2021 Kia K5 GT-Line AWD 

Kia has done a great job of carving out a niche for itself, somewhere between the Asian premium offerings and mainstream companies.

With vehicles like the Telluride it even successfully challenges for best-in-class honors. Part of what got the company here was the third generation Optima sedan from 2010. It was well built and really good looking. Its 2015 successor was much more conventional in appearance and had few unique selling propositions to offer. This new one, now going by the name the Optima was known by around the world, is a welcome return to excellence. The test vehicle is the GT-Line, a sportier offering slotted below the top model, called GT. Its wrapper is very dramatic, pulling tropes from the sexy Stinger yet with a face all its own. Inside is a nicely wrought version of Kia’s dash design, with a “shelf’ design and emphasis on horizontal lines and planes. The 10.25in touchscreen is very prominent and the intuitive, fast-response UVO software is a paragon. Seating comfort is good and control relationships excellent. Kia has retreated from the kind of soft-touch excellence in materials that they used to offer in cars like the older Optima. This is mainly due to the additional cost of electronics and safety systems, and most car companies have done the same in vehicles of this price. But Mazda and a few select others show it need not be done, and it undermines the premium feel Kia wants the K5 to convey. But there is a lot of equipment for the price, such as heated and ventilated (faux) leather seats, a panoramic moonroof and of course the industry’s best warranty, with 5 years and 60,000 miles of bumper to bumper coverage for everyone and 10 years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage for the first owner. 

Overall, the K5 GT-Line drives well, but it never rises to the level of class-leading excellence of the Honda Accord nor even the long-in-the-tooth Mazda6. This manifests in the way the K5 deals with certain bumps; impacts aren’t smothered with the kind of superb damping those sedans’ shock absorbers and suspension designs allow. Nor does it steer nor handle like those two. What it offers instead is optional AWD, which is a boon to those who live in the Rocky Mountain region. Having four driven wheels makes the K5 a better alternative to a crossover, too. The GT-Line is a decent performer, with a 180hp/195lb-ft, 1.6-liter turbocharged engine and smooth 8-speed auto (no moaning continuously variable transmission, thank you very much!). 60mph arrives in 7 seconds; for those wanting a seriously fast version, Kia offers a K5 GT with 290hp that will hit the same speed almost 2 seconds faster. If Kia would work just a bit harder on the GT “Light” suspension tune—it is the same as the base model’s, which is probably why it doesn’t control the movement of the GT-Line’s bigger, 18-inch wheels and tires as well—then they might have a shot at another class championship. 

EPA Ratings: 26/34/29mpg 

0-60mph: 7.0-seconds (indep test) 

Price as tested: $31,300 

4 Stars 

Here is what has to say. 

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Contact Isaac Bouchard for help saving time, money and hassle when buying or leasing one at [email protected]

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