2007 Kia Spectra Ex , 66,000 Miles, Salvage Title Like New, Light Blue Sedan on 2040-cars

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The 2021 Kia Seltos and Kia Sportage are nearly the same size inside

The 2021 Kia Seltos unveiled here at the L.A. Auto Show slots between the Soul and Sportage in Kia's crossover lineup, but it's much closer to the latter in terms of size. In fact, the interior dimensions of the two are awfully similar. Take a look at the chart below. Second-row legroom is basically the same, which I can confirm, having sat in both Seltos and Sportage back-to-back. Headroom, however, is indeed better in the Seltos. Shoulder room is even quite similar. Taking a look in the cargo area, the Sportage's advantage seems to come from being deeper. It makes up for the Seltos being boxier, which should explain why it actually has greater maximum capacity.  So, if the two crossovers provide similar interior space (even if the Sportage is bigger outside), what's the point between the two. Why pay the extra $2,000 for a Sportage? For starters, take a look at those engine specs. The base Sportage engine has more horsepower than the Seltos' turbocharged upgrade, while blowing away the base offering.  Moving away from specs, the Sportage (above right) has a higher-quality cabin. The door sills and much of the dash consist of soft, low-sheen rubbery materials. The Seltos has hard plastic in those spots with some rubbery stuff stitched and applied to the dash. And while both Kia interiors have plenty of hard plastic, the stuff in the Seltos has a higher sheen and seems more prone to scratching. It looks and feels cheaper.  Frankly, this pair is awfully reminiscent of the Jeep Compass and Cherokee. They too have similar interior space, but differ in terms of performance, capability and refinement. After the Cherokee's recent facelift, though, at least these two Kias offer more greatly differentiated styling.    Here are photos of both the Seltos and Sportage for further comparison. 2021 Seltos View 29 Photos 2020 Kia Sportage View 2 Photos

Hyundai-Kia dealer offers $180k in gift cards to local residents

In many smaller communities, auto dealers are often major players in the local business and political world, and they interact with large portions of the population. Now, Grand West Hyundai and Grand West Kia in Grand Junction, CO, are putting their marketing dollars to work in a way to help the local economy, while also potentially generating some sales at the same time. Over the next six months, the dealers are contacting about 8,000 previous customers and offering them a gift card worth at least $50 to over 100 of the city's shops and restaurants (pictured above), according to Automotive News. All people need to do to receive the certificate is stop by the showrooms. Hopefully, the visitors would check out a new Hyundai or Kia at the same time. "We'd love to sell them a new car, but it is really a customer-appreciation gesture," said Ken Reeher, the dealers' marketing manager, to Automotive News. The two stores already bought about 3,600 cards with $181,000 going into the local economy. Paying people to come to the showroom isn't really new but generally works well. The Colorado dealers expect around half of the people they contact to visit for the gift card, which is still significantly more foot traffic than from traditional mailings. The decision to keep the cards local also means more money goes to small businesses, and the move gains goodwill in the community, too. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Aaron Hoffman Marketing/Advertising Hyundai Kia Car Buying Car Dealers colorado

BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.