2017 Kia Cadenza first drive, moving up

Just what Kia wants to be when it grows up remains something of a mystery—but if it’s a purveyor of premium-feeling, stylish cars, the Cadenza goes a long way toward fulfilling that mission.

While this big sedan doesn’t bring much new to the table against rivals like the Buick LaCrosse, Toyota Avalon, and Hyundai Azera, it delivers a thoroughly polished feel. There’s not an element of the latest Cadenza that reminds us that, just a decade ago, Kia was building cars best described as uncouth.

The new-for-2017 Cadenza builds on the look and feel of its predecessor, but it comes at the full-size sedan segment with a little more vigor. And it needs to, since the last Cadenza was a mere blip in the sales charts overshadowed by almost every rival. Don’t look for the Cadenza to suddenly become Kia’s best seller, but its refinement sets a new high bar for the brand and, with any luck, it will continue to trickle down to the mainstream Optima and Forte.

2017 Kia Cadenza

Fitting in

Kia doesn’t position the Cadenza as a volume model, meaning that even the entry-level Premium model, priced at roughly $33,000, is better equipped than, say, the Chevrolet Impala. Leather seats and 18-inch alloy wheels are standard, a reminder that Kia still delivers a lot of value for the money.

An option package on the Premium—the only optional extra on any Cadenza—adds navigation, a panoramic sunroof, 630 watts of Harman/Kardon audio, blind spot monitors, and rear cross traffic alerts. The Technology trim level (at about $40,000) adds to that adaptive cruise control, a forward collision warnings with automatic emergency braking, a surround-view camera system, LED headlamps, and ventilated front seats. Topping the line is the decadent, roughly $45,000 SXL with upgraded leather, a power trunk lid, and a color head-up display that washes out with polarized sunglasses.

All models are priced about on par with the Buick LaCrosse and Toyota Avalon, though we give Kia credit for making automatic emergency braking a mandatory feature on the Technology and SXL grades.

But refinement is as crucial a selling point in the big sedan segment as value, and the Cadenza certainly delivers that, too. Nearly silent inside, it masks any hint of the outside world with sound deadening materials and laminated glass. That serenity extends to its ride quality, which is firm yet thoroughly devoid of sportiness. Its dashboard recalls Lexus of a decade ago, without ergonomic quirks thanks to logically grouped buttons and a simple infotainment system. Trendy design gestures are limited only to the odd but attractive quilted leather seating surfaces on the range-topping SXL.

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First Drive: Kia Sportage Turbo Makes A Convincing Premium Play

The 2017 Kia Sportage wins my award for most surprising attention-grabber - and that’s high praise for something aimed at the heart of today’s American car market.

It manages to do it in a rather conservative class of car, the compact SUV market that’s become the new staple for Americans over the last few years. The best new compact SUVs act like midsize sedans most of the time, providing space for some combination of adults and kids and their belongings with little compromise.

And like many of its recent offerings, Kia brings a healthy dose of style to its entry in the segment, which is one of the easiest things it can do to separate itself in a crowded field. Fortunately for the Sportage, the style is backed up with a lot of substance, too.

Nose noise

Stare first at its front and the Sportage splits opinion right away. That’s a good thing in my book, whether you like the stubby "tiger nose" or not.

Move to the side and the rear, however, and things are far less controversial if you skip the Burnished Copper paint. Nice 19-inch wheels come on this top SX model, but all Sportages get nice wheels now. The lack of a quarter window out back doesn’t impede vision as much as it could, although a backup camera and parking sensors help out. The overall shape is similar to other compact SUVs, but Kia at least sweated some details to make it look different and detailed and the Sportage is better for it, even if it’s a little controversial.

In fact, I thought the Sportage was the most distinctive-looking SUV on the market at the moment until someone suggested a resemblance to the Porsche Macan at the back. Then I couldn’t unsee it.

I guess there are worse things to copy.

Plenty to touch softly

Perhaps the Porsche comparison is timely now because Kia recently bested the German luxury brand in this year’s J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey.

Mainstream-branded cars getting sexy exterior makeovers has been common in recent years, but things have tended to go awry inside, where the low prices mean low-grade interiors. Things like heated and cooled front seats and a powered shade for the enormous glass roof impress in this class – and all standard on this SX.

Kia has finally mastered the art of balancing the soft-touch materials where they matter and cutting corners where we’re less likely to notice. The dash top has a convincing stitching to it, the upper door panels and armrests are sufficiently padded for bony elbows. The A-pillars aren’t swathed in a nicely woven textile, but the plastic is designed in such a way that it looks like they are. But how often were you going to grope those? The Sportage is nice where it counts.

