The better half an I returned this past Saturday from a much needed vacation, this pandemic has kept both of us so busy (I'm an auto tech, she's a production scheduler at a large machine shop that was shifted to produce ventilator parts for Ford, among others) so the past 6 months have been rocky. I had booked a flight and hotel for SEMA in Las Vegas before all the stuff hit the fan, neither of which was refundable, however as luck would have it we encountered a global pandemic that cancelled basically every public event in the world. I take maybe one vacation a year, if I'm lucky, so there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to go to Vegas, even if just to walk around and enjoy the weather.
So, the better half bought herself a cheap ticket on my flights and off we went. We spent 5 days, with a 2 day trip to the Grand Canyon nested in the middle. I reserved a "Dealer's Choice" from Ace rent-a-car (insert every shady car rental story here), but overall it was a fine experience. I was given a 2020 Kia Optima FE with 16k, which I have to assume stands for "fuel economy" however I could not find any reference to that trim in any of the Optima literature. From what I read, it was simply a base LX. In total, I put around 700 miles on while I had it.
That being said, it was a wonderful car. It had a 7" touch screen, Apple Car Play, Android Auto, and a full compliment of safety tech: blind spot monitoring, backup cam with cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, everything you could want. I immediately turned off the BSM, my head has been equipped with this feature since I was born and I can't stand the incessant beeping every time the car thinks I'm drifting or thinks a car is too close. I did enjoy the rear cross-traffic alert, that one saved me a couple times while pulling out of a casino lot blindly.
My favorite feature, however, was the LKAS. Normally, driving around town, I haven't found the system to be particularly useful in the handful of models I've driven that are so equipped. However, on a 4 hour drive through the desert it was a God send. I wasn't tired or otherwise impaired in the least, but it is wonderful to be able to just lightly rest a hand on the rim of the wheel and let the car do the rest. It was quite good at maintaining my lane, except when it lost lane markers occasionally. Also, the combined solid/dotted center stripes used to denote passing zones would for some reason cause the car to want to pull towards the middle, seemingly ignoring the single solid line on the shoulder.
As for the car itself, it was quite a nice ride. The seat adjustments were basic, just manual height, distance, and recline. No lumbar adjustment is provided, which can often be the bain of my bad lower back, but I had no real issues up until the last 30 minutes or so of the drive which is when my tailbone and lumbar area started to get pretty sore. The 2.4 engine and 6-speed auto were a decent pair, there was a bit of gear hunting on the steep grades, but I found that using manual mode and locking in 5th gear provided a better experience with little speed loss. Downhill was better, the trans was very good about downshifting on the grades and the car had no trouble holding 70-80 MPH while heading down, without touching the brakes.
All the rest was fairly standard fare: the trunk was plenty big, the ride was comfortable although there was very little in the way of sport. There were 3 drives modes available: Comfort, Sport, and Eco. Sport mode must be chosen every ignition cycle, Comfort and Eco modes remember your choice. I found Eco to be the most enjoyable, mostly due to the reduced throttle response. That may sound counter-intuitive, but the super short 1st gear combined with cheapy Nexen all-seasons led me to scratch the tires on take-off more than once. Eco mode dampened this just the right amount, yet still provided plenty of acceleration when requested.
Fuel mileage was great, as was the range. I didn't do any hand calculations, but the trip computer reported an overall of 33.2 by the time I returned it and reported 37.9 while doing an average of 75 MPH back from The Canyon. Knock a couple off for the notoriously generous computer readings, and I still consider it quite good. On a full tank, range was reported between 510-535 miles which seemed easily achievable. I got about 400 miles before my first fill up at 1/4 tank, with 95 miles of range still showing. On a flat highway drive with no wind I see no reason why 530 miles would be out of reach.
I am a big fan of Hyundai/Kia vehicles and recommend them to everyone. I know that's not a universally shared opinion among members here and others, but their value is hard to beat. If I were to spec an Optima, I'd get one with a few more creature comforts but stick to the 2.4 engine. Unfortunately, the replacement for the Optima, the K5, is only available with the 1.6 turbo engine or the 2.5 turbo. I understand the reasoning, however I truly think that leaving the NA engine as standard at least in the base LX would have been smart. Oddly enough, the mechanically similar Hyundai Sonata uses an updated 2.5 NA motor in it's lower trims, and saves the 1.6 turbo for it's top trim. Only the new N-line gets the 2.5 turbo that's in the new K5 GT. The 2.5 uses dual-port injection and actually makes 11 more HP, but 14 less lb-ft of torque than the 1.6 turbo. Hardly worth the extra complexity. With the upgraded 8-speed auto vs. the 6-speed of my rental I have to imagine that the 2.5 will be more than adequate.
