The Optima is Kia’s first run at the mid-size class, and while it might not be on the same level as the Honda Accord or
Toyota Camry, it has most of the right stuff to compete. For 2005, this Hyundai Sonata clone receives only minor updates,
including clear turn signals and updated leather seats. The standard engine is a 2.4-liter, DOHC four-cylinder unit making
138 hp. An optional 170-hp, 2.7-liter V-6 is also available. The four-cylinder is offered with a Sportmatic automatic
transmission. The Optima comes in two trim levels: LX and EX. LX’s get standard power windows, a CD player, cruise
control, and air conditioning. The EX adds alloy wheels, a sunroof, leather, climate control, and keyless entry. The Optima
is a sophisticated car-right on target for the mid-priced class and, as a bonus, it carries Kia’s killer 10-year/100,000-mile
warranty.
Kia, until now just the ankle-biting junior division of Hyundai, is ready to start banging pots together for attention. It aspires
to be perky and sporty, a quasi-Honda to Hyundai’s staid line of quasi-Toyotas. There’s been loose talk of a Kia pickup truck.
There have been a two-seat sportster concept and a boxy urban hipster concept. There’s been management roiling that put
former VW of America executive V-P Len Hunt in charge of Kia’s U.S. operations.
Now here comes the 2006.5 Kia Optima. Perky? Playful? Not terribly. Somewhere along the way, priorities once again got
shuffled, as they did two years ago when Kia launched the Amanti neo-Buick. This Optima — production in Korea started too
early to legally label it a 2007 — instead strives for a new high-water mark in build quality and refinement. In this, at least,
the Optima succeeds.

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