2011 Kia Optima

From the 2010 New York Auto Show, Cars.com's Patrick Olsen takes a look at the 2011 Kia Optima.

2011 Kia Optima Cars.com Auto Review. Hi! I’m Patrick Olsen here at the New York Auto Show looking at the all new Kia Optima. Now, the Optima is basically the same drivetrain on its corporate cousin, the Hyundai Sonata. It gets 200 horsepower and inferably, they’re six-speed manual or six- speed automatic. It’s got a great new look though. It’s much more aggressive, lower to the ground and we’re very impressed with it. It’s definitely a couple steps up from where it was before. Let’s check out the inside. The Optima’s new interior is a big step over the last generation. In fact, generation is kind of a small world. This is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous one. The surfaces are very nice to the touch. The controls for the dash layer are great. They’re turned slightly toward the driver to make it easier and the ergonomics are pretty cool. All in all, it’s very impressive. One of the things that gets overlooked in a while when you're making a mid-size sedan is to make sure there's room in the back seat for adults. I'm six foot one and there's pretty decent knee room, as well as headroom. You could definitely take two couples out to dinner in this car. Now, we’re not sure yet what the mileage is going to be for the Optima. It’s not been rated but because it uses the same drivetrain as the Sonata, we think it should be somewhere in the 35 miles per gallon on the highway. Look for this to arrive at dealers sometime this fall. For more car related news, go to Cars.com or our blog KickingTires.net.