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Almost Jeffersonian | 2017 Kia Optima Plug-In Hybrid Second Drive

On a drive of Kia's new Optima Plug-In Hybrid (in showrooms since April), we visited Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, our third president's sprawling estate in central Virginia. Even in the absence of Twitter, Jefferson enjoyed a restless curiosity about an array of subjects. While his day gigs – declaring independence and consummating the Louisiana Purchase – occupied much of his life, he always made time for intellectual pursuits and making daily life better, so we think he'd grasp the rightness of the Optima. In the science of the plug-in hybrid, there's little new. The combination of gas and electric motors is intended to reduce the carbon footprint of a conventional drivetrain. Add a motor, install more battery capacity and enable that battery to be recharged over a long lunch or overnight, and you have a plug-in hybrid with up to 29 miles of electric-only operation. With the gas tank included, you get roughly 600 miles of combined driving range. (That's DC to Atlanta, had Jefferson wanted to visit Atlanta.) Visually, there's little to distinguish this PHEV from a conventional Optima. Its alloy wheels are aerodynamically cleaner and front fascia less disruptive - and includes an active air flap, no less. The exterior design, though dated, still impresses. A spacious interior is what you'd expect from Kia. And so, regrettably, are some hard plastic surfaces. That plastic is appropriate in a $20,000 Soul, less so in a $40,000 Optima Plug-In. Nothing here is completely off-putting, and we've always liked Kia's integration of audio and A/C controls. But so much is good about the Optima that you expect something nicer as you slide behind the wheel. The front seats are both supportive and accessible. Our test vehicle, equipped with $5,250 of EX Technology, offered a panoramic sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats, a power front passenger seat with adjustable lumbar, and heated outboard rear seats. That same package also includes a bundle of safety technology, including a forward collision warning system, advanced smart cruise control, blind spot detection, lane departure warning, and rear cross traffic alert. A modern hybrid generates a lot of info, and learning to access it all will require more than the few hours we had in the car. Your economy – the Optima's innate efficiency and your driving style – is available at the push (or two) of a button. And you can choose from all-electric EV or hybrid mode by using Kia's Mode Select control.

2020 Kia Soul gets funkier and adds a long-range Soul EV

The Kia Soul, the clear victor of the funky box fad of the mid-2000s, has been completely redesigned for the 2020 model year. It's still very square, but it's even funkier than before. The big, cute headlights of previous models have been swapped for a more futuristic, almost brooding set of slender lamps up top connected by a piece of plastic for a full-width look. They're supplemented by additional lights in large pods in the front bumper. There's a large grille in the bottom of the bumper, too. The overall nose is a bit more rounded, but the whole profile is about as upright as ever. The rear is completely vertical and retains vertical taillights that now have a wraparound look. The fenders don't visually protrude as much, but they're highlighted by deep creases around the wheel arches. There are an array of trims to pick from on the new Soul, some of which have significant style tweaks. LX, S and EX make up the basic Soul, with an EX Designer Edition offering up two-tone paint between the roof and body as well as big 18-inch wheels. The Kia Soul Turbo is replaced by the Soul GT-Line, which can be had with the turbo engine or the naturally aspirated engine. It has a much more aggressive front fascia with extra slots around the grille and side sill extensions with red accents. The turbo version gets center-exit exhaust, bigger brakes and stiffer suspension. Then there's the new X-Line that gives the Soul a crossover look with plastic body cladding, fender flares and fog lights. It also has two-tone paint as an option. 2020 Kia Soul View 11 Photos Despite all the design changes, the new Soul is almost exactly the same size as the old one. It's just over 2 inches longer, and adds a little over an inch between the wheels, but width and height are the same. Passenger space is nearly the same, too, giving or taking a couple tenths of an inch here and there. There is much more cargo space now, though, picking up an extra 5 cubic feet for a total of 23.8. The restyled interior also gets some nice new features such as customizable ambient lighting, an available 10.25-inch touchscreen and a heads-up display. There are three powertrains available for the Kia Soul, and only one is a carryover from the previous model. Starting at the bottom is the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine. This engine is also found in various other Hyundai and Kia products such as the Forte. It makes 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque.

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.