Who likes or dislikes Kia? Other than it's not American made? After much searching and multiple test drives my wife just leased a 2014 Forte. Newly designed motor, 2.0 173 HP, 6 speed auto. They gave her $800 more for her trade in than anybody else so the deal they gave her was getting bigger HP for LESS money than all the other 140 HP models out there.
We drove a couple different VWs, a Honda civic twice, Nissan, Toyota and the Kia. The only thing that compared in power and acceleration was the VW Passat with a 5 cyl 170 HP motor for $70 more a month than the Kia. The Jetta with the 2.0 was a dog.
The Honda was first runner up with 140 HP and good response but it was about $25 a month more than the Kia which has it beat on power with similar gas mileage. The VWs had rather poor mileage numbers too so it was like, less power, uses more gas? What's up with that? Plus there's the whole 10 year / 100,000 mile warrantee thing Kia offers.
Finalnote,never negotiate with