2011 Kia Optima Review

The 2011 Kia Optima. Yes, Kia Optima.

The progress made by Korean automakers Kia and Hyundai the past few years has been nothing less than remarkable. It's the same basic story as how Toyota, Nissan (then Datsun) and Honda went from footnotes to mainstream best-sellers, but with a much steeper curve, negotiated much more quickly.

But even the rapid rise to respectability couldn't prepare us for the giant leap that is the 2011 Kia Optima. Until now a generic-looking sedan that fit right in as a rental car, the Optima now is gorgeous (if not absolutely, then certainly by family sedan standards), stylish and has bypassed contemporary for futuristic.

Rear view of the 2011 Kia Optima.

That particular "F" word, "futuristic",  is fraught with peril for manufacturers on that side of the Pacific, who have produced some designs that look like mutant insects from a 1950s sci-fi flick. But not the new Optima. The future here is one that's within sight from the present...where other manufacturers have been heading, but won't arrive for another move or two, that's where the 2011 Kia Optima is now.

The Optima starts at a very reasonable $19,200 for the LX with a manual transmission. Our tester was the EX with an automatic...boosting the price of entry to $22,495. You keep the same 2.4 liter four cylinder engine (200 horsepower), but step up to 17" wheels from 16s, and you get chrome accent door handles, clear-lens projector headlights, front fog lights, dual body-color heated power mirrors, Smart Key & pushbutton start, dual zone automatic climate control, the passenger gets an auto-down feature for the power window, door mood lamps and rear reading lamps, auto-dimming rearview mirror with HomeLink and compass, an 8-way power driver's seat, leather seat trim and aluminum interior trim. That's a lot of upgrades for $3,295.

2011 Kia Optima Interior.

And then there's the interior. And I'll be honest. At first, I felt let down. The surfaces and materials felt cheap to me. I finally figured it out...they're exactly right and maybe a bit better than they need to be for this segment and this price point....but the car gives the impression of being a much more expensive piece...my brain was thinking $40,000 when I slid behind the wheel. Again, the reality is $22,495.

That, of course, is before options, and the Kia press fleet folks added two...the Technology Package (a navigation system with backup camera and Sirius Traffic plus an upgraded Infinity audio system with 8 speakers) for $2,000...and the EX Premium Package (Panoramic sunroof, power front passenger seat, driver seat memory, heated and cooled front seats, heated outboard rear seats and a heated steering wheel) for $2,250.

Regular TireKicker readers know our mantra when it comes to $2,000 factory nav systems ("Your phone does that"), but the Infinity audio system sounds mighty nice, so maybe that's only a grand worth of nav.

With those two options and a $695 freight and handling charge, the sticker price on the 2011 Kia Optima we drove was $27,440. Slick, smooth, clean, quiet...EPA estimates of 24 city/34 highway and Kia's 10 year/100,000 mile limited powertrain warranty, 5 year/60,000 mile limited basic warranty and 5 year/60,000 mile roadside assistance. Hard to go wrong.

And there's a hybrid version for 2012 that will be in our hands in early October.

Camry, Accord, Altima, Mazda 6, Sonata, Fusion and Malibu, move over. There's a new contender you have to share the stage with.

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First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Volt

The 2011 Chevy Volt.

It's a picture a lot of us have entertained in our brains...home for the night, having commuted without using a drop of gasoline, our new Chevrolet Volt sitting out front for the neighbors to envy.

But how realistic is that daydream? To find out, we borrowed a Volt from the good folks at Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix for four days, shorter than our usual tests, but enough to give us an overall impression of the car Motor Trend has named Car of the Year. First of all, the Volt isn't a purely electric car. It has a gasoline engine, too. But it's not a hybrid.

Hybrids blend the gas and electric motors in driving, switching between them as conditions warrant. The Volt runs solely on its electric motor, not using a drop of gas...until the battery runs out of power. And at that point, the gasoline engine (a 1.4 liter four) takes over.

Is the 2011 Chevy Volt running on gas or electric? Only the driver knows for sure.

If you can keep the Volt charged, it's possible to drive for days, weeks even, without using a single drop of gas. The range on pure electricity is 35 miles, according to Chevrolet (though we could never get the dashboard display to tell us more than 29 on a full charge). We managed it until day four, when the to-do list required about 55 miles worth of driving, and the car hadn't had enough time on household current to fully charge before the trip.

Still, in 122.9 miles, we only used 1.8 gallons of gasoline...an average of 65.1 miles per gallon. Not too shabby.

The 2011 Chevy Volt interior. Detroit meets Sci-Fi.

