Small Engine, Big Performance - 2016 Kia Optima Long-Term Road Test
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Small Engine, Big Performance - 2016 Kia Optima Long-Term Road Test
Despite its small size, the four-cylinder engine in our 2016 Kia Optima has plenty of power.
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This is what EcoBoost owners are seeing.
You only get the benefit of a small displacement, low power engine when you drive it like one.
And kudos to Hyundai/Kia for providing room to get to engine components.
My girlfriend's Sonata didn't get close to the EPA numbers at first but now with over 50,000 miles it is usually exactly what was on the sticker. My Acura always got what the sticker said from day one and now 7 years later it exceeds the EPA numbers.
I think Ford and Hyundai, for instance, use broken in engines and you won't get those numbers until the engine is well broken in. Honda and VW probably use new engines so what you see on the sticker is what you get right out the box; and as they get older the mileage gets better.
Your Mazda6 performs well in tests, where rpms can be kept up at the power peak or near it, but it's not the same in everyday driving as a turbo, with its super-high, super-wide torque band. I have an SVT Focus and a GTI, and the Focus is pretty quick, but in the VW, you roll into the throttle at any rpm, any gear...you're gone.