Kia Optima review
by David Finlay (12 January 2012)
The Kia Optima, on sale in the UK from February 1, is Kia's first serious attempt at a D-segment (Mondeo/Insignia-sized) car for many years. Until now it has been soldiering on with the very out-of-date Magentis - itself known as Optima in other markets - but apart from approximately shared dimensions there is very little to link that car with its replacement.
Possibly the best thing about the Optima is its styling. To me, this is one of the best-looking cars in the class, and if you said it's the most handsome car of any sort in the Kia line-up I would be inclined to agree. Some of its features, notably the unusually-shaped front grille, seem clumsy on smaller Kias but work rather well on this one.
The interior design is smart without being particularly adventurous. The only real problems are that the materials feel cheaper than they look, and the major controls don't give much impression of sturdiness. We're a long way from the days when the only reason to buy a Kia was that it hardly cost anything, but this model still doesn't feel like a quality product compared with several others that you might pick instead.
The Optima is a saloon rather than a hatchback, so it loses out a little on practicality. Boot space is 505 litres (with enough room under the floor for a sensible full-sized spare wheel) and that's fractionally more than you get in an Insignia and a little less than in a Mondeo. Loading isn't as easy as it might be because the top of the boot opening is very near the back of the car, and although you can fold down the rear seat backs the curious shape of the hole in the bulkhead doesn't give much room for long items to be slid through.
Passenger room in the back is okay as long as you're not much more than six feet tall; if you are, the downward slope of the roof is going to cause slight problems. There is no such issue up front unless your car has a sunroof, which knocks a good couple of inches off the available headroom. Another issue which suggests that form was given higher priority than function is the thickness of the rear pillars, which in the current fashion of Kia (and, to be fair, almost everyone else) drastically limits visibility when you're trying to reverse.
Petrol engines are available in other markets, but for the UK the only choice is a 1.7-litre turbo diesel. This produces a maximum of 134bhp, and although that's not enough to make the Optima particularly quick - there is no version which can accelerate from 0-62mph in less than ten seconds - it's enough for day-to-day driving.
Six-speed manual transmission is standard, though you can have a six-speed automatic if you want. Kia makes great play of the fact that this is one of the very few automatics in the world built by the same company that produces the rest of the car (most manufacturers outsource to gearbox specialists) but it's a conventional unit with no particular trickery involved, and it has the usual problems.
For example, it knocks more than 10mpg off the combined fuel economy figure (47.1mpg compared with 57.6mpg for the manual) and bumps the CO2 emissions up from 128g/km to 158g/km, thereby adding £70 to the annual Vehicle Excise Duty payments. It also makes the car 22kg heavier, and since not enough work has been done on retuning the suspension to take this into account the ride quality is notably worse.
Following current Kia practice, there are three trim levels called 1, 2 and 3, though the 2s are divided into 2 Luxe and 2 Tech which cost the same but aim towards luxury and sportiness respectively.
The 1, which isn't available as an automatic, comes below the £20,000 psychological barrier with a list price of £19,595 - not bad, though there are versions of the obvious mainstream rivals which cost less. Both the 2s cost £21,695 and the 3 comes in at £24,495, with automatic transmission as a £1500 option.
Kia fits 16" wheels to the 1, 17s to the 2 Tech and 18s to the 2 Luxe and 3, with increasingly low-profile tyres to match the increase in wheel size. No 1s or 3s have been made available to the UK media so I can't comment on the 16s. I can definitely comment on the others, and this would normally be the point where I would advise you to go for the 17s and higher-profile tyres. But no. There isn't much difference in ride quality between the two, and Optimas on 18s steer noticeably more sharply than their 17-shod sisters.
The outstanding thing about the Optima, as far as I'm concerned, is that it isn't outstanding. Modern Kias are divided into the ones I like very much and the ones I wouldn't touch with a bargepole. The Optima is the first in a long time that I'm not too bothered about one way or the other. There are some things I wish Kia had done better, but if you want a good-looking and relatively inexpensive family car there's no major reason to avoid this one. And Kia's spectacular seven-year/100,000-mile warranty is as good a reason as any to put it near the top of your list.
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