2011 Kia Optima: What's It Like to Live With?
Read the latest updates in our long-term road test of the 2011 Kia Optima as our editors live with this car for a year.
What do you want to know about?
- Introduction
- Aggressive Styling
- Makes A Good First Impression
- Seat Issue
- Illumination Restored
- The Dark Night
- Starting
- Active Eco System
- Why Is My Butt Hot?
- Cloth Bolsters = Great Idea
- 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo on a Racetrack
- Psych! Drove It To Vegas Instead
- Every Basketball Fan's Favorite Car
- This Could Be Better
- 5,000 Miles
- A Macro Look at Interior Materials
- The Right Angle
- My, What Sporty Wheels You Have
- Solid Satellite Controls
- Is There a Stigma?
- Are You Fooled by Faux Carbon Fiber?
- It's Got Sauce
- This Just In. No Racing Between Stoplights
- Things I Like
- Niggles and Whines
- The Valet Dialogues
- Suburban Dream
- Mistaken for a BMW
- Hitchcock Likes It
- Climate Control Seats
- Boost Walkaround
- A Splash of Color
- This Is Cool
- Big Honkus, Little Ducting
- Where's The Release And Why
- It's Got My Back (and Side)
- Oh Yea, The Seat is Fixed, Too
- Reflash Fixes Dash Lights
- Back-Up Camera Failure
- Almost Ready for Service #1
- Stop Moving
- Back-Up Camera Update
- A Lot For Your Money
- Time for Service
- Oh, They're Out There...
- Where are all the Kias?
- 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo Keeps Its Cool in the Heat
- What a Passenger Thinks
- Do Not Use
- Two Benefits of the Cooled Seat
- We Called Tire Rotation Before the Car Did
- Service Visit - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Oil Alarm Snafu
- How Bad Will It Get?
- The End of the World Never Showed Up
- Not So Editor-Proof Rear Folding Seats
- -omething's -issing
- Seeking the Benchmark
- At Your Fingertips
- Ranger
- Cleaning the Wheels
- Where Is the Love?
- 10,000 Miles In
- Audio Review
- I'd Bring One Home
- Fun To Drive?
- Rescues a Stranded Sorento
- Ride Quality
- Hauls The Mail, Among Other Qualities
- Engine Sound
- A Preponderance of Bass
- TPMS Light
- A Unique Warning
- Heavy Lifting
- BMW Versus Kia
- Not-So-Restful Armrest
- Convenience Taken Too Far
- What About the Passenger?
- Accelerated Aging?
- Most Gorgeous $20K Car?
- Steering Ruins It
- Dated
- Aircon Grooooooan
- The Power to Surprise
- Missing Light Pipes
- Door Sill
- Carries Party of Five
- Cold Start Jingle
- Sweet, No Traffic
- Subtle Climate
- Transparency
- Signal Dropouts
- Looks Like...?
- Built to Last?
- Dear Seat, STOP MOVING
- You've Come a Long Way
- Feature Rich
- Good Visibility
- The Cruising Range Thing
- Terrible Tires
- Quiet Ride Technology
- Anything We Missed?
- Charged Up
- Perfect Feature for Quick Getaways
- Better Pedals Than I Thought
- Oil Change Needed
- New Seat Design for 2012
- I Would Buy One
- 15,000 Miles
- Good Service, Long Wait
- What Will You Pay?
- Burger Time
- Now With Hamster Drive
- Morning Adjustments
- Pushing My Buttons
- You call that a badge?
- Another Reason I Don't Like These Wheels
- Straighten Up
- A Day of Driving
- Better Sunroof Shade
- Tire Rotation Service Light
- Why Do I Like This Color?
- Road Trip Fueling
- Simple, Useful Tech
- Seamless
- The Ultimate Male Fantasy
- My New Must Have
- Not Feeling the Paddles
- Dated Interior?
- Numbers and Non-Numbers
- Nice
- Not Very Picky for a Turbo
- Quite literally, cool.
- No Change
- Eco Vs. Normal Fuel Economy
- Well, It's No Camry SE
- Sibling Rivalry
- Wrap-Up
Introduction
This was one of the comments we received in response to our full test of the 2011 Kia Optima Turbo:
"jaggery: So Edmunds can we get a Long-Term test of this vehicle, and you guys just change the tires since that was the main thing you complained about??? I'd love to see how you guys like the vehicle over a longer period, and the gas mileage as well."
Dear Jaggery, yes we can. Set the clock; we've got 12 months and 20,000 miles with our new Long-Term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo. But we're not going to change the tires on it. At least, not yet.
Sure, the Nexen Classe Premiere tires were less than ideal on our track, but outright grip isn't the main focus of the Kia Optima Turbo despite the cool body kit and turbocharger. Instead, the 274-horsepower turbocharged motor is simply there to deliver V6 power with four-cylinder fuel economy. The EPA works these figures out to be 22 mpg city and 34 mpg highway — better than the Accord or Camry V6.
So here we've got a Kia midsize sedan with better fuel economy and power similar to the Honda Accord V6, better looks than a Mazda 6 and handling that splits the difference. Kia really is aiming to take over the world, starting with our long-term garage.
What We Got
Without ticking a single option box, our 2011 Kia Optima SX is in a price range rarely thought of as Kia's turf: $26,690. But this SX turbo is intended to be a direct competitor to the major players' V6 offerings. The Optima SX also includes 18-by-7.5-inch wheels, a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters, dual-zone climate control, a cooled storage compartment, leather trim on the dash and steering wheel, Sirius Satellite Radio, USB and Bluetooth, in addition to the normal standards like power windows, door locks and mirrors.
But why stop there? We also added the Premium package ($2,150) which adds a slick panoramic sunroof, four-way power front passenger seat, driver seat memory, heated and cooled front seats and heated outboard rear seats. The Technology package was next at $2,000. That includes navigation with back-up camera and an eight-speaker Infinity audio system.
Total: $30,840. This time, though, we didn't shell out the $30K, as the Optima was provided by the manufacturer for this test.
Why We Got It
It's certainly not cheap, but Kia's done with cheap. It's focusing on what it calls a "design-led transformation" that has this Kia Optima looking like some bastard offspring of an Audi and an Acura with a dash of Vauxhall thrown in for good measure. Which sort of makes sense, as the design was a joint venture between Kia's studios in Frankfurt, Germany, and Irvine, California. Somehow, the German-American-Korean look works.
The design intrigue continues on the inside where Kia shows surprising restraint and tact. Everything faces the driver (which has irritated more than a few passengers, but we'll get to that), the silver cloth detailing on the leather seats is sporty and cool and the dash is simple but crammed full of function. At first blush, this is a fairly kickass entry in a hugely competitive segment.
But long-term road tests aren't about first blush, or second blush, they're about the long(ish) haul and what a car is like to live with every day. The Optima SX turbo has a more aggressive suspension and sharper steering than the normal Optima and you bet it feels and rides differently from a Hyundai Sonata.
How this Kia Optima Turbo strikes a balance between these different roles is what's important here. Is it a fuel sipper? A sport sedan or — sorry, Kia — a budget car playing in a world where it can't really compete?
Twelve months and 20,000 miles in our long-term test fleet should settle some of this. Follow along with our blog for frequent updates.
Current Odometer: 1,684
Best Fuel Economy: 21.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 18.8 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 20.3 mpg
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
Love at first sight? Yeah, I think so. The moment I saw the Optima in person, I was taken. The whole execution just says "solid" to me, and I really like that. Really. So here's my take on why I think it's the best looking midsize sedan.
It has a subtle aggression to it. It doesn't scream "look at me!" No, it's almost as though it's staring you down. As if to say, "why would you ever buy anything as dull as a Camry?"
Kia hired a former Audi designer to revamp the lineup, and the results are stunning. Sure, there are some hints of Audi in there, but I see a bit more BMW influence. It's a solid-looking car, but it's not chunky or overly angular. The proportions, on the whole, just seem to work well together.
Driving around car-jaded L.A., the Optima manages to turn more than a few heads. In the beginning, I'd watch others check out the car, then realize it's a Kia. Yes, a Kia. A lot of times, I think that some cars have an uphill battle with their brand names, and certainly I thought any Kia would fall into this category. But the Optima is so evocative, it won't have that problem.
It's a looker, for sure, but it's pretty good from the driver's seat as well. Then there's the price and long list of features. My critique of the Sonata is positive as well, making it more a curvy and fluid interpretation of the same theme. But I'm still hooked on the Optima, and I have a feeling I will be for a while.
I spent yesterday running around doing work-related errands in our 2011 Kia Optima SX turbo. Count me in the camp that thinks this is the best-looking midsize sedan out there right now. Many of my fellow road-goers seemed to agree.
But how does it drive? Here's a quick rundown of my first impressions:
Engine: There's plenty of wallop for a mainstream sedan; I don't bemoan the lack of a V6 one bit. In town it feels plenty quick because its torque peak of 269 lb-ft arrives at 1,750 rpm and it builds quickly right off idle. Because of that, I was expecting...
Torque Steer: There is a tad, but not nearly as much as I figured given the available thrust. It never called attention to itself when I was just driving and I didn't find an annoying amount when I went out of my way to look for it.
Steering: At low speed it seems a bit friction-y and heavy for heavy's sake. At freeway cruising speeds it feels pretty good, if not slightly detached. For this I don't blame the steering so much as the tires. There doesn't seem to be much there there, and by that I mean sidewall stiffness and initial turn-in precision, which may be why...
Ride Comfort: ...is pretty good. It's not overly soft or spongy, but it isn't gritty and hard, either. The Optima SX gives off a sporty vibe without drilling holes in your backside.
Tech: Bluetooth hands-free, Bluetooth streaming, iPod integration; this stuff works well and the touch-screen interface is easy to figure out and use. My iPhone's phonebook auto-downloaded, but the voice commands for phone dialing more stilted than usual, however, and I had to say names last-name-first. At least the correct command options are shown for each step on the screen.
Extras: My wife wants you to know the seat heaters/coolers are much appreciated, and she likes that they self-cancel when the key is removed. The big glass moonroof works well, but I wish for a detent that allows me to easily stop it at the full-tilt position; if I don't intervene at just the right moment it goes too far and commences the complete moonroof-open procedure.
All in all, I like driving this Kia in this sort of environment. This one is staying on my short list.
Last week I drove our new long-term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo for the first time. I enjoyed it. But I also noticed this issue with the driver's seat upholstory. It's already pulling up and as you can see the padding is showing. At the time I noticed the problem the car had on 3,320 miles on it. Not good.
By the way, today is opening day. Go Yanks.
My uber-reboot worked! The lights are back on inside our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo after I disconnected and reconnected the negative cable from the battery. Ten seconds with a 10mm wrench was all it took. The photos don't to it justice on account of my utter lack of a tripod, but you get the idea.
Incidentally, the steering wheel illumination is dimmer on purpose; a little goes a long way when something is close to your face. This level is fine at nighttime. You wouldn't want those buttons to glow as hard as the ones in the background.
So this was a reboot issue. Lest you think this is a Kia problem, remember that we've seen reboot-related electronic issues before in a half-dozen or more cases. At one point I was keeping track, but that Excel file disappeared two laptops ago.
A partial list includes the time the stereo went out in the Cadillac CTS. And then there was the BMW 750i that set something like 200 fault codes in one go and wouldn't move. There have been other examples covering other brands. No one, it seems, is immune.
To me this is a side-effect of the increasing role of software/firware code running behind the scenes in our vehicles. Our computers and smartphones get bug fixes, patches, reflashes and updates all the time and we don't even blink.
For me, that's not acceptable in a car. A car feels like hardware, not software, and I don't like having to hit the reset button. Let's hope this doesn't happen again...and again.
Also, get off my lawn. ;)
All was well, then it wasn't. Our 2011 Kia Optima's interior lighting has gone AWOL.
Note how the IP and nav screen are stuck on full daytime bright mode while the center stack, steering wheel and door panel switches are dark — also daytime mode, come to think of it.
It's just the lighting, mind you; all of the buttons work properly once I find them with the dome light.
And the dimmer seems to work. Its bar graph advances from "min" to "max" when I press the switch, but the lighting itself doesn't actually change. No fuses appears to be blown and the situation is no different with headlights set to "on" or "auto". It's as if the thingie that detects daylight is convinced the sun is still up and won't hear otherwise.
So I tried the patented PC reboot solution — turn it off and turn it on again — but that didn't work.
Next I'm going to try the uber PC method — disconnect the battery, wait a few beats, then reconnect it. I'll let you know if that does anything.
I'm open to any other bright ideas before we take it to the dealer, of course.
UPDATE: The battery disconnect procedure sucessfully reset the system.
After the jump, watch a video of the 2011 Kia Optima starting. It plays a little song and the dials do a dance.
There are a lot of lead-footed drivers around the office. I'm not one of them. I'm always looking for ways to improve fuel economy in any car I drive. So during my weekend with our 2011 Kia Optima Turbo, I decided to try out its Active Eco System.
This eco mode is activated by pressing a button on the steering wheel and it stays on for subsequent drives, even if you turn off the car. According to the owner's manual, "Active Eco helps improve fuel efficiency by controlling the engine and the transaxle."
It turned out to be one of the better eco modes I've experienced. The manual said that the power and torque would be limited while in eco mode, but it was never an issue for me. There was a notable drop in power, but you always had enough to pass other cars or climb hills without heavy throttle inputs. Unlike our (now-departed) long term Honda Insight, the air conditioner didn't take a hit, and kept its cool the entire time.
Although the Optima Turbo is a performance-oriented vehicle, it's nice to know that it has the ability to conserve fuel. We may need to run the car in eco mode more often if we want to match the EPA estimates of 22 mpg city, 34 mpg highway and 26 mpg combined. So far we are averaging 19.7 mpg, with a best tank of 23.6 mpg and a worst of 12.6 mpg.
If your car has an eco mode, do you use it? What do you think of it?
Sure, my butt is pretty good at telling me if it's unnaturally hot, but should I need to adjust said hotness, I can't actually see what I'm doing as the heated/cooled seat buttons are completely hidden by the shifter. Wait, maybe this car doesn't have heated seats. Maybe I've contracted some ass overheating disease? Oh no, they're there. Whew, I was worried for a moment. Crisis averted. All's well. Activate cooled seats to chill butt.
I'm thinking no one thought to put the car in drive when designing the center console layout.
While I can't yet weigh-in on the long-distance comfort of the Optima's seats, I was immediately impressed with another aspect. That ring of cloth around the leather seems like a brilliant idea. The edges of side bolsters almost always wear down with leather, and sometimes quite quickly as we found in our long-term R8 and M3. Placing a more resiliant material such as the Optima's tech fabric or maybe Alcantara to these bolsters should not only reduce wear, but perhaps even increase grip. They look kinda cool, too. Of course, we'll see how they look after a year with us.
I don't know why but I thought for sure this video of Kia Racing team driver Nic Jonsson driving the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo around the Palm Beach Raceway would be more exciting. Hm. Maybe it's just because I've been watching those LFA videos on Straightline too much. Where's the Stig when you need him?
Anyway, Jonsson says, "This car really feels like it belongs on a racetrack." He also gushes about the paddle shifters, chassis and the fact it doesn't have turbo lag. Considering the man races for Kia, take that for what it's worth. In our full test video of the Optima SX Turbo, we did note "some turbo lag and torque steer, but it's well-managed and not especially objectionable."
As I need to be in New York tomorrow for the auto show, I was informed that I could not take off the estimated 15 days need to travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back using the Nissan Leaf. What a bloody shame.
