Canadians like value. It’s why our favourite restaurants have a 99 cent menu, our favourite shoe stores frequently have a 2 for 1 sale, and why we’ll typically wait until Black Friday to rampage furiously into the nearest Wal-Mart for cheap goodies. Its’ also why the Kia Optima has become a popular pick for Canadian shoppers after a family sedan full of the little extras that help add more value to the family sedan equation.
That value comes in numerous forms with the Optima, and especially for model-year 2015, where various revisions have left the thing looking even sharper than ever, inside and out. We’re not just talking about the sort of value that comes from free floor mats and window tint: we’re talking all-out bang for the buck.
Kia’s created that value here in several ways.
First, the styling. When Optima launched, the look was a step above: full of lines and details and shapes once reserved for concept cars under the glimmering lights of the auto show floor. Now, the updates, which include quad-cluster LED fog-lamps and revised fascias, advance that even further. Where many family sedans play it safe in the looks department, this one looks daring and edgy and bold. Your neighbors will think you paid more than you did.
The second big value adder is the cabin. Few competitors use as much leather and stitching and contrast and depth to create a rich and detailed look like you’ll find on board. The new steering wheel, the shape of the dashboard and console and even the way the various switches and controls and toggles are arranged feel a bit on the upscale side, too. Little touches, but they add up. Plus, the two-tone seats and the driver-focused layout to the dash help the cabin hit a bit harder than its price suggests. A Ford Fusion looks more high-tech inside, a Honda Accord is a bit more conventional, and the new Chrysler 200’s cabin is even more gorgeous – but all said, Kia’s largely nailed this one for a look of sporty, high-tech luxury.
Rear seats on the tester were deep, pillowy, comfortable, heated, and mounted behind above-average leg-room. Headroom proved fine for those of average height, as long as they aren’t sitting on the middle-seat hump. If you’re a fan of staying recharged and plugged in on the go, you’ll love all the charge ports and hookups mounted inside of the handy centre console storage basket, too. In all, a handy, thoughtful and delightfully well thought out cabin.
The third way they’ve added plenty of value here is with the feature content, which also goes a little above and beyond. This loaded tester, which came in around $35,000, had everything – a panoramic glass roof to let in the rays, memory seating with heated and chilled leather for maximum comfort and a punchy Infinity audio system were all on board. Ditto auto climate control, auto lights, automatic wipers and blind-spot monitoring mirrors.
You get navigation and satellite radio and voice command and steering-wheel mounted controls for easy access to directions, entertainment and other vehicle functions. Further, the central command interface is one of the easiest-to-use, best-looking and most intuitive you’ll find on the market (GM and Chrysler vehicles do well here, too). Usually, I get frustrated with these systems a few times on every test-drive, but this one’s a cinch. So, all said, Optima helps support drivers for even long-haul trips that are effortlessly comfortable, connected, laid back and relaxing. With the automatic features and voice command and fingertip control of so many functions, there’s a real ‘set it and forget it’ feel here.
There’s also some value under the hood. Optima doesn’t have an available V6, because it has a 2.0L turbo GDI four cylinder available instead. Key word? Turbo. Rather than a bigger, heavier and thirstier V6, this optional engine uses four little cylinders and a punchy turbocharger to turn out 274 horsepower and, maybe more importantly,269 lb-ft of torque. It performs at or above the level of a comparable six-cylinder when you give it a bootfull of gas and get the turbo spooling away – though when you’re driving gently, you’re only feeding four little cylinders, not six bigger ones.
  2015 Kia Optima SX, driver’s seat. Click image to enlarge |
Translation? This little engine performs very well, using less fuel, more of the time. It’s smooth, and refined and never feels like it’s working too hard. At full throttle, the flat, shapeless power curve and dull exhaust note take away from the entertainment value slightly, and the engine is neither exciting to listen to, nor will it do much for fans of peaky, high-revving power delivery. But the generous low and mid-range torque mean it’s an engine most impressive when you’re driving moderately or gently, since it rarely needs to gear down and barely makes a peep, even while hauling the Optima up to speed with a nearly mischievous urgency. It might not set the driving enthusiasts pants on fire, but if you like an engine with a refined and effortless light-throttle character, you’ll love it.
The ride is pleasing most of the time – taut, fairly agile, and well-sorted and comfy. You feel the suspension working to filter out the unpleasantness on rough roads. It feels sort of European, and that’s a good thing. Handling, further, is tidy and on the athletic side. Steering wheel inputs required for quick navigation winding roads are on the large side, but the Optima rewards drivers with clean, tidy and flat handling with an above-average feeling of agility. Steering feel on the highway is on the heavy side, though the on-centre steering notch hangs on, perhaps, a touch too long when drivers dial into a corner, creating a slightly awkward feel at times.
Other complaints were few and far between, limited mainly to the transmission’s paddle-shift mode, which, in no particular hurry, calls up slow and careful gear changes. For a car with a racing-style, flat-bottom steering wheel, you might expect some more entertainment value from the paddle shifters.
End of the day, when a long list of features, stand-out styling and stand-out value in its segment are priorities, shoppers should consider the Optima a priority test-drive, along with other strikingly-styled, high-value models like the Ford Fusion, Chrysler 200 and Hyundai Sonata.
   2015 Kia Optima SX. Click image to enlarge |
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Manufacturer’s Website: Kia Canada Photo Gallery: Crash Test Results: |
Pricing: 2015 Kia Optima SX
Base price: $34,895
Options: Premium Paint ($200)
Freight: $1,485
A/C Fee: $100
As Tested: $36,680
Competitors
Chevrolet Malibu
Chrysler 200
Ford Fusion
Honda Accord
Nissan Altima
Toyota Camry
Volkswagen Passat
