2003 Kia Optima LX review from North America

I have had no problems with this car.

However, I have noted minor wear on the plastic door trim and where the trunk lid meet the bumper.

I bought this car because of price and warranty. My wife and I wanted a compact sedan with a manual trans. We tried out a new Protege', no power and long dashboard. We tried an '02 626 and didn't like the interior setup and the exterior styling.

The Optima looks very sexy (we got a silver one). And we liked the power with the manual, interior design, safety (side airbags), and low monthly payment. By the way, the headlights are awesome. You will not need the high-beams hardly ever!

Minor quibbles are: the lumbar for the driver's seat is not much help due to side airbags built into the seat, the plastic inside is easy to scratch with fingernails, and the dash lights are a little too bright even at their lowest setting. Gas mileage was a little disappointing too. We got 30-36mpg with our '90 626 with 240,000 miles on it. With the Optima we only could manage 33 at best on the highway, and got only 23 in the wintertime with lots of warming up time (we live in Maine).

Before the 626 we had, we were Honda Accord and Acura Legend people. I personally feel that Honda makes a good car and it is overpriced. You can still buy a decent car and feel good about what you pay for it each month.