Faults:

Really nothing more than wear and tear parts replaced.

General Comments:

The Kia Optima is a fine car. I think it is as good or better than a Ford Mondeo or whatever you want to compare it to.

Not exciting to drive, but it is a good cruiser. 1.7 diesel engine is refined and always returns over 50 mpg.

Interior is luxurious and smooth and quiet. Probably the best thing about the car, it surprised me the most with how good it is. Quality materials, Kia have really upped the game.

Decent to drive, economical and luxurious for what it is, give the Optima a try!

Faults:

I had no problems, as this was a loaner I had while my personal vehicle was in for body work.

General Comments:

It looks nice, but it's slow, lacks features most cars in its class have, and some controls just seemed counter intuitive to me, even after having driven everything from Japanese and European (and even other Korean!) imports to American cars of all sorts owned by family, as rentals, etc. Normally after a day with a car, I have a pretty good feel for the controls. Not this one, for some reason.

Sport mode didn't do a whole lot. It still felt slow. It handled reasonably well, the seats were average, and felt like they'd be at home in something even cheaper. Interior features were hit or miss, with big misses going to the stereo for its lack of features found on base trim levels of even some lesser cars.

Overall, if I were to get one, I'd only do it in a higher trim level with a better engine and a better options package. It's not a bad looking car, but it was absolutely disappointing to drive. And why did a Ford dealer have a Kia as a loaner, anyway? Not that I'd buy it, but let people drive what you sell so they want to buy from you. Is the Kia Optima better than previous Kias? Yes. Could you get something else of the same year and class that's better? It's almost hard not to. So do the easy thing and just get something that isn't the Optima LX. If it has to be one of these, treat yourself to a higher trim level that might feel less like you stepped back a decade from when this thing was built.

Wait, I need to say something nice. It'll probably get you where you're going, and you'll be happy it did.

Faults:

After buying a brand new top of the line Optima, loaded with the top trim package, I get home to discover there is no Home Link. I was told that it is a $500 add-on. My previous Optima, with a lower trim package, had a Home Link and I assumed this one would.

I live in the Northern US and have snow tires mounted on wheels. I also have Kia tire sensors on the wheels for convenience and cost savings. The issue is that the computer will only recognize one set of tire sensors, even though both are Kia sensors. I therefore have to spend at least an hour or more and $50 twice a year to have the computer reprogrammed. Currently they cannot even figure out how to get the other sensors to work. It is extremely disappointing and frustrating to think that Kia does not understand the US market and customer, and will not implement a simple software fix.