What's it like to drive? Very much like a Malibu...roomy, smooth...and, especially on electric power, quiet. There are some "future car" touches...like the gauge clusters (there are two...one which monitors charging, energy use and efficiency that shares the audio/climate control/nav screen, and the one in front of the driver) and the contrasting white center stack that replaces buttons for audio/climate/nav with a touch-sensitive surface. Oh, yeah...and the "whooshzoom" noises that accompany opening the car and starting it. A little too cute. You can turn it down or off (you can also set it to ear-splitting volume and fool the neighbors into thinking a movie with THX is about to start).

The base price is $40,280 and the one we drove had the leather trim package for $1,395, a rear camera and park assist for $695, forged polish 17-inch alloy wheels for $595 and a front license plate bracket for $15. Total price with destination charge: $43,700.  But remember, there's a $7,500 tax credit for buying one...so the real bottom line is $36,200. And that is a fair price for what you get.

But should you get one? Well, the key is how much you drive and how often (and where) you can charge. The car comes with a 120 Volt portable charging cord, so you can plug it into household current...but fully drained, it'll take 12 hours to get to a full charge that way.

It's only 4 hours with a 240-volt charger, and Chevy will sell you one of those for $490. Want it installed? That'll be $2,000.

                                  

Ideally, there'd be a charging station near where you work, too...but they're not everywhere yet.

Still, our first impression is a good one: It's possible to not use gas or to use a lot less than you otherwise would, and if you have to drive farther than your charge allows, you've got a gasoline engine that can take you 344 miles further (again, according to Chevrolet...we couldn't get the gauge to promise more than 231). That's a nice safety net to have and makes the Volt practical as your only car.

A full weeklong test is coming shortly.

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2011 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ Review

It's been 35 years since the famous "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" ad campaign. But the basic principle is evident in the new Chevrolet Cruze.

If you've heard or read that the Cruze is a quantum leap beyond the car it replaces, the Cobalt, you've heard or read right. This is a thoroughly modern, no-apologies small sedan...ready for battle in an intensely competitive segment.

What's fascinating is how, in the same year, both Chevy and Ford get serious about building very good small cars, and yet, come up with very different solutions. The new Focus is Ford acknowledging that they've been building the good stuff for Europe all these years and finally letting us get some...it's essentially a German sedan.

The Cruze is, in its own way, every bit as good as the Focus...but it's all-American. More like a smaller, tigther, more responsive Malibu (click the link to see that we're not damning with faint praise...we like the Malibu a lot).

The Cruze we had for a week was the top of the line LTZ model, loaded at a base price of $21,975 (the Focus Titanium sedan starts at $22,270, so they're competitive) with a 1.4 liter turbo four-cylinder, six speed automatic transmission, sport tuned suspension, a full complement of airbags, Stabilitrak stability and traction control, four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, power door locks, theft alarm, remote keyless entry, rear parking assist, six months of OnStar, and tire pressure monitoring.  There are also power adjustable heated outside mirrors, variable wipers, a rear defogger (not a given in small sedans) and 18 inch alloy wheels.

Inside, there's an AM/FM/CD 6 speaker audio system with Bluetooth, steering wheel controls, USB interface and auxilary jack, floor mats, a driver's 6-way power seat (8-way manual for the front passenger), acoustic insulation, automatic climate control, leather appointed seats and steering wheel, a driver information center, tilt and telescoping steering column, power windows, cruise control, and heated seats up front.

The Chevy PR folks loaded ours up further with a power sunroof ($850), a Pioneer premium audio system ($445), crystal red metallic tintcoat pain ($325) and a compact spare tire ($100). Add $720 for delivery and the bottom line comes to $24,415.

That's about $1300 more than the Focus we tested, and it was a five-door, which starts about $900 higher than the sedan. The Focus is more of a driver's car, manages better fuel economy despite a bigger engine (28 city/38 highway from a 2.0 liter to the Cruze's 24/36 from the 1.4 liter turbo), and seems a lot more like a driver's car...that European influence, no doubt.

So...a slam-dunk for the Focus? Not necessarily. On a lot of levels, the Cruze was more comfortable and easy to live with...and there's a huge segment of the intended audience that is not about performance...they're looking (especially at prices nudging $25K) for comfort and convenience they're used to from larger cars with small-car fuel economy.  It's really a matter of taste. And if it were me and my money I'd be wrestling with the decision a long time.





 

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VIDEO: Renowned Teen Mountain Climber Cited For "Street Surfing" In Malibu

His name is Johnny Strange, and he's the youngest person to climb the highest peak on all seven continents.

This is a bit of a comedown.

"I guess I was being stupid" Strange told police. Watch the video from KTLA, Los Angeles here.

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The Taxpayer-Funded $1,000 A Month Auto Lease

Your tax dollars at work. Politico has found that at least 10 members of Congress are paying $1,000 a month or more to lease cars.

Not limos...not armored SUVs....just car cars.

I'm sure, shopping around, you and I could find better deals than $1,628 a month for a GMC Yukon...or $1,279 a month on a Chevy Malibu. But not our elected officials.

Politico has the story here.

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