It’s also so simple to use the corporate Hyundai-Kia touchscreen radio and the secondary buttons below. Pretty much every command is straightforward and the screen has one of the most immediate responses out there, to minimize the amount of time you’re screaming at it.

The only significant gripe I had inside the Sportage concerned the cargo area. It’s a decent size and shape, with rear seats that split 60/40 and go down flat. But the floor is so flat and shapeless that your two grocery bags spill over before you leave the parking lot. A cargo organizer or at least some nets or hooks to hold stuff in place would be better than having to climb into the back to get a loose apple. 
Or stop buying fruit. Your call.

Ready to pounce

Most Sportages will get the 2.4-liter four with 181 horsepower that will be as adventurous as oatmeal with raisins. The engine that better matches the Sportage’s looks, however, is the 2.0-liter turbo four, with 245 horsepower.

The turbo is interesting in its old-school nature. There’s a throbbing you can feel through the pedals and wheel at idle, and then a good amount of lag from a full stop. But pulls pretty hard once the turbo gets in the game. You won’t mistake it for a V6, but the power is comparable.

Better still, there’s just enough engine noise in the otherwise quiet cabin. It feels solid unlike its most of its rivals. Kia seems to have channeled an Audi Q5 or Range Rover Evoque rather than a Mazda CX-5, and the planted feel inspires you to play with it in corners. Too bad the steering and tires aren’t up to that, but at least the suspension is willing to give it a try.

Unlike its mechanical relative, the Hyundai Tucson, the Sportage sticks with a typical 6-speed automatic rather than the Hyundai’s 7-speed dual-clutch auto, and it’s mostly better for it. The transmission wants to be in the higher gears a lot, but it’s pretty prompt to shift down when your right foot asks for it.

The obvious downside, however, is a dismal fuel economy figures of 20 city, 23 highway. Ditch the optional all-wheel drive and the 23 mpg combined rating isn’t much better than the 21 with the system. I managed to average around that, but V6-equipped three-row crossovers I’ve driven recently have matched or bettered that.

Combine the interior quality and driving experience, and the Sportage SX feels like a premium product more than a mainstream-branded one.

Going farther

As far as compact crossovers go, the Sportage SX is a good way to spend $35,000 on one. Aside from the pathetic fuel economy, it doesn’t do anything badly. I wish the fuel economy were better and the steering ever so slightly sharper, but it’s better than most here.

Importantly, it does more than is expected of it when compared to its mainstream rivals. No similarly priced Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4 feels this substantial. The Tucson and Mazda CX-5 aren’t as powerful and a Ford Escape is more expensive still.

More than a decent drive, a useful box and a polished interior, the Sportage SX makes you question for a minute or two why someone would make the $10-15,000 jump to a premium-branded compact SUV. Sure, it says "KIA" on the front and back, but you’d have to be a real badge snob to let that bother you these days – especially coming out of a Toyota or Ford, for example.

And even if it doesn’t drive like a Porsche Macan, your friends will at least have a positive inflection when they look at the front and ask, “What is that?” 

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Kia Optima GT v Hyundai Sonata Premium Comparison Review

There’s something to be said for sibling rivalry. Brothers and sisters often grow up trying to outdo one another, and to an extent the same can be said of car companies.

Okay, so there probably aren’t awkward family photos of a Hyundai peering out of the corner of its headlight at a Kia. But that’s essentially what’s happening between the two Korean brands, as each tries to make the best of their genes.

And there’s some serious competition between the makers – not just locally, where Hyundai easily outsells Kia by a margin of three to one – but globally, where the brands compete in the same market spaces: small cars, SUVs and vehicles like the two tested against one another in this comparison, the Hyundai Sonata Premium and the Kia Optima GT.

These two mid-sized sedans are priced within $2000 of one another, with the Kia – surprisingly – the dearer of the two. But as has been the case with the rivalry between the two makers over recent years, one has a few different tricks up its sleeve over the other, despite essentially being twins under the skin.

Let’s see which sibling deserves more praise…

Pricing and equipment

As mentioned, the Kia Optima GT – at $43,990 plus on-road costs – is a couple of grand more than the $41,990 Hyundai Sonata Premium.

Both cars come well equipped for the outlay, with niceties such as leather trim on the seats, front seats with electric adjustment and memory settings for the driver’s seat, heating and ventilation for the front seats, dual-zone climate control and auto headlights and wipers.

Each has satellite navigation on an 8.0-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, a reverse-view camera, front and rear parking sensors, electronic park brake, 18-inch alloy wheels with a full-size spare, bi-xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights, and they both have a sunroof, too.
Seems pretty even stevens. Well, to a point.

Unlike the Kia, the Hyundai has rear map-reading lights, illuminated mirrors in the sun-visors, and a six-speaker stereo system.

