Kia's march towards the top

Seoul, Korea – My colleagues and I were dumbfounded – eyes popped, jaw dropped. We were staring at one of the sexiest new cars we have seen in the flesh this year yet.

New Porsche or Ferrari? Nope. New Jaguar or Mercedes? Not even close. We were staring – heck, we were drooling – over a drop-dead gorgeous new Kia!

You read that right. The words “Kia” and “sexy” can now be used in the same sentence. The people from local Kia distributor Columbian Autocar Corporation probably thought so too, which is why they sent this writer, Philippine STAR motoring editor Dong Magsajo, Top Gear Philippines editor Vernon Sarne and C! Magazine editor and co-STAR columnist James Deakin to Kia’s heartland in Seoul, Korea to see and experience the new cars firsthand. One glimpse of the new Kia Forte Koup and you’ll see what I mean.

Like people, most cars have a “best side.” But walking around the Forte Koup, I couldn’t find an angle that I didn’t like or a design element I would change. Styled under the direction of Kia’s Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, the new Forte Koup is based on the Koup concept car created by the design team at Kia’s California design studios, led by Tom Kearns, chief designer of Kia Motors America. The new Forte Koup and its sedan sibling embody Kia’s new design DNA in its most complete form yet.

The front is highly evocative, thanks to headlamps that seem to glare at you, that gaping blacked out bumper air intake, and those similarly blacked out fog light housings. Expect this grille treatment to appear in future Kias – a new styling signature from Kia’s German design chief Peter Schreyer.

I just love the side view: minimalist (it doesn’t even have protective side moldings) with just the right amount of visual highlights. A character line runs from the headlamps and is almost co-linear with the character line that starts from the side mirrors, angles downward and runs all the way to the tail lamps. Another line runs along beneath the door and kicks up playfully like a flourish on a signature. It’s a profile that suggests forward motion, even when standing still.

This side’s principal design element is the very thick C-pillar, which reminds me of the C-pillar of an iconic automobile, the “Bumblebee” Chevy Camaro. The fenders are adequately flared for just the right amount of muscle. I also applaud the diagonal cutlines of the bumpers, which were first used in another design trailblazer, the BMW Z4.

Of course, a head-turning coupe demands alloy wheels that live up to the rest of the body shape. Kia specified 17-inch split-spoke rims that look oh-so-sexy, especially when you view them while the car is moving very slowly. If a car can swagger, this is it.

The rear end is very European – very crisp, minimalist and with a very prominent blacked out under-bumper “diffuser,” just like those used in Touring Car racers. The backlight is nicely angled – very racy but still managing to give decent rear view vision as well as decent headroom.

The new Forte Koup is powered by either a 1.6 or a 2-liter Euro 4-compliant DOHC all-aluminum 16-valve 4-cylinder variable valve timing-equipped engines mated to either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. We got to drive the 2-liter automatic version, which generates a highly competitive power output of 156 ps at 6,200 rpm and peak torque of 194.2 Nm at 4,300 rpm.

We weren’t able to conduct instrumented testing, but Kia claims very credible figures of a 0-100-kph sprint in a brisk 9.3 seconds and a top speed of 190 kph. The car had barely 500 kilometers on the odometer, which meant that the engine still felt tight. Still it was torquey enough to accelerate strongly from a standstill or when overtaking.

The 2-liter engine exhibited refinement levels not far from a typical Japanese sedan. The 4-speed auto, which had a manumatic feature, was smooth and responsive enough, but a 5- or a 6-speed automatic (preferably with paddle shifters) would make this already excellent car absolutely perfect. The Forte Koup does have an optional Engine Start/Stop button and Smart Key technology to satisfy the gadget freaks.

Handling? Kia chassis engineers were determined to give the Koup a fun-to-drive character. So while it’s still no BMW as far as handling is concerned, the suspension damping was enough to give the Koup a sporty responsiveness that has been absent from almost every Korean car I have ever driven. Heck it’s even more responsive than a bunch of Japanese and American sedans.

Of course there is always a trade off, and in the Koup’s case, you pay for it whenever the car hits a bump or a pothole. You’re definitely going to feel it. It’s not pickup-harsh, but definitely firmer than your typical compact sedan.

Braking is another strong suit, even if it’s not as confidence-inspiring as the best from Volvo or Mercedes-Benz. Still, I’d rate the top-of-the-line test unit’s four-wheel disc brakes (with ABS, EBD and Brake Assist) as every bit as capable as a Honda’s.

But while the Forte Koup will only make a token appearance on these shores (it will be too expensive to sell in any great numbers), the all-new Sorento will be taking the cudgels as Kia’s 7-seat SUV. It’s a fairly large category that includes players like the Hyundai Santa Fe, the face-lifted Ford Everest, the Mitsubishi Montero Sport, the Toyota Fortuner, and the Isuzu Alterra.

The Sorento is one highly important model for Kia. It has sold close to 900,000 units since its launch in 2002. Needless to say, the company pulled out all the stops in creating the all-new 2nd-generation model, which is targeted to sell 140,000 units a year worldwide beginning 2010.

