Edmunds Evaluation: 2006.5 Kia Optima

What Works:

Spacious rear seat, surprisingly good interior materials, long list of standard features.

What Needs Work:

Lack of top-end power from the V6, average driving dynamics.

Bottom Line:

Forget what you thought you knew about Korean cars. The all-new Optima not only rivals the domestics, but is poised to take on the Japanese.

Read "Full Test: 2006.5 Kia Optima" @ Edmunds

HAHAHAHA.

On the roads, its a very boring-looking car.

Kia... Nissan called and they want their Altima and Maxima back....

toyota mentioned something about returning their old Camry and Corolla...

and VW called again about the Passat....

Kia... Nissan called and they want their Altima and Maxima back....

toyota mentioned something about returning their old Camry and Corolla...

and VW called again about the Passat....

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Holy hell, how do they get away with that?? Maybe by stealing just half of a car from each manufacturer, they can get away with it and let their lawyers take care of the rest.

Do Kia's still come with standard front-end damage caused by bad brakes? Or did they fix that?

What a POS. 9.2 seconds to 60.. for a V6? Bwahahahaha.

yet, 'it's poised to take on honda'

i'll give the malibu v6 credit, it spanks this thing.

wow i love this new lucerne . . . oh wait GM had the jump on building this $h! hah niiiiice

its really the same thing thats been done

yet, 'it's poised to take on honda'

i'll give the malibu v6 credit, it spanks this thing.

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.....only in acceleration.....

I'd say in just about every other area, (and probably in powertrain polish if not outright speed) this thing spanks the Malibu.

I'd certainly consider one of these over the current Malibu.....

I don't know why anyone would pick this over the Hyundai Sonata, especially with that gem of a V6. That would be my pick at this time in that market, although I may end up liking the Aura, 2008 Malibu, and Fusion (if it gets the 3.5) better.

.....only in acceleration.....

I'd say in just about every other area, (and probably in powertrain polish if not outright speed) this thing spanks the Malibu.

I'd certainly consider one of these over the current Malibu.....

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and the fact that one would have these two cars on their list instead of one of the 15 other cars in this segment........

really, this diversion IMO makes this topic irrelevant.