Kia Optima

Tweaky

Currently looking to change my car and one that has really got my interest is the Kia Optima. Went to look at the new Sportswagon but while I liked the look of it I was disapointed by the Spec level that they are offering. It is their entry level spec with a small few extras. Kia don't let you tick options so what you see in the showroom is all you can get.
The platinum spec of the Saloon is the other option which comes fully loaded and has full leather and Xenon fronts and LED rear. Very impressed with the overall package.
Is there anybody on here that has the current model - would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback on the car - running costs , fuel efficiency etc.
The 7 year warranty is a big plus - but one concern I would have is residual values - do they depreciate rapidly ?

bazz26

Bob Flavin does a decent review of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXuLWdNk8gE

The Optima seems to get over looked by it's sister car the Hyundai i40 despite the Optima being fresher. Kia launched the new Optima here back earlier in the year and being honest I don't think many knew it, it also looks very similar to the old model though the interior definitely has improved. Kia's marketing and market share drive at least in Ireland generally isn't the same as sister company Hyundai. That stance can have both pros and cons though.

Tweaky

Took the Optima - Platinum spec for a test drive and must admit I was well impressed. I found the drive nice and smooth even on the 18 inch wheels. I found the engine responsive and the 141bhp seems to be enough for this size of car. No excessive road noise and did not notice any issues with the steering that some reviewers have referred to.
The toys and extras at the platimum level are more than enough. the only thing I am trying to get confirmation on is that it will have android auto like the sportswagon does - they seem to use the same head unit and infotainment system.
The only open item for me is understanding the resale values in 3 years and seeing what kind of hit I would be taking. Anyone here any indication or experience of the resale/ trade in values of the Optima.

NIMAN

Not sure if you can use this experience as gospel, but a friend of mine bought a new Kia a few years back, and said he struggled to find non-Kia dealers who were willing to trade it in when he was looking to change.

Now this might have changed in the meantime, as Kia has got a lot more popular and got a better reputation as car manufacturers since then. There might also have been an element of an unwritten rule where the other dealers were a bit miffed about the 7yr warranty and lower costs cars, and wanted to be as difficult as possible to Kia owners, trying to damage the brand.

Mantis Toboggan

The Optima is a very nice looking car.

A guy from work has a white one and it's sex on wheels.

The resale value has improved over the years also especially since the 7 year warranty was introduced.

Currently have a Pro_Ceed but would have no problem buying another Kia.

ofcork

Are they more expensive than the avensis mondeo etc have seen them stickered at 32k odd in j&p cork.

bazz26

You would be hard pressed to find an Avensis or Mondeo with the same spec for the same price as the Optima.

Tweaky

All the feedback here seems to be positive. Nothing to frighten me so far. As mentioned you would be hard pushed to get the same level of kit for the price in another brand. The superb used to be the value car with all the extras but they have gotten very expensive. Coming out of a 2014 Superb elegance and finding it is big money to go to a new one.

bazz26

Yep Skoda are no longer the bargain brand they were a few years ago. The new Superb is nearly the same price as an equivalent specced Passat but to be fair it's just as good.

NIMAN

And to be fair, Kia aren't really far behind the bigger name brands either now.

There was a time they were much cheaper, but I was looking at the price of the Ceed the other day, and its fairly similar to a Focus, Astra, Leon now.

Tweaky

Yeah there has been a nice increase in Superb pricing over the last couple of years since the new model came out. € 17k to come up to an equivalent spec from 141 to 171 - a lot higher than I was expecting and to be fair to the sales guy he said I wasn't the first person to be surprised. But you do get what you pay for. The Optima has the same spec as the superb that I was looking at plus a few extras and leaves me with €6k in my pocket. It's hard to overlook it especially when it has a longer warranty.

colm_mcm

Look at the mondeo too.

bazz26

In order to match the spec of a Platinum Optima in a Mondeo you would nearly have to buy the Vignale version at well over 40k. Yes the Mondeo has a better range of engines and dynamically would be a better car to drive than the Optima but a new Mondeo is not great value these days imo, even leather seats are nearly 2k extra on the Titanium model.

Tweaky

Actually priced up the mondeo today starting with the titanium spec and it was getting expensive. When I started adding options. At this point the Kia is the front runner.

colm_mcm

The Optima is a fine car. Does it have the glass roof?

Tweaky

The platinum spec doesn't. You have to go up to the GSE spec for that. The new GT line has it as well.

colm_mcm

I think the glass roof makes them. Probably not what you want to hear
The look the biz in that bright blue on the original model or in white.