The new model’s look is more upscale, the 7-seater cabin is more spacious and more luxurious, the performance is increased while the fuel consumption is reduced, and the choice of engines, transmissions and drivetrains has been increased as well.

Kia engineers ditched the old body-on-frame structure and designed an all-new unitary (monocoque) bodyshell, helping the new Sorento to achieve a weight loss of 215 kg compared with the previous model, despite an increase in technical, safety and comfort features.

Viewed from the front, the Sorento shows off the family grille it shares with the blacked out version on the Forte Koup. In the Sorento, the black honeycomb grille is framed by chrome. Setting it apart from its coupe sibling are amber turn signal lamps and clear-lens projector headlamps. I particularly like the blacked out foglamp surrounds.

The side is minimally embellished – no pretentiously wide plastic fender flares, just thin black plastic moldings that define the fender openings and connect the black running board beneath the doors, much like those on a Volvo XC90 or the BMW X3 and X5. Very European.

The angular greenhouse is a continuation of the previous Sorento’s. The chiselled-in character line also serves to frame the windows, strong lines sweeping up along the roofline. Like in the Forte Koup, mild sculpting is found above the running board.

Another bold design element is the thick D-pillar, which create an impression (visual and literal) of strength. The new Sorento is also significantly sleeker than the previous model with a very car-like aerodynamic drag coefficient of Cd 0.38 (down from 0.425).

The rear end has the strongest ties to the previous Sorento, but has been thoroughly modernized with more angular tail lamps now illuminated via LEDs. A chrome license plate garnish, a spoiler at the top of the tailgate, and large red reflectors (now a common design element among many cars, vans and SUVs) on the black rear bumper brighten up the otherwise simple rear end.

The new Sorento will come with an array of six engines, two transmissions (MT and AT, both zero-maintenance and with 6 speeds, natch!), two drivetrains (2WD and lockable part-time 4WD), two wheel sizes (17 and 18 inches), 11 exterior colors, 2 interior colors (black or beige), and a vast range of equipment levels and options.

Reacting to market forces and consumer trends, Kia has downsized some of the engines available for the new Sorento. The gasoline V6 shrinks from 3.8 to 3.5-liters and the 2.5-liter diesel is replaced by an all-new 2.2-liter unit – while improving the efficiency of all the powertrains. Fuelled by gasoline, LPG or diesel, these engines will offer customers a broad (165 ps to 277 ps) power spread.

Manufacturing of the new Sorento started at the Hwasung facility last May. The new Sorento will also be built at Kia’s all-new plant in West Point, Georgia to meet North American demand.

Active safety technologies that the new Sorento buyers can specify include ESC, HAC, DBC and RPAS (Rear Parking Assist System), plus several systems to boost braking performance during extreme conditions. HAC (Hill-start Assist Control) keeps the vehicle from rolling backwards when starting off from an incline, while DBC (Downhill Brake Control) automatically maintains a steady 8 kph speed on steep descents. ABS, EBD, Brake Assist and TCS (traction control) are standard. HID (high-intensity discharge) headlamps are optional.

Like its coupe sibling, the Sorento has Super Vision instrument lighting and an ECO Driving Guidance that helps the driver achieve the best possible fuel economy. It also uses lots of high-tensile strength steel for low NVH levels and crash protection and meets the highest ratings in NHTSA, IIHS, and EuroNCAP crash tests and also features anti-whiplash headrests and as many as six airbags.

The Forte Koup may be drop-dead gorgeous, but it’s the mechanically identical Forte sedan that we’ll be seeing a lot of. It will compete against the likes of the Civic, Altis, Focus, Lancer, Mazda3, Sentra and is roughly as big as – or bigger – than those cars.

The front end is very similar to the Koup’s, but with the grille surround rendered in chrome. The bumper intake and foglamp housing are also more discreet, less aggressive than in the Koup’s. The two cars may look very similar, but only the hood is shared by the two. Every other body panel is exclusive to each car.

The side view has design elements very similar to the Forte Koup’s, right down to the main horizontal character lines and the sculpting on the lower edges of the doors. The smaller 16-inch 10-spoke wheels are sporty but are also more elegant than those of the Koup’s. The rearmost pillar isn’t as dramatic as the Koup’s, but is still bolder and thicker than in most sedans. Inspiration? I think of the similar C-pillar of the Cadillac CTS sport sedan.

The rear end? One word: Audi. From the crisp and sharp fold of the trailing edge of the trunk to the sleek horizontal tail lamps to the prominent license plate housing to the bumper diffuser to the airtight seam that joins the plastic bumper with the sheetmetal of the body, everything shouts Audi A4 or A6. You’d wonder where the four interlocking rings emblem went. Not original, but overall an excellent styling exercise nonetheless.

All things considered, if there is still any lingering doubt that Korean-made cars and SUVs aren’t yet up to par with the best from Japan, the U.S. and Europe, then this trio of Korean masterpieces should blow it all away. Columbian Autocar Corporation executives must be sitting pretty with the upcoming introductions of these cars (no local prices announced yet as we go to press). They’re that good.