2003 Kia Sorento Ex Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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2020 Kia Soul EV First Drive Review | EZ to like

SEOUL, South Korea – The 2020 Kia Soul is the third iteration of the boxy little crossover and the second generation of the battery-powered variant, the Soul EV. While the 2020 Soul overall is mildly upgraded compared to the outgoing model, the Soul EV makes a major leap where it counts: with a new powertrain that more than doubles the stated range to an impressive 243 miles. The new 2020 Kia Soul EV scraps the previous 30-kWh battery for a new, more energy-dense 64-kWh unit, shared with the Hyundai Kona Electric. The battery pack feeds a motor that now makes 201 horsepower – also shared with the Kona Electric, and producing the same horsepower figure as the Soul Turbo. It spins out 291 pound-feet of torque, which is immediately available underfoot. That's enough to chirp the front tires, and it instantly squirts the Soul ahead in the urban cut-and-thrust. It's also plenty powerful enough for high-energy merging onto the freeway. Kia estimates a 0-to-60-mph time of 7.2 seconds. The battery is replenished via standard Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast charging capability, with the port now behind a flap in the front grille insert. The CCS can handle up to a 100-volt feed at a public charger – should you find one, it can top up the battery (from 20 to 80 percent) in as little as 42 minutes. With a more common 240-volt source, a depleted battery can be replenished in five to six hours – rather than 63 (!) plugging into a standard 120-volt outlet. Owners definitely will want to install a charger at home, and Kia has partnered with Amazon to sell three Kia-recommended 240-volt chargers: A 40-amp Bosch from $764, a 40-amp JuiceBox from $549, and a 32-amp ChargePoint at $699, although others brands and models can be used. Buyers in northern climes will want to check out the Cold Weather Package, which supplements the standard heated seats with a heated steering wheel, upgrades the climate control to a more efficient heat pump, and also adds the capability to heat the battery (when the car is plugged in) for better range in cold conditions. How energetically the car responds to a prod of the accelerator depends on which of the four drive modes you're in: Sport, Normal, Eco, or Eco+. Sport unsurprisingly was our favorite in a half-day drive in and around Seoul. Some drivers might find it too snappy, and of course it also drains electrons the fastest. In Normal mode the car is still spry, while in Eco and Eco+ one really needs to leg the go-pedal.

Kia's second Super Bowl commercial lets booth professionals have their revenge

This is more like it, Kia. After last year's highly successful Adriana Lima-infused Super Bowl commercial for the Optima, we weren't that impressed with this year's Super Bowl ad for the new Sorento called Space Babies that Kia showed us earlier in the week. Its second spot for this year's big game, however, gave us a chuckle.
Called Hotbots and starring Miss USA Alyssa Campanella as a futuristic robot, the ad plays out a fantasy that we know for certain has crossed the minds of many booth professionals. These are the attractive set of women and men who plant themselves next to new cars at auto shows. More than just eye candy, they're usually extremely well educated on the product's specs and features. Despite that fact, they have to put up with constant oogling and questions like, "Do you come with the car?" What this T-1000 won't put up with is fingerprints on her shiny new 2014 Kia Forte, and she does something about it. Watch for yourself below.

The 2018 Stinger fulfills Kia's sport-sedan destiny

A little more than five years ago, Kia rolled out the GT Concept - a sheetmetal hypothetical musing on where the brand's sporting aspirations might go. Today on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show Kia unveiled the Stinger, the production version of that 2011 show car. While Kia Motors America says "the Stinger really is a dream car for us," enthusiasts anticipating something a lot racier have sobered up over the distance between the concept and the production reality. Nevertheless, the new Stinger will be the sportiest Kia ever, and not by a little. True, there's a lot of Optima in the body - it's too bad they couldn't have made the 2014 GT concept - but details everywhere separate the Stinger from the bread-and-butter sedan. The Stinger's wheelbase is four inches longer than the Optima's, yet overall length is an inch shorter. The brand's corporate face looks to have dabbled in CrossFit, the wide, narrow "tiger-nose" grille jutting out ahead of plenty of black mesh, new LED headlamps, and a new hood with twin hood vents. Side vents and sharp sills carve up the flanks, and side mirrors mount on the bodywork instead of at the A-pillar. In back, the deck lid gently curves upward becoming an integrated spoiler above elongated LED taillights, and a full-length rear diffuser houses four oval tailpipes. Inside, the dual-zone instrument panel boasts a "large" color touchscreen for infotainment, metal-accented dash gauges with red needles, and a small, color TFT screen in the binnacle for displaying tidbits like G-forces and lap times. Luxury touches include a heads-up display, an optional 720-watt, 15-speaker Harmon/Kardon audio system with two subwoofers, a driver's seat that can be had with air-cell bladders for a snug fit, and lots of driver assistance systems. When the Stinger goes on sale late this year customers get a choice of two engines that are currently still in development. The base model employs a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with around 255 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The upper trim, known as the Stinger GT, goes with the 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 found in the Genesis G90 and expected to put out the same numbers: 365 hp and 376 lb-ft. Both motors will shift through the eight-speed automatic shared with the Kia K900 but refined with a centrifugal pendulum absorber for reduced vibration. If all goes to plan, the dash from zero to 62 miles per hour will take 5.1 seconds with the 3.3-liter V6, with top speed capped at 167 mph.