Since I didn't feel like stealing Ron Montoya's birthday present (a weekend in the Mustang GT), my choice fell to the No. 3 car on the "What should Riswick drive to Vegas Poll." For those of you nice people who voted for the Kia Optima Turbo, thank you.
For those of you who aren't following me oh-so-diligently on the Twitter @jriswick, I went to Las Vegas this weekend for the Mumford and Sons concert at the Cosmopolitan (front row ... amazing) and the Las Vegas 51s baseball game (AAA team of my Blue Jays). Because of horrible LA-LV traffic, we got to the Cosmo just in the nick of time. Thankfully, the Optima never once added to my traffic-related frustration/fury, and in fact, was greatly helpful during my off-highway detours to get around desert gridlock. The Nissan GT-R, for comparison, nearly chattered our teeth apart on the barely there pavement of Yermo Road.
This was my first extended drive in the Optima, so I have plenty of thoughts to share. As I told the Mrs. at some point while in hour 3 of our Sunday drive home, "You know, I think I'd take this car over my old TSX. The interior isn't of the same quality and the steering's nowhere near as good, but it has all the toys, it's a bit cheaper, it looks awesome and the engine is fantastic. I love the turbo power delivery and given that power, the fuel economy is excellent. It's even the same color as my TSX."
Then I realized she was asleep, so I kept listening to my baseball game. Here's some more thoughts, albeit in bullet form.
Engine: Torque-rich, responsive, perfect for the hilly drive to Vegas. I was most impressed when on the drive home, I accidentally left the car in manual mode. It took me a good half hour to realize the car was stuck in sixth gear despite numerous grades in that time — it was only because of the "6" in the trip computer that I noticed.
I ended up getting 28.46 mpg for most of the trip, though it's probably about 1 mpg higher because my calculation doesn't include the portion from Rancho Cucamonga to L.A. where the car said I was getting 31.5 mpg. Sure, neither of those numbers are the EPA's 34 mpg estimate, but then I wasn't exactly driving for the Fuel Sipper Smackdown.
Steering: The Optima's steering has an elastic band quality to it, with an artificial amount of weighting added to make it feel sporty around corners. Only it doesn't, really. It feels like a V6-powered Chevy Malibu's, only electric. But it's firm on center, which is what you're looking for on a road trip I guess.
Seats: I'm not in love with the Optima's driving position. The seat's mounted just a bit too low and the front of the seat could rise a little more, but it's not so objectionable that I wouldn't buy the car. In terms of seat comfort, not a problem after 10-some hours of mostly continuous driving over the weekend.
Ride: Since that GT-R drive, my bar for ride comfort is pretty low on the Vegas drive. Having said that, though, the Optima is perfectly comfortable over the long haul. Sure, you feel the low-profile tires over nasty bumps, but I never had one of those "enough already!" moments you can have when driving on California's concrete highways in a car with a firm ride. There is a fair amount of road noise, however.
Road trip intangibles: Big mirrors make lane changes easy. The cupholders are huge and well positioned. No complaints about the iPod interface, which for me is rare. Sound quality from the stereo is strong, but as I was listening to iTunes downloads, quality obviously differed between different tracks.
All in all, big fan of the Optima. Definitely better than the Leaf, and given traffic, I'm also happy I had it's automatic transmission rather than the Mustang's manual.
See you in New York.
So remember my friend ice cream shop Matt who was all about our Hyundai Equus' backseat? Well, I figured since he liked that one he'd be interested in our 2011 Kia Optima Turbo so before coming over I asked him if he wanted to see it. "Hell yeah! That's every basketball fan's favorite car," he replied excitedly. Since I'm not a basketball fan I didn't know that the Kia Optima is the "official vehicle of the NBA." Turns out basketball player Blake Griffin won a slam dunk contest by jumping over the parked Kia and slam dunking a ball.
See the video after the jump. It's pretty awesome.
In any case, Matt really liked the Optima Turbo, going on and on about how he loved the looks of it, including its wheels, and he was a fan of the bucket seats in the back. He was only bummed that at $30K it was out of his price range.
And here's the commercial Kia made of the moment:
Kia did a great job with the interior of the Optima. It looks very nice. It feels good. My one beef, though, would be this cluster: the shifter, seat heater buttons and iPod connector.
They are awkwardly placed. It's like no one thought what it would be like to drive the car and actually have an iPod connected to this cable.
First of all the shifter grip is much larger than it needs to be. And the iPod connector is longer than it needs to be and the cord itself is not very pliable. So when I connect my iPod Touch, I have to squeeze it into the bin behind the shifter. Otherwise, it keep popping out and sits on top of the seat heater buttons.
Next iteration, please rethink this setup. Thank you.
We've only had our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo for about two months and have racked up 5,000 miles on it. Sure, that includes a trip to Vegas, but still.
No real issues with the car, except that seat thing. Otherwise, we're enjoying it lots.
A macro* look of what the interior materials of our $30K 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo look like. That net material on the seats reminds me of the '80s, other than that I like the look and feel of this car's interior materials. But what do you think?
* "Macro" is photography lingo for "close-up."
I like it when cars feature center stacks that are angled toward the driver. It makes sense ergonomically, since the tilt of the stack makes its buttons and knobs easier to reach. This design cue also succeeds from an aesthetic standpoint since it gives the cabin a driver-focused look.
You can't see it too clearly in this photo, but the Optima's center stack is positioned so it leans toward the driver in the most helpful way. It's one thing that I really like about the car's cabin. Otherwise, the stack's layout of assorted controls is decent enough, though I wouldn't mind having a radio tuning knob in the mix.
Is the center stack in your car tilted toward the driver?
We've mentioned that the Optima's styling is much more assertive than that of its relative, the Sonata. It's there in the squared-off lines of the Kia's cabin, and in the broad and commanding shape of its sheet metal.
But to me, it's most obvious in our car's rims — 18-inch alloys that come with the Optima SX. Those things look mean enough to win a fight. What do you think — too much or just right?
This is steering wheel is admittedly on the busy side, but I like the setup of the main buttons. The rocker switch for the volume is easy to find without looking while the seek and "mode" buttons all fall under your thumb when driving with your hands in the proper position.
Not much to complain about with the cruise control setup either. Push up to go faster, down for slower and the big cancel button to get rid of it. Probably could have just made one big on/off button, but no reason to complain.
The other buttons are usable enough. Not sure why other cars don't color the answer and hang up buttons green and red. Probably just an aesthetic thing.
I've got a friend looking for a new car. Her parents had Camrys and her boyfriend's parents had Accords so both of those are out. She laughed — hard — when I said Buick Regal and said something to the tune of, "Not until I'm 95." Oh, and she won't buy domestic. So I said, "Kia Optima Turbo." I've reccomended the Optima to one other person who wound up buying a Forte (no idea what happened there) so I thought nothing of it.
1) It's quick. She likes acceleration. 2) It looks awesome. Seriously, look at that thing. 3) It meets all of her crazy criteria. 4) Warranty. 5) Look at that again. Rad.
Unfortunately, I was met with more laughter and a "$26k for a Kia? Why would I buy a Kia? I'm not in college anymore."
::sigh:: At that point I gave up and dismissed her opinions completely. She's got a boyfriend to figure that mess out.
But then last night when I was being sleuthy and shooting a 2012 911 Prototype, one of the engineers was openly mocking my Kia! Were it my car I would have had to step outside to defend her honor, but as it wasn't, I shrugged it off.
Still, the question is valid: Is there still a stigma — despite solid products, higher prices and a good warranty — about actually OWNING a Kia?
Fake carbon fiber trim. It's a classic ploy. So much so that it's migrated down into midsize Kia sedans.
Ok, it's the sporty SX version and it does have a turbocharger, but c'mon, carbon fiber?
It's not the worst trim I've ever seen, certainly better than that piano black stuff that used to pass as sporty in some cars. I always get a chuckle when I see fake carbon, though, mostly because I have no doubts there are people out there who think it's real.
I tell ya, the 2.0-liter turbo in this 2011 Kia Optima is impressive. Not just in the total amount of sauce it cranks out at full throttle, but also in the way it is delivered in those nuance-y moments between full throttle and no throttle.
Hyundai/Kia intended for this engine to replace a V6, and I have to say they succeeded. Buyers of V6s want immediate torque, and that's what this turbo mill provides. It's a very linear engine. Rarely with this engine do you get the rubber-band sensation typical of turbo engines; instead the rise in torque is immediate and in lockstep with your right foot.
Credit here goes in part to the Kia's twin-scroll turbo. It's a nominally more expensive feature that they saw fit to include as it helps improve time-to-boost.
And yeah, when you give it the wood, it really goes. I'm a fan of this engine in this car.
Now, about the lack of a manual gearbox...
This just in from the wildy out-of-context department at Kia's Owner's Manual writing HQ.
No "jack-rabbit" starts or racing between stoplights.
And tomorrow...a blog post on the Optima with genuine content. Still, I figured you'd get a kick out of this.
I did.
Alright, that's it. If Riswick can whine about all the things he hates about our new Jetta TDI (not that I blame him), then I can certainly find some praise for the Optima Turbo — my current favorite mid-size sedan.
Let's get started with the most intuitive and easy-to-use center stack I've seen lately. Notice the use of knobs for critical functions, logical grouping of controls and central location of virtually every critical secondary control.
The Optima's shift paddles might not offer the most satisfying click when used, but they're big enough, well placed and, uh, present, which is something that can't be said in every mid-size sedan.
OK, I'm not huge, but I've got long legs (32-inch inseam) for my height (5'9") and there's ample legroom in the rear. The front seat in this image is adjusted for my driving position. Clearly, it wouldn't matter if I were huge.
This is a small detail, but I like illuminated rockers.
So there you go. A small list of things I like. Next week...things I don't (there aren't many).
After spending five days in the Optima during the last week, I find myself less enamored with some elements of its interior detailing. The first is one we whine about ofter and one which is truly unmerited — chrome gauge bezels. As you can see, they create distracting glare.
Why manufactures continue to put reflective materials in interiors — particularly in places where you must look — is beyond me.
Also, the seat bolsters show imperfections at the edges where the mesh material is sewn to the leather. The above image is the driver's side seatback. It's unclear if this is a developing problem or perhaps something which was always this way, but it's noticeable.
The above image shows that, unless you look closely, these are truly small imperfections, but they're something we'll need to watch carefully. Below is a close-up.
Whether or not these imperfections matter at this point is largely subjective — right now they're too small to be an issue for me. The bigger question is what they will look like in 20,000 miles.
I always get a kick out of hearing what the valet folks think of the different cars I bring their way. They are exposed to so many types, especially high-end, fantastically luxurious cars, that I always assume there's not much that catches their eyes. In any case here's how last night went at a valet stand for a fancy restaurant in Santa Monica when I was picking up the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo at the end of the night.
Me: "Um, that's not my car."
Valet (getting into a silver Lexus SUV): "No?"
Me: "I had the Kia Optima...it's blue."
Valet: "Oh the BLUE one with the nice wheels. That's a nice one." (Goes away to fetch the car and returns with it.)
Valet: "Is this a hybrid?" (Getting out of the car.)
Two other valet guys circle around the back of the car, checking it out and murmuring, "It's niiice." (They say "nice" a lot.) "It's a Kia? No way."
Me: (Answering the first guy) "No, it has a turbo."
Valet: "Ohh yeahhh, it has a lot of power, I felt that when I was driving it..."
Me: "Wait...just when you were driving around the garage?"
Valet: "....Thanks. Have a nice evening."
I checked the odometer. Josh reports it at "about 5,500 miles" in his post. Hm.
I spent a couple days recently in Palm Springs at Heels and Wheels, a driving event for women automotive journalists. It was great from start to finish, and I learned a lot from a very savvy group of writers, including Sue Mead, who this year became the first woman to achieve an in-class win in the Dakar Rally. She and co-driver Darren Skilton drove a Ford Raptor.
We had 11 cars to test-drive and I managed some time in all of them — except for the 2011 Kia Optima Hybrid. It was a popular car among the event's drivers, and represented a good break from the many crossovers we were trying out. But I had sub-Optima timing and didn't get a turn.
Good things come to those who wait, however. When I returned to the office, the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo was waiting for me on the sign-out sheet. (Turbo trumps hybrid any day, wouldn't you say?) The car does indeed rock, as this new Edmunds road test details. It even makes your pulse race when it's sitting under a jacaranda, pretending — unsuccessfully — to be a nice suburban sedan.
OK, it was dark outside, but my passenger last night said, "Oh, you have a BMW." Then he got in and said, "oh wait, what is this?"
Our Kia Optima is a nice looking car. But it was the blue paint and the wheels that fooled him more than anything else. And again, as I said, it was dark outside.
Yesterday, I arrived home from a few days on the East Coast. First order of business was to pick up Alfred Hitchcock DeRosa from his vacation spot at the vet. He meowed and meowed the entire five minute ride home. I think he was saying how much he enjoyed the comfort of the Kia Optima's rear seat. And that the air conditioner was quite pleasant coming from the rear ventilation ducts. Or maybe he was just saying "I WANT TO GO HOME."
For the first time, I sampled the cooled driver seat. Yes, I said COOLED driver seat. Very weird sensation but it was hot outside and I had just spent 6 hours on an airplane, so I figured I'd give them a shot.
Isn't my little guy cute? He's 16 years old and doesn't look a day over kitten.
Rut roh, two pet posts in a row.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I tried out the cool setting on the driver seat in the Kia Optima. I'm not a fan of cooled seats. They give a weird sensation.
I used to have a sweater that had crocheted sleeves in a wide stitch. You could feel that you were wearing something but the wide apart stitching allowed air to hit my arms. It gave the weird feeling of being wet. Sounds gross, right? It was a cute sweater. It looked similar to this:
I get the same feeling with the cool ventilated seats. Instead of feeling cool and comfortable, they feel almost wet. In the Kia Optima, the climate control seats are subtle even on the higher of the two settings, which makes them a little easier to take. Although, subtle doesn't work as well for the seat heaters.
Here are some quotes from the Kia Optima owner's manual:
The climate control seat is provided to cool or warm the seat during hot or cold weather by blowing air through small vent holes on the surface of the seat and seat-back. While the engine is running, push the rear portion of the switch to cool the seat, and push the front portion of the switch to warm the seat.
The climate control seat is a supplementary cooling/heating system. Use the climate control seat when the climate control system is on. Using the climate control seat for prolonged periods of time with the climate control system off could cause the climate control seat performance to impair.
Do not place materials such as plastic bags or newspapers under the seats. The air vent may not work properly as the air intake can be blocked.
Do you have cooled seats in your car?
When you open the hood of our longterm 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo, it's sort of a jumble of black hoses and tubes. Hard to tell where the boost is coming and going.
Perhaps this brief walkaround will help those that like to keep tabs on the whereabouts of the air in their engine bays.
First thing is to remove the engine cover. More than simply decorative, the cover has dense padding built in to muffle the noise of the direct-injection system's high-pressure fuel pump (red). These tend to make uncouth tickety-tick noises.
Note the intake plumbing. It's fed from the high-pressure nose area, wide and a straight shot, all of which is goodness in providing minimal pressure drop upstream of the compressor. This, in turn, reduces exhaust manifold pressure, since the turbine needn't work as hard. Particularly important when you're trying to make 274 horsepower out of two liters on 87 octane.