The Kia hits back with a 10-speaker stereo system with subwoofer, GT embossing on the seats, a heated flat-bottom steering wheel with paddleshifters, and sports pedals that align more with its sporty character.

On the outside it gets a lower-sill and bumper body kit, and while – like a parent with twins – we wouldn’t dare tell one that it was better looking than the other, we all know that one is a better looker…
But it’s on the safety front that the Kia really shames its sister model.

The Optima GT has radar cruise control, pre-collision warning with autonomous emergency braking (up to 65km/h with full auto braking; up to 180km/h maximum), automated high-beam headlights, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and lane departure warning.

Hyundai has advised CarAdvice that is has no plan to introduce that tech to the Sonata at this point, but it’s something that could draw in buyers with families or fleets to Kia showrooms.
Both cars have six airbags, including dual front, front side and full-length curtain protection. The new-generation Optima has not yet been crash tested, but the Sonata achieved the highest-possible five-star rating earlier this year.

That’s an emphatic win to the Kia in round one, then.

Interior

Parents tell their kids all the time that “it’s what’s on the inside that counts”, and that’s a fair way to judge these cars, too.

As we’ve already made clear, the two have reasonably similar equipment lists, and the fact the Kia has a sportier interior and the Hyundai is more grown-up in its appearance works well as a metaphor for the positioning and intent of each of the brands at their current standing.
Where the Optima is more athletic and youthful – with black tones, red stitching and polished metal on the dashboard and centre console – while the Sonata looks a bit like it’s trying to be cool, with its faux-carbonfibre trim on the dash and doors, black centre console plastic and plainer black upholstery and steering wheel fall short by comparison.

CA colleague Trent was with me on this test, and he put it fairly succinctly: “The Optima has it all over the Sonata for premium feel – the stitching, materials and headlining are all a lot nicer to look at, and feel.”

The screens – though very similar – offer a different experience, graphics and ease of use. The Sonata’s satellite navigation system is simpler to use, easier to look at and gives the driver a better at-a-glance view of their location. The Kia, on the other hand, is a little tricky to use – the maps are a higher quality, sure, but the navigation input controls and switching between screens is fiddlier.
However, the Kia gets a few points back by not appearing quite as washed out when hit by direct sunlight, and it also has reverse line guidance that moves to show you the path you’ll take based on your steering, where Sonata has static boxed markings.

Below the screen the Sonata has digital dual-zone climate control displays below the screen, which are quite upmarket when compared with the Kia’s plastic dials that have the simpler blue-to-red scale (though the temperature shows up in the top of the screen). Where the Kia’s seat warming/cooling controls are located between the chairs, the Hyundai sees its seat comfort system fitted – more logically – near the rest of the climate controls.

The Kia has a better looking and nicer feeling gear selector to pair with that flat-bottom steering wheel, and those aforementioned paddleshifters mean you can take matters literally into your own hands if you wish. And in another assertion of youthfulness, the Kia has a Qi wireless charging pad for smartphones fitted with those cases.
You can’t pick a difference for interior space, though, with both of these cars offering excellent rear-seat head, leg and toe room for adults. There are two ISOFIX child seat anchor points in both cars, and the seatbacks fold down 60:40 to expand their respective boot spaces for long – just not overly wide – loads.

The boot of each car is virtually identical, too, with a negligible five-litre advantage to the Hyundai, with 510 litres (Kia: 505L).

Both cars have ‘smart boot’ opening systems that sees the trunk lid open when you stand behind it with the key within close proximity. After a few seconds (three beeps worth), the lid lifts up – a pretty handy littler helper when you’ve got your hands full.

The Optima GT’s bigger sound system is clearly a better one, too, with the Harman Kardon speakers and sub-woofer offering brilliant clarity and bass. The Kia also has a rear USB port – great for your homies. Er, sorry, that youngster lingo just seems to fit for the Optima.

Engine and transmission

In a similar way to how parents share their redhead, freckle-face genes with their kids, these to share some more identical bits under their bonnets.

The powertrain of choice is a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which is paired to a six-speed automatic transmission. Power is rated at 180kW (at 6000rpm) for both engines, and each pumps out 350Nm (from 1400-4000rpm).

Both cars are front-wheel drive, and both have identical gear ratios. But they weigh different amounts – the Kia is just five kilograms heavier, at 1650kg (heaviest kerb weight) – and despite them being so close by every other engine measure, the Kia is about eight per cent more efficient on paper. Claimed fuel use is rated at 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres for Optima GT, while the Sonata Premium is claimed at 9.2L/100km.

We saw negligible difference on test: the Kia was ahead, but only by 0.3L/100km – 9.9L/100km versus 10.2L for the Sonata – across a mix of country, urban and highway driving.

