Fast But Not Fun - 2015 Kia K900 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Fast But Not Fun - 2015 Kia K900 Long-Term Road Test

Our long-term 2015 Kia K900 has plenty of power, but it's not fun to drive.

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any1there

This is an example of real, honest, auto journalism missing at most web sites. It is something, hopefully, the right people at Kia will notice and take action on (it's about time they got serious about finding a world-class ride/handling solution).

kirkhilles1

Maybe its just me, but I've come to realize that having a car that's "fun" can often mean a car that has a stiff suspension and is often not what the customer wants 95% of the time. Looking at Kia's website, I see no mention of them claiming "fun". They use words like "Elegant", "Balanced", "Advanced technology", "superb interior", "redefines your perceptions of fun". If it does THOSE things well, then I'd say it meets customers expectations. I drive a Miata for "fun", not a large 4 wheel door luxury car.

kirkhilles1

Haha, I meant "redefines your perceptions of LUXURY".

grijon

GREAT post Scott.

+1 on the comment by @any1there ; this is the kind of journalism I hope for - not necessarily negative, but HONEST and KNOWLEDGEABLE.

fordson1

kirkhilles1 said:

Maybe its just me, but I've come to realize that having a car that's "fun" can often mean a car that has a stiff suspension and is often not what the customer wants 95% of the time. Looking at Kia's website, I see no mention of them claiming "fun". They use words like "Elegant", "Balanced", "Advanced technology", "superb interior", "redefines your perceptions of fun". If it does THOSE things well, then I'd say it meets customers expectations. I drive a Miata for "fun", not a large 4 wheel door luxury car.

Mmmmm...find me any recent review of a 7-Series, an S550 or an A8 where they're complaining about the ride being too hard.

For $66k, this car should have a switch on the dashboard with a setting that will make it ride great, a setting that will make it handle great, and a setting that will make it ride AND handle pretty damn good. Of course, for that they would have to ditch the rim-protectors and provide an actual premium tire.

And the only time this Kia DOES ride well is when it's minimally loaded - with any kind of weight in it, it's crashing through to the bump stops and running out of suspension travel.

And it's not even all that fast - with that power-to-weight ratio, it should be around a half-second faster than it is in the quarter and to 60.

misterfusion

Looks like Hyundai is beginning to have the dynamic edge over Kia, which is just plain crazy. At least in terms of the latest Genesis, Sonata, and Elantra (hell, maybe even the Accent), all of which have been praised as handling better than their Kia platform-mates. I wonder how the Equus handles in comparison with the K900...although I can't picture the Hyundai being any more dynamically exciting in that case.

chol92594

This article pretty much sums up what I've always said about the K900. It's a good alternative to the Germans if you're just looking for a comfortable cruiser. I'm thinking people ages 50-65 and older who just want a cushy highway car. They might even have another car for more spirited driving. The Kia makes sense here because it's significantly cheaper than the Germans.

If, however, you can only have one car and you want that car to be both comfortable and engaging, the K900 just isn't worth the savings over the Germans. In all honesty, if someone just can't spend the additional money to get a 7/A8/S-class instead of a K900, I'd just recommend finding a CPO 7/A8/S-class or looking at the more mid-sized models like an A8 or 5 series. To me, it just isn't worth the dynamic tradeoffs.

veedubber86

And that is why some people can justify the additional price of a German luxo-barge.