As with many modern engines, the ECU (green) lives in the engine bay. Back in the day the electronics were not robust enough to live in the hot, dirty, sometimes wet engine bay. Mounting it in the engine bay simplifies the wiring harness, vehicle assembly (the engine plus ECU and engine harness can be installed as a module) and eliminates a large perforation in the firewall for better NVH.
A plastic intake manifold is a common item on normally aspirated engines, but until recently you didn't see them on boosted engines for durability reasons. They're coming into favor now. Seems they've got those earlier issues licked.
The blowoff valve (pink; aka bypass valve, aka anti-surge valve) is old-school - it's a separate piece. So many modern turbos integrate this component into the compressor housing for reduced cost/complexity.
If you're a blowoff valve noob, look at the picture above then click the thumbnail here:
Blue arrows indicate fresh air traveling through the inlet duct, into the air filter housing and then down to the turbo's compressor (out of sight in this shot). Pink arrows are the hot air that's just been compressed. Some of it is vented by the blowoff valve (the silver doohickey) back into the fresh-air intake where it mixes with blue arrows.
This keeps the turbo's compressor happy — they don't like high pressure at low flow. What happens is they'll either be inefficient, surge, or both. Certain part-throttle circumstances induce just such a high-pressure / low-flow situation.
Recirculating some of the flow via the blowoff valve means the compressor sees high pressure and higher flow rate than before, even though the flow rate to the engine is unaffected. Neat, huh? Venting the flow also keeps turbo speed up during brief periods of closed-throttle operation, improving boost recovery during gearchanges.
The thick rubberized coating on all the intercooler charge tubes is weird. I can only guess that it's some kind of NVH attentuation strategy. Any other guesses?
Can't really see the turbo itself, as it's buried under an elaborate array of metallic heat shields. You can barely see the compressor housing, its discharge section sprouting vertically before turning gently towards the blowoff valve in the previous section.
Likewise, the fully electronic wastegate actuator is tucked away but I caught it peeking out here. With this, engineers have complete control over the wastegate. Among other benefits, one feature of electronic actuators is that they can open the wastegate wide during a cold start to light off the catalyst much more quickly.
Expect to see more and more of these actuators on turocharged gasoline engines as the price comes down and the hardware become more robust.
The intercooler itself is a tube-fin arrangement. Hot air enters at the top and cooled air exits at the bottom. The rubberized tube shown here connects the intercooler discharge to the throttle body. That's a boost pressure sensor right there too.
What's notable here is the very high fin density. This will tend to yank a lot of heat out the compressed air inside the tubes, but makes it harder for the cooling air to make its way through the maze of fins. If you have very good airflow management and can ensure low engine bay pressure, then you can get away with a high fin density as shown here.
It also helps if you can ensure that the cooling air on the opposite face has a nice, direct shot. Ducting that air further helps the cooling performance — you can't see it here but there is a very nice duct behind the grille that funnels air directly to the intercooler.
Your turn — is there anything under the Kia's hood that you'd like to see, or see better, or have questions about? I'll do what I can do respond to your requests.
As I drove home a few nights ago stuck on the 10, I began to watch traffic sailing by in the opposite direction. I said to myself, "Self, there is a complete lack of color on that freeway. Black, silver, grey, white, black, silver, grey, white." Eventually, a rare '99 Jetta in Cosmic Green broke up the greyscale monotony like Reese Witherspoon in Pleasantville.
Then last night, I began to notice a similar scenario — only this time, I was the splash of color. Our Kia Optima Turbo not only breaks up the usual midsize car monotony with its slick styling, but our particular car's Corsa Blue paint (special to the SX trim) takes it that extra mile.
Frankly, I think it's a shame that color has almost completely disappeared from our roads. Car colors certainly change with the fashion of the times, and silvers, blacks, greys and whites are just fashionable at the moment. People could tire of them, just as they did of the purples and teals of the early '90s. But I also think that people pick today's non-colors because they percieve actual colors as being unsellable in five to six years. Perhaps there's some truth to that since I struggled to sell an Acura TSX in a similar shade as our Optima.
But I say, live for today. Buy that colorful car. Go Plum Crazy, get some Blue Candy or Spice Orange. Maybe even take a trip to Ipanema Blue. Be different, be colorful. Lets bring back the Imola Reds of this world, and banish the notion of five available shades of black.
Last night when I climbed into the Optima I noticed that its sunroofs were uncovered. Because I'm a hermit who can't stand direct sunlight, I immediately reached up and tapped the button to close them. And this is what happened...
Not a big deal, but quite efficient and kinda cool to watch. Pushing the button to the first index from the closed position opens only the covers. Pushing it all the way opens the covers and the glass. And even a hermit can appreciate that.
After reading Jay Kav's engine walkaround, I was curious about the Optima's intake honkus which is precariously squeezed between the hood and the plastic trim surrounding the hood latch.
First, in this photo, notice the rubber seal running laterally about eight inches back from the leading edge of the hood. That seal pins itself to the top of the intake honkus just in front of the radiator (notice the witness mark in the top photo) ensuring that hot air which has passed through the cooling system isn't injested by the engine.
This is all good and fine until one closes the hood.
It's clear that Kia wanted a clean seal between the hood and bumper cover, which means there's no air sneaking in that gap to feed the engine. Near as I can tell, that leaves only one source for cool air: the small lateral slits on either side of the hood latch. They can potentially feed the engine cool air which passed through the grille but didn't pass through the radiator.
Now if I know anything about air it's this: air is lazy. And getting it through the grille, through those tiny slits and then laterally into the intake honkus is going to require energy. I'd guess that at speed there's some flow, but you don't need to be an aerodynamicist to know there's little cool air getting to the honkus at low speeds. Still, must be enough given this engine's impressive specific output on low-octane fuel.
But I bet some dyno work would prove this car is sensitive to heat soak. Maybe we'll give it a run.
I've watched every single person who uses the Optima's trunk grab and then grab again for the release. Some eventually give up and assume there isn't one. The reason is that the release is offset from center by about eight inches. My hand is on it in the photo above.
What's going on here?
Here's the deal: The rear-view camera is placed on-center just below the Kia badge and above the license plate. Like the release, it's out of sight from above. The question, then, is why didn't Kia offset the camera to allow a more intuitve placement of the release in the center?
The only reason I can come up with is that the camera needs to be centered to provide a complete view of the edges of the car when reversing. However, these are very wide lenses and some manufacturers do offset them. So the limit isn't the optics. Plus, the primary use of this tool is to provide a sense for how close one is to an object immediately behind the car. What's to the side is less critical. But is that more important than the intuitive placement of the trunk release? Not for Kia.
Not a huge deal, just an observation.
Coming up with blog posts on long-term cars doesn't always go as planned. Case in point: this morning I fully intended on griping about how the Bluetooth audio doesn't recognize my phone on startup. Last night, every time I'd get in I'd have to go through the phone menus to get it to pair with my iPhone. Of course, once I got in it this morning, camera in hand, the system immediately paired with my phone. I was hit with an odd mix of relief and frustration. Out of the corner of my eye, however, my blog subject presented itself.
With the wheel cranked over as they usually are when parked in my backyard, I saw this warning appear for a few seconds after the Optima started up. I thought, "Hey, that's cool, it's doing its best to keep me from being a sincere idiot!"
It's a clever little feature that probably didn't require a ton of resources to make happen. What do you think, neat feature or useless?
Remember this? If not, here's a refresher. It was an ugly mar on our first month with the Optima. But it's been solved...
Kia simply replaced the seat and sent the faulty one back to the supplier for analysis. According to Kia, this is the only failure — out of nearly 30 Optimas — in the press fleet. We haven't heard of any failures on privately owned cars so hopefully this was an anomaly.
Well, they're working consistently now. I've been driving the Optima for a week now (OK, except for one day). More importantly, I've probably put more miles on this car than anyone and I'm yet to experience the problem.
If you've forgotten what it was...make the jump.
Dan Edmunds first reported the problem above here. He then fixed it by resetting the ECU (battery disconnect) here. Since then, however, we've had Kia reflash the ECU with a software update "representing the latest software version." Kia says the problem was due to an "error in the Body Control Module."
No problem since.
It's happened to me twice in the last two weeks. Throw the Optima in reverse and the screen which displays the view from the back-up camera goes blank. And here's the weird part: It seems to appear before I can grab my camera and snap a photo. Sometimes it's ten seconds and sometimes it's 30 seconds.
It's wildly erratic in how often it happens and how long it lasts. I tried moving the gearshift from "D" to "R" and back multiple times on both occurences to attempt to duplicate the problem but wasn't able to make it happen again. The first image here was created by turning the screen off.
But it's happening. And so far it's impossible to duplicate. So it will be difficult to remedy.
The Optima has a memory feature which moves its driver's seat back when the ignition is turned off (see video after the jump). When the car is started the seat returns to its preset position. It can probably be disabled.
I'm not a big fan of this feature. Despite the fact that I'm all legs, I rarely have trouble with ingress and egress. And the constant moving back and forth bugs me.
What about you?
So you probably remember last week's blog in which I pointed out the Optima's back-up camera failure, but was unable to actually capture an image of the problem. Well, guess what? I got it this weekend. A couple of times...
The first image is what's been happening — a black screen with lines indicating the reverse path. The image immeditately above captures a new development this weekend. This image flickered on and off for several seconds before finally stabilizing.
Either way, it's still bad.
I spotted this ad in the Orange County Register on Saturday. Sure, there's a lot of fine print going on here, but...
...even if the car advertised is only an EX Turbo (our car is the top-of-the-line SX Turbo), you're getting a lot for your money. The ad isn't specific about the trim level, but of course the picture is of an SX — and it's a one-at-this-price deal. Still, the EX gets you the 2.0-liter turbo powertrain which makes this car such a killer value. The EX starts at $24,495 and the SX starts at $25,995. So if you walk out of the dealer with one of these cars for less than 20 grand you're doing well.
I'm not exactly a huge fan of the mid-size sedan, but I'll admit to truly liking the Optima. It meets my needs (four doors, decent power, intuitive bluetooth, good iPod interface) without being boring (Camry, Altima, Accord). And I'd actually buy one at that price.
This morning on my way to work — just as the Optima ticked past 7,500 miles — the display in the instrument panel flashed the two images you see here.
I guess this one means we need to rotate the Optima's tires before they begin to glow.
We'll visit the dealer soon as we have other compelling reasons.
Perhaps you read Kelly's riveting account of the lack of Kias on the roads in Socal. We'll, it just happens that I exchanged nods with the driver of another Optima Turbo this morning on my way to work. Did the same thing last weekend.
So they're out there. And, in Orange County, the Optima Turbo seems to have caught on. I see one every few days. This Satin Metal Optima is more striking than our Corsa Blue example in person. And that's saying something.
Oh, and speaking of color...
My wife thinks the Optima icon which appears in the the car's instrument panel should match its paint color. It does not (see above).
Economies of scale come home to roost.
I drove 72 miles on the 405 freeway yesterday, spent time in both L.A. and Orange counties.
And not once did I pass another Kia.
I counted 13 Hyundais, nearly a 50/50 mix of old and new, but not a single Kia.
It wouldn't surprise me in, say, Detroit, but in Southern California, I found it a little sad. Especially since Kia's headquarters is located in Orange County.
Is the new Hyundai that far ahead of the new Kia?
This weekend the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo was my holiday/birthday conveyance to San Luis Obispo. One of my favorite long-termers to take on a road trip for being fun, roomy and comfortable. Plus satellite radio and seat heaters/coolers are always nice.
But as we were heading up Saturday afternoon, a quick look at Google Maps showed the highway to SLO was red, all the way from the 405 to Santa Barbara! 80 miles of stop and slowwww-going traffic. No thanks! So instead we opted to take the much clearer I-5 up to the fun roads and cut across to Santa Maria via 166 West. More on that later.
However on the way up the Grapevine we encountered an abnormally high number of cars — old and new ones (even saw a Mini, sad) — on the shoulder with their hoods open. Turns out a lot of cars don't like that combination of 100-plus-degree temps, A/C and climbing a long and serious grade. But in our Kia the air blew cold as ever while charging up the Grapevine at, um, slightly over the speed limit with nary a flick of the coolant temperature gauge. Er, pixels. That, and it felt as powerful as ever despite the heat and the altitude.
Felt bad for those poor folks stranded in the heat but took great comfort that our Kia was able to keep its cool for the four-hour trek to the Central Coast.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we took the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo up to San Luis Obispo for the holiday weekend. That's about eight hours of seat time total, not including the time it took to explore the area. In any case, here are some passenger seat impressions:
- I have to give Kia props for the angle of the cupholders. None of this, "Wait, is that your water bottle or mine?" Because here it's obviously the one closer to you. Great use of space. Bonus is that the driver said it doesn't get in the way of his shifting.
- Love how I can program a destination into the nav while the car is in motion. I never understood why some cars will lock that feature when the car is moving as if to say that no one ever transports passengers who can do that stuff for the driver.
- The dual climate controls and dual seat heaters/coolers only reaffirm my opinion that the Optima is a great road trip car.
- The passenger seat wasn't exactly plush or OMG comfy but neither did it compel me to jump out of the car rubbing my tush at every pit stop. Twas just OK. Ample legroom, but then again I'm only 5'5" so take that for what it's worth. Love the power-adjustable controls.
- Plenty of storage for holding snacks, my iPhone, the aforementioned 750ml water bottle, sunglasses, hair clips, etc.
OK already. Our long-term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo is now reminding us with every start up that it would like to be serviced with an oil change and tire rotation.
We'll take it in as soon as possible.
The seats in our long-term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo are not only heated, but feature 2-level cooling too. That's remarkable in a car that costs $31K loaded. Those heated/cooled seats are part of the $2150 Premium package which include pano sunroof, power front passenger seat, driver seat memory, and heated outboard rear seats(!!).
That package is well-worth it, as both the bottom cushions and the seat backs are cooled, preventing what my buddy calls "Swamp Back."
They're also good for the complement to the seat heater prank, the cooled seat trick. Of course, you must do this during the dead of winter, as I did once to my Michigan co-worker.
He thought he had a bladder accident.
Editor Al Austria already posted about our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo's plea for a tire rotation but we could have told you that when we had the car for 4th of July weekend. Editor JayKav was checking the tires during a pit stop and noticed our front tires (pictured above). "It's going to need a tire rotation soon," he remarked. Sure enough, the next day when we started the car the "tire rotation" warning message lit up. Well, now that it's official and stuff....
Not that we have in this case, but have you ever taken your car in to be maintained/fixed before it asked to be?
Here's the rear tire.
The Optima was due for its first oil change and tire rotation so I called ahead to price these services. I was told it would be $57 for the two so I wrote this down, along with the service advisor's name, since she had been helpful on the phone. I was being cautious because, as many of you already know, a service visit is often the scene of intense upselling.
When I showed up at Car Pros Carson Kia, in Carson, Calif., the service advisor who had been helpful on the phone was waiting on the woman in line ahead of me. The service advisor was doing a real tap dance, offering specials and coupons and all kinds of preferred services which included an 'injector service" and totaled $349. I nearly cheered when the woman said, "I'll wait on that."
Oddly enough, when it was my turn, the service advisor stuck to our agreement for just the oil change and tire rotation. I was then offered my choice of two different places to wait, the TV lounge or the quiet lounge. I'd never run into this before but I liked getting away from the mindless chatter of the bubbleheads on early morning TV.
The car was returned to me on time by the service advisor who said the "courtesy inspection" showed we might soon need new tires and brakes. She was probably laying the groundwork for my next visit. The service advisor then escorted me to the cashier's window and then, after paying, to my car. Lots of personal service! In the theme of this blog's title I would categorize this as "The Good" part of my service visit.
