Kia Optima And Soul Named Among The Best Family Cars Of 2016

IRVINE, Calif., June 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kia Motors America's (KMA) 2016 Optima midsize sedan and 2016 Soul hatchback have been recognized by Parents magazine and Edmunds.com as among the 10 Best Family Cars of 2016.  The prestigious list, which identifies top picks for safety, performance and family-friendly features, will appear in the July issue of Parents magazine (available June 14) and online at parents.com/best-family-cars.

"Kia places a priority on safety as well as packing our vehicles with innovative and easy-to-use features at an outstanding value, and the recognition from Parents magazine and Edmunds.com validates our efforts," said Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning, KMA.  "The Optima and Soul have numerous features geared toward families who are looking for advanced driver assistance systems, cutting-edge technology, spacious passenger seating and ample cargo capacity."

To create their ninth annual list, Parents magazine and Edmunds.com rated hundreds vehicles in a variety of key areas, including: quality of ride, safety, comfort and capacity, fuel efficiency, kid-friendly features, price and value, reliability and interior and exterior workmanship.

"Kia is one of only two brands with two vehicles on our 10 Best List," said Dana Points, editor-in-chief, Parents magazine. "The Soul is a great starter model for young families, with surprising room at a base price of $15,900.  Additionally, the redesigned Optima sedan is striking inside and out, with advanced technology, a smooth ride and better fuel economy than the previous car."

About the 2016 Optima

Passionately designed and obsessively crafted, the Optima defies the staid midsize sedan segment with its exquisite design, abundance of premium convenience features, and exceptional refinement, delivering a class-up experience to those looking for higher levels of sophistication in their day-to-day driving. Available with three engine choices, including a new 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that's mated to a seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT), the Optima is more confident than ever on the road.  With a base price of $22,1401 the Optima's roomier, more luxurious cabin features an impressive level of craftsmanship that comes standard across five trim levels – LX, LX 1.6T, EX, SX and SXL.

About the 2016 Kia Soul

The extremely popular Soul ups its "wow" factor for the 2016 model year with a host of new style and convenience features. Owners can express their unique individualism through a new Designer Collection that plays up the Soul's fun-loving attitude with a two-tone paint scheme. Available in three trim levels (Base, Plus, Exclaim), the Base Soul comes standard with a gasoline direct injection (GDI) 1.6-liter all-aluminum DOHC four-cylinder engine. Plus and Exclaim models enjoy the more powerful 2.0-liter NU power plant with GDI technology. With a base price of $15,9001, the Soul offers wagon-based practicality, plenty of passenger room, and a feature-rich interior.

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Kia Grand Sedona is quite a find for families

There was a time when I thought the best road trip car was the Porsche 911. Then I got married and we had two kids. Then the latest generation Kia Sedona arrived in the office car park. It’s got seven seats, a massive boot, loads of cup holders and other storage spaces. It’s my new best road trip car.

Yes, I have joined the school run and all those parents who wish they could still drive a sportscar to work, but find new solace in practicality. There are, of course, plenty of options. As I write I have also been driving a Volkswagen Caravelle. It too is a great vehicle, full of practicality, but let’s be honest, it’s a bus, loved by tour companies and executive shuttle services. It is probably better than the Sedona in many areas, but the Kia can still be called a car, just like the Porsche. It’s a stretch I know, but many a parent will understand.

The multipurpose vehicle is a tricky thing. There was a time when your choices were limited to the Renault Scenic, the Toyota Verso, the VW Touran or the much-loved VW Kombi. You could also go for the American favourite, the Chrysler Voyager, but that has got rather expensive these days.

Not to say that the Sedona is cheap. At R661,995 for the 2.2 CRDI seven-seater version we had on test, it puts paid to the idea that Kia is a cheap brand. Yes, it’s cheaper than some rivals, including the Voyager, but it reinforces the fact that parenthood does not come cheap.

You do, however, get a lot for your money. It boasts electronically sliding doors and luxurious leather captain chairs that adjust all over the place. There is masses of space and a boot that looks as though it could swallow a Smart car when the third row of seats is folded away. There are cup holders galore, armrests, storage spaces, power outlets and road trip necessities such as cruise control, multizone climate control, Bluetooth phone connectivity, heated and cooled front seats and an Eco driving mode. There’s also a rear sunroof so when the kids start playing up you can tell them to look for a plane in the sky. It works for five minutes, I promise.

