2003 Kia Optima SE V6 from North America

Summary:

A lot of bang for the buck!

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car so far. There was a recall on the air conditioning compressor, but the part was replace free of charge before it ever went out.

The exhaust did smell like rotten eggs for about 4000 miles, but the smell is gone now.

General Comments:

Drove it from where I live in Washington state to Reno, Nevada just after we bought and had no problems at all. Performed very well, and was a very comfortable ride. Also, we had the air conditioning on most of the time with no problems. Gets pretty good gas mileage too, about 25 MPG on the highway.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th November, 2003

2003 Kia Optima LX 2.4L from North America

Summary:

So far it's a great car for a great price

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

I've had the car now for less than one week, and it's still surprising me at every turn, and so far none of the surprises have been bad ones.

The performance and agility are quite remarkable in this car. KIA really seems to have taken the quality of it's vehicles to heart and worked on improving them.

The Optima is just a retooled version of parent company Hyundai's Sonata, which is fine with me. While not a Lexus or BMW by any stretch of the imagination, my Optima has a sporty look and matching attitude.

We'll see if I continue to feel this way as time passes.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 13th June, 2003

29th Apr 2004, 12:27

Now it's getting close to having had the car for a year and I have to say, I'm still impressed.

I can remember the time it took to adjust to the positioning of the stick shift, and the pedals once I got the car, but now it feels completely natural. And it seems to keep surprising me.

I would have thought that after almost a year of having the car I'd be used to the handling and pep it has. Maybe I am used to it, but it's still noticed, that's for sure.