Back in the car I found that the oil warning system had not been reset. This was "The Bad" part of the visit. Not a big deal really, but kind of hassle. When I got home I got out the manual and learned that the oil and tire rotation alarm can be programmed to come on at different intervals. (You would think that the alarm would come on at the factory recommended interval of 7,500 miles.) One of the options on the menu was the mysterious, and somewhat nonsensical, "Not Use" that has been displayed recently. So "Not Use" apparently refers to the system, and not to driving the car.
And now, for "The Ugly" part of the service visit. After resetting the oil alarm, I glanced up at the corner of the windshield and saw the sticker instructing me to return in three months or 3,500 miles for my next oil change. The service advisors know that the Optima has an oil change interval of 7,500 miles. But, no, they want me back twice as often to sell me services that I probably don't need.
What's wrong with too frequent oil changes, aside from wasting money? We looked into it in detail in our article "Stop Changing your Oil." But let me put it another way. Why would you order a good meal, eat half of it, and then scrape the rest into the trash, especially if you're still hungry?
After we blogged about changing the oil in the Optima every 7,500 miles, we got a severe scolding from cbass88 who wrote: "RTFM, THE OIL CHANGE INTERVAL IS EVERY 5000 ON THE SX, QUIT SAYING IT IS 7500!!" We had checked the manual many times and we were sure it was 7,500 miles. Besides, the maintenance light came on at 7,500 and that was set at the factory.
But, sure enough, after we RTFM again, here is what we found.
In a difficult to read footnote we found that the intervals for the SX is 5,000 miles presumably because it is turbocharged. Footnote *3 reads, "Engine oil (2.0 TGDI)…every 5,000 miles (8,000 km) or 6 months."
Now here's a goofy thing. Still smarting from our public humiliation, we didn't want to make this mistake again. So we tried to set the oil alarm for 5,000. Except that Kia only lists the lowest setting as 6,000 miles. So they built a car with a lower oil change interval but made it impossible to warn the owner about this. So I guess we're back to the Post-it note in the window method of automotive maintenance scheduling.
This is how the Optima's traffic map looks on a pretty typical day in Los Angeles. It was early in the morning when I took this shot so most of the red was flowing in.
You may have heard that a section of the busy 405 freeway will be shut down this weekend for construction. It's the short section just above the arrow if you're curious. Various news agencies have predicted chaos. The city of Los Angeles was so afraid of the pandemonium that it solicited the help of celebrities to tweet warnings. Yes, that's how bad it could be.
I'm thinking I'll try to snap a photo of this same general area at some point this weekend and see if it's really any worse. My guess? It'll be just fine as most people don't need much of an excuse to stay away from the 405 on the weekends. We'll see.
On Friday I promised a pic of the Kia's traffic information system during "Carmageddon" weekend here in L.A. As you can see, this is the same pic. There are two reasons why.
First and foremost, I realized that the Sirius traffic subscription was expired. Turns out, it's a separate charge from the standard radio feed. Normally I would have simply resubscribed on my own, but given how many cars we have in the fleet, we leave that to our test manager lest we have too many overlapping subscriptions.
The second reason for no pic? There was nothing to see. Imagine the shot above with every highway shown in green, that's pretty much how it was this weekend in L.A. The predicted traffic nightmare never materialized as everybody pretty much stayed home. I drove through the dreaded 405/10 interchange a half dozen times and it was a ghost town. Basically, all the hype turned it into a non-event, they even opened the freeway up earlier than expected. Of course, now the 405 is back to its usual state of constant congestion, just without all the news copters circling overhead.
So I'm moving yet again. And the other night I had to pick up a big load of broken-down cardboard boxes. I was driving our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo but figured with the backseat folded down they could fit in the trunk easy.
Unfortunately when I arrived at my destination, a quiet street in Manhattan Beach, it was dark and there weren't any street lights. The person whose house it was where the boxes were lying in front of didn't even turn on the porch lights. So I'm blaming the darkness and my unfamiliarity with our Kia for not being able to figure out how to put down the seatbacks.
I fumbled around the backseat looking for a latch to release the seatback. The seatbelt holders weren't it. There was no lever on the side of the seat. Last resort: grab the owner's manual but even then I couldn't figure it out.
The reason? Because I'm an idiot and when I panic I don't see what's right in front of me. For some reason I glossed over Step 4 (with the big ol' illustration) here:
But for real, this is the first time I've ever seen a rear seatback fold down like this. Not very intuitive. The kicker, I didn't realize this until the next morning when I opened the trunk to throw in my gym bag.
Fortunately the boxes still fit in the trunk even without the rear seatbacks folded over.
This isn't a new problem, nor is it exclusive to the Optima. But when I listen to my iPod/iPhone in some cars, the first half-second or so of a song gets cut off. It bugs me, but certainly not as much as throttle tip-in or rough shifts. Our resident sound expert, Doug Newcomb can't quite pinpoint the reason, either, stating that it," may have something to do with a signal-sensing technology or something to eliminate noise."
Whatever the case, here's my open letter to car manufacturers: Please stop doing this. Thanks.
One of the best things about this gig is the cognitive dissonance that comes with getting in and out of different cars every day. From baller to hauler to crapcan, the impressions come quick and fleeting. Some stick, and yet others reveal themselves slowly with reflection. They're all tricky to keep straight.
After spending a couple of days in a new E350 Bluetec diesel, then an evening in the Optima, a few things stood out. This isn't a comparison; how could it be? No one expects our $31,000 Optima to match the E350, which costs about $20,000 more. But there are some lessons the next two or more generations of Optima could incorporate from the Stuttgart legacy.
The gauge cluster design in the Benz, for example, is an elegant use of space. So much space in fact they fit an analog clock. The Optima instead leaves a lot of dead space between its speedo and tach, and in the gaps surrounding the nifty info display. There are indicator lights in those gaps, so it's not truly wasted space. But it got me wondering how Kia's designers could rethink this next time around.
This was actually the first time I'd driven the Optima home since it's been here. It's a popular ride and people claim it early. And it's a solid, sporty sedan, no question. It eagerly accelerates, delivers its 274 turbo horsepower with a crack and generally throws itself forward with gusto. It's got plenty of sauce to compete in its class.
But what does $20,000 extra get you? It gets you a sedan that repels road rut like mosquitos from a burning coil, and releases its 400 lb-ft of torque with such narcotic stealth that the space between 60 and 100 mph is almost imperceptible. It gets you more metal and a feeling of driving something carved from a block of billet.
The Optima doesn't play in that league, but I suspect its makers wish it did. The Optima feels a little hurried. Hasn't aged yet, hasn't matured. Doesn't feel totally whole or substantial like its 3,500 pounds would suggest. That doesn't mean it's not fun, and doesn't diminish the evolutionary leaps it has taken for the company.
But getting out of an E-Class and into the Optima, you realize just how high the large sedan benchmark is.
When a car company goes to the trouble of mounting a gear changing apparatus to the steering wheel, you'd think they would put the controls within easy reach - you know, to make it convenient. Surprisingly, not everyone does that.
But from my muddled memory banks, cars like the SHO, the Aura and early PDK equipped Porsches stand out as having really poorly placed shift paddles/buttons. Thankfully, our Optima SX Turbo's paddles fall right to your fingertips. The paddles are quite broad, making it easy to flick up or down a gear without having to move your hands at all from the 9 and 3 o'clock positions. I like the lip on the end of the paddles too; it's a nice finger hold.
How could they be better? I'd have them coated with a rubber backing. And, perhaps the only real gripe here, I'd prefer them mounted to the steering column instead of the wheel, like on a GT-R or an Evolution X.
With two bars remaining in the electronic fuel gauge (sigh) by the time I neared the office, I could've pulled a Richard move on Niebuhr, leaving him to fend for his own gas when he took the Optima home that evening. But we try to stay classy here at the Edmunds/IL. And anyway, I like engaging the aimless Deadhead who hangs around the station, thanking people for gassing up at Shell (something about how the station owners treat him right). Hey man, no problem - always happy to funnel money to oppressive African governments.
Pleasantly surprised to see the Optima pull almost 400 miles on its last tank. The computer says we could've gone another 40. Sans the optimism, let's call it 425. Not a bad mark for a 274-horsepower directed-injected turbo four that weighs about 3,500 pounds and drank 15.7 gallons of 91 premium.
Modern wheels can be so fancy. But fancy makes them hard to clean. The wheels on our Kia Optima are pretty snazzy but they are also fairly flat. So, they are easy to clean.
Monday is wash day at Edmunds. The nice guys at our local car wash made the Kia wheels shine with ease.
Here's a closer look.
It doesn't show up here, but boy, there's a lot of venom about Kia (and Hyundai) out there in autolandia.The hating showed up this week on the Edmunds Facebook page, which featured a link to our road test of the Kia Optima Hybrid. (Capsule review: Car does not deliver mpg as EPA tested. Not even close.)
One commenter went off on how unsafe, bad and unreliable Kia (and Hyundai) vehicles are. My colleague, Ron Montoya, who wrote the road test, countered with the truth: The Kia Optima (hybrid and conventional engine) has a five-star safety rating from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It's also a Top Safety Pick in the ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Every time I've driven the Optima, it's been a great experience. I also liked our estwhile Sonata, although it was a lot less fun to drive than the Optima. So tell me, why so much Kia/Hyundai hate?
We started blogging about our Optima SX back in March and today we cleared 10,000 miles. We've had some small issues, including an interior lighting glitch, but otherwise it's gotten heaps of praise. I'd wager the Optima has been our staff's most adored midsize family sedan for the long-term program since we started doing the blog back in 2006.
When I first read contributor Terry Miller's review of the Infinity audio system in a 2011 Kia Optima EX, I had to make sure this was the same guy I've known and worked with almost 20 years. The one that's a hardcore aftermarket audio guy who made a name for himself in "sound-off" circles back in the day, first as a top-notch stereo installer/sound-quality competitor, then as respected car audio competition judge and later as promoter of some of the most popular and respected shows in the South.
Could he have really liked the 8-speaker premium Infinity system in the Optima EX that much? Although I obviously trust Terry's opinion and expertise enough to hire him as a regular contributor, I still approached listening to the identical setup in our long-term 2011 Optima SX Turbo with skepticism. And while our reviews differ, our opinions on the Infinity system don't.
The Setup
The Infinity audio system in our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo consists of eight speakers powered by 550 watts. The speakers include a 4-inch midrange in the center of the dash, a two-way speaker consisting of a 1/2-inch tweeter and 4-inch midrange in each corner of the dash, a 6-inch midrange in each front door, another two-way that includes a 1/2-inch tweeter and 6-inch mid in each rear door and a 8-inch dual-voice-coil subwoofer in the center of the rear deck.
The Sound
As with every system I evaluate, I listened to 10 musical tracks that I've heard in literally hundreds of vehicles to gauge clarity/lack of distortion, tonal balance, timbre, tonal accuracy, soundstaging, imaging and dynamics. The music ranges from the jazz of Bluesiana Triangle to the folk of Luka Bloom to the rock of Red House Painters and rap of Outkast. I also use several non-musical tracks to further test soundstaging, imaging, linearity and absence of noise. For more details on this testing process and the tracks used, check out the Edmunds.com article Sound Advice.
In large part I agree with Terry's positive appraisal of the Optima's Infinity system, particularly that small tweaks of the tone controls could make the system sound even better. (We do all stereo evaluations with bass, treble, fader and balance controls at the center/flat setting and with any equalization turned off — sorry 06scooby — to level the playing field). I also found that the strong points of the Infinity system were its above-average clarity, timbre and tonal accuracy, although tonal balance was skewed due to the high-end harshness and midbass boom that's endemic among all but high-end OEM systems. But that's what tone controls are for, and these sonic anomalies could be somewhat tamed with a few knob twists — or, in the Optima, with a few taps of the touch screen.
The 8-inch sub pumped out powerful bass while bumping to Outkast's "Ain't No Thang." But when fed the more musical (and challenging) low-frequency depth charge that kicks off Joan Armatrading's "In Your Eyes," the deep bass was too boomy. Plus, the interior was plagued by panel rattles, which always makes me want to just turn down the volume in disgust.
The soundstaging had good depth and height but was constricted width-wise to well within the car's A pillars. If there's one point where mine and Terry's opinion's diverge, it's on imaging. With both music and technical test tracks, the system failed to produce a convincing center image. Linearity, a measure of how well a system maintains sound quality at various volume levels, was good at low volume and excellent at mid volume, the latter being a rare occurrence for systems in this vehicle segment.
The Sources
The Optima SX Turbo comes standard with a single-CD head unit with AM, FM and Sirius satellite radio. An aux-in jack and USB port are at the bottom of the center stack, inconveniently located in a recessed area behind the gear shift. And to integrate an iPod with the audio system, Kia makes owners pay extra for an accessory cable that plugs into both the aux jack and USB port. But you can circumvent this by using the car's Bluetooth audio option or by plugging in a USB flash drive loaded with tunes, although with both of these functionality and features are limited compared to when an iPod is connected.
Once you buy Kia's optional proprietary cable and plug in your Apple portable, you get reasonably good access to the contents. The touch screen interface is pretty painless as automotive iPod-integration schemes go. The fast forward/reverse icons on the touch screen aren't the swiftest way to scroll through a long list of menu items, but a small icon above the FF/RW tabs shows the page you're on for a reference.
I prefer a feature like Chrysler's List Jump or, better yet, voice activation a la Ford Sync to quickly get me to the track, artist, album or whatever I want to hear. The Optima's voice activation works well, but control is restricted to common commands like play/pause and next track. The system also includes audiobooks and podcast as top-line iPod menu items in addition to the usual suspects of playlists, albums, artists and songs.
What We Say
A backlash has already started to haunt Hyundai and Kia as the scrappy Korean automaker gains ground on other Asian and domestic brands. Notwithstanding issues with the driver's seat, interior lighting and backup camera, we've found lots to like with 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo, and the Edmunds.com editors named the model an Editors' Most Wanted Award winner for 2011.
My only gripe is with the price: To get the Infinity audio you have to spring for the $2,000 Technology Package with a navigation system and backup camera. A better alternative would be to make it a separate sub-$500 option, like the Pioneer system in our long-term Cruze. But if you want the other bells and whistles in the Tech Package, based on my experience — and on Terry Miller's solid
second
first opinion — I wholeheatedly recommend the Kia Optima Infinity system if you also want good sound.
The Scores
Sound: B+
Sources: A-
iPod Integration: B
Cost: B-
To be honest, the last few departed family sedans in our fleet have been a little disappointing. The Honda Accord V6 was roomy and comfortable, but it just seemed a tad too big. I couldn't connect with the Mazda 6; the four-cylinder engine just didn't do it any favors. The Fusion Hybrid is actually pretty cool, and our Hyundai Sonata was very good. But a car I'd actually buy for myself? I'd have to go back to our Nissan Altima V6.
Well, the Kia Optima has joined the Altima and Fusion on my "I'd buy it" list. This sedan gets just about everything right. It's comfortable and roomy. It looks cool. There's plenty of grunt from the turbo-4 as well as high fuel economy. And, of course, you get plenty of value and features for your dollar.
One thing I'm hoping to do this week is give the Optima a quick shakedown on a curvy road. The Altima was pretty fun in this regard — I'm not so sure about the Optima given what we wrote in our full test. But I'm still looking forward to it.
I took our Optima out for a back road drive today. Mostly, I was interested to see how it handled. I already like the rest of the car, so having some sporting credentials would just be icing on the cake. Could this be Kia's four-door sports car?
