Kia Optima review (14/11/2012)
Perhaps only Skoda has had as much impact as Kia and its Korean sister company, Hyundai, in that period, but the aggressive way the Koreans have attacked the European market, in each of the vital segments, has been as impressive as it has been successful.
For Kia, cars such as the Picanto, the Rio, the Cee’d, the Sportage, the Venga and the Soul have redefined the brand as a credible — and volume — seller among the buying public. And now, with the introduction of the Optima in the crucial family car/repmobile segment, Kia is targeting one of the most important markets.
Sales figures will prove the worth of the company’s efforts, but Kia has again produced a very attractive looking, highly specified and reasonably competitive contender, but the Optima will still have its work cut out against such established contenders as the Mondeo, Passat, Octavia/Superb, Avensis, Insignia and i40.
Peter Schreyer and his design team have come up with a very attractive car that will still be fresh and engaging in a couple of years — something which could not be said of Kia’s previous efforts in this class, particularly the Magentis. That car descended into anonymity not long after it hit the market.
Not only was the Magentis as dull as dishwater to look at, but it was dull to drive as well, and although
endowed with a spacious cabin and a huge boot, it never captured the imagination of the buying public,
primarily because it was never a
dynamic driver and could not be
described as a car with which you connected emotionally.
The Magentis has now been replaced by the Optima and the name change is Kia’s attempt to make a clean break from the past, and provide the product with the best possible chance of success. It has done well in this regard.
Having driven the Optima, much has changed, not only in terms of the look. Much like Hyundai and its i40, Kia has rewritten the script here and kick-started a new era for itself in this segment. It has done reasonably well, but perhaps not well enough to frighten the opposition.
On the engine front, the Kia is powered by the now-familiar CRDi 1.7-litre turbodiesel engine (shared with the i40), which outputs some 100 kW (134 bhp), and has a healthy 325 Nm of torque, between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm. It will also achieve a top speed of 202 kph, do the 0-100 kph dash in 10.2 seconds, and achieve a return of 5.1 l/100 km over the combined cycle, which is nearly 55mpg.
It is not a bad engine, but you have to bear a few things in mind when you’re driving it. Most of the power is available in a very narrow rev. range, and if you want to get the most from this unit you have to operate largely in that band. There’s not much on offer under 2,000rpm, and above 3,000rpm the power tapers off very quickly. Use the six-speed gearbox judiciously and you will have no difficulty in keeping it in its sweet spot.
On the road, the Optima is good but not great. There are reasonable levels of grip, but the handling is only adequate and the soggy steering does not add pleasure to the driving of the car. The handling is a little jittery on anything other than billiard-table
surfaces and, unfortunately, here in Ireland that means most of the time.
The cabin is a reasonably nice place to be, and, from the driver’s point of view, it is bolstered by a rake-and-reach adjustable steering column and an eight-way adjustable driving seat. Rear headroom is good, but the amount of legroom is massive and passengers will have few complaints in this regard. The boot, too, is very sizeable, although some might find the shape a little awkward.
Standard specification is decent, what with LED lights, air conditioning, cruise control, cornering lights, remote locking, Bluetooth and electric windows and mirrors, and as you move up the grades you get automatic lights and wipers, reversing camera and lots more.
The Optima is a huge improvement on what has gone before it, but it falls short of its competition in various
important areas.
