Picture Gallery: 2010 Kia Forte Koup | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Discuss
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The pricing is the first shock — my tester is an SX model, in which the only available option on top of the healthy standard feature list is an automatic transmission, for $1,200. Heated seats, leather, 17-inch alloy wheels, sunroof, climate control, fog lights, satellite radio and a six-speed manual transmission are some of the features. All of this for $21,495? Am I in some kind of dream land? This seems like a bargain and I haven’t dug very deep yet.
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From my limited time behind the wheel, I have noticed one thing that stood out, and that was the torquey engine, with its smooth powerband from 1,500 rpm all the way up to redline. Taking a look at the numbers confirms what I felt by the seat of my pants: a 2.4-litre engine powers the Forte Koup with 170hp and 168lb-ft of torque; these are very competitive in this sporty coupe class that would include such cars as the Honda Civic and Chevrolet Cobalt. Perhaps you could also throw the Mazda3 sport in there as a competitor.
So what else do you get in this little Kia as standard? A host of unexpecteds, that’s what: heated leather seats, voice activated Bluetooth hands-free, front windshield wiper de-icer, side-curtain, front seat-mounted side and dual front mounted airbags, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, traction control and stability control.
The Koup seems like a compelling package from my experience so far. I wonder what this week will have in store for it and me?
2010 Kia Forte Koup SX
MSRP as tested (excluding destination): $21,495
For more information on Kia and the Forte Koup visit Kia Canada
October 13, 2009, 04:59:28 pm
Anecdotal numbers from different people driving different speeds, with different driving style at different locations is completely 100% useless for comparison purposes. You need some kind of standard mpg comparison that is done the same for each car.
Personally I like Consumer reports as the actually drive cars over three different repeatable tests and use inline fuel flow meters for accuracy. EPA testing is on a treadmill and they even just take the manufacturers word for it in a number of cases instead of conducting the test themselves.
CR hasn't tested the Forte yet, but the tested a 2.5L KIA optima (bigger car??). It got identical combined MPG (25 Miles/USG) in their testing to the Mazda 3 with 2.5L.
So I would say the KIA Forte to do at least as well and get fairly normal MPG for a 2.5L small sedan/coupe. Certainly cars with smaller 1.8L engines will get better fuel economy.
October 13, 2009, 06:11:34 pm Just a quick update on the gas mileage I averaged 7.5 from Ottawa to Montreal at 120
October 13, 2009, 07:18:59 pm
I wonder if they will deem it "NOT ACCEPTABLE" for the stalling problem? Surely that is a real safety issue... and they haven't been able to feature that on a cover for 30 years or so.
October 13, 2009, 09:56:01 pm I hope I never have to hear about this car again. Its a KIA people!
October 13, 2009, 10:34:20 pm
Here is what I suggest. Find the cord that goes from the back of your computer to the electricity jack in the wall and pull it. This should solve all your problems.
October 13, 2009, 10:41:02 pm
Here is what I suggest. Find the cord that goes from the back of your computer to the electricity jack in the wall and pull it. This should solve all your problems.
Oh...I thought you were going to tell him to chew on the cord.....while sitting in his bath tub....
October 13, 2009, 11:24:32 pm
From EPA rating 14.7 city 10.2 hwy
So you would drive an Odyssey with an egg under the gas pedal
Or a floor mat.
October 14, 2009, 06:35:39 am
Here is what I suggest. Find the cord that goes from the back of your computer to the electricity jack in the wall and pull it. This should solve all your problems.
Oh...I thought you were going to tell him to chew on the cord.....while sitting in his bath tub....
Actually, that is a better idea.
October 14, 2009, 08:08:59 am
Actually at 120 km/h that seems quite decent. Probably helped by the relaxed highway gearing. That is also my normal highway cruising speed.
I think this will be a fine drivetrain once they reprogram the drive by wire throttle (assuming it is).
I am looking for a new hatchback in the next year or so. Fix the throttle and do a decent job on the Hatch and this Kia will be high on my list.
October 14, 2009, 09:15:12 am Whoa, my comparison of a Mazda 3 and Kia Forte touched off some anger.
Power is not just measured in Bhp - it is how the car responds. I am willing to give Kia and Hyundai a chance, believe me - anything that wakes Honda up to the needs of consumers is good - but I drove a "170hp" Forte last week as well as a "less powerful" Mazda 3 and an even less powerful 2010 Civic. Sorry, no comparison. The 3 (and the Civic, for that matter) and Forte are not even in the same league. The Kia is a cheap car that will be bought by budget conscious drivers, not driving enthusiasts. That is fine with me, but call it what it is.
My comment about fuel mileage is exactly that - driving the heck out of my 04 Civic Si, I never, ever average fuel economy worse than 8.5/100km, and that is even winding the snot out of it - all the way to 6500rpm btw shifts - to enjoy the VTEC power. Highway mileage the last time I took it from Toronto to Ottawa was just under 40mpg - about 7l/100km.
October 14, 2009, 10:47:53 am
I wonder if they will deem it "NOT ACCEPTABLE" for the stalling problem? Surely that is a real safety issue... and they haven't been able to feature that on a cover for 30 years or so.
