Sportwagon 1.6 CRDi 134bhp 2 Manual

Pleasantly Surprised - Bit clunky at low speeds but Skoda need to be worried

I hired this car for a week as there was a wedding in the family. Put 560 miles on it for airport drops, transporting luggage and people. Used it on a variety of roads from A Roads to the M25. I was expected to be given an Octavia from Hertz but I got this. I was pleasantly surprised how well the interiors were kitted out. The MMI system in the VW is better but the KIA runs it close.

Due to turbolag, the Optima is clunky at low speeds, the engine sometimes stalls as it does not muster enough torque to persuade the Auto-Hold to release itself. Once you get going, it is quite a nice car to drive. You can't really push it hard like a Golf (I drive a Jetta), it lacks an eager turn-in but the car is pleasant enough to drive on our speed restricted roads. It would complement a rough edged weekend machine well.

Seats are comfortable, not as narrow as a Tuscon which I recently travelled in. Rise is firm but not so concerning. Build quality is outstanding. Being Hyundai's sister brand, I was expecting something a bit chinzy and dull to drive but it was not. Most of my guests really liked the car.

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