Then there is the styling. It looks good. It has presence. The designers have recognised that parents do not want a vehicle that looks like a bus. They do not want to give up completely on style and feel they have to park around the corner when they go to a work function and pass all their colleagues’ German sedans. From the large grille, LED daytime running lights and plenty of executive chrome embellishments, the designers have given the front of the Sedona a smart look. It carries on through the modern side profile and stylish wheels to the rear with its slightly sporty spoiler and neat lines. This is no box on wheels — it actually has plenty of style. I might even go so far as to say it looks slightly more intimidating than some German sedans.

It also drives surprisingly well. The 2.2 turbodiesel punches out a very respectable 147kW. To put that into perspective, that is the same output as the fifth generation Volkswagen Golf GTi. Leave the kids at home and find a decent piece of road and it holds its own, particularly in terms of dynamics. I was remarkably impressed at how composed it is. There is little body roll but the ride is not hard. This is a family vehicle after all and it offers a comfortable ride.

I was even more impressed with the ride quality when I put the Kia Sorento through its paces during Car of the Year testing. The Sorento was wallowy and battled to remain composed during an emergency lane change procedure. The Sedona, despite its family values, handled much better.

Journeys in and out of town were a pleasure, with a relaxed driving position. I can only imagine that the designers know what it means to be in a relaxed driver’s seat while the kids are shouting in the back. On that note, the sound system is also quite good, but as we have said so many times before, Kia needs to catch up to its rivals when it comes to infotainment systems. The company does have a South African-sourced option but even that is not great.

Now before you think I have gone completely to the parental side and should start writing road tests for parenting magazines, believe me, I would still grab the key to a 911 or a performance sedan any day for a road trip or simply a quick blast out of town.

But the Grand Sedona is an excellent compromise for those who want to transport the family to the nearest jungle gym or a road trip destination in a relaxed and luxurious manner. It is stylish, well equipped and goes beyond what one expects of a regular MPV. It really is quite grand.

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2016 Kia Soul wins Best Family Compact Vehicle 2016

Shopping for a new family car that will keep the kids safe, connected, entertained and happy? The results of a new report suggest looking at the Honda Odyssey if you're in the market for a minivan or the 2016 Kia Soul for a compact car, which emerged the big winners.

After evaluating 256 cars on everything from safety and reliability, press reviews, space, and features, US News & World released the winners of their 2016 Best Cars for Families report, naming the best cars across 21 categories.

The family car sure isn’t what it used to be. But then the family sure isn’t what it used to be either. Families come in all shapes, sizes and compositions these days, and we hear the word diversity a lot. Well, we are here to tell you that there is unprecedented diversity in family cars these days, and while that is nothing but a good thing, it does make picking the proper conveyance for your family unit a bit more daunting. Which is why we at Kelley Blue Book have put together this incisive look at the Best Family Cars of 2016.

How did we arrive at this list? How did we choose these from among the 250 models that can make some claim to good-familycardom? The truth is it is an exhaustive and exhausting process, but also a very satisfying one. We know there are few more important choices that you will make as a consumer than the choice of a car, truck or van for your family. Safety, comfort, convenience and financial well-being are all wrapped up in that choice, since a family car, in many ways, is a rolling version of your house – and these days some family vehicles can cost as much as a house.

Choosing the contenders

The process of picking the best of the best began with our Kelley Blue Book editorial staff identifying two dozen vehicles that in our vast experience we believed worthy of a look for the coveted accolade of “Best Family Car.” We then sought out a representative example of each of those models and brought them all together in a family-car conglomeration.

Real-world test for real-world families
For two weeks’ time we drove, lived-with, folded-down-seats-of, paired-phones-to and installed-baby-seats-in each and every one of the contenders. We loaded cargo, contorted ourselves into third rows, watched movies on rear-seat screens, toted rowing teams to marinas – in short we did everything that you and your family might do with a vehicle day-to-day. And we did all this with a certain sense of what a family needs and wants since many of our testers are simultaneously parents of kids ranging from mid-twenties to newborn. From pre-schoolers to middle schoolers to high schoolers to post-schoolers our staff has the kid thing covered. So this wasn’t just a cursory exercise but instead it drew heavily upon our family-car experiences, needs and wants.