They did on the Isuzu Trooper, because it tipped over in handling tests.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19960821/news01559.html
October 14, 2009, 01:05:07 pm
What an insulting (or should say, ignorant) comment. It sounds suspicious that you actually "drove" the Koup. It is a real looker for sure.
Nevertheless, real driving enthusiasts would not drive a mundane fwd civic "SI", lol. You must be budget conscious as well because you could not afford a 350z or G35, etc. What a nonsense.
October 14, 2009, 03:38:18 pm Average 9.8L/100km? That's horrible. My 2007 Mazda 5 (MT) averages 9.1L/100km in day to day driving. It never gets worse than 10L in the city and can be as good as 7.5 on the highway (06 and 07 5s were rated 8.0/10.6 hwy/city, the 08 to 10 is even better at 7.1/9.6) And I can still do 0-60 in under 10 seconds. I'll stick with my sporty people mover thanks.
October 14, 2009, 03:48:19 pm
Nevertheless, real driving enthusiasts would not drive a mundane fwd civic "SI", lol. You must be budget conscious as well because you could not afford a 350z or G35, etc. What a nonsense.
I drive a automatic Protege5. I guess I ain't an auto enthusiast then, since I can't afford a Porsche 911.
October 14, 2009, 06:56:59 pm
Um... 2hondas, sorry to say that you missed the point.
What makes him think that driving enthusiasts would not drive the Koup but the Civic?
Driving M3 myself, they are just another sporty cars (no offense).
By the way, an auto enthusiast and a driving enthusiast may not be the same.
October 15, 2009, 07:07:25 am
Power is not just measured in Bhp - it is how the car responds. I am willing to give Kia and Hyundai a chance, believe me - anything that wakes Honda up to the needs of consumers is good - but I drove a "170hp" Forte last week as well as a "less powerful" Mazda 3 and an even less powerful 2010 Civic. Sorry, no comparison. The 3 (and the Civic, for that matter) and Forte are not even in the same league. The Kia is a cheap car that will be bought by budget conscious drivers, not driving enthusiasts. That is fine with me, but call it what it is.
My comment about fuel mileage is exactly that - driving the heck out of my 04 Civic Si, I never, ever average fuel economy worse than 8.5/100km, and that is even winding the snot out of it - all the way to 6500rpm btw shifts - to enjoy the VTEC power. Highway mileage the last time I took it from Toronto to Ottawa was just under 40mpg - about 7l/100km.
No anger. Your comment was clearly false.
You didn't say more refined. More responsive. You said more POWERFUL. Actually you said CLEARLY MORE POWERFUL. The only clear measures of power are empirical. Anything else is subjective and therefore not clear. I'll ask again how is a 168 hp Mazda CLEARLY more POWERFUL than a 170HP KIA. If you found the Mazda more responsive in back to back comparisons fine. Say that.
Check the 0-60 times. How is the Mazda "clearly" more powerful. All we ask is to say what you mean.
October 27, 2009, 01:55:58 pm What an insulting (or should say, ignorant) comment. It sounds suspicious that you actually "drove" the Koup. It is a real looker for sure.
Nevertheless, real driving enthusiasts would not drive a mundane fwd civic "SI", lol. You must be budget conscious as well because you could not afford a 350z or G35, etc. What a nonsense.
[/quote]
If you ever need a ride to work, just give me a call. I'll be the guy in the Black Mercedes.
And FYI, the G35 became the G37 a couple of years ago. I cross shopped that when I bought the Benz.
October 30, 2009, 06:09:11 pm Has Kia fixed the throttle tip in problem yet?
October 30, 2009, 07:33:15 pm no
October 31, 2009, 12:06:09 am Was the tester a preproduction model or a production model? It sounds like there's a big difference in quality in the Forte's case:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/strategies/2009/10/weekly-top-3-pleasantly-surprised.html
October 31, 2009, 10:23:09 am Doubtful, it handled just fine, only issue is the throttle. Drove the automatic at testfest it was brutal as well always spinning the tires on take off.
November 02, 2009, 08:19:43 am Hey wing, someone wrote this comment on Autoblog's review of the Forte. I thought it was interesting and wondering if it might explain your problems with the throttle.
That throttle thing is normal for post-2006 Hyundai and Kia models with electronic throttle. I can remember leaving smoke in my wake just trying to pull out of my own driveway.
The ECM is designed to learn how you hit the gas and adapt to it, and at the same time your foot is adapting to the throttle. Eventually it evens out and becomes much more docile.
The throttle will resume doing these burnout starts if the ECM is ever reset for some reason, or if you force the throttle to reset. It will go through the learning process again and settle back down.
Do you think it's true?
November 02, 2009, 11:06:13 am Doubt it
November 02, 2009, 11:51:50 am If it was true, wouldn't they be touting this as a new Super Adaptive Positioning Servo Controlled Automatic Responding Throttle.
But then they read the acronym....
It's not a bug, it's a feature
November 02, 2009, 11:59:08 am Well, I don't recall anyone touting their adaptive transmissions, but they're getting more and more popular...