Kia Optima

Comhrá

What's the Kia Optima like? Any good? Nice to drive?
Was looking at one parked on the street today and thought it looked pretty smart and well finished, but I never see any mention of the Optima here.

Any fans here?

colm_mcm

Alan partridge likes his.

Hyundai i40 is the same thing, seems to outsell the optima for whatever reason.
I prefer it to the i40 though.

sentient_6

On looks only its a better looking car on the outside than the i40 but it doesn't look great on the interior imo.

Truckermal

tippman1 wrote: »

What's the Kia Optima like? Any good? Nice to drive?
Was looking at one parked on the street today and thought it looked pretty smart and well finished, but I never see any mention of the Optima here.

Any fans here?

I drove one but the i40 is a nicer drive imo, the estate looks way better too. I don't think I would buy one though.

R.O.R

Great looking car, good performance from the engine.

Shocking seating position, and possibly the worst drivers seat of anything in it's class. i40 seat is OK, so I've no idea how they fecked it up so badly in the Optima.

bazz26

Entry level Optima is nearly €2k more expensive than the entry level i40 which would probably explain why it isn't selling as well. Don't think the Optima's styling has aged that well either imo, at least in entry level guise with tiny wheels lost under the arches:

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Looks very very well with the larger 18" alloys though.



New interior is smart too.

Tea 1000

Haven't driven either, but according to most jorno's the i40 is better to drive and has a much better feel to the interior than the Optima. And given that the Ford, BMW and VAG cheques don't come into this equation, it must be true!

cjt156

Had one as a long term rental in the US a few months ago. Severly disappointed on collection as I was hoping for a bit of American muscle. However as a daily plodder, rep-mobile it is highly capable. Descent throttle response, firm ride and fast enough steering rack. Didn't think it was too bad on the inside either. Did a few long trips of 4-6 hours at a sitting and didn't suffer.
Certainly far superior in every way to the god-awful Toyota I had for a week immediately after. Every throttle, steering or gearbox input felt like it was transmitted via the medium of chewing gum; nasty cheap interior too.

tcow

Thanks lads. Are they as reliably as the Toyota??

colm_mcm

Why do you keep resurrecting old threads then starting a new thread about every car you're considering. I don't want to be rude but it's very annoying. Why not just private message?

tcow

colm_mcm wrote: »

Why do you keep resurrecting old threads then starting a new thread about every car you're considering. I don't want to be rude but it's very annoying. Why not just private message?

Well shur different car, different thread. You don't have to reply or read it if you don't want to, only interested in hearing from anyone who has some knowledge or experience of the car I'm looking at . . so not meaning to be rude... But can you not just ignore the post if you've nothing worthwhile to add? How does it annoy you?

biko

tcow, you have a thread already in Buying. Let's stick with that one.

Old thread lock.