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2021 Kia K5 starts at $25,455, just $100 more than outgoing Optima

The 2021 Kia K5 continues this year's trend of carmakers placing minimal premium on a brand new or heavily revised model. Cars Direct got a look at an early order guide showing that Kia's new midsize sedan will start at $23,490 before a $965 destination charge, for a total of $24,455. The destination fee doesn't change, and the MSRP is but $100 more than the outgoing entry-level 2020 Optima LX. That also puts the Kia $120 under the 2020 Hyundai Sonata SE, $520 under the Honda Accord LX, and $925 below a Toyota Camry SE. The K5 is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 180 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque shifted through an eight-speed transmission, giving it a little less horsepower than the competing trio — the 23 hp given up to the Toyota is the largest difference — but more torque than the other three.   The K5's trim steps have been rearranged compared to the Optima, so instead of LX, S, Special Edition, EX, EX Premium and SX, there will be the K5 LX, LXS, GT-Line, EX and performance-minded GT. The LXS will start at $27,555, the GT-Line at $30,055. Those will be the only two trims offering AWD, and the four-wheel system has late availability as well. Cars Direct didn't mention a price for the EX.   The GT and its exclusive 2.5-liter turbo four-cylinder with 290 hp and 311 lb-ft tied to an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox will be late availability. The order guide showed that trim costing $31,455 after destination. That's $1,700 less expensive than the less powerful, top-of-the-line Optima SX. Among rivals, only the V6-powered Camrys come close to the K5's output, with 301 hp and 267 lb-ft from a 3.5-liter V6. The Camry TRD stands at $670 more than the K5, butt the only big-ticket extras available for the Camry TRD are two-tone paint jobs costing from $500 to $925. One of the K5 options will be a GT1 Package that adds LED headlights, better driver assistance features such as forward collision avoidance and park assist, adaptive cruise control, semi-self driving on the highway, 12-speaker Bose audio, ventilated front seats with memory, and more. Upgrading to GT1 spec will cost $4,000, taking the price to $35,455. The Toyota Camry TRD V6 doesn't offer some of the GT1's finer tech. The Toyota Camry XLE V6 needs to be optioned up to match a K5 GT1, the Toyota coming out to $38,325. Cars Direct also saw a bulletin to Kia dealers outlining some lease and purchase offers that will run through August 3.

Hyundai developing safety system calibrated for 'secondary impacts'

There is an inherent flaw with how traditional airbags are used and deployed: They can only reply to one impact. The Hyundai Motor Group wants to address this with a new "multi-collision airbag system" that focuses on impacts that occur after the first point of contact. Hyundai defines multi-collision accidents as "those in which the primary impact is followed by collisions with secondary objects, such as trees, electrical posts or other vehicles." In a press release, Hyundai noted that about 30 percent of roughly 56,000 accidents between 2000 and 2012 in North America involved these types of multi-collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System division. The airbag systems in today's cars don't always go off when the first accident occurs, and when a car goes through a secondary impact, the airbags may no longer provide the best safety. Hyundai's new system can read the positions of the car's occupants and react in a more beneficial way. It can quickly recalibrate after the first impact based on readings from the vehicle and the people inside, which allows the second part of the crash to trigger the airbags. As of now the system is still in development, but Hyundai Motor Group is planning to use it in both Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the future. Which models and which markets it will apply to first are yet to be determined. Related Video:

2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid vs other hybrid crossovers | How they compare on paper

The long-anticipated 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid was announced yesterday, and although we don't have every spec available (including the all-important official fuel economy figures), Honda provided enough that we can piece together a comparison of powertrain specs and dimensions. The same can be said of the 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, which we just drove for the first time.  Together, they represent a significant increase in the number of compact crossover hybrids, as the current total is one: the 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. The old Nissan Rogue Hybrid has been discontinued, leaving the subcompact Kia Niro Hybrid as the only other vehicle in the ballpark. As you'll see below, its size and performance are much different than the others, but its fuel economy and price are superior.  Performance The RAV4 Hybrid is the performance champ of the group, but both it and the new CR-V Hybrid are actually more powerful than their respective gas-only siblings. Although the added weight of its battery pack negates much of that horsepower advantage, the RAV4 Hybrid's subsequent acceleration is indeed a smidge quicker than the gas-only version. It will be interesting to see if that's the case with the CR-V. By contrast, the Ford Escape offers a 250-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo engine, meaning the hybrid variation is most definitely not the Escape's highest-performance offering. Nevertheless, the Hybrid does produce more power than the base 181-horsepower 1.5-liter three-cylinder. The Niro, meanwhile, brings up the rear in terms of performance, but Kia estimates a perfectly acceptable 0-60 time of 8.6 seconds. The others are likely in the mid-7-second range. Fuel economy This is ultimately an open question since we don't have official figures for the CR-V and Escape. Based on Honda's estimate of the CR-V Hybrid being 50% more efficient in the city than the gas-only version, our calculators say it should get 43 mpg in the city. Then, based on information provided on the Escape Hybrid first drive and some more calculation, our best guestimate for it is 40 mpg. Either way, given how mpg is calculated, any potential differences between them in terms of actual fuel burned should be negligible.  On the other hand, most Kia Niros sold get 51 mpg in the city and 49 mpg combined. According to the EPA, that translates to an annual average fuel cost of $750. The RAV4 Hybrid, by contrast, is $900.  FWD vs AWD Note that the CR-V and RAV4 come standard with all-wheel drive.