Kia - The car you hate to love
 

Surprised no one has posted anything about the New York International Auto Show.
Anyways, new designs from Kia

http://blog.cardomain.com/2010/04/01...on/#more-40960

Mainly this one caught my attention:

The new Kia Optima
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...1986_large.jpg
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...1989_large.jpg

Ugly rims, yes, but... potentially decent car? Maybe

what's a kia?

god damn that's one ugly bitch.

Those taillights seem so out of place..

the rear end looks a bit awkward, but the rest of it looks really clean (aside from those rims of course)

looks pretty good to me. I already like their forte. Take that over a fuking prius anyday lol.

I hate the Forte just because of those stupid fucking commercials that were always played back-to-back....

YouTube- Kia Forte - KungFu
YouTube- Kia Forte - Leash

hate to say it, but the forte coupe actually looks pretty decent

getting better...they need to get a better reputation

kia has always been the poorer sister to hyundai.

although kia's styling has improved, their use of materials and driving dynamics still need work.

I hate them because you can clearly see resemblence to other cars.

for example, forte looks a lot like 06+ civic coupes

and that optima... front headlights look 95% like the new accord, and the rear seriously looks like the taillights of IS250

to support my argument, look at this...
http://202.175.81.200/images/gallery...1258628877.jpg


I hate kia

This is true.
The Forte front end is a blatant copy of the latest civic.

http://media.nextautos.com/images/ki...-0.preview.jpg
http://webiol.homenetinc.com/stock_i...04d_640_01.jpg

wouldn't you rather have Kia's running around than civics though? hehe

^ it's not the exact same but it looks close. The Kia version actually looks cleaner/better.

i can see hyundai reach its golden years in 10-15 years like honda/toyota in the mid 80's to 90's but i just dont see kia with the potential

doesn't look to bad

great improvements!!

I think they're definitely starting to get some major improvements... looking good

some people just go with the masses like a zombie...

to me it looks good...and especially if its priced correctly

Looks better than most domestics! (minus the wheels)

just incase you people didn't know...
kia is owned by hyundai.
Kia might not be a popular brand here, but they're doing a good job in Korea.
Normally, if you're in a CEO position in a somewhat big company in Korea,
they buy you a Kia Optima or K7 now, or grandeur or azenis(?) or genesis sedan.
The Kia Forte was a big hit when it first came out in Korea. Even the Soul had better sales than the cube or Scions in Korea. Kia is climbing its way up quite fast. They don't have as much things in it comparing to what they sell in Korea. Even the sonatas are fully loaded for 15-20g in Korea.

+1 for toeknee. looks like a copy.

how's the interior?

i hate it when the interior is shit like the corolla. pretty on outside and ugly on the inside

since when is the corolla pretty on the outside?