Selecting the cream of the cream

After we did all we could think to do to these vehicles and a little bit more than we hadn’t thought of originally, we came down to a list of 16 vehicles that we feel are befitting the title Best Family Cars of 2016. Now we admit that 16 might seem like a lot to you, since we don’t expect anyone to consider and research 16 different vehicles. But what you will find is that these 16 vehicles can be divided into logical subsets that will make your shopping much easier. To be explicit, we identified three minivans, six sedans, three 2-row crossover/SUVs and four 3-row SUVs on our list. Last year a couple of pickup trucks were included among 2015’s Best Family Cars, but this time the high quality of the field in the center-cut section of minivans, midsize sedans and crossovers/SUVs put the pickups we considered into also-ran status.
Judging criteria you’d use yourself

By what criteria did we make these choices? We expect they are the criteria you would employ in choosing a family vehicle for your brood. Tops on the list is safety, because your most precious ones’ lives are dependent upon that. Comfort and convenience play a big role, because these vehicles typically become your home away from home as you fulfill your family pursuits. Certainly there must be comfy spaces for all passengers and enough cargo space to serve their family-vacation needs.

Though not every family has young kids – or kids at all – we know from experience that families with children do have very special needs, so our tests and evaluations kept that top of mind. Again, as in years past, we fitted every one of the vehicles in this test with child safety seats of various configurations to see how they fared. Once you have kids in back you are well-advised to keep them occupied, so we paid attention to rear-seat entertainment systems and we gave bonus points for wi-fi hotspot capabilities.

Special features for today’s families

Finally we were on the lookout for special features. The availability of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, special safety/convenience features like adaptive cruise control and features as simple as a cubby to keep spare change or stash sunglasses can each add a bit to the overall family-car ownership experience.

If none of the 16 vehicles on our Best Family Cars list strikes your fancy – not likely but we suppose it could happen – our next suggestion is for you to take a look at the eight other vehicles we considered that ended up not making our list. We don’t think they are the equal of the vehicles that did land on it, but they are also worth significant consideration as your potential family stagecoach.

If you're indeed in the child car seat stage -- or prepping for it -- don't miss the accompanying car-seat guide with useful tips and specific details regarding the car-seat strengths and weaknesses of each of the winners below.

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The surprise winner of the Carsguide Car Of The Year for 2015 is a victory for families

2016 Kia Sorento

The Kia Sorento family SUV has won the Carsguide Car Of The Year for 2015, defeating early favourites including European luxury models and the world’s best-selling sports-car.

The panel of seven judges voted unanimously for the seven-seat family SUV after exhaustive testing during the year, and a final shootout over two days which included thousands of kilometres of real-world driving.

Kia, which is the sister company to Hyundai, is just outside the Top 10 sellers list in Australia but this is the second win for the brand in five years after the Kia Rio hatch won in 2011.

“Kia have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years,” said Carsguide editor Richard Blackburn.
“They’ve lifted their interior design, they’ve used Australian engineers to tune their suspension for local conditions and their diesel engines are on par with some of the best for refinement.”

The Mazda MX-5 sports car, known for its fun-to-drive character and new low price, was an early favorite to take out the top prize.

So too was the just released Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV, which is based on the same underpinnings as last year’s award winner, the Mercedes C Class sedan.

The $49,990 Kia Sorento SLi diesel took out the award because it excelled among its direct rivals in terms of value, low running costs and its industry-leading seven-year factory-backed warranty.

When the final counting was done, the judges also determined that the Kia also stood out among European SUVs costing twice the price.

“The Sorento can hold its own in any company. If you’re still put off by the badge on the nose, it’s your loss,” said Mr Blackburn.

The other contenders for Carsguide Car Of The Year in 2015 included the new Volkswagen Passat sedan, Ford Ranger ute, Jaguar XE sedan, Mazda CX-3 city SUV, Audi RS3 hot hatch, Volvo XC90 luxury SUV, BMW X1 compact SUV, and the Holden Commodore SS-V Redline sedan.

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