If you buy a Stinger GT, will it be your first Kia?

[BIGRED]

This will be my 2nd KIA. I currently drive a 2011 Optima SX Turbo. When I first bought my Optima I never thought I’d one day buy a KIA. But I fell in love with the car and have enjoyed it every day since. Now I’ve been stung by the Stinger and can’t wait for mine to arrive in February.

Previously I had a VW Golf GTI and a Nissan Altima V6, both with manual transmission. The general trend is moving towards automatic transmissions, which are more practical for daily commutes. Even in Europe, where stick shifts have ruled until now, new rental cars are being offered with automatic transmission. I had a difficult time selling my 2001 Altima because it had a stick shift. It is a trend that is here to stay, and unfortunately we can’t stop it. As with everything else, we have to get with the times.

 

[Kia Stinger]

This will be my 2nd KIA. I currently drive a 2011 Optima SX Turbo. When I first bought my Optima I never thought I’d one day buy a KIA. But I fell in love with the car and have enjoyed it every day since. Now I’ve been stung by the Stinger and can’t wait for mine to arrive in February.

Previously I had a VW Golf GTI and a Nissan Altima V6, both with manual transmission. The general trend is moving towards automatic transmissions, which are more practical for daily commutes. Even in Europe, where stick shifts have ruled until now, new rental cars are being offered with automatic transmission. I had a difficult time selling my 2001 Altima because it had a stick shift. It is a trend that is here to stay, and unfortunately we can’t stop it. As with everything else, we have to get with the times.

Very good point about it being more difficult to sell a used manual. Hardly anyone knows how to drive a stick. The GTIs are always nice and I always knew the Altimas were turn out as nice as they have. I didn't care that much for the first generation but the second looked much nicer and caught my eye. These days they're pretty nice looking cars - especially the coupe - which I don't believe they make anymore (too bad)...

I thought the first generation Kia Optima looked ugly - probably like most people - but the second generation started catching my eye. I remember seeing a brand new silver Optima in a parking lot and took a picture - I'm sure I have it somewhere. But the front-end reminded me of an Infiniti Q45. It had a luxurious look to it. This doesn't translate to every one of them - but certain colors in certain lights - it just looked really good. Then, of course, came the next generation - and that was it. I really liked the Optima.

I think the Stinger is a natural progression from the Optima and I have a feeling the Optima will go away at some point in the not too distant future. I think @Jenny Wang asked the question - is there a need for both cars? I really don't think so. Like a lot of automobile manufacturers are doing - the full-size sedan is rear wheel drive, the midsize sedan is rear wheel drive, there's the token Lexus ES competitor with front wheel drive, a small car that could probably go either way - but I bet Kia will go RWD with that soon as well, a tiny compact for people who've been shrunken by an evil sorcerer - FWD, and CUVs. The better, larger CUVs get based off the RWD car platforms and the smaller CUVs get based off the FWD versions.

I have a strong feeling the Optima will go away and the Stinger will have it's options broadened to capture any sales that would have gone to the Optima...

 

[Fergalis]

The Stinger will be my first Kia (my indulgence car).

My early years were with British cars (Mk2 Singer Vogue, Mk4 Hillman Super-Minx, MkV Ford Cortina), then GM (Holden HQ Statesman, Holden VN Commodore), then I went Japanese (1986 Honda Civic Shuttle, 1988 Toyota Corolla, 1995 Nissan Primera, 2000 Nissan Pulsar, 2005 Civic Hatch, 2013 Civic Hatch). The Japanese cars have all been SO reliable compared to the Brits and Holdens (although the last Civic was made in the UK), so I thought it would be Japanese for life. However, I've been watching the ascendancy of Hyundai and Kia with interest over the last few years, and they've consistently gained significant market share here at the expense of the traditional Japanese brands. I expect that will continue.

I'm also in the market for a mid-sized SUV, but the current Kia offerings don't quite appeal yet, so this time it's going to be Honda CRV.

 

[Euljiro1ga]

The Stinger will be my first Kia (my indulgence car).

My early years were with British cars (Mk2 Singer Vogue, Mk4 Hillman Super-Minx, MkV Ford Cortina), then GM (Holden HQ Statesman, Holden VN Commodore), then I went Japanese (1986 Honda Civic Shuttle, 1988 Toyota Corolla, 1995 Nissan Primera, 2000 Nissan Pulsar, 2005 Civic Hatch, 2013 Civic Hatch). The Japanese cars have all been SO reliable compared to the Brits and Holdens (although the last Civic was made in the UK), so I thought it would be Japanese for life. However, I've been watching the ascendancy of Hyundai and Kia with interest over the last few years, and they've consistently gained significant market share here at the expense of the traditional Japanese brands. I expect that will continue.

I'm also in the market for a mid-sized SUV, but the current Kia offerings don't quite appeal yet, so this time it's going to be Honda CRV.

I couldn't agree more, I have had such good experiences with Japanese cars in terms of reliability, even compared to the Germans but the rise of Hyundai and Kia really surprised me in a good way.

 

[GregM]

What was your original choice before you saw the Stinger?

We were looking to replace my wife’s Civic by something better and our initial choice was to find a wagon (Volvo, Buick TourX or VW Sportwagon) then we went to the LA Auto Show, spent quite a bit of time to look at our options and found the Stinger to be a perfect choice for us. We also considered the Subaru WRX.
SUV’s were not part of the picture as we both hate them. Then there was BMW, Merc and Audi, all three over budget if we wanted the car size we were looking for. Personally I don’t like Mercedes brand image and my wife doesn’t like BMW as a brand. Audi would have been an option but 1. Too pricey (Audi A7) 2. Known for being not that reliable.
What ended up convincing us was to find out that the Stinger is a liftback hence it has a lot of cargo space.