This absolutely gorgeous, sporty looking Kia Optima was delivered to me last week to test drive for an entire week!! At first glance, I was nervous that this car would not meet my families needs. My kids are getting bigger and they require much more leg room in the backseat. Not only did they have plenty of leg room, but they never once kicked the back of my seat! I was amazed at all the leg room they had back there! And if they’re happy…I’m happy!
This is the first car I’ve ever driven that had a sun roof in the front and the back. While I thought that was really cool, and my kids did at first, it ended up being way too hot for them to keep the sun roof shade open over the back seat, so it stayed closed most of the time. Well…closed when they were in the car…remember, happy kids. And if you ask them what their most favorite feature about the 2012 Kia Optima is, they would tell you the fact that it has air conditioner vents IN the backseat! Our current car does not and it does get hot back there for them. They remarked on that a number of times while we were in the car!
Speaking of room, I was amazed at how much room the trunk had. My husband and I were going away for the weekend, just us for our 10 year wedding anniversary. Our kids were staying with my mother in-law and father in-law. Of course, Zachary and Bella could not pack in one suitcase…they had to each take their own carry on bag, plus we had each of their Tae Kwon Do bags, Dan’s briefcase, one carry on bag for Dan and I, and a duffle bag full of shoes, make-up, hair products, and my flat iron. Yes. An entire bag full. But it all fit in the trunk! The other nice thing about the trunk is if we needed to put something in there that was longer than the interior of the trunk, we could utilize the 60/40 split fold down rear seats, allowing us to easily fit those longer items!
I have several things that I absolutely LOVED about this car. To start the car you simply pressed a button. That I could get used to! Though I have to admit, I really wanted to see what would happen if the keys left the car once it had started. I don’t know what I expected to have happen, but it just beeped at you! The second thing I really loved about the car is having Satellite Radio…90’s on 9 all day every day! When you turn the car off, it says goodbye to you. How polite is that?!? Now while those features are great, my absolute FAVORITE feature in this car is AIR CONDITIONED SEATS! I’ll let you think about that one for a minute. It really is as cool (no pun intended!) as it sounds! We were on our way to Indiana when all of a sudden I jumped in my seat and said to my husband “I don’t know what is going on, but my back is getting really cold”. He just laughed and laughed! With temperatures over 100 degrees while we were on vacation, air conditioned seats really came in handy!
Here are some other features about the 2012 Kia Optima:
- Gas Direct Injected (GDI) 2.4L 16 valve 200hp engine with 186 lbs of torque
- 24mpg city/35mpg hwy
- GDI maximizes the efficiency of fuel combustion for better output and substantially improved fuel economy
- 17″ alloy wheels with 4 wheel disc brakes
- NHTSA 5 Star Crash Safety Rating
- 2012 IIHS Top Safety Pick
- Front and rear crumple zones with side impact door beams
- 2012 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Best New Car Value
- Better residual value than the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion or the Nissan Altima
- Kelly Blue Book (KBB) lowest Total Cost of Ownership Award
Kia’s are made in the USA with their manufacturing facility located in West Point, Georgia. The 2.2 million square foot manufacturing facility sits on a 2,200 acre lot and it supports 1200 direct jobs with 7500 additional regional jobs! Kia is capable of producing 300,000 vehicles annually. I don’t know about you, but the fact that it is made in the USA, opens up all of those jobs for Americans AND has an amazing warranty, it looks like Kia may just be my next car!
10 year/100,000 mile Limited Powertrain Warranty
5 year/60,000 mile Limited Basic Warranty
5 year/60,000 mile Roadside Assistance
**Ask dealer for details
Like anything, there are the pro’s and con’s. After driving the 2012 Kia Optima for a week, here are my pro’s and con’s:
Pro’s:
- Air conditioned seats
- Push button to start the car
- Great gas mileage
- Rides comfortably
Con’s:
- The seatbelts in the backseat. The part that you buckle into slides down into the seat making it difficult for a child to buckle and difficult at times for mom to pull it back out
- Sunroof in the backseat overheated the kids
- You could hear a lot of road noise
- The horn…it sounded like something you would expect on a toy car
Overall, I give the 2012 Kia Optima two thumbs up!! I really missed the car when it got picked up. The pro’s definitely out weigh the con’s and it is definitely a car I wouldn’t mind driving on a more permanent basis!
So cute! I love the keyless start – it’s so fun. And XM – fantastic!! Looks like a great car for older kids – mine are still in carseats so we need a bigger car.
That looks like a great ride! Love the radio in it! And the seats sound heavenly!
With the hot summer time coming Air Conditioned Seats sounds amazing. Seems there’s a lot of nice functions and features in the Kia Optima. Good to know for families planning a road trip. Thanks for sharing
Push button to start?! Yes, please! How cool is that feature?! And air conditioned seats? Wow – that’s a plus too 🙂
That is sooo not what I expected to see when I clicked over to look at your Kia Optima post. That’s a pretty sweet-looking car! I love the backseat vents but I know what you mean about the horn. One of our cars has a nice robust one but the other one makes you embarrassed to ever use it 😛 So glad you got to ‘test’ it fully on your trip – happy anniversary btw 🙂
Your husband tricking you with air conditioned seats totally made me laugh. Love that you fit so much in the trunk too!!
It sounds like this is a great car. The air conditioned seats sound fantastic. I hope that my next car has those!
Two sun roofs & satellite radio?? Very cool!!