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My God Son just picked up a new Kia Optima, it's his first new car and he is very happy with it. He took me for a ride and at first glance it's a nice car. He has a cloth interior which is nice to the touch almost suede like. The Dash board has double stitching, the driver **** pit is laid out very nice. In many ways it's a typical Asian car that has non Asian qualities.
The seats were comfortable, firm, but nice. The car was wide enough, leg room in the front with the seat pushed about three quarters back offered up enough room for me. You sit low in the car which is a little annoying. The ride quality was terrible. Just awful. you feel every bump in the road and vibration through the floor pan. Combine that with the low seat position and I was turned off by the car.
In contrast I drove my neighbors brand new Elantra when she bought it a year ago and it rode much smoother and had a better seat position.
Just my .2 I am interested in hearing other's chime in.
I had a 2011 Optima EX, bought new, and it drove fine for a $22k car. Road noise was a little above normal, a lot by the cheap Nexen tires. I didn't feel it was too low.
Got rid of it after 12k miles because I wanted more pep. I also found out I didn't like driving a car with the Kia brand on it.
My only experience with Optima's are those I have received from rental companies, the most recent a 2013 I had in San Diego for a week.
Every last one of them has left me with a negative impression. This 2013 had vague steering, was rough riding as you observed, and did not stand out in any way to me.
That's interesting, because Kia and Hyundai both get lambasted for focusing too much on ride comfort and doing very little quality engineering work on body control or driving dynamics.
It's important to keep in mind that some cars today are tuned for a sportier/firmer ride which can be an issue for someone who is used to softer suspension tuning. The Kia Optima is related to the Hyundai Sonata and I believe the Sonata rides noticeably softer than the Optima.
Kia/Hyundai are cranking out some solid contenders and are light years from the garbage pit they were a decade ago. Would I personally spend money to buy one? No. I'd rather have an established American, Japanese or German make.
The seats were comfortable, firm, but nice. The car was wide enough, leg room in the front with the seat pushed about three quarters back offered up enough room for me. You sit low in the car which is a little annoying.
The ride quality was terrible. Just awful. you feel every bump in the road and vibration through the floor pan. Combine that with the low seat position and I was turned off by the car.
The low seat and the harsh ride should be improved in the coming redesign. Hyundai pretty much solved those problems with the 2015 Sonata, but Kia is lagging behind with the new Optima for some reason. The 2015 Optima is basically a 2014 Sonata.
It's important to keep in mind that some cars today are tuned for a sportier/firmer ride which can be an issue for someone who is used to softer suspension tuning. The Kia Optima is related to the Hyundai Sonata and I believe the Sonata rides noticeably softer than the Optima.
The thing is that i'm used to a stiff ride. My BMW is very stiff because of the sport suspension and when I don't drive it for a while it takes a while to get used to again compared to my Mercedes which has it's own firm, but comfortable more quite ride. Even with the top up or down the BMW is still more quiet than the KIA.
My SO drives a 4runner and the ride is better than the KIA.
The low seat and the harsh ride should be improved in the coming redesign. Hyundai pretty much solved those problems with the 2015 Sonata, but Kia is lagging behind with the new Optima for some reason. The 2015 Optima is basically a 2014 Sonata.
That would make sense why the Elantra has a better ride then the KIA.
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