I bought a.... KIA

[Takumi]

That looks good indeed, since it drives good, too, if it does not break down/fall apart then this was a great buy indeed !

Well, the only question remaining then; how well will it hold its value?

But for now, have fun with it.

It comes with a 5year unlimited kilometre warranty so no worries there. Not too worried about the resale value as I am looking to keep it for 6 to 8 years, maybe even up to 10 depending how it goes.

[Exar Kun]

The Optima is available with satnav now but you pay $42,000 for it. i45? My bad. The reviews of the Optima are very interesting - most of the ones I read said the ride is fantastic, but then a recent Wheels test said it was horrid and ordinary at best? I took it for a test drive and found it to be a fantastic car to drive. Methinks there are too many car reviewers still out there with negative thoughts of any car with a KIA badge on it.

by the way I got my Optima for $36k with all on road costs included. If you wanted a similar specced Accord Euro or Mazda 6 you'd be in the 40's and probably hit 45k once the onroad costs are added on

I agree that there is badge snobbery going on still. On prices you'd be surprised - especially with Accord Euros. Honda is in the doldrums and there are Euro Luxs around for $35k with manual and $37k with auto with zero ks. Into the 40s with nav but then it's the same with the Optima. My boss just picked up his new Mazda 6 sedan last week which comes with leather/memory seats and quite a bit of kit now for only $33k on road. The Optima is still much better specced and whilst it may not quite have the chassis refinement that the Euro and 6 has it's close enough in everyday driving, has more equipment and looks way better.

There was actually a little test done a little while back by one of the paper's motoring sections where they got three people who were clueless about cars and got them to try out the Optima Platinum and a Lexus IS250. They covered up all the badges and got them to rate everything from features to materials, handling, power etc. The Kia came out on top in almost every regard and these three people eventually surmised that the Kia must be the premium car and the Lexus the Korean one!

[ysu]

That looks good indeed, since it drives good, too, if it does not break down/fall apart then this was a great buy indeed !

Well, the only question remaining then; how well will it hold its value?

But for now, have fun with it.

It comes with a 5year unlimited kilometre warranty so no worries there. Not too worried about the resale value as I am looking to keep it for 6 to 8 years, maybe even up to 10 depending how it goes.

I hear ya, but warranty is a bit like the right-hand rule; you have it but if the other side don't honour it...
In this case even if they honour it, I'd rather have a car which never needs the warranty, than one which is fixed under warranty. The hassle is too much.

It's just theoretical musings tho

I wish you never have to use that warranty! Ever.

[wobblysauce]

ysu, or they have built a car that you can drive for just over 5 years before stuff needs to be fixed. Getting more people to buy it because of the 5 year warranty and make it a selling point.

It works both ways.

Exar, Didn't Holden and Ford used to make more money on the spare part market, over the life of the car, then the cars them self ?

[Takumi]

ysu, or they have built a car that you can drive for just over 5 years before stuff needs to be fixed. Getting more people to buy it because of the 5 year warranty and make it a selling point.

It works both ways.

Exar, Didn't Holden and Ford used to make more money on the spare part market, over the life of the car, then the cars them self ?

I can understand that if it were only a 1 year warranty, but hoping to cash in on parts after 5? Maybe, but it'd cost them shitloads in the first 5 years if the cars were under engineered. I know I am speaking generally here but most parts go wrong after a certain amount of KM's rather than age.

The Optima has been out in Korea since 2010 and the US & Aus since 2011 and I haven't heard of any common problems yet. But yes, definitely hope to not be needing the warranty :P

[Exar Kun]

Exar, Didn't Holden and Ford used to make more money on the spare part market, over the life of the car, then* the cars them self ?

than*

No idea. But I know dealerships make way more money off the service department than the showroom. We built a new dealership that had a showroom the same size as their old one but with triple the service capacity so they could make more money. Car dealers make bugger all off a showroom sale unless they're a premium make.

In terms of warranties and resale etc. I agree with Takumi that I haven't heard of much going wrong with the current generation of Hyundais and Kias. They certainly don't get the bad rap that VAG cars get. Resale is fine if you're going to hold onto it for a while but have a look around and the medium car segment isn't super strong anyway. Mazda 6s actually depreciate fairly badly and they're generally seen as being the class leading car. The Accord Euro is probably the strongest performer but who cares? Buy the car you want to buy rather than making it a completely objective purchase financially. If everyone did that we'd all be driving Camrys & Corollas and I'd have to shoot myself.

[NeilPearson]

i hate camry's

and im driving one

[petey]

I must admit (bar the rims) that is quite a tight looking mobile.

[Takumi]

I plan on swapping all the badging on my car with these:



They are badges they make in South Korea with a stylised 'K' logo based on the old logo Kia had before they swapped for the boring KIA one. Over there the Optima is called the K5 so I bought that badge too, so I can swap it over.

[petey]

Why not a chev badge


Nah that actually looks pretty good too

[Takumi]

Haha yes I know. Same shit I guess.

[bengatta]

you could get a hogs breath badge... that seemed to upset some of the locals a few years back...

[Quincy]

Spotted one in the flesh today in down town Mudgee. . . Very nice indeed! Had one of our local car dealer stickers on its arse, so hopefully be seeing more off it!

[petey]

Spotted one in the flesh today in down town Mudgee. . . Very nice indeed! Had one of our local car dealer stickers on its arse, so hopefully be seeing more off it!

K wut?

[Takumi]

Picked up the car last night and already put 300km on it today - it has been absolutely fantastic to drive and sure turns lots of heads. It was sitting on 5.8L / 100km on the highway with air-con and headlights on, which I thought was pretty good - might even improve further as the engine wears in?

I performed the full badge swap last night when I got it home, looks the goods. Will post pics up either tomorrow or at least within a few days if anyone is interested.

[Vilante]

I performed the full badge swap last night when I got it home, looks the goods. Will post pics up either tomorrow or at least within a few days if anyone is interested.

Sure am mate

[Takumi]

Pics! Sorry the interior shots are not the best.











It has the rear view camera intergrated into the rear mirror. Nice camera and good clear TFT, unfortunately crappy photo shows neither of this.


Great instruments and plenty of information screens to cycle through


LED running lights and HID headlights. Love the automatic mode - keeps the DRL's on in daytime and switches the HID's on soon as you go anywhere dark. The fog lights on the car also double as automatic turning lights at night.

[Shaun]

looks nice, not a huge fan of the wheels but who cares lol, dual sunroofs is weird but awesome lol

[Takumi]

They're actually quite cool - the sunshades retract into the middle and the front glass panel can either tilt up or open up completely. It opens by popping out and sliding over the top of the rear fixed glass panel.

[nutty]

I like it, good car

[Exar Kun]

I love how they look. They should just come in manual!

[Takumi]

Perhaps, but I wouldn't have bought one. Paddle shift autos are more than good enough especially in a car like this. It shifts quickly and very smoothly and is brilliant in stop start traffic. My last car was a manual Skyline which I owned for 6 years - so I've well and truely done my time with a manual car. Driving it daily in the city gave me the shits.

[Vilante]

Looks awesome mate, well done.

I think I'd rather a manual too but then I've been forced to drive an auto for about 5 years now.

[Sambo]

Most important questions first:

Where is the rev limiter set?

[Takumi]

6500 I think. But limiter bouncing is not really a good way to break in a new engine, is it?