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Being a bloke that loves saloon cars above all others, I'm thinking of buying a 2litre Kia Magentis automatic ( three years old ). People IMO don't seem to be able to comment on them, but i think its solid Mitsubishi technology at a knockdown price, for the savvy on a budget. I do my own oil changes and pad checks etc.
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They are known as the Kia Optima in the US and sell very well. OK if you don't expect anything sporty. My reservation is that my experience with Kia spares is not good - very expensive and tend to have to wait minimum two weeks for them to get anything.
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They are known as the Kia Optima in the US and sell very well.
Ah, the Kia Optima. Curse of rental car drivers all over the USA, when your hopes of getting something decent to drive at the end of a long flight are finally dashed because it's 11pm and all the other cars at the rental car lot have been taken apart from the Optimas and the Chevrolet Malibus. In fact the nicest thing you can say about an Optima is that it's better than a Malibu. Other than that, rough engine, uncomfortable seats, poor ride, aircon that's either fully on or fully off, general feeling of 1980s technology, and not very pleasant company on a long journey. Just my opinion of course.
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I can't comment on the auto but I did try one of the manual V6s and was really impressed - it's a lot of car for the money as long as you can live with the dated and scratchy interior. The V6 itself feels really smooth and composed but don't expect it to be too hot off the lights.. nice and torquey for when you're overtaking though :) Rides well too and doesn't really complain at anything - if anything it's plain but in a good way, if that make sense :)
Have you seen the 06 update? It has a Lexus-type look about it, plain but still nicely proportioned. The inside is still a bit confused though with a godawful stereo that looks like it has the screen from a 1970s calculator :)
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If you like big, soft American-style barges the Magentis will appeal.
The big Kia is an excellent-riding, smooth-engined, extremely reliable lounger of a car, no driver involvement but that isn't what these things are about.
Like many Korean cars of its era it is built for the US market, so doesn't sell well here.
That said, they were going for £6995 brand-new at one point (the 2.0l petrol version, at a dealer in Richmond I went past a few times), and it just isn't possible to get more car than that for the money. I was actually tempted. I'd expect them to be correspondingly cheap second-hand.
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That said they were going for £6995 brand-new at one point (the 2.0l petrol version at a dealer in Richmond I went past a few times) and it just isn't possible to get more car than that for the money. I was actually tempted. I'd expect them to be correspondingly cheap second-hand.
They seem massively cheap.
A quick autotrader search shows
an 06 automatic with 8k miles for £5,800
tinyurl.com/2uja9c
And an 02 v6 with 25k miles for £2k
tinyurl.com/3xf4l7
So clearly it would be madness to buy one new, at least not for anything like the £13k HJ suggests is cheap for the class of car in his review.
When I drove a Cerrato recently it was horribly basic inside. There was also a water leak by the time I returned it. Not terribly appealing.
These are almost certainly better though. If I was going to buy one, the £2k end of the market seems most sensible given the horrific depreciation
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So clearly it would be madness to buy one new at least not for anything like the £13k HJ suggests is cheap for the class of car in his review.
In fairness the newer Magentis is a much better car than the old one -- the interior is pretty reasonable (still US-biased though), and it finally got a diesel variant.
I wouldn't pay £13K for one though -- far too many genuinely good cars with the "wrong badge" going half-price at a year old at that sort of money (Mondeos, Accords etc).
These are almost certainly better though. If I was going to buy one the £2k end of the market seems most sensible given the horrific depreciation
I think people are scared off by a strange US barge with a plasticky interior and a badge better known for cheap-and-cheerful small cars. No-one looks beyond that, if they did they'd realise that this is a well-engineered Mitsubishi Galant clone in all but name. Having said that, the Galants themselves if anything suffer even more horrendous depreciation than the Magentises!!
I've driven these a couple of times (asked for one by name as a courtesy car instead of the Getz they were going to give me), and was relatively impressed given the low asking price. If you go in with the point in mind that these are competing with 1.2 Corsas, and not 2l Mondeos, you get a better feel for the positives in this particular car. I'd rather have a 5 year old one of these than a ten year old 306 I have to say (similar money when all is said and done).
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Here's some unbiased opinions of the Magentis from a few years ago:
www.sniffpetrol.com/issue020.html
:-)
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Haven't tried owned a Magentis but can recommend an alternative-a Nissan QX. I've had my Y reg 3.0 SE plus for two months and it's a very enjoyable car. With every option you need plus a few more, it will glide along or if you want with 200bhp on tap, it will fly. I was concerned about the petrol cosumption but have been getting 30 mpg plus but we only use it for the longer journeys. My wife loves it and I must confess that it's relaxed nature has made me a more relaxed and a better driver. Since buying mine I've been watching them on ebay, they offer great value a couple of top of the range 3.0 litres 51 and 02 reg with low mileage seem to stick at around 3.6K and 4.2K respectively , and remain unsold. I can't recommend them enough , a very underrated car.
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Yup, QX is a great car, the later ones (A33 chassis) even better. Pity there are not more around!
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Thanks to all for your replies. I've been studying these cars on auto trader for a while now. They're nearly all low mileage too, and for little money. I do like 'barges'. I do think they make a more relaxed and better driver, and perhaps 80's technology is all to the good for the DIYer and those who keep their cars for a long time. I'm confident about the 2.0 litre Magentis but also like the idea of a V6, but why were these cars only offered with the V6 when they started life here, and then when the model was facelifted about 2003 switched to a four-pot only?
According to HJ's car-by-car breakdown the V6 is a KV6 engine. Does this mean Rover-derived? It sounds uncannily like 'K' series engine.
Err - any issues there then ?
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I think these cars are based on the '97-03 Mitsubishi Galant platform. Very definitely not '80s technology and in fact quite advanced in many ways. The V6 would be a derivative of the Mitsubishi 6A13 engine I think - a very sophisticated and smooth unit - absolutely nothing to do with Rover!
The 4-cyl, 6-cyl models offered were decided upon by market research I would imagine. Lot of car for the money and probably a lot better then some of the negative comments above would suggest. I note the comments about the Magentis being a 'barge' but having seen them I don't think they are any bigger then a Mondeo/Vectra.
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Thanks Aprilia, I find that there's not much info around - Haynes etc. don't do a manual for a Magentis / Sonata type stuff ASFAIK. Perhaps there wasnt the volume of sales.
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