Used 2019 Kia Optima Consumer Reviews
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Lovely Car
LondonLad, 09/24/2020
updated 08/09/2022
2019 Kia Optima LX 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6A)
17 of 18 people found this review helpful
Handsome to look at, great bodywork and cabin quality, nice, intuitive ergonomics and an easy to use touchscreen system. This car is comfortable, smooth and nice to drive. It's loaded with useful, non-annoying tech that's easy to use. The only complaints I have is that I had to buy a spare tire and jack, and the car plays an irritating audio logo every time you start and stop it, like a 1980s video game: Congratulations for getting in and starting your car! And at the end of the journey, "Congratulations! You arrived at your destination without dying!" Seriously, I'm being picky. It's a great car. 20 years ago, KIA was a joke. But now? I'm not laughing. I'm a fan. Update: 24th March 2021. 16,000 miles later, no mechanical issues, no maintenance other than regular oil and air/cabin filter changes. The filters I do myself, super easy thanks to some thoughtful design by the boffins at Kia. An issue with the instrument cluster has developed, albeit a minor one. Despite setting the illumination to manual control, in daylight the display will not dim, but the touchscreen does. Also very occasionally, a warning pops up saying that the forward camera is blocked, when it's not. The warning disappears within a few minutes. Sometimes it'll chide me for not having my hands on the wheel, when I do. Having done some searching, this seems to be a software issue, Kia has a patch for it, but my local dealer is useless and clueless, dimmer than Joe Biden, as if that were possible. Or they just can't be bothered. I may try disconnecting the battery overnight, effectively rebooting the ECU. In the meantime, I put some black electrical tape over the light sensor on the dash, and now I can manually set the brightness and it doesn't flash up to full brightness in a creditable attempt to burn out my retinas as dawn breaks on my commute to work. Update: Feb 4th 2021: Up to 53k miles, no mechanical issues. Coolant changed at 35k miles. I carbon clean the upper engine with Seafoam Upper Engine Cleaner every 10k miles or so. I'm a happy driver. Update, August 2022. Now at 63k miles. Coolant and transmission fluid changed at 60k miles, 4 new Goodyear tires replacing the original Nexen factory fitted ones. Still driving flawlessly, no issues. The Goodyears run much quieter than the Nexen and provide much better traction in the wet, but have increased fuel consumption by 4-5mpg
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Nice car, but doesn't run well
R. Freeman , 01/25/2021
2019 Kia Optima S 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6A)
11 of 12 people found this review helpful
We have had several problems. Car is burning oil, AC is messed up, horrible grinding noise when taking off on hills and the engine knocks. The dealership is aware of these problems, but nothing has been done yet. Got a second opinion and still nothing.
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Unmatched Value
Greg, 06/02/2019
2019 Kia Optima EX 4dr Sedan (1.6L 4cyl Turbo 7AM)
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
I would like to start my review off by saying that I have never owned a mid-size sedan before, and most vehicles I have owned in the past have been old used cars, or low trim new economy sedans. I do have four years experience working on cars though, so I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly first hand. I mention this because of the simple fact that this vehicle, based on it's pricing, made it possible for me to start driving a near top level trim of what I believe is one of the sharpest looking cars on the road under $30,000. The ride is so smooth, and I really love the sound dampening windows on the EX trim. It makes a huge difference on highway driving and really allows you to enjoy the radio. It's not as "engaging" as some of its counterparts but I'm not the type of driver that drag races people to the next stop sign/light. With that said I have given it some throttle and did feel it had a decent punch, thanks to the turbo. I love Android Auto because I can turn an 8" display into a nav system with Google maps, I can listen to and browse (to a degree) Spotify or iHeartRadio, and best of all I don't have to struggle to tell my system to call Mom, and it respond with "Did you mean to call Work?" This is made possible by the Google Assistant which is ages better at voice recognition than standard Bluetooth systems, and also has years of my own personal voice history stored. Speaking of the radio, I'm not an audiophile but I am pretty picky when I comes to sound. The base system is about average for a non-premium, but I do hear rattling in the door panel even without the bass cranked to 11. I live in Upstate NY and so the heated seats will be a welcome luxury for me, I've even used them on a couple of cooler spring nights and found they heat up fast. Overall, as most reviewers have stated, the cabin is just really well composed and easy to use, something a lot of vehicles fail to do. Overall I am very happy with this vehicle. I've received a lot of compliments on the look. And knowing the vehicles I've driven in the past a lot of people have been surprised I could afford it.
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Mad as hell
Mad , 01/18/2021
2019 Kia Optima S 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6A)
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
I bought this car brand new and it has been in the shop so many times over the same any issues knock sensor keeps going out on it you can be doing 70 miles on the turnpike and all the sudden the car drops to 12 and then drops even a 5 and then starts knocking the car back and forth this car has been a nightmare
Road Noise-STILL!!! 2nd. Review
Willie G., 08/18/2019
updated 02/22/2022
2019 Kia Optima S 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6A)
10 of 12 people found this review helpful
2019 Kia Optima S. Have 18" low-profile tires and lots of road noise! Switched to expensive tires and the noise calmed down a bit. Still sounds like driving on pebbles most of the time. Owned 2 Optimas previously. A 2013 and 2018. Pretty quite ride in both vehicles. They had 16" and 17" Touring tires. These 18" tires are high-performance tires. Don't need them on a Optima 4-dr. sedan. My ace mechanic took car for a ride. He said its definitely the tires, and why do I have low-profile high-performance tires on the car. The tires are made for speed and sporty handling. Well, I can't afford to change the tires again because you have to change the wheel size too. Kia helped me put better tires on the car when I switched them out. So here we are-nothing has changed as far as rode noise is concerned. I was also told that high performance tires have a different pattern in the center of the tire for traction. Also these tires do not absorb the road noise like a touring tire. I can wait till the tires need to be replaced or until we purchase a new car again. Anybody else having the same problem?? August 19, 2020
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