and initially sold well above expectations in the U.S. But the numbers declined rapidly in 2009, and Kia discontinued U.S. sales of the Rondo in August 2010. Meanwhile, sales in Canada have continued with the 2011 model year, because Canadians keep snapping Rondos up.

It's easy to see why, too - the Rondo is a supremely practical little hauler that combines big interior space with reasonably compact exterior dimensions, and provides a wide array of creature comforts at a very affordable price.

I had a <Read More>

   2011 Kia Sportage EX 4-cylinder Road Test Review

A "SmackDown" of sorts has been raging in the hotly contested compact Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) arena for several years,

Kia's oldest model nameplate is all-new for 2011, and better than ever. (Photo: Automotive Metrics)

but the redesigned 2011 Kia Sportage should send handicappers scrambling to recalculate winners and losers. Listed among its key adversaries are Honda's CR-V, Toyota's RAV4, Chevrolet's Equinox and Subaru's Forester. Mediocrity is not an option.

Arriving on dealer lots in now, the 2011 Kia Sportage is larger, more powerful, more comfortable and better looking than the two generations of Sportage that have rolled into showrooms since Kia entered the Canadian market in 1999. In the US it was launched as a 1996 model in 1995. Sportage is, in fact, Kia's longest running nameplate.

At a glance, here are a few of the myriad changes and enhancements of the 2011 Sportage over the 2010 edition: It is longer (89 mm / 3.5 inches), <Read More>

   2011 Kia Sorento EX V6 Road Test Review

It's happening more and more. Kia is the latest automaker to revise a model so substantially that it has completely changed market segments.

The new 2011 Kia Sorento delivers a lot more than mere surface changes... it's soul has been completely altered. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

The outgoing Sorento was a truck frame-based SUV, capable of serious off-road duty and impressive hauling and towing capability. The new 2011 Sorento is still a decent tow vehicle, albeit only capable of 1,588 kilos (3,500 lbs) compared to the old model's 2,268 kg (5,000 lbs) in top trim, though it's clearly a crossover in that it's now unibody, like a car, and has no low gear range and less ground clearance to traverse rocky or muddy terrain.

But does that really matter? Considering the small percentage of buyers that use their SUVs off-road, it may not be worth making a vehicle that is inherently less capable on pavement. After all, the taller a vehicle is the more prone it is to top-heavy handling, and a truck based frame experiences greater torsional twist and therefore <Read More>