Kia Optima reviews

2003 Kia Optima Driving Impressions

How smooth and quiet is the Optima's V6 engine? One of our colleagues got into an idling Optima and promptly tried to start it. It's really that polished, and the impression doesn't fade with the Optima underway. The engine quietly goes about its business, at least until it's given full throttle. Then it's still smooth but it can be heard sonorously churning out power.

With only 29 more ponies than the four-cylinder engine, we'd still recommend the V6 to all but the most penurious. In comparison, the V6 suffers about 3 miles per gallon city and 4 miles per gallon highway driving and develops 22 pounds-feet more maximum torque, but, and we're saying this without having driven the four-cylinder, it's worth it in smoothness alone. The rather large four-cylinder engine almost certainly will not be as smooth as this smooth V6. The extra horsepower the V6 gained this year this might be hard to detect by seat of the pants, but it's more than worthwhile when merging into speeding traffic. The larger V6s in the Camry and Accord make more horsepower (at 200 bhp and 192 bhp respectively), but again, for more money.

The automatic transmission is a good match for the engine, shifting imperceptibly in normal driving or at full throttle, when left to its own devices or shifted using the Tiptronic. Tiptronic technology seems superfluous on this car, however. While the added control is appreciated, it will rarely be used by the typical owner of this car, which doesn't lend itself to the sporty pretensions that Tiptronic encourages. Still, it's useful and entertaining on winding roads and in heavy traffic.

Kia tuned the suspension for comfort, not handling. That doesn't mean a floaty, imprecise ride. Indeed, hustling down some California backroads between Sonoma and Bodega Bay, the Optima displayed remarkable poise over bumps and lumps in mid-corner, its track not diverted by bump steer. There's considerable understeer, however, which should keep the expected driver of the Optima safe and secure. Pushing the Optima, however, is a lot of work and although the Michelins never complain, even sports-minded drivers will dial back a notch to let the Optima operate in its comfort zone, which is what the Optima does best.

Kia engineers have managed to filter out most road and tire noise, but there's a ruffle of wind noise from the top of the windshield. It's not particularly loud, so our hearing it may be more a result of everything else being so quiet. At highway speeds, conversations between front and back seat were easy at normal speaking volume.