by Harvey Xiao

Enterprise graciously upgraded me to this for my weekend rental. I’d booked a Chevy Aveo.

It was because I showed up 2 hours late for my rental and the only cars they had left were this and a Mercedes C300. They weren’t about to give me the Benz.

This may be due to the fact that my expectations were low going in (I was expecting an Aveo after all), but this car isn’t that bad.

Let’s start with looks. It surely won’t win any prizes for sexiness, but it’s got a stroke of handsomeness about it. It’s got that brawny thing going on… everything from mirrors to taillights to door handles is rather big. It also has this S70-esk boxiness going on.  The design looks more simple and straightforward compared to its competition, even to the Hyundai Sonata from which it’s based. I’m not sure whether this was deliberately planned or blatant laziness, but it somehow works.

The interior is disappointing. It’s full of Elantra grade plastics –the type that make the new Malibu feel like the Ritz. Actually, I can spend all day talking about areas where this car falls short. But let’s remember, it’s a Kia. Their motto should really be something along the lines of “Falling short to save a buck.” So instead of listing out everything that fails to meet the standard, let me just say upfront that the Optima is a collection of cheaply made parts that could use improvement, but screwed together in a way that makes something rather adequate.

Adequate. That’s a great way to describe this car. Just about everything is very okay. The transmission is a bit slow and rough, but adequate. The steering is a bit light and disconnected, but adequate. The suspension is a bit bouncy and unstable, but adequate. The seats are shy of supportive, but adequate. You get the picture. Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered something about the Optima that is really quite good.

It’s the motor. For the love of god, get the V6. If you’re at a stage in life where an Optima is the right car, at least reward yourself to the V6. It doesn’t cost much more, but it is the one and only component in this car that surpasses the realm of adequacy. It’s not especially powerful or particularly good sounding, but it operates with the smoothness of a mid-90’s Camry V6. Even on 87 grade petrol (I’m cheap), it revs quickly and happily to its 6k rpm redline, delivering a healthy amount of torque the entire time. This scenario happened over and over: Floor the pedal at 50, the adequate transmission searches for 2^nd gear. It latches onto 2^nd hard with a big jerk and takes off. Tachometer shoots to 5 thousand, 6 thousand, then back to 4 thousand following an adequate shift into 3^rd.  I must admit, it was kind of fun.

The weekend trip averaged 20mpg. Not bad.

Bottom line: If adequacy is your thing, this is your car. I seldom recommend the bigger engine in a cheap car, but in this case, it’s a must-have. If nothing else, it’ll afford you the ability to fly past the Accord and Camry 4-bangers in your suburban life.

My final closing thought: If you like the Optima, you might want to act soon (like now), the 2010s look like a Sonata with a bad case of plastic surgery. 

photo courtesy of wikipedia