To its credit, the Optima SX has more talent than many other family sedans. You can hustle it around corners at a decent clip. The SX's firmer suspension tuning probably helps here. And if you want to get to the next corner quickly, the Optima's turbocharged engine will certainly oblige.
Knocking the Optima back a couple notches, though, is that there's just not much involvement for the driver. The steering is numb, giving no indication on what's going on at the front tires. Grip from the Nexen 225/45R18 tires is OK, put pile into a low-speed corner and the tires quickly protest and the stability control system cuts in. You'll know more by listening in to the tires than anything the steering might communicate to you.
Overall, I'd call the Optima SX a "sporty" sedan rather than a sport sedan. The styling promises a bit more than what the car actually delivers. I wish we had an Altima V6, a Ford Fusion Sport or a Mazda 6 V6 around for a direct comparison test. Going on memory, I suspect all have better steering.
But pitted against a curvy road, the Optima holds its own. And considering the car's many other positive attributes, it's still one of my favorites.
It's your typical hero fantasy as a guy: you encounter a stranded motorist on the side of the freeway. She's run out of gas and would be eternally grateful for your help. Conveniently, you just happen to have a gas can with you.
This happened yesterday. Well, sort of. Actually, it was my wife who was driving the 2012 Kia Sorento and ran it dry. It's a new company car for her. "I think I ran out of gas," she says on the initial cell phone call to me. Of course, I'm flabbergasted. I asked her what happened. Turns out she had been driving around for the past couple days with the low-fuel warning light on. She thought she still had enough gas left based on experiences with her previous vehicle (a Borrego). Well, lesson learned, dear.
Thankfully she wasn't too far from where I was. I got my gas can from my house, filled it with gas and then found where she was on the freeway. I was reminded on how roadside repairs on the freeway (filling gas, changing a tire) are just no fun when semi trucks are whizzing by. I was happy to fill up and get out of there.
It was nice having the Optima for this. There wasn't really room on the shoulder to getting a running start, so I had to just pull out and wood it. The turbo-4 had the beans to quickly get me up to speed. If I had been in our slow-poke Fiat 500, I would have been more concerned.
Considering that the Optima SX has firmer suspension tuning than the regular Optima, I'd say it still has a pretty agreeable ride quality. The ride quality isn't as soft as some other cars, but it's still comfortable and controlled on the freeway. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the SX for daily driver duty. Road noise does seem to be a bit more pronounced than the norm, however.
Last week I mentioned that I'd seriously consider buying an Optima if I needed a family sedan. Well, today I've listed ten attributes about our Optima that I find most appealing.
- Engine power. It "hauls the mail," as editor Josh Jaquot would say. Of course, this is relative statement. But the Optima Turbo is quick for a family sedan.
- Good fuel economy. We're only getting a combined 21.7 mpg so far. But that could be related to people enjoying item number one. The EPA combined estimate is 26 mpg.
- Styling. Aggressive and distinctive, I love the way it looks.
- The Corsa Blue paint. This paint color just pops. And its availability is limited to the SX trim only.
- Sporty handling. There's room for improvement, but at least Kia makes a sport-tuned suspension available.
- Paddle shifters. Ditto.
- Logical control layout. Everything falls readily to hand.
- Lots of interior storage. There's plenty of space to put your stuff.
- Extra convenience features. By this I mean things like xenon headlights, keyless ignition/entry and the hated/ventilated seats.
- Price: Even though our car has just about everything on it, it still rings up at just $30,840.
One thing I wish our Optima SX had was a bit more personality in terms of how it sounds when you accelerate. The Optima Turbo is Kia's answer to other V6 family sedans, and usually those V6s have a decent soundtrack at high rpm. The Optima SX, in contrast, sounds no different than your typical ho-hum four-cylinder. There's nothing wrong with this, but it'd still be nice to get a more engaging engine and/or exhaust note when you step up to the SX model.
A brief shakycam video follows after the jump.
My ridiculous iPhone case doesn't play nice with Kia/Hyundai proprietary media cables. To put it another way, their plugs won't fit into the case opening. That means I make use of streaming Bluetooth audio. On my way in this morning, one song (Jem's It's Amazing) started playing and the bass was entirely too strong. No problem, right?
Wrong.
You see, in every audio screen except for streaming , there's an on-screen button that is labeled "sound." That button leads you to the balance, fader, bass, mid and treble sliders. I tried lowering the bass in the "aux" screen menu but it didn't affect the Bluetooth streaming. Messing with the balance and fader, however, did have an effect.
If it were that big of a deal, I could go into the iPod menu in the device and select a different EQ setting, but that means fussing with the phone while the car is in motion. And I don't do that. I know, it's not the end of the world, but it is something I'd like to see remedied in future models.
Oh, and bonus points go to the reader who can identify where I got the title for this post (without using Google or any other search). Hint: it's one of my favorite John Hughes movies, and yes, I am stuck in the 80s this week.
Wednesday night the Tire Pressure Monitoring System light came on in the Optima. Visual observation said there wasn't a flat tire and a quick check with a pen-style gauge on Thursday showed that all the tires were low.
But not too low.
I checked again with a better gauge after driving home and saw that the lowest tire was at 28 psi. Recommended pressure is 35 psi at all four. Seven psi low is still within the 25-percent threshold the Feds mandate for a TPMS light trigger.
Factor in variances in air temperature and gauges and I'd guess that's where the extra five percent is that triggered the light.
I filled them up to 35 psi. Lightt is off. For now.
Here's one I've never seen before. Fire up the Optima with the wheel turned past some unknown angle and you'll get this warning in the instrument cluster.
I noticed it for the first time this weekend when I jumped in the car after a quick run through the grocery store. Apparently I was in a big enough hurry to leave the wheels turned when I parked. The warning appears immediately after the "sytem check" progress bar dissappears during startup (if the wheels are turned enough).
I'm not the type to commit seriously to the throttle before I have some idea where the wheels are pointing, but I can see this warning saving someone from a collision in a very tight parking lot — if they notice it.
Well, it can be satisfying to really take a hold of a car. That's why some guys like a steering wheel with a thick rim that fills the palms.
But I am not among them. And there's too much about the Kia Optima's approach to sporting driving that amounts to no more than a kind of oversize statement.
That's the style of performance these days. More steering effort. More suspension damping (especially more damping). More aggressive throttle action. More transmission shifting. More brake bite.
All these things can be fine in themselves, but unless it all comes together in a cohesive package of dynamic capability, what you get is a car that's more like a piece of heavy machinery than an instrument for fast travel. You get stunts, not speed.
It's not that the setup for the Kia Optima is bad, but it does remind me that driving fast has to do with fingertips, not biceps. That's why every racer you'll ever meet will describe the way a car steers by holding an imaginary wheel in front of him with this fingers, and there will none of that elbows-out wrestling stuff.
There are real benefits to having all these long-term cars on hand, and it's not just so the editors have a free mode of transport for getting to and from the office. For instance, I didn't realize how much I despise the BMW 528i's throttle tip-in until I drove it and the Kia Optima SX Turbo on back-to-back nights.
One word to describe the BMW's throttle? It sucks (okay, that might have been two). There always seems to be a bit of a delay anytime you hit the throttle, and the transmission is hesitant about the gear to be in as well. If you give it any punch at all, after the delay it then lurches forward abruptly. If you try and get all delicate with your right foot and/or switch to the Comfort setting, the Bimmer moves out like the emergency brake is on. Sport seems to be the best compromise, but it's still far from perfect. Super annoying, and totally unbecoming of a BMW.
Getting in the Kia last night, I immediately felt, "yes, now this is more like it." I didn't have to work hard at being smooth with the throttle so as to not jerk the car suddenly off the line. The action is much more intuitive.
But get this. Between the last three long-termers I've driven, it was actually the Honda Odyssey that had the most supple, most natural throttle tip-in. Yep, that's right. The minivan.
Some might say there's no place in a car for fake carbon fiber. I'll leave that point for you guys to argue out among yourselves.
But the Kia Optima Turbo's door armrest is definitely NOT the place for a piece of plastic, carbon-fiber-look or otherwise. For me anyway, my left elbow touches down right where the padded leather and non-padded plastic trim come together, at least when I'm holding onto the steering wheel with my left hand.
And that's just plain silly, not to mention uncomfortable.
Nothing like being stuck behind the wheel when you suddenly need to get a quote on a casket.
Thankfully, the Kia Optima's nav system is there to help out. Just hit the handy "Funeral Director" category and it'll take you straight to the closest mortuary.
I had no idea there were so many in my immediate vicinity. Guess I'm covered when it's time for the big nap.
The center console in the Kia Optima is skewed to face the driver. As a shorty I appreciate this because it makes all of the buttons a little easier to reach.
But how would feel as a passenger, left out?
Accelerated Aging?
We're about six months and 11,000 miles into our Kia Optima Turbo and I found the first signs of age this morning: the steering wheel. In the image above, you can see that the leather wrapping now has a glossy sheen to it. After the jump, I have a picture of when it was new.
The Optima's wheel now feels a little synthetic; perhaps a little like a sea creature's skin. It's quite a difference from the satin-touch semi-matte look and feel from half a year ago. It's not the end of the world, I know, but it does bug me. But not enough to ever consider one of these:
Men's magazine Esquire named the 2011 Kia Optima the Most Gorgeous Car Under $20K in its Design and Technology Awards. Sounds like quite an accolade until you consider other under-$20K cars. Kind of a gimme, no? But what car (in the same price range) would you have picked as more "gorgeous" than the Optima? Suzuki Kizashi? Mazda 3?
(For the record, our Kia Optima SX Turbo in the above photo is $30K.)
It looks great. The interior is nice enough for the money. Its engine is powerful and has the potential to be frugal if you drive frugally (we don't). It has a whole heap of equipment.
Those are all things I value in a car, but there's something missing in the Kia Optima: good steering. Oh, Kia has attempted to make it sporty by dialing in a bunch of weighting that results in something more responsive than the nebulous helm of a Hyundai Sonata. But it just feels like the electric version of a V6 Chevy Malibu, which equate to the wheel being hooked to a pair of SoloFlex elastic bands. Except the Kia has less communication.
Be it changes to hardware, software, tuning or brand philosophy, the Optima's steering needs to get better before I would consider it. Given the types of giant leaps Hyundai/Kia makes from one generation to the next (and sometimes mid-generation), I would hope that steering and suspension are the next areas they tackle head-on. Because even if the rest of the Optima is oh-so-tantalizing, the steering ruins it.
Kia chose to use the old Motorola RAZR as an icon on its Bluetooth pairing screen. Remember how slick that phone was when it came out in, what, 2003? I remember how slick I thought I was, three years later, when I landed one for $100 on a T-Mobile contract. Damn phone started disintegrating about a year later, but I managed to leg out another year or so on it, until the keypad started sticking and dialing only eights.
A horribly trivial thing to pick on, I know. But someone among the software developers should be lightly spanked for picking the RAZR to represent a universal cell phone icon in 2011. Or not. Maybe the RAZR was that iconic? Maybe it's better than a generic Nokia silhouette or a rectangle with an apple in the center? The mind wanders.
I'm still undecided on the Optima. Judged through my narrow prism of cars that will get me home in peace and double as decompression chamber, the Optima works. Nice wide powerband, good seats, lots of features, thumpy Infinity audio system. Small, but important victories.
But with a few of my colleagues, I'll pile on the steering. It just feels over-caffeinated and tense, as if all that electric assist is overflowing and welling up in the steering column. The minor inputs required to keep the steering on-center during a mostly highway commute add up. It's not exhausting by any means; it's not the 911, after all. But it's not relaxing, either.
The title pretty much says it all — our longterm 2011 Kia Optima now has a groany air conditioner, when previously it did not. It makes a muted but unmistakable sound not unlike prolonged flatulence when the revs reach idle speed. The noise is linked to a/c use, not fan use.
It's not super loud — couldn't capture it with a crappy cellphone mic — but once pointed out, the sound is difficult to ignore. Even when the radio's on. Maybe that's just a fixation thing. I'm no psychologist.
Anyway, it still blows cold and works fine, just makes a noise.
I noticed this slogan on our Kia Optima's license plate frame today. It does a nice job of summing up people's reaction to this car. Just about everyone who sees the Optima likes it, but are surprised when I tell them it is a Kia. I have to admit that this car surprised me too. Like many people, I had this preconceived notion of what a Kia is supposed to be like — generic styling and boring driving dynamics. But this Optima is the opposite of that. It looks great and has plenty of power to get by traffic and have some fun on the commute home.
The price of our test car — $30,840 — surprises people too. "$31K for a Kia?" they tell me. I remind them that this car is loaded with options and that if they don't opt for the turbo, they can get one for a starting price of $18,995.
Does this car surprise you too?
Back when the good folks at Kia stopped by our offices with a pre-production Optima Turbo, I spotted some LED running lights that lined the bottom section of the headlights. But the final production model didn't have them.
The model they showed us had cool running lights, too. They weren't the typical pare LED elements. Instead, they were evenly diffused throughout something that resembled a glass tube. They were also a cool blue color instead of pure white.
But now I'm wondering if these running lights are really cool anymore.
What do you think? With, or without?
If you remember the Kias of yesteryear, you'll appreciate the irony of seeing the Kia name emblazoned on something as fancy-pants as a door sill.
In any case, it's a nice touch, and just one of the things that makes the Optima feel a little bit more special than its low price tag suggests.
Dodger Stadium had derrieres in maybe half its seats yesterday, which was a darn shame as the boys in blue exploded for 23 hits and 15 runs against the Pirates, returning to the .500 mark (76-76) for the first time in a very long time. (Apparently, I parked on the least photogenic side of the stadium, but at least Billingsley was the starter yesterday.) Ah, I know, this isn't a baseball blog, so let's talk about our long-term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo, which I was delighted to have for the trip to the game if for no other reason than Santorini Blue might as well be Dodger Blue.
I filled every seat in the Optima on this adventure. In back, we had two adults and one 6-year-old in a bulky booster seat. The main thing everyone noticed was the surplus of rear legroom in the Optima. It's absolutely not a problem to have adults seated behind adults.
Rear shoulder room was tighter — tight enough that I couldn't see taking a long trip with this grouping — but it was fine for 30 minutes at a time. Also, the adults were coming out of a 2002 Accord sedan (a much smaller car, as you'll recall), so the Kia's passenger quarters felt like an upgrade all the way around. The lateral bolstering on the rear seats added to comfort, they said, as it held them in place around entrance ramps. The 15.4-cubic-foot trunk also impressed them.
In general, I'm an Optima SX fan, mainly because the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine offers a lot of usable torque. I think the ride quality is better than our Sonata GLS — it's more buttoned down (less float) and small bumps and ruts don't feel like as much of an event. Still, with those flashy 18s, the Kia's ride can be stiff over L.A. freeways.
I expected my passengers might not be thrilled about this, but instead they offered perspective: Compared to their '02 Accord, they said, the Optima rode a lot more comfortably. That might sound like faint praise, but honestly, this is the first Optima I've driven that really is better than a Honda Accord of one to two generations ago. When I drove earlier Optimas, I could think of all sorts of used midsize sedans I'd rather have. But not this time.
My passengers also commented on the Optima's strong and sure braking response whenever traffic ground to a halt, as well as its strong acceleration... I think they were surprised to learn it didn't have a V6.
I enjoyed my weekend in the Optima, too. Good driver seat, good acceleration, good brake pedal feel, with plenty of room for four and just enough for five.