Tweaky

The glass roof was not high on my wish list. I have heard of issues with the seals on them after a couple of years.
Colour wise I'm thinking the gravity blue. The chrome on the car shows up well against it. Not a huge fan of white cars myself.

colm_mcm

Do they do the temptation red in Ireland? Looks like the Mazda red

elperello

Tweaky wrote: »

Yeah there has been a nice increase in Superb pricing over the last couple of years since the new model came out. € 17k to come up to an equivalent spec from 141 to 171 - a lot higher than I was expecting and to be fair to the sales guy he said I wasn't the first person to be surprised. But you do get what you pay for. The Optima has the same spec as the superb that I was looking at plus a few extras and leaves me with €6k in my pocket. It's hard to overlook it especially when it has a longer warranty.

Is that 17k to change for exactly the same spec and month? Seems very high when your car would be an easy seller for the dealer. Did you try another Skoda dealer?

bazz26

elperello wrote: »

Is that 17k to change for exactly the same spec and month? Seems very high when your car would be an easy seller for the dealer. Did you try another Skoda dealer?

That's going to be in or around the money you will spend to trade up from a 3 year old Mk2 Superb to a brand new Mk3 Superb.

elperello

bazz26 wrote: »

That's going to be in or around the money you will spend to trade up from a 3 year old Mk2 Superb to a brand new Mk3 Superb.

Seems a lot to me.That adds up to €109 per week just in depreciation, never mind the cost of the finance if you are not paying cash.

bazz26

elperello wrote: »

Seems a lot to me.That adds up to €109 per week just in depreciation, never mind the cost of the finance if you are not paying cash.

New cars cost alot of money these days. The days for trading up for a couple of grand per year are well gone. If depreciation is a major issue then buying brand new is the wrong choice.

elperello

bazz26 wrote: »

New cars cost alot of money these days. The days for trading up for a couple of grand per year are well gone. If depreciation is a major issue then buying brand new is the wrong choice.

You are probably right. I'm just showing my age!
I wasn't expecting couple of grand but over 5.5 grand per year is saucy for ordinary family cars.

bazz26

Yep, every time they launch a new model the price increases over the old model so the gap just gets wider to trade up.

Tweaky

elperello wrote: »

You are probably right. I'm just showing my age!
I wasn't expecting couple of grand but over 5.5 grand per year is saucy for ordinary family cars.

I'm with you. I had a benchmark of €4k per year when I went out looking. So when I got those numbers I was shocked. List price has increased nearly €3k when comparing the mark 2 to the mark 3 so I have to bridge that gap as well. The €17k was same spec to same spec. To come up to a bigger engine I was looking at another €1.5k. That was all before I added a few options.

elperello

There is some sort of "because I'm worth it" marketing strategy going on with Skoda at present. They appear to be going upmarket. Time will tell if they can pull it off.

carsfan2

Cost of new cars in general is creeping up all the time I think. Whenever new model is launched the price goes up a bit it seems and manufacturers say extra features efficiency etc. To blame.
This is partly why pcp is getting more popular as people can't save up anymore to get money together for even regular family cars.

Ardennes1944

Parents just put down a deposit on a 2017 one of these today in high spec, heated steering wheel and all if im being told correctly!
Seems a very nice car all round I must say.

blackbox

Tweaky wrote: »

The glass roof was not high on my wish list. I have heard of issues with the seals on them after a couple of years.
Colour wise I'm thinking the gravity blue. The chrome on the car shows up well against it. Not a huge fan of white cars myself.

I have a 2013 Platinum model with the glass roof. It makes the cabin really nice and airy, especially needed with the black seats. Unfortunately mine has developed a small but annoying rattle that the dealer has only been able to repair temporarily.

I'll be seriously considering replacing it with the new model next year.

.

Tweaky

blackbox wrote: »

I have a 2013 Platinum model with the glass roof. It makes the cabin really nice and airy, especially needed with the black seats. Unfortunately mine has developed a small but annoying rattle that the dealer has only been able to repair temporarily.

I'll be seriously considering replacing it with the new model next year.

.

That says a lot for the car and the brand that people like yourself are considering a like for like replacement. I actually placed the order for mine today,

Skommando

elperello wrote: »

There is some sort of "because I'm worth it" marketing strategy going on with Skoda at present. They appear to be going upmarket. Time will tell if they can pull it off.

There's never been much difference between VW / Skoda / Audi, same parts bin used over and over. VAG can and do charge thousands more for having the little plastic VW and Audi badges on them. They're just bumping up the skoda prices because they can get away with it now the brand is more popular.

Mantis Toboggan

Tweaky wrote: »

That says a lot for the car and the brand that people like yourself are considering a like for like replacement. I actually placed the order for mine today,

Which model did you go for?

