With our daughters in back and my wife as co-pilot, we drove from Washington DC to near Bristol and back. There was plenty of room for all the passengers, and room in the trunk for luggage and additional purchases along the way.
The 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder turbocharged engine was surprisingly peppy entering the highway, and cruised nicely at over 25 MPG through the Blue Ridge mountains. The automatic transmission shifted smoothly through its six gears, and I never felt underwhelmed on the road. The car apparently accelerates from a dead stop to 60 MPH in 6.8 seconds, but I was not going to test it in front of my kids.
On the rare occasions I had the car to myself, I was able to crank the Harmon Kardon QLS premium sound system. As an industry, the after-market audio business is not what I remember (adding an amplifier and better speakers to the GM stock radio was de rigeur back in the day).
Kia’s President is the German-born Peter Schreyer, who is also the company’s chief design officer. The attention to styling detail is evident inside and out of the Optima. Although the front grille is a bit too aggressive, the rest of the car shows a confidence and understated flair. The panoramic sunroof was as large as any I have seen, providing a large glass ceiling for my daughters.
Late in the day with the sun on one side of the car, we leveraged the dual zone automatic temperature controls, and the rear vents kept my daughters comfortable. Sunshades on the rear passenger windows were handy late in the day as well.
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