I've noticed that our longterm 2011 Kia Optima Turbo occasionally makes a muted but distinct rattle upon cold start. After a short time, ten seconds or so, it goes away.
I'm quite confident this is the same characteristic for which Hyundai issued a TSB for the Sonata 2.0T (the Optima Turbo shares its powertrain and most of its genes with this car). Click the jump for the gory details of what's going on here.
It's all related to lighting off the catalyst. In this engine the turbo's wastegate is actuated electronically, which allows for some unconventional tricks that would be impossible with a conventional pressure-based pneumatic actuator.
One big trick is this — during a cold start the wastegate is commanded to an open position to allow hot exhaust gas from the exhaust manifold to bypass the turbo's turbine stage. The turbine housing and wheel are chunks of metal that, when cold, suck heat out of the exhaust gas. By opening the wastegate, the hot gas stays hot, resulting in more rapid catalyst lightoff, which reduces emissions (cold starts constitute the vast majority of a car's emissions profile).
When the turbocharger is cold, so is the wastegate. There's a bit of clearance incorporated among the the wastegate's valve and swingarm to allow for thermal expansion. Enough so that during a cold start, exhaust pulses from the turbo patter against the valve that's hanging in the breeze, and the result is the jingly-rattle noise we hear.
That's was my first thought when I looked at the map in our long-term Optima. It felt good for a half a second or so. Then I fell back into reality and realized that the traffic information system wasn't working. Note the greyed out Sirius traffic button on the left.
Turns out you have to fork over another $4/month to keep that data pouring in. Hmmm...let's see, I can listen to any number of AM stations that have traffic reports every 5 minutes or so. Or I could tune to the Sirius traffic station on the radio that continuously reports the current situation. Or, I could pay the $4 and see the carnage displayed in full color.
Then again, I could just not worry about it since I'm pretty much going to go the same way no matter what the little screen says. Guess what I decided?
Here's how Kia does the climate mode display in the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo. I can appreciate its subtlety but is it too subtle for a quick glance while driving?
This is on the nav screen in the center dash. Bonus is that as part of the screen interface it doesn't take up any extra space. The "Mode" button is located with the rest of the climate controls.
I drove the Kia Optima for a couple of days recently and as I turned in the keys, I realized that I don't have much to say about it. Nothing jumps out at me as being quirky or glitchy. There are no grounds for carping about the power or transmission, unlike some other cars in the fleet (and yes, I'm looking at you, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport). The Optima is comfortable, technologically friendly and responsive.
It serves as a good example of transparent transportation: You get in, you start it, you drive, you arrive. Some days, you want to have a commute that's all about the car and the driving experience, and I'm pretty sure the Optima can deliver that, too. This time, I wasn't in the mood. The Optima was happy to accommodate me.
One thing I've noticed after driving lots of cars with satellite radio over virtually the same routes is that some cars do a better job of maintaining a constant signal over these routes than others.
The Optima's performance in this respect hasn't been so hot.
The signal cut out about three or four times on the way home from work yesterday, and once more when driving the car today. I know that dropouts happen when in the vicinity of tall buildings or bridges that could block the signal, but none of these obstructions were in evidence during the cases I observed.
Are you guys aware of any other factors that influence signal dropouts? What's the reception been like in your vehicle, if you have satellite radio?
It's always fun when people try to guess what kind of car you're driving and guess wrong. It can also be quite telling; if your economy car gets mistaken for a luxury car, then your car's designers are probably doing something right.
So a couple nights ago, a guy and his girl are walking their dog past our parked Optima. They see the car from the angle shown above. Any guesses as to which make and model they mistook the car for? Answer after the jump.
The Optima's already been mistaken for a BMW; this time it was mistaken for an Audi A4 (shown below). What do you think? See any resemblance?
The Optima feels pretty well screwed together. Nudge the steering wheel and it turns crisply. Stab the throttle and it unloads a streaming shot of boost. Even the turn indicator stalk has some damping to it (and a clucking signal sound somewhere between mindful and annoying). The interior, while not made of remarkable materials, still feels substantial. Even the faux leather wrap around the center stack features stitching that both breaks up the base dashboard stuff and adds a subtle level of detail that you don't really expect. It all feels tight, like a very good Audi imitation. Maybe Kia should hunt a few more heads around Ingolstadt.
It's holding up well under our 13,000 hard miles, a testament to how far you can stretch materials and components that are just good enough, while still coming up high on the value sheet.
You have to be impressed with how finely Kia manages the quality ledger on this one.
I drove our Long Term Kia Optima SX Turbo over the weekend. The first time I'd done so in quite a while. When I saw the SX wasn't taken, all I could think about was the cool blue paint, the touch screen nav/iPod interface I like and the cool dual-material seats. I sort of forgot about the gummy steering and I completely forgot about the comfort-access seating.
Kia calls this process of moving your seat needlessly backwards and then automatically forward "easy access"
and it appears to be absolutely mandatory
. (*Edit: Ottowasx looks to know the fix. Will check in the AM and report back. -mm)
Uhm, but what if I don't want it to move at all? Ever.
I like that it has two memory functions, but I don't sit close nor am I inflexible enough to require my seat to scoot back to get out of the car. (I reset my seat and put the car in N, locked the ebrake and tried to get out from my normal position and it was perfectly easy.) I also don't want to crush my rear passengers should they have been greedy during the drive and decided to take up more leg room.
Like most systems, I don't care that this one exists but I want to be able to control it at some level and that includes disabling it completely.
When I first saw the current-generation Optima in the flesh, I was blown away. What's really impressive to me, though, is how far the model's design has progressed over the last decade. It's gone from bland to hurl-inducing and black to bland in a fairly short period. Click through to see what I mean.
2001: Honestly, if you took off the Kia badge, I'd struggle to identify this as anything but a "car."
2003: This was not a solution. Those inboard headlights are atrocious as is the grille that seems to have been inspired by the Deathmobile from Animal House. To compound matters, this is actually a flattering shot of this car. It's even more ungainly in person.
2005: The grille is gone, at least, but now it's heading back to bland.
2006: Blandsville achieved. This is as generic as the Optima got.
Finally, a hint of personality. But really, it just screams "rental car."
Maybe Magrath isn't enamored by some of our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo's features, but here's one that I appreciate every time I drive the blue sedan — the crotch cooler. I slap that sucker on within seconds of pressing the 'engine start' button.
The seats themselves tend toward the flat and unyielding side, though. I'm not saying they need a massaging function, just a little more attention paid to the shape and density of their foam bits.
Anyway, DeRosa's right that the coolers are fairly subtle, but that's like complaining that your fifty-dollar bills are too big for your wallet. I mean, the level of content in a car of the Optima's class was unheard of just a few years ago.
When it comes to cars, handsome sheet metal is often the enemy of good outward visibility — something to do with those trendy high beltlines.
This isn't the case with the Optima, though — the sedan is sharp-looking as it gets, while offering a clear view from most directions.
Just when you're thinking that a cruising range of 500 miles isn't so special, you're reminded that it is.
The day after I went off to Santa Barbara to the start of the Mille Miglia North America Tribute with a half tank of fuel in the Jetta TDI turbodiesel, I found myself in the Kia Optima Turbo with about the same number of miles elapsed on the tripmeter but significantly dimmer prospects for ultimate cruising range. Ah, back to reality.
It's true that there are more cars than ever than can get close to 500 miles of cruising range, but there still ain't many of them.
Whenever I drive our long-term Kia Optima SX Turbo I think about its tires. Specifically how terrible they are. To me, this car always feels like its a good set of tires away from being really good.
But as it comes from Kia wearing these Nexen Classe Premiere CP662 all-season things, it rides a little rougher than it should and it stops, steers and turns like it's wearing bottom basement buy three get one free rubber from Costco.
Honestly I'd never heard of Nexen tires until yesterday when I took the above photo. I know nothing about the brand and I know nothing about the quality of Nexen's products. But I do know when a good car feels like it's being held back by bad tires, and the Kia Optima SX Turbo is a classic case of good car bad rubber.
Funny, some of our staff members have noticed this before. When we took the Optima to the test track back in February test driver Chris Walton wrote in his notes, "Where's the grip? Nexen tires make the Optima feel like it's trying to turn on ice." He later went on to call the tires slippy and said they overheat and get greasy within a few runs through the slalom. He also said the tires felt slippery in the braking runs from 60 mph.
Meanwhile the performance test numbers are lukewarm for a sedan wearing sizable, low profile 225/45R18 inch rubber. It pulled a .80g around the skidpad and ran through the slalom at 62.7 mph. It also stopped from 60 mph in 125 ft. Not embarrassing by a long shot, but I'm curious what it could do with better shoes. And I'm not talking about Summers either, just a good, quality all-season ultra high-performance tire like these. I'm not sure, but maybe Nexen's own ultra high-performance all-season tire called the N6000 would even be better.
Then there's the Optima's ride. This car always feels like it rides rougher than it should. Like there's 90 psi in the tires. It crashes over stuff instead of absorbing the impacts. Again, probably the tires.
I remember when wind vanes like this first started popping up on BMWs not too long ago. The engineers claimed that the small bumps smoothed the airflow around the mirror housing which helped to keep wind noise down. We took their word on it since the Edmunds wind tunnel was down for maintenance at the time.
Since then, this feature has been added to countless new cars and sure enough those cars have little to no wind noise coming off their side mirrors. In the Optima, it's just one of many small things that make this a very comfortable cruiser. Tire noise is still a little bit more prominent that it should be, but even that is barely loud enough to be annoying. Combined with the fact that it can drop a gear and pass just about anything in a matter of seconds, the Optima is very enjoyable on the highway.
We've had our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo for over nine months now and I feel like everything that could possibly be blogged about it has been. Suffice it to say, I get the car for the weekend and still appreciate its passing power, technology, seat heaters, interior materials quality, looks, etc. And yes, I would gladly choose it as a road trip car.
Now, is there anything that we haven't covered on it that you'd like to know about? We've done an audio review, how it fits five people, service reviews, and passenger seat impressions. What else?
I have turbocharging on the brain today. That's because I'm editing an article about the role turbos will play as manufacturers continue their quest for lighter, more fuel-efficient engines in order to comply with ever-more-stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The federal agencies that regulate fuel economy and emissions have set a 2025 goal of 54.5 mpg for the U.S. fleet. (For a bevy of complicated reasons, that's equivalent to about 36 mpg on a window sticker.)
Experts say that turbos are present in about 10 percent of the light-vehicle market today, headed toward 23 percent by 2016 and as high as 80 percent by the end of the decade. That's speedy adoption.
From a consumer standpoint, the Optima seems to be an excellent example of why turbos might take off. If all turbocharged cars drive like it does, achieving that 80 percent figure should be a snap.
What's your take on turbos? Are there downsides that would deter you from having turbo in your next car?
Thanks again, guys, for the heads-up about what you'd like to see us blog about on our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo. I put in a request to Dan Edmunds for a suspension walkaround. I'll leave the tire test and NSX vs. Optima SX comparo to the testing team.
In any case, one thing I wanted to point out about our Kia that you didn't ask about but that those who watch too many zombie movies or are skittish (both me) will certainly appreciate. When parked somewhere creepy, you'll love the fact that with the smart/keyless entry, you don't have to dig around in your bottomless bag or pocket looking for the key. Not only do the interior lights turn on when you put your hand on the door handle but the handle has that nifty button that you can just press to unlock the car right quick. Pfew! Facilitating quick getaways from the Boogeyman (be it imaginary or real).
I know the Kia isn't the only car in existence with this feature but when I was talking about it to a BMW 1 Series owner she complained that her Bimmer only turns on the interior light when she touches the handle but the handle doesn't have that unlock button. Anyway that surprised me.
Turns out that the Comfort Access keyless entry option comes with the $1,000 Convenience package for the BMW. While Kia offers the keyless entry (with panic alarm function) standard for all its Optima trim levels except the manual LX.
Whatever the car, it's a little feature that I really appreciate, especially going out at night in the city as much as I do.
The whole "sport pedals" thing is a bit overblown. Sure, shiny metal pedals look cool and all, but do they really add anything to the driving experience? For the most part I would say no, and I still don't think any different after driving the Optima.
I do, however, find the rubber studded pedals in our Kia better than your average footrests. Unlike most pedals that are hard and flat, these actually have something to grab onto.
We had rain here all day yesterday and it was a noticeable convenience. I could get in the car with soaked shoes and use both the brake and the gas without my foot constantly slipping off the pedals. A big deal? Hardly, but it's a nice touch nonetheless. Not sporty, just useful.
When I started up the Kia Optima this morning, the IP screen immediately flashed the sporty sedan's desire for an oil change.
The Thanksgiving holiday makes for a hectic week around here, so the Optima will likely have to wait until next week to receive its regular service.
At the LA Auto Show last week I ran into Michael Sprague, Kia's VP of marketing and public relations. Michael's fun to talk to and is part of the team engineering the current success of Kia.
Eventually the conversation wandered to our long-term Optima SX Turbo. I expressed our affinity for the car, but told Michael we felt it needed better tires. His expression told me he had heard that criticism before. But then he told me that the Optima was getting a long list of improvements for 2012.
Sadly new tires aren't coming, but the entry-level LX trim will come with standard chrome-accented exterior door handles, foglights, heated outside mirrors and automatic headlights. The EX model will get standard LED taillights as well. Silver wheel caps replace the black caps on all 16- and 17-inch wheels.
Inside, the Optima receives a revised center fascia finish, and the EX sedan gets new wood and metal trim. Kia has also removed the Infinity audio system from the Technology package, and will include the eight-speaker Infinity system, the Uvo in-car hands-free entertainment and communication system package, HD radio and power-folding outside mirrors in the Premium package instead.
Sprague also told me that the seats have been redesigned for 2012 to respond to customer feedback. They'll have a little more shape and a softer foam. I've never had issue with the seats in our 2011 Optima, but we'll sample the 2012 seats soon and report our impressions.
I've been driving our long-term Kia Optima SX turbo quite a bit. Last week I lived in the thing, driving it back and forth to the LA Auto Show and to dinners and functions all over the city. During those 600 miles I drove the Optima in every condition imaginable short of a snow storm. Ok, I never took it off-road either.
But at the end of the week I realized how well the Optima had served me. It wasn't just transportation. It was enjoyable. I liked it. Not because it got me there and back. Any car can do that. I liked it because it got me there with a smile.
Some cars go beyond Point A to Point B, and the Optima SX Turbo is one of those cars. And when I would find it waiting for me in an empty parking garage late at night after a 17 hour day I was glad it was there. I would climb behind the wheel, loosen my tie, and truly enjoy the drive home.
I could own this car.
Happy Thanksgiving.
It's a good day for our long-term Kia Optima.
1). It crossed the 15,000-mile mark, and we're still digging it.
2). We scheduled a service appointment for tomorrow.
Happy 15K, Kia.
For the first service visit we took the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo to Car Pros Carson Kia, in Carson, Calif. There, the service advisor put us on notice that next time we might be due for brake service. It wasn't a big deal but to talk brake service in the first service visit was getting things off on a bad footing. (A friend's Honda Element went over 100k without needing brakes.) So, for variety, I decided to try another dealership and compare the service. I called Kia of Cerritos and scheduled an appointment. I spoke with a service advisor, Rene, who was friendly, efficient and helpful.