Tweaky

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Which model did you go for?

I went with the Platinum saloon in Gravity Blue.

Tweaky

Has arrived in the dealers - had to wait a few weeks to get the model with android auto. Also got a pleasant surprise that it came with cream leather. Will make the cabin a lot brighter.
Got some pics after it came off the truck. Collecting on Wednesday.

colm_mcm

Pics not working here.

eabhaniamh

Hi all, Have been reading this post with interest and looking for your opinions. I am thinking of trading in a 2011 grand c max for a 151 platinium optima at a cost of 12,000euro. Do you think this sounds like a good deal? Finances have been tight the last few years and held onto my car for longer than I would have originally planned. Plan would be to trade in again in about 3 years. Very low milage on the optima.

Mantis Toboggan

eabhaniamh wrote: »

Hi all, Have been reading this post with interest and looking for your opinions. I am thinking of trading in a 2011 grand c max for a 151 platinium optima at a cost of 12,000euro. Do you think this sounds like a good deal? Finances have been tight the last few years and held onto my car for longer than I would have originally planned. Plan would be to trade in again in about 3 years. Very low milage on the optima.

Only thing I would say to you is that the new Optima came out in 2016 so you would be buying the older version.

Tweaky

Hopefully you can see these pics - will be collecting wednesday - arrived in the dealers last Friday so got a few pics before it was unwrapped !!

Mantis Toboggan

Tweaky wrote: »

Hopefully you can see these pics - will be collecting wednesday - arrived in the dealers last Friday so got a few pics before it was unwrapped !!

Looks savage, was there an option for the cream leather?

bazz26

I think more of the Kias are starting to come in with more than the default dark interior. The Sportage and Ceed know have a GT Line spec with two tone interiors. The new Optima's interior is a massive improvement over the old model's.

Tweaky

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Looks savage, was there an option for the cream leather?

No it was a surprise to me - i think it is new for the 2017 cars. I insisted on getting the version with Android Auto and got the cream leather as an added bonus. Really brightens up the cabin. Was expecting the standard black but delighted with the cream.

bazz26

Is it 2.0 litre or the older 1.7 litre?

Tweaky

bazz26 wrote: »

Is it 2.0 litre or the older 1.7 litre?

1.7 didn't know that there was a 2.0 option - to be honest after coming from a 1.6 Superb with 105bhp the 141BHP in the Kia is going to be plenty for me

Mantis Toboggan

bazz26 wrote: »

Is it 2.0 litre or the older 1.7 litre?

Only 1.7 litre in Ireland afaik

There is a GT option in the optima also with red leather but still 1.7 engine.

bazz26

They recently introduced a 2.0 litre (non auto) in the Sportage so thought it would find it's way into the Optima too.

GavMan

Tweaky wrote: »

Has arrived in the dealers - had to wait a few weeks to get the model with android auto. Also got a pleasant surprise that it came with cream leather. Will make the cabin a lot brighter.
Got some pics after it came off the truck. Collecting on Wednesday.

Tweaky that is an absolute belter. Lovely colour. I'd say you got cream leather as a match for the Navy blue. Cream leather is a great contrast for dark outer colours

Mantis Toboggan

Tweaky wrote: »

No it was a surprise to me - i think it is new for the 2017 cars. I insisted on getting the version with Android Auto and got the cream leather as an added bonus. Really brightens up the cabin. Was expecting the standard black but delighted with the cream.

My only worry with cream is keeping it clean but it's definitely nicer than the black leather.

Squeaksoutloud

Lovely looking car. Love the blue car with cream combo especially with the pan roof..really brightens up the inside and gives it a touch of quality. Pity the sportswagon doesn't get the cream leather as am seriously tempted.

Tweaky

GavMan wrote: »

Tweaky that is an absolute belter. Lovely colour. I'd say you got cream leather as a match for the Navy blue. Cream leather is a great contrast for dark outer colours

Thanks - the navy blue up to now came with the black interior and it made for a very dark cabin but they seem to have changed the default for 2017 - I'm delighted with it

Have had cream leather for the past two years and had no issues keeping it clean so have no worries on that front.

Car also has Android Auto which the 2016 cars didn't have.

Tweaky

Squeaksoutloud wrote: »

Lovely looking car. Love the blue car with cream combo especially with the pan roof..really brightens up the inside and gives it a touch of quality. Pity the sportswagon doesn't get the cream leather as am seriously tempted.

was looking at the sportwagon originally but the spec was basic - half leather and no Xenons and no rear LEDS or front spots. Looked at the saloon and couldn't walk away from all the extras. The cream interior is a very nice touch and came as a surprise to the dealer as well.