Kia Forte: Small car packs big value

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I’m not a fan of small cars, but it’s hard to find anything to complain about with the Kia Forte. It comes in three body styles: a coupe, a sedan and a five-door that is like a little SUV and station wagon. It is the most useful for families.

The coupe will be more attractive to younger buyers. Kia is part of Hyundai, based in South Korea. I admire it the most of all car companies. Hyundai started well behind its present competition and has surpassed them all with better warranties and generally higher quality. Kia, and also big brother Hyundai, have perplexed other manufacturers with price and value.

You can buy a brand-new nicely equipped Kia Rio Sedan for as little as $12,295, so why look elsewhere? Also, Kia loads even its base models with accessories that might cost extra with many other companies.

The base Forte SX at $18,100 has all of the power accessories considered luxury options a few years ago. And let me throw this in: Why would I buy a costly hybrid and take taxpayer money to achieve what is really just a few more mpg than the Forte? Hybrids might make sense in downtown Chicago or Washington, D.C., but I have barely enough electric power at my test ranch to keep the lights on, let alone plug in a huge battery every day.

The 36 mpg highway achieved by the Kia will take the sting out of any fuel price spikes. That mileage is with the base 156-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Around town it gets 26 mpg. The 2.4-liter optional engine adds 17 more horsepower and still gets 32/23 mpg. All are mated to front-wheel drive.

A six-speed manual transmission is standard or you can opt for the six-speed Sportmatic transmission. The top-of-the-line EX model has the bigger engine standard, which is optional on the base SX. A 13.7-gallon fuel tank is a little larger than many of the vehicles in segment, and that extra couple of gallons is a nice feature on long drives.

Nearly 20 cubic feet of cargo space is available with the five-door model that we tested. That could be as much as double what a compact sedan can offer. Put the rear seats down and load even more stuff. All four wheels have disc brakes. Sixteen-inch wheels are standard and 17-inch 255/45 wheels and tires are standard on the SX. I don’t understand why automakers put such small side-wall tires on a family car.

As for styling, the Forte will not draw a crowd; it is possibly the most featureless of any Kia model. Still, the drab gray paint job was excellent as was fit and finish. We even had leather upgrade seats with heat and an auto dimming mirror at $1,000 extra. Add to that a power sunroof for another $700, plus $695 delivery and you are done at $20,840.

Like the unmoving styling, the interior continues the theme. Plenty of plastic trim and little to get anyone excited. It does come loaded with youthful accessories like USB, Bluetooth, CD player, auxiliary input jack, Sirius satellite radio and a six-speaker sound system. The leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter are standard. Cruise control is standard along with power accessories.

If you are not in a big hurry the 2.4-liter engine will satisfy you. The six-speed stick will provide a little more acceleration, but if you live in an urban area I’ll bet you’ll want the automatic transmission.

It also comes with Kia’s 10-year 100,000-mile limited power train warranty, including five-year/60,000-mile roadside assistance too.