William Maley
Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com
July 5, 2012
This week in the Cheers and Gears Detroit garage is the 2012 Kia Optima EX. This Optima is equipped with the base 2.4L DI inline-four delivering 200 HP and 186 lb-ft torque, and is equipped with a six-speed automatic.
First Impressions so far:
- Love the exterior and interior design
- Headroom in the backseat is a bit tight
- The amount of equipment for the price is very impressive
- Average fuel economy so far: 27.2 MPG
I will be updating with more thoughts about the Optima throughout its stay. Send in your questions in the meantime.
Update #1: So far the Optima has been really impressing me. The 2.4L DI four is very smooth and has quite the punch. Average fuel economy has dropped to 25.3 MPG, but that's in line with the EPA rating for the city. I'm expecting that number rise over the weekend.
As for complaints, I have one dealing with the back window. you can barely see anything out the back window due to the rakish design and large C-Pillars. Thankfully, the Optima has a rear view camera thanks to the optional Premium package.
I'll another update coming either tomorrow or Monday with highway fuel economy numbers.
Update #2: My time with the Optima is coming to close, as it will be heading back tomorrow. And, I'm sad to see it go.
The Optima has really impressed my as a package. The powertrain, design, and features makes for a very formidable player in the midsize sedan market. It does have some problems, some I have talked about here and some that I will talk about in the review. But most are minor, maybe for the back window and not seeing out of it.
As for highway fuel economy, the EPA rates the Optima 2.4L at 35 MPG. I got close to it, getting 33.5 MPG on my run. If I had gone further, I'm willing to bet I would have matched or even surpassed 35.
William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.
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