When I arrived in the service lane this morning, a service advisor popped out of the nearby offices and approached me. Yes, it was Rene, and he was just as friendly, helpful and efficient in person. Since it was cold, I said I'd meet him inside. "Just go to the lounge, I'll find you," he said. As I waited for him to bring me the paperwork, my customary suspicious nature began to work. Was he being friendly to soften me up for an inflated service bill?
Moments later, true to his word, he appeared with a clipboard and asked me to sign. "How much is it?" I had to ask. He pointed at the bottom line: "Just $49.95." I felt like a creep for being so uptight. But in the past, we've seen overcharges of all kinds for what should be routine maintenance. He also told me that a software update was needed. It took over two hours for all the work to be done. But Rene kept coming out to give me status reports. Otherwise, it would be like sitting in a restaurant and wondering if the waiter forgot you. It was a considerate touch that offset the long wait.
One more thing: It's always interesting to see what the different dealerships put on their little oil change sticker in the upper right hand corner. The default position used to be 3,000 miles and three months. But that figure has been creeping up as oil change intervals become longer. Kia of Cerritos said we need another oil change in four months or 5,000 miles which pretty much agrees with our owner's manual.
This is not our long term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo even though it is the same color. I took this picture in the Kia of Cerritos show room yesterday while I was waiting for an oil change. This baby had a sticker price of $30,000. If you're so excited by the giant bow on top, and you're thinking of buying this for someone for Christmas, the True Market Value price is only $300 under the sticker price. Not much of a discount, although you could probably get a better price by going through the internet department.
Everyone on staff loves the Optima, and I really enjoyed my two nights behind the wheel. In the past, when you thought about a Kia, you assumed you would get a bargain. This car has a lot of value for the money but the price ain't cheap.
OK, this may be a silly thing to point out but if you're a food enthusiast/'80s arcade fan like me you might appreciate this. When cruising around town in our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo, I couldn't help but notice that someone had checked the "burger joint" box for the nav's POI.
Check out the attention to detail in that burger graphic. Aw, you can actually see the sesame seeds on the bun, the bit of lettuce and the slices of cheese. Also it kind of reminds me of that old arcade game Burger Time.
It's a minor detail for sure, but after being in the Jetta this weekend with its Spartan navigation map, it was a nice contrast. I mean, I really enjoy the Kia's "artwork," like for its climate control graphic and "align steering wheel" pic.
I went to the LA Auto Show during the public days and stood in a short line at the Kia display, ostensibly for an autograph from golfer Michelle Wie. (Kia is a sponsor of the LPGA, including the Kia Classic tourney, March 19-25 in Carlsbad, Calif.) But my real reason was to get this hip-hop hamster.
I know that he belongs in a Soul, but there wasn't one available to take home last night.
Did you know that you're taller in the morning? I've known that for a while, because when I get in a car that I drove the night before, I'm just a bit closer to the headliner and the mirrors are just a fraction too low. This morning, our long-term Optima made that fact much, much clearer.
The first indication was that my hair was brushing the sunroof rail headliner. All the way into the office, it was in constant contact with the ceiling. I generally adjust the seat to have the lowest possible height, and the Optima is no different. But I already had it as low as possible.
What does this mean? Well, if you're taller than 5'10" and you're considering a Kia Optima, don't get the sunroof.
Oh, and by the way, the reason you're taller in the morning has been attributed to your disks in your back and joints compressing during the day. When you sleep (unless you sleep standing up, in which case, you're weird), all that stuff re-hydrates and expands. That's your fun fact for the day, you're welcome.
Last night, I fell in love with the button on the Optima's shifter. It was kinda immediate. The shifter itself fits well in my hand, the button is in exactly the right place and takes little effort to push. But it's not so easy that you'll accidentally hit it and shift it when you don't want to.
How do you feel about your car's shifter?
I've always held that good design doesn't cost more than poor design. This applies to an entire exterior design as well as something as simple as a badge. Badges stand for something. They're the ambassadors of the company that built them. They're the "jewelry" or accessories for the car and say something about the vehicle's purpose, place, or even worth. What does the Kia badge say to you?Here are a few badges I've snapped over the past year or so. Of course, there are a bunch more I should have/could have included, but these few should illustrate some differences.
Besides the fact that the wheels on our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo look like those on the Hot Wheels cars I played with as a child, they also are highly susceptible to being curbed. Perhaps this is the reason for the steering angle display at start up. Follow the jump to see a few shots of the minuscule amount of (non-existent amount of) cushion the tire provides against curbs. Interestingly, the rear wheel has suffered more contact than the front.
Seriously. This is just asking for trouble...
And this is a rear wheel... Notice how the tire itself is completely unscathed?
Alas, the front wheel also is scratched.
Our Kia Optima briefly warns its driver (at start up) if its front wheels are pointed askew and in what direction. Is this really necessary? Won't it become obvious the moment the car begins to move? The only other time I've seen this was in a Land Rover (and Porsche Cayenne?) as an off-road assist screen.
A few weeks ago I felt like driving. It was Saturday. Wife and kids were off doing wife and kids stuff. The sun was shining. And I had the keys to our long-term Kia Optima SX Turbo. Destination Malibu.
If you live on the westside of L.A. and you want to drive, you head for Malibu. The famed Pacific Coast Highway makes for great starters. But the real destinations are the less traveled canyon roads that snake their way endlessly through the Santa Monica Mountains. Roads named Stunt, Piuma and Latigo. You can be up there flogging for hours without seeing another car. Days without driving the same route twice.
Sure, I would have rather been in our long-term 5.0 Mustang or NSX, but the Optima turned out to be a pretty good dance partner. I still think it needs better tires and a bit more front end grip (maybe better rubber will fix that), but I was smiling most of the time and the car was enjoying it. I discovered the Optima's need for a little trailbraking and its ability to spin a tire on corner exit if you jump on the accelerater harder than you really should. I also was impressed with its brakes. Sure, I could have cooked them if I really wanted to, but at 8-10th they were happy and heat resistent. And its steering feels better in the hills than it does in the city.
At the end of the run, back on PCH southbound toward the sprawl, I had a new found respect for the Kia sedan with the pretty face. It had earned it the old fashioned way.
The Kia Optima has a panoramic sunroof with a thin, roller-style sunshade. My camera is pointed directly at the sun in this shot. Keen readers will note that they cannot see our local star.
So, how come Kia manages to block out the sun with this type of shade but Fiat, Mini and many more cannot?
Yesterday morning our Kia Optima flashed a new service light I'd never seen before, specifically asking for a tire rotation. Since our car was at service a 1,000 miles ago and the tires were rotated then, I'm guessing the tech forgot to reset that particular warning.
Time to break out the manual and see if we can reset it ourselves.
Gee, why on Earth do I like our Optima's color so much? I can't think of any Earthly reason.
That's our long-term 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo fueling up in Baker, CA on my last visit to Las Vegas. Baker (and Barstow) are popular fuel stops as they are the last "cities" on the road to Vegas. Some of my colleagues love to make this 600 mi roundtrip journey from Los Angeles on one tank of fuel.
Not me. I get no thrill from running on vapors. Besides, who knows what the weather will be like on those mountain passes? And if there's a horrific crash, like the overturned big rig in the opposite direction on my return trip, you could be parked on The 15 for some time.
So I fuel up at least once on the roundtrip, and usually twice if I do some driving around Vegas.
I ended up getting 26.3 mpg running on 87 octane (per RTFM) and in Eco mode (entirely) for my trip. That's about spot-on with the EPA 26 mpg Overall, but way off of the EPA Highway 34 mpg.
But I think that's pretty good considering the grades, that the car was full of four people and luggage, and the fact that I was driving fairly quickly.
What do you think? Is that good mpg for our Optima?
And what is your general guideline on the tank level for fueling up? For me it's a 1/4 tank on a road trip or in my regular driving. When I was in Detroit, during the winter it was about 1/2 tank after several co-workers recommended it.
Two 12v outlets flank the Optima's iPod/Aux audio input. Each front occupant gets their own mobile toy charger. Nice. It's a small, but thoughtful detail that suggests Kia product planners were considering drivers and passengers living in the 21st century.
Something about this angle of the Optima reminds me of the first-generation Acura TSX. Maybe the Optima's electric blue paint looks similar to a shade offered on those early TSXs. Or maybe it's the banded headlights and wide, tapering hood profile. Whatever it is, this is a flattering pose for the Optima. Rest of the car isn't bad either, but except for the honeycomb grille and handlebar moustache chrome trim motif, this is a sharp, aggressive look.
Having spent the holiday weekend driving around in the Optima, I could see buying one myself. I didn't get this impression the few times I'd driven it home for one-night stands. But after getting to know one another better, I think the Optima hits the right notes, from the mundane to the adrenal.
I like the keyless entry/thumb-button lock and unlock, and push-button start. Keep the key in your pocket (smaller fob would be good), easy. Likewise, keep the smartphone in pocket and stream your music, or wire the phone in and control menus and playlists from the touchscreen.
I'm down on touchscreens at the moment, the Optima no exception. Smudgy fingerprints, bleached out when the sun's overhead or behind, just plain distracting: I hope they go away. Dial-and-screen controllers I can get behind; you still need to pull your eyes from the road, but only to see and confirm an input, and not to also guide your finger to a point on the display. Perhaps with time you can intuitively learn where things are on a touchscreen, and the Optima performs better than many in this regard, with its display's big, blocky tabs and buttons. Still, down with the touchscreen.
I like that climate and audio controls still use buttons and knobs. The steering wheel's a little too button-happy, but there's a trend no one's likely to reverse. Like that there's ample storage in the side pockets, glovebox and deep center console with an elevated tray for a wallet stacked fat with Washingtons. Ah yeah, Jack In the Box Jumbaco value, coming for you, baby. Had no issues with the seats, although couple of the other editors have said they don't stand up to long hauls.
And then there's the powertrain. Damn, this thing just pulls and pulls, and pulls just a little more. Too much, really. It's like a small horse that somehow got into some Red Bull. Plenty of torque steer in the upper reaches if you want it, and not enough suspension travel to keep the tires firmly planted over road rash. But just as swiftly as it accelerates, grabbing a paddle for an upshift settles it right back down. Passing slow traffic on the highway becomes a thrill, setting up for the pass, then grabbing a downshift, and the Optima just whips you forward. It's easy to drive this car in a completely belligerent, sociopathic manner.
Still not feeling the interior, though. The layout is nice and the gaps and stitching and all that is fine. But the materials don't feel matched to a $31,000 car (about the price as tested here). The seats are comfortable enough, but the vinyl-eather covering belongs on lawn furniture. The doors and other plastic surfaces are notching up mars and scars. And the poly-vinyl material covering the steering wheel just feels cold and chalky. All this too seems a trend no one's likely to reverse, especially as the American dollar doesn't buy quite as much for Asian automakers anymore.
The Optima may disappoint someone nostalgic for older Accord and Jetta interiors. But it's hardly a deal-breaker. For younger drivers just seeking some kicks on the way to work or out with friends, or even just buyers who want a little habanero in their family sedan, the Optima SX just gets much of it right.
When you dream about the Kia Optima at night, does it look like this in your head? For its new Super Bowl ad, Kia will be playing up the male fantasy angle. The Optima sedan will race around a track while rock band Motley Crue provide the soundtrack with their song "Kickstart My Heart." Mixed martial arts fighter Chuck Liddell will make an appearance somehow and Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima is the flag girl.
"As we're dreaming at night, our true desires come out," Michael Sprague, Kia Motors America head of marketing and communications was quoted as saying in USA Today.
I dunno. Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but none of the above comes to mind when I get behind the wheel of our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo. Has Kia hit the mark with you guys? Or is it just all too surreal?
The ad will start airing in movie theaters on February 3rd and run during game day on the 5th.
In 2007 my commuter car must have was an Aux jack. Quickly that was replaced by a dedicated iPod cable and then, rightly, to the USB input where it sits today. The must have feature is something — in a daily driver — that I wouldn't go without. It would be a deciding factor in initial car selection.
With the exception of something like our Mazda 3, USB ports are common and easy to get. It's still a must-have for me, but it's no longer something special. The new special is paddle shifters on normal cars. Yes yes I should want a manual damn the traffic but here's the reality of the situation: I drive, on average, 19 miles per day and average somewhere around 19 mph. The traffic isn't stop and go as much as it is 2-8-2-15-5-30-5-40-5 and doing any work at that time of the morning in that stupid traffic is maddening. But having paddle shifters that allow me to slow the car down with the engine make this process significantly more efficient. They even make driving a slushbox more fun if you happen to break free of traffic and hit one of those canyon roads.
Not only are the paddles are available as standard on the SX Turbo, they're standard on the 2012 Toyota Camry SE. That bodes well for me. If the Camry's got 'em, everyone will soon and I'll need to find a next Must Have. Proximity entry is pretty neat. Automatic headlights are already pretty much standard. Maybe power doors? Power hatch would be cool, but no...
Actually, feeling the paddles is the problem. As you can see, they're made of plastic, which is fine for some things but it's rarely a good idea for something you grab with several of your fingers and pull on.
There's nothing mechanical about plastic no matter how hard or indestructible it may be. It's a flimsiness that's hard to ignore. So although these paddles are unlikely to break off at any time, they lend a certain cheapness to the car that I'm sure Kia would rather not promote.
Oddly enough, the Bentley Continental GT suffers from the same problem. Go figure.
Every time I see the exterior of our 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo I remember how much I really dig the styling of this Kia (Peter Schreyer does good work). And I'd option mine in this very same Corsa Blue, it just looks right with the dark grille and Kia's slightly over-the-top wheels.
But then I get in and see the touchscreen that doesn't really make anything easier. It's just a touch-based interface because that's what someone said a car like this needed. And then there's the display in the IP. The resolution is low and the displays are, again, kind of pointless. The whole thing feels like a forced attempt at hitting the marks set by market research.
Kia apparently knows this, though, as they've got the new UVO system available on a host of 2012 MY cars, but you can't get it with Nav. Not in the Optima. The system is dated but isn't deal breaker bad. It would, however, count as a check in the "cons" column of the list I make for every purchase and in a field this tight, every check counts.
(It should be noted that the non-touchscreen controls — HVAC, hard radio buttons — are very good.)
I was at a Super Bowl party this weekend. Between mouthfuls of corn chips and guacamole, a fellow attendee who knows what I do for a living asked me what I was driving. I told him an S60. He asked how it was. I replied that it's a nice sedan — drives well, pretty comfortable, has a lot of features. "How much?" he asked. "Well, our car is loaded up. But mid 30s would be more typical," I said.
He nodded his head. Then he asked: "So why would somebody get an S60 when they could just get a loaded Optima instead?"
Super Bowl advertising influence, perhaps? But it's a good question.
Here's a quick chart of a 2012 Optima EX Turbo and a 2012 Volvo S60 T5.
(*For the test numbers, I used our 2011 Optima. I priced a 2012 EX Turbo as that seemed the most comparable.)
If you go by the numbers, there's not much of a difference here. As for features, they're fairly comparable as well, with items such as an eight-way power driver seat, dual-zone automatic climate control, a USB/iPod interface and Bluetooth as standard. With the Optima, you also get leather upholstery and keyless ignition/entry, though on the Volvo you get the City Safety feature.
You could also go back and forth about additional features or total cost, but I think it's fair to say you get a pretty similar car in terms of features and performance with the Kia, but at a considerably lower price. On that alone, Kia deserves a lot of credit with what it's done for the new Optima. What you don't get with the Optima are things not easily shown on a spec sheet. The Volvo shows it up with its higher interior quality, a more refined ride quality, more communicative steering, and, as a more subjective matter, image.
I like both cars, so credit to anybody who buys either one. If I had to choose between the two for myself, though, I'd get an Optima.
It had been quite some time since I last drove our long-term Kia Optima SX. And you know what? I'd forgotten what a genuinely nice car it really is.
I mean it's got the flashy styling that attracts attention if you're into that. A sporty-looking interior with generally nice materials. And seat coolers (I'm definitely into that).
But what gets me more than anything else...
is the Optima SX's turbocharged four-cylinder. It has excellent low-end torque along with a truly decent 274 horsepower. Just punch it and it goes. Never overwhelming, but always more than adequate for any situation.
Plus, it's a pretty smooth-running piece. Nice.
Notice something about the gas cap on our turbocharged Kia Optima?
That's right, it's blue and it has a cap holder. More importantly, it doesn't feature a sticker that warns owners against using regular gas.
This seems like a no brainer for a midsize family sedan, but when you're talking about a car powered by a turbocharged, four-cylinder engine, it's a little more unique.
It's one thing to offer a high-powered four-cylinder engine in place of a V6, but if owners are then forced to use premium gas the cost savings go out the window. Look for this to become a more prominent issue as more and more manufacturers adopt smaller, turbocharged powerplants.
Gas issues aside, the Optima's engine remains impressive after all these miles. It's responsive, smooth-running and quiet even at full throttle. The quick-shifting transmission helps even if the paddles are a little on the cheap side.
Found this hidden gem during a recent video shoot with our Kia Optima: No, not the candy bar, but a cooled glove box, which comes standard on all Optimas. This is great if you don't want something like a candy bar to melt on a hot summer day. Or any day here in southern California.
All you do is open that vent and the air conditioning system routes cool air into the glove box. Provided the a/c is on.
Or, if you have no need for a cool glove box, just close the vent as pictured here.
Not exactly a high-tech operation, but it works.
After all this time, the Kia Optima Turbo still seems the same to me.
So this means that it's still a little too much for me. You know, trying too hard with the way it looks, those less than resilient seats, all that rebound damping, and stiff-sidewall tires. Then again, this Kia is not for wimps, and it's nice to see a sport sedan that lives up to its billing.
But no change also means a very good thing.
After a year and the new wears off, a lot of cars are genuinely frayed at the edges. Suddenly the compromises in quality, specification or performance are more apparent than ever. And this has been especially true with cars with a Korean nameplate.
The Kia Optima Turbo seems to be a conspicuous exception. It might not be exactly my kind of car, but it looks and drives just as it did when it arrived. And considering the things this car has been through while in our hands, the fact that it still seems the same to me makes a bigger statement about quality than even a 100,000-mile warranty.
Eco mode in this turbo-charged sports sedan always struck me as an oxymoron. I was pondering this yesterday on a drive to the Palm Springs area and decided to see what difference eco mode made to the fuel economy. After all, if you're going a constant speed you won't miss the punch. And there are times when you just want to save a few bucks on gas.
So I drove to Palm Springs, 130-miles from my house, in normal mode and monitored my fuel economy using the on-board gauge. The traffic was stop and go most of the way. (Yes, I know these gauges are somewhat unreliable, but I felt if it was consistently unreliable it would at least reveal the difference.) Then, I made the return trip of the same difference in eco mode. The difference was much bigger than I thought.
In normal mode I got 26.6 mpg.
In eco mode I got 34.7 mpg.
If I owned this car I think I would be in eco mode any time I was just trying to get there.
Well, It's No Camry SE
Through circumstance and misadventure, I found myself on a tour of California in the Kia Optima SX Turbo last weekend. Up to Santa Clara from L.A., then across to Sacramento, back to L.A. and then a short hop to San Clemente and back.
The Optima isn't my favorite sedan, but it worked out fine.
And then right after I returned, I found myself in the 2012 Toyota Camry SE. And within minutes, I was amazed to discover just how good the Kia had become.
The Kia's turbo four-cylinder engine is weak at low rpm and sounds bad besides, but it cruises the freeway effortlessly and quietly. The Camry's four-cylinder always seems to be two gears away from where it needs to be, so you wonder where the power went.
The Optima SX Turbo's suspension is snubbed down a little too firmly and there's a lot of noise from the tires. But the Camry SE's sport suspension is all spring and no damping, and so every bump from the highway makes it weave down the road.
The effort level for the Kia's steering is very heavy, more evidence that carmakers have been listening too closely to all the chest-beating journalists who believe tractor-style steering is a key indicator of a fast car. There's some stiction in the action of its electric-assist steering, but it only makes you crazy part of the time. Meanwhile, the Camry SE's electric-assist steering has so much stiction that it makes you crazy all the time, especially when you can't get the steering in phase with the chassis.
The Optima's interior is a bit glitzy, and the driver seat doesn't look like much although it works well once you dial in the adjustable lumbar support. The maps of the navigation system aren't quite detailed enough when the scale gets close up. The Camry's interior has a grab-bag of unpleasant elements that makes me think of a 1980s Chrysler K-car, and I started squirming in the driver seat within 20 minutes. The navigation system's maps might be better than those on a cell phone, but not by much.
So over the course of a couple days, I've been reminded just how far Kia has come.
When I first drove a Kia in Japan in the in he early 1980s, the company had a relationship with Ford and the cars were cast-off old-tech Mazdas made in Korea. Later, Kia came under the Hyundai umbrella, apparently because a scion of Hyundai's family-related executive board needed something to do, and the cars were old-tech Mitsubishis with names that no one could remember.
And now the Kia Optima SX Turbo is a car that attracted notice at every hotel, gas station and stop-and-rob snack mart that I visited in California. So far, no one has asked me anything about the Toyota Camry SE except for directions to the nearest Starbucks.
There appears to be a rivalry developing between Kia and its sister brand/parent Hyundai. Kia is going head-to-head with Hyundai across several vehicles in its model line, with the latest instance being the recent announcement of the Kia KH/K9 based on the Genesis platform.
However, the best example of this is the Kia Optima and its sibling the Hyundai Sonata.
Kia has recently been advertising the daylights out of the Optima, including a big promotion with Clippers basketball star Blake Griffin and a superbowl ad with supermodel Adriana Lima.
And most people think the Optima's styling is better and its coolness factor higher compared to Sonata.
With all that you would think that the Optima is committing spectacular sororicide on the Sonata.
To borrow a phrase from The Terminator, "Wrong."
I asked Edmunds' crack Pricing & Analysis team to conduct a CSI investigation.
It turns out that the Optima is not whomping the Sonata in sales. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Optima didn't spike in sales after its redesign in Dec 2010 like the Sonata did in Feb 2010. And for quite a long time, Sonata sales annihilated those of the Optima. Recently, though, Optima has closed the gap with a steady sales rise while Sonata has been on the decline.
My colleague Ivan Drury, Manager, Edmunds' Pricing & Analysis, hypothesized that perhaps the Days to Turn metric (DTT) would show that Optima is hotter in sales. DTT measures the amount of days the car sits on the lot from delivery to the dealership to the day it sells. It is a good indicator of how hot and desirable a vehicle is. (Industry average DTT is about 49 days.)
Wrong again.
Optima previously had a much longer DTT than Sonata, but has also closed this gap within the last year.
Here's the data tables:
So there's no doubt that Sonata is still the big sister in this sibling rivalry.
But as my one buddy always tells me, the younger sister is frequently the one that's more attractive.
Wrap-Up
What We Got
The Kia Optima was all-new for 2011 and it was astonishing. Here was a sedan with a Kia badge that made people's heads turn. Sure, it was similar to the Hyundai Sonata under its skin, but that skin had some serious style. Then Kia said there would be a turbocharged version with 274 horsepower, not to mention a full hybrid model.
Clearly there was plenty to talk about, so we immediately looked into one for the long-term fleet to see if it would live up to its hype. We decided on a 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo. It promised V6 power, four-cylinder mileage and a sport sedan feel. We opted for the SX Premium package that added a panoramic sunroof, power front seats, heated and cooled front seats and heated rear seats. The Technology package accessorized our SX Turbo with a navigation system, back-up camera and Infinity eight-speaker audio system. All told, the MSRP was $30,840, about as expensive as an Optima gets. There was no negotiation, however, as Kia loaned us the car for the year.
As hard as it was to ignore the stunning Corsa Blue paint, this test was really about the powertrain. How could we say no to a 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline four-cylinder with 274 hp on tap? Further, it generated 269 pound-feet of torque and achieved 22 city and 34 highway mpg, at least according to the EPA. We were curious if it would live up to those numbers and impress us with its power in the process. Here's what we found out.
Our Impressions
Kia intended for this engine to replace a V6, and I have to say it succeeded. Buyers of V6s want immediate torque, and that's what this turbo mill provides. It's a very linear engine. Rarely with this engine do you get the rubber-band sensation typical of turbo engines; instead, the rise in torque is immediate and in lockstep with your right foot." — Jason Kavanagh
"The Optima's engine remains impressive after all these miles. It's responsive, smooth-running and quiet even at full throttle. The quick-shifting transmission helps, even if the paddles are a little on the cheap side." — Ed Hellwig
"The ride quality isn't as soft as some other cars, but it's still comfortable and controlled on the freeway. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the SX for daily driver duty. Road noise does seem to be a bit more pronounced than the norm, however." — Brent Romans
"The Optima turned out to be a pretty good dance partner. I still think it needs better tires and a bit more front end grip, but I was smiling most of the time and the car was enjoying it. I discovered the Optima's need for a little trail braking and its ability to spin a tire on corner exit if you jump on the accelerator harder than you really should. I also was impressed with the brakes. Sure, I could have cooked them if I really wanted to, but at eight-tenths they were happy and heat-resistant. And its steering feels better in the hills than it does in the city.... I had a newfound respect for the Kia." — Scott Oldham
"It's still a little too much for me. You know, trying too hard with the way it looks, those less-than-resilient seats, all that rebound damping, and stiff-sidewall tires. Then again, this Kia is not for wimps, and it's nice to see a sport sedan that lives up to its billing.... After a year and the new wears off, a lot of cars are genuinely frayed at the edges. Suddenly the compromises in quality, specification or performance are more apparent than ever. And this has been especially true with cars with a Korean nameplate.
"The 2011 Kia Optima seems to be a conspicuous exception. It might not be exactly my kind of car, but it looks and drives just as it did when it arrived. And considering the things this car has been through while in our hands, the fact that it still seems the same to me makes a bigger statement about quality than even a 100,000-mile warranty." — Michael Jordan
"While I can't yet weigh in on the long-distance comfort of the Optima's seats, I was immediately impressed with another aspect. That ring of cloth around the leather seems like a brilliant idea. The edges of the side bolsters almost always wear down with leather, and sometimes quite quickly.... Placing a more resilient material such as the Optima's tech fabric should not only reduce wear, but perhaps even increase grip." — James Riswick
"The Kia Optima Turbo's armrest is definitely not the place for a piece of plastic, carbon-fiber-look or otherwise. For me anyway, my left elbow touches down right where the padded leather and non-padded plastic trim come together... and that's just plain silly, not to mention uncomfortable." — Mike Monticello
"This car always feels like it's a good set of tires away from being really good... But [with] these Nexen Classe Premiere CP662 all-season things, it rides a little rougher than it should and it stops, steers and turns like it's wearing bottom-basement buy-three/get-one-free rubber from Costco." — Scott Oldham
"Love how [as a passenger] I can program a destination into the nav while the car is in motion. The dual climate controls and dual seat heaters/coolers only reaffirm my opinion that the Optima is a great road trip car. The passenger seat wasn't exactly plush or OMG comfy but neither did it compel me to jump out of the car rubbing my tush at every pit stop." — Caroline Pardilla
"In back, we had two adults and one 6-year-old in a bulky booster seat. The main thing everyone noticed was the surplus of rear legroom in the Optima. It's absolutely not a problem to have adults seated behind adults.... plenty of room for four and just enough for five." — Erin Riches
"When a car company goes to the trouble of mounting a gear changing apparatus to the steering wheel, you'd think they would put the controls within easy reach. Surprisingly, not everyone does that.... Thankfully, our Optima SX Turbo's paddles fall right at your fingertips. The paddles are quite broad, making them easy to flick up or down a gear without having to move your hands at all from the 9 and 3 o'clock positions. I like the lip on the end of the paddles, too; it's a nice finger hold." — Kurt Niebuhr
Maintenance & Repairs
Regular Maintenance: Optima Turbos request routine maintenance at 5,000-mile intervals. It was not until its first service appointment that we discovered a glitch with the onboard service warning light. The warning can only be programmed, at the least, for 6,000-mile increments. Our reliance on the computer to keep us informed caught us off guard and we were late for its first service. We resorted to tracking mileage on paper for subsequent visits. Overall, routine maintenance on the 2011 Kia Optima was affordable, as we averaged about $50 per visit.
Service Campaigns: We encountered a handful of unexpected repair items during our test. Kia paid to remedy all of them under warranty. First, it replaced the driver seat after the upholstery started separating. Then Kia reflashed the onboard computer to fix an interior light malfunction. During our test we also experienced some issues that occurred without warning and disappeared before we could address them. There was a failure of the back-up camera. It went blank on a couple of occasions and then worked fine. We also noticed a distinct yet muted rattle during cold starts. We returned the car to Kia prior to a formal recall being issued; however, during our test Hyundai published a TSB for a similar rattle on the Optima's cousin, the Sonata 2.0T.
Fuel Economy and Resale Value
Observed Fuel Economy: We averaged 22 mpg in the 2011 Kia Optima Turbo over 19,035 miles of driving. This equaled the EPA city estimations. Our best single tank of 31 mpg was well shy of the EPA highway calculations of 34 mpg. Its fun-to-drive character distracted from consistent, fuel-efficient driving. Still, in the fuel economy category, this Turbo did not live up to our expectations.
Resale and Depreciation: By test end, Edmunds' TMV® Calculator valued the Optima at $24,758 based on a private-party sale. That equated to slightly less than 20 percent depreciation from its original MSRP. Historically, depreciation of 20 percent deserves recognition. It is a place for elite vehicles. Say what you will about the fuel economy, but the Optima Turbo is in demand in the used car market.
Summing Up
Pros: Exterior styling was a hit with our group. The 274-hp turbo-4 delivered plenty of power in any situation. There is legitimate space for four adult occupants.
Cons: Fuel economy did not meet EPA estimates. Its MSRP exceeded $30,000. Our test car suffered a handful of warranty issues.
Bottom Line: Kia has made a contender out of its previously invisible Optima. It's not only one of the most stylish midsize sedans on the market, it also offers one of the more entertaining drivetrains, too. Anyone who's willing to give up a little fuel mileage in the name of performance will find a capable partner in the 2011 Kia Optima.
| Total Body Repair Costs: | None |
| Total Routine Maintenance Costs: | $100.32 (over 12 months) |
| Additional Maintenance Costs: | None |
| Warranty Repairs: | Replace driver seat, reflash ECU |
| Non-Warranty Repairs: | None |
| Scheduled Dealer Visits: | 2 |
| Unscheduled Dealer Visits: | 1 for seat repair and ECU reflash |
| Days Out of Service: | 2 for warranty repairs |
| Breakdowns Stranding Driver: | None |
| Best Fuel Economy: | 31.1 mpg |
| Worst Fuel Economy: | 12.6 mpg |
| Average Fuel Economy: | 22.2 mpg |
| True Market Value at service end: | $24,758 (private-party sale) |
| Depreciation: | $6,082 (or 20% of original MSRP) |
| Final Odometer Reading: | 19,035 miles |
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.