So, the better half bought herself a cheap ticket on my flights and off we went. We spent 5 days, with a 2 day trip to the Grand Canyon nested in the middle. I reserved a "Dealer's Choice" from Ace rent-a-car (insert every shady car rental story here), but overall it was a fine experience. I was given a 2020 Kia Optima FE with 16k, which I have to assume stands for "fuel economy" however I could not find any reference to that trim in any of the Optima literature. From what I read, it was simply a base LX. In total, I put around 700 miles on while I had it.
That being said, it was a wonderful car. It had a 7" touch screen, Apple Car Play, Android Auto, and a full compliment of safety tech: blind spot monitoring, backup cam with cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, everything you could want. I immediately turned off the BSM, my head has been equipped with this feature since I was born and I can't stand the incessant beeping every time the car thinks I'm drifting or thinks a car is too close. I did enjoy the rear cross-traffic alert, that one saved me a couple times while pulling out of a casino lot blindly.
My favorite feature, however, was the LKAS. Normally, driving around town, I haven't found the system to be particularly useful in the handful of models I've driven that are so equipped. However, on a 4 hour drive through the desert it was a God send. I wasn't tired or otherwise impaired in the least, but it is wonderful to be able to just lightly rest a hand on the rim of the wheel and let the car do the rest. It was quite good at maintaining my lane, except when it lost lane markers occasionally. Also, the combined solid/dotted center stripes used to denote passing zones would for some reason cause the car to want to pull towards the middle, seemingly ignoring the single solid line on the shoulder.
As for the car itself, it was quite a nice ride. The seat adjustments were basic, just manual height, distance, and recline. No lumbar adjustment is provided, which can often be the bain of my bad lower back, but I had no real issues up until the last 30 minutes or so of the drive which is when my tailbone and lumbar area started to get pretty sore. The 2.4 engine and 6-speed auto were a decent pair, there was a bit of gear hunting on the steep grades, but I found that using manual mode and locking in 5th gear provided a better experience with little speed loss. Downhill was better, the trans was very good about downshifting on the grades and the car had no trouble holding 70-80 MPH while heading down, without touching the brakes.
All the rest was fairly standard fare: the trunk was plenty big, the ride was comfortable although there was very little in the way of sport. There were 3 drives modes available: Comfort, Sport, and Eco. Sport mode must be chosen every ignition cycle, Comfort and Eco modes remember your choice. I found Eco to be the most enjoyable, mostly due to the reduced throttle response. That may sound counter-intuitive, but the super short 1st gear combined with cheapy Nexen all-seasons led me to scratch the tires on take-off more than once. Eco mode dampened this just the right amount, yet still provided plenty of acceleration when requested.
Fuel mileage was great, as was the range. I didn't do any hand calculations, but the trip computer reported an overall of 33.2 by the time I returned it and reported 37.9 while doing an average of 75 MPH back from The Canyon. Knock a couple off for the notoriously generous computer readings, and I still consider it quite good. On a full tank, range was reported between 510-535 miles which seemed easily achievable. I got about 400 miles before my first fill up at 1/4 tank, with 95 miles of range still showing. On a flat highway drive with no wind I see no reason why 530 miles would be out of reach.
I am a big fan of Hyundai/Kia vehicles and recommend them to everyone. I know that's not a universally shared opinion among members here and others, but their value is hard to beat. If I were to spec an Optima, I'd get one with a few more creature comforts but stick to the 2.4 engine. Unfortunately, the replacement for the Optima, the K5, is only available with the 1.6 turbo engine or the 2.5 turbo. I understand the reasoning, however I truly think that leaving the NA engine as standard at least in the base LX would have been smart. Oddly enough, the mechanically similar Hyundai Sonata uses an updated 2.5 NA motor in it's lower trims, and saves the 1.6 turbo for it's top trim. Only the new N-line gets the 2.5 turbo that's in the new K5 GT. The 2.5 uses dual-port injection and actually makes 11 more HP, but 14 less lb-ft of torque than the 1.6 turbo. Hardly worth the extra complexity. With the upgraded 8-speed auto vs. the 6-speed of my rental I have to imagine that the 2.5 will be more than adequate.