The engines in both cars are strong, willing, and punchy things, with good mid-range pulling power that is best discovered in third and fourth gears. These two make for great country road cruisers, and they both settle nicely on the highway, too.

Around town there is a surprising amount of difference between the two, given the identical setups of each of their innards.

On our test over identical roads with identical loads the Optima’s gearbox proved less eager to shift back a gear up hills, and the amount of engine noise intrusion in the Kia was markedly less than in the Sonata.

The Hyundai’s engine was buzzy – noisy, even – at low speeds, more noticeably when the engine was cold, but it was a constant accompaniment at city speeds. On test it proved eager to shift down a cog, too, both around town up hills and on the open road climbing more serious slopes.

Both gearboxes, however, proved entirely liveable on test, with smooth shifts and quick responses to changing stimuli.

When you consider that both brands have less advanced 2.4-litre engines in their entry-level versions of these cars, it is a bit of a shame, because these are two of the better drivetrains on offer in the segment.

On the road

The drive experience – you may expect – should be similar with these two. Not so…

Each has been tuned specifically by its respective Australian product and engineering team to deliver a drive experience in line with customer preferences, and with the Australian environment in mind. That is to say, they are supposed to be engaging to drive but safe feeling on the road, and able to cope with some pretty cruddy surfaces.

And both the Kia and Hyundai engineering teams have done a brilliant job of making these two cars drive with a level of involvement, comfort, control and competence that other importers can’t match.

The Optima, for example, is sporty, yet very comfortable. Despite having a slightly firmer ride than the Sonata it deals with high frequency bumps brilliantly, and if you hit larger rolling lumps on the road surface they don’t transmit to the cabin – it floats, without being floaty. That is, unless you hit a sharp-edged pothole or road join, which can upset the front axle a little.

It is involving to drive, too, with steering that offers good weighting and response when you’re pushing through corners. It has a good amount of heft, and is direct and rapid to react. That’s the GT bit of the name justified, then.

However, the Kia’s steering lacks the lightness on centre of the Sonata, which – while possessing slightly slower steering turn-in response – is actually nicer to drive on the highway due to the fact it isn’t as fidgety on centre as the Optima.

At speed both cars feel well gelled to the road, though the Sonata is perhaps a touch more lively and likely to shift on its tyres. The Hyundai rolls on lesser Kumho Solus rubber, where the Kia has stickier Michelin Pilot Sport tread.

The Sonata feels more of the small bumps than the Kia but is still very comfortable in most situations, and it doesn’t get as frazzled by sharp bumps either. The suspension settles quickly, and never crashes.

Both cars can suffer a touch of wheel-spin during sudden acceleration, and torque steer – where the steering wheel tugs to the side under throttle – can be noticed at times in both vehicles, too.

The Kia again benefits from better on-road refinement in terms of noise intrusion, with less coarse-chip road roar. Maybe the extra 5kg was sound deadening…?

Ownership

These two have strong ownership programs by class standards.

Kia’s triple-seven program – a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assistance, and seven years of capped-price servicing – is a particularly attractive proposition on paper.

But servicing for the Kia costs an average of $698 per year over that seven-year period, and maintenance is due every six months or 7500km.

Hyundai has a shorter (but still very strong) five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assistance, and hits back against the Kia with lifetime capped-price servicing.

Maintenance for the Sonata is cheaper, averaging out at $505 per year over a the same seven-year ownership period, with visits also due every six months or 7500km.

Resale is another plus for the Sonata – remember, resale counts for all new car purchases, as resale is the biggest cost of ownership for a new vehicle.

So, what will each of these be worth in three years time, once there’s about 40,000km on the clock? According to Glass’s Guide, one fares a tad better than the other…

The Hyundai is predicted to retain between $16,700 and $20,000 of its initial purchase price – or between 40 and 47.5 per cent. The Kia, according to Glass’s, should be sellable between $18,400 and $21,900 (42 to 50 per cent) after the same mileage and time.

Whether you think it’s worth spending the extra cash on servicing the Kia over the ownership period, however, will be something to keep in mind…

Verdict

So, which child should the parent company be more proud of?

It’s a close one, but based on our testing the Kia is more of a star student than the Hyundai.
The Sonata Premium is a brilliant mid-sized sedan. It has space that betters some cars a class larger, a long standard equipment list, a sharper price point, and a longer service campaign than the Kia – and you’d be well served to choose this car over any number of competitors in the class.

But the Optima GT is just better in a lot of little ways – yes, it’s dearer, but it has better safety equipment, it is quieter, it looks and feels more upmarket inside, and that class-leading warranty is hard to look past.

Sporty. Good looking. Charming. The Kia Optima GT kind of has it all.

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