Rating
Quick Summary
Recommended. It's taken 20 years, but Kia has finally come up with a credible large family saloon.
Road Test
Kia has a long and undistinguished history of trying to sell the large Magentis saloon in the UK. No matter how cheap it was, British buyers could not see the point, but they are going to be a lot more receptive to the Optima. To begin with, Kia has a vastly better image now, and has proven it can easily sell £20K SUV models in this country. Secondly, the Optima is actually well-suited to the UK market, with is diesel-only range, sharp styling and lavish equipment.
First impressions are very good. The styling of large Asian saloons has tended to veer between bland and contrived, but the Optima looks upmarket and confident. The big expanse of metal around the C-pillar (the back of the rear passenger door) may not be to everyone's taste, but it is distinctive and gives a tiny hint of a coupe. Above all, it says that Kia has found its own design language and it is not trying to be anyone else, which is a huge step forward compared to 10 years ago. The interior is similarly impressive. The dashboard arguably looks a little busy and the plastic around the ventilation controls is a bit hard and shiny, but the overall impression is something that is up to the standards of a Mondeo or Insignia.
On the road, the surprises continue. The ride is quite firm, but well controlled with good damping - again the exact opposite of its wallowing predecessors. This makes the Optima more entertaining to drive than you would expect, although the light (if accurate) steering dials back the fun-factor somewhat. Performance is best described as satisfactory. The 1.7 litre engine is relatively small for this size of car, but the 134 bhp output does a good job of disguising the fact. Sometimes pulling away from rest, you notice that the engine takes a little time to get into its powerband, and, in the automatic, you can tell that the engine has to work hard up steep hills. However, the 57.6 mpg official fuel consumption for the manual version more than outweighs these minor inconveniences.
Naturally, all versions are well equipped, with the base model getting air-conditioning, Bluetooth, alloy wheels and electrically folding mirrors. Our pick would currently be the 2 Tech trim level, which includes an excellent 12 speaker Infinity audio (Infinity is a sub brand of Harmon/Kardon), sat-nav and part leather seats.
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