Used 2017 Kia Optima Consumer Reviews

More about the 2017 Optima

4.1

75 reviews

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$11,000 - $18,990

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We have a limited number of reviews for the 2017 Optima, so we've included reviews for other years of the Optima since its last redesign.

Wanna see ya in a KIA

Pammy smith, 04/12/2016

2016 Kia Optima LX 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6A)

6 of 12 people found this review helpful

Decent car for the price. Turbo a big help since it is a 4cyl. Wish it had auto seats.

Safety: 3 out of 5 stars

Technology: 3 out of 5 stars

Performance: 3 out of 5 stars

Interior: 3 out of 5 stars

Comfort: 3 out of 5 stars

Reliability: 4 out of 5 stars

Value: 4 out of 5 stars

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Great concept, not well executed.

MG, 01/09/2017

updated 07/15/2019

2016 Kia Optima SX Turbo 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl Turbo 6A)

8 of 17 people found this review helpful

Right after I bought the car I began to hear a creaking sound when the rear tires were going into dips in the road. One dealership was refusing to diagnose properly and I had to call KIA corporated and take it to a different one, it turned out that there were defective welds in the rear. The dealership mechanics do a horrible job with warranty work so if you think the KIA 100,000 miles warranty is going to help, you're wrong. I actually fear going to them for getting another scratch on my car or them breaking something else as they attempt to fix something under warranty (apparently they don't get paid well for that work). Here is what went wrong in 50k miles of highway driving: weld defects, headlights, a/c control, a/c actuator, electric folding mirror, transmission shifter. At nearly 50k that's too much for a well maitained car that has seen 90 percent highway driving. FIRST REVIEW: I'm a demanding customer and I had Toyotas before, which I found to be excellently built (last long with very few problems) and functioning cars, but the ten year old Toyota that I had was totalled in a crash with an unlicensed driver and that Camry was too noisy and had too much body lean and insufficient cornering ability for my style, so I decided to try a different brand, but I needed an all around sedan type vehicle without a 40 grand price tag. Still, my SX Turbo with tech package cost 32 thousand including tax and fees! My main gripe at first was with the steering. It's so numb and/or stiff, that I often found myself parking incorrectly; no steering feeling whatsoever. Then, despite expensive Michelin tires, you feel like the suspension doesn't allow you to take full advantage of the tires on curves. On the other hand, after a near- accident incident I can report that the automatic emergency breaking works very well with the sensors and tires to avoid accidents by allowing you to steer very well as you skid, even on wet surfaces. Also those Michelin tires are worth it! Though it can be noisy, the turbo engine is very powerful, especially in highway passing (40-70) and at above-legal speeds (watch out for tickets), but there is a problem in terms of steering and road feel as well as little visibility (even with blind spot monitor ) so you don't feel confident in quick maneuvers through highway traffic when it's crowded, so you have just stay in the left lane and use just brute speed to efficiently go from place to place in those conditions whereas a car with more road feel and visibility like the Honda Accord might allow maneuvering more safely and quickly between cars . Also, the car has three drive modes (eco, sport, and normal). In normal mode, on certain slightly hilly up and down roads, the turbo engine is somewhat inconsistent in terms of when the turbo kicks in (not sure if its lag or some other issue) and can make it difficult to accelerate predictably when passing or merging into traffic, so you need to have the car in sport mode for maximum acceleration at those times or you will be alarmed by its low acceleration. Unfortunately, once you are off the highway in more urban traffic, when in sport mode to make the most of the enine, starts from a dead stop can be extremely noisy and difficult to control, calling unnecessary attention to yourself so people want to race you (haha) and generally making too much noise in an urban setting, so you have to switch out of Sport mode in town. Annoying. Finally, you notice details that are poorly tested, like one touch windows that are very difficult not to activate, or a defogger that takes more than 15 minutes to do the job, or automatic locking keyless entry that you can't figure out how to unlock the other doors once you have unlocked the front one, like one click gas cap that has a weird feel, like cheap carpeting on the rear shelf when you have leather seats etc, like a dry leather on the steering wheel, like paint that chips with the tiniest stone, like a navigation system that can't find the local bus station, like voice recognition that doesn't recognize. Then minor problems under warranty that dealerships should be repairing easily are a problem: service reps can't duplicate concern, tech's can't fix something or break something new when fixing... et etc. Finally, I had to get a manufacturer field rep to repair the auto head and rear lamps which would go off for no reason in the middle of the night. Also, generally the materials of the interior and exterior seem brittle, easy to break/ scratch and poor quality... Look, It's a beautiful looking car for sure (in this version) , and most everybody agrees it is, but I'm not sure that I can deal with the lack of quality in design that makes a car REALLY work well or that I can deal with the numb steering... if you're a demanding, detail oriented customer who likes quality above all else (and I don't mean name brand, but years of flawless service), look elsewhere. I've maintained this car extremely well.