Autocar - First for car news and reviews

theop October 15, 2008 5:00 PM

They are good cars, always been reliable (most important factor for a big chunk of the market I d think) and lately from what I read,  kind of OK dynamically and marginally good looking to the eye (my eye that is)...

They will still need a decade or more of great models to shift the image issue I reckon, more like the Japanese did in the 80's (for many they still have an image issue). Image sells in a sense that like for like in money terms  Cayenne is better than a Touareg, A Passat better than A Skoda and the equivalent A4 better than both (and I am not even going to mention Bentley/Phaeton parallels - just saw one in your latest issue for £15k ,what a car for the money!!)

Unfortunately most people (like myself - even if I m admitting my wrongdoings) get stuck on preconceived notions of all things past and this is very difficult to shift even when you recognise the need to open your mind....

I would never buy or consciously drive a Kia. The pitiful reasoning is that my mum used to drive a Sportage (awful midsized 4x4, kind of like a Vauxhall Frontera- not sure if it was ever here) around the mid 90's in Athens. I was a new driver at the time with minimal miles behind ANY wheel and even then I could tell it was a bad car to drive. Dad was calling it the "sh*tbox" as it was metallic brown and was generally the joke of all jokes in the extended family of mediocre car owners... The car never broke or went wrong, it was just a bad car to drive...

Difficult to shift those memories and go out and buy a modern one...

TegTypeR October 15, 2008 5:22 PM

Kia's formula is simple.

Stick to what you are good at doing, and don't get bogged down with needless projects (aka Ford with Volvo, Jaguar..., GM with SAAB..., Mercedes with Chrysler... etc etc etc).  

Keep it simple and keep producing good cars the public want to buy, on what ever continent that is.

Stick to this, they'll go far.

horseandcart October 15, 2008 5:43 PM

"There’s a long way to go, but if I worked on the top floor in Wolfsburg, I’d be worried."

- yeah, yeah, we heard that before from another Korean chaebol company called Daewoo - were gonna take over world and, and...actually, boss was a crook and it ended up as GM/Chrysler.

And as to Kia knocking VW off you did know that the Kia Cee'd was largely engineered by Germans at Kia's European R&D centre in Russelsheim? Which goes a long way to explaining why its well regarded.

giulivo October 15, 2008 5:46 PM

Hyundai Group (including Kia) makes no-nonsense, truly desirable cars. My wife is image-conscious and even she would drool after a Santa Fe. Father of a colleague has a Hyundai Optima (or soimething like that) and is the happiest person. I personally would have no hesitation buying Hyundai, Kia or Skoda if it were my own money. And no-one is mentioning their 5 or 7 years warranty.

The Apprentice October 15, 2008 10:04 PM

Actually a lot of people are quietly migrating into Hyundai/Kia's at a quicker rate than many brand conscious people will ever accept. My own experience is that its on the basis of actually going and trying the car or word of mouth from family and friends. Some people may not be tempted to go in a showroom, but when cousin Fred gives you a lift in a highly equipped, well made car that he says doesn't break down and cost so little you take notice. We are on our second Kia, the old Carens was actually a good bus, now we have a Sportage and the improvement 1 generation on is spectacular. Yes VW should be worried, if Kia make the same leap with the next model it will make anyone paying through the nose for an inferior Tiguan look like a total plonker. (In some way, such as specification, practicality, value, offroad ability the current one is already better) As to using German designers so what? so do Skoda and Seat isn't that a smart thing to do? BMW's are designed by a Brit so what does it matter as long as the product is good.