2002 Kia Optima Review (continued)
Add your own review or comments

Walkaround

The Kia Optima breaks no new styling ground. It's a basic three-box four-door sedan with conventional proportions. Not a head turner by any means, it is handsomely done and presents itself well, with distinctively sculpted panels and balanced forms.

The chrome egg crate grille is reminiscent of a Cadillac theme, and the composite headlamps lend a bit of high-tech to the Optima's appearance. The alloy wheels and chrome bodyside inserts on the SE V6 we drove are well done and made the car look richer as well. It's a car that looks better the longer you look at it, with both an overall shape and details that will appeal to the midsize sedan buyer.

Interior Features

The Optima's interior is as conventional as its exterior, and there's little here that will either surprise or confound the new driver. The overall quality of materials seems up to snuff, the color matches are good and the layout appropriate. The front bucket seats are comfortable and well suited for the kind of driving expected for the Optima, with enough fore-and-aft travel to accommodate the longest of legs.

The back seat is a little more snug, and putting three adults in back is requesting a bit more intimacy than most are accustomed to. A useful feature, however, is the 60/40 folding rear seatback, which increases the versatility of the Optima.

Trunk size is adequate, with 13.6 cubic feet of cargo space compared with the Honda Accord's 14.1 cubic feet. Optima's trunk lid has articulated hinges that don't impinge on luggage space or crush that bag of groceries, a nice feature.

Our test Optima had the leather interior treatment, nicely finished to complement the rest of the interior and more durable than the standard cloth upholstery, which we have not seen. The interior also had genuine wood trim, though it was so over finished that it and the imitation wood trim also used were difficult to differentiate, which one could suppose is a point in favor of the artificial stuff.

One surprise is the double-path console-mounted shifter: Alongside the standard quadrant's Drive, or D," position is a lateral slot to a position marked with a "+" and a "-" sign. Porsche drivers will recognize this as the layout of a Tiptronic, the manual shifting automatic transmission. One can either leave the transmission in "D" and drive normally, or move the lever to the "+" and "-" slot and control the shifting manually. This particular system is built by Kia, but was designed by Porsche."