Kia Road Tests

Kia has come a long way since the current-generation Magentis saloon was unveiled in late 2005, with ever-bolder styling one of the most obvious features of the company's past five years.

When Kia assessed the pros and cons of ditching the ladder-frame chassis of the Sorento in favour of a unitary monocoque chassis, it's hard to imagine there was much debate about the best way forward.

The Postman Pat jibe delivered by my 9-year-old at first sight of the bright red test car gave way to awed admiration as he climbed in and absorbed the key features of its equally striking interior.

The nip-and-tuck operation performed on the Kia Picanto for the 2008 model year ranks as one of the great automotive saves of recent years.

The days in which seven-seater people movers need to be large, van-like machines with handling to match, and price tags that put them out reach of families, are a thing of a past.

When Kia launched its revised second-generation Sorento SUV last December, it transferred all of the vehicle's mechanical eggs into a single basket.

KIA IS causing a major headache for its competitors in the medium-sized sedan market with the new Magentis.
And that includes its owner, Hyundai, whose new Sonata set the pace earlier this year.

The Magentis represents the bargain buy in a segment where the price leader was the Sonata until the new Kia arrived.

RISING petrol prices have boosted the small-car market segment as motorists search for transport that is cheap to run.

And Korean manufacturer Kia has positioned itself perfectly to take advantage of down-sizing Kiwis with its diminutive and appealing new Picanto.

A 20-SOMETHING would not have been seen dead driving a Kia a year ago, unless it was given to them by parents cashing in on low prices for well-equipped late models.

It happened when I suggested to one of my children that a second-hand, 2001, low-mileage Kia wagon represented extraordinary value for money, compared with a mid-'90s Japanese sports sedan.

Korean car maker Kia is in a unique position with its compact sports-utility vehicle, the Sportage.

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Ii is probably the toughest market segment for new car retailers in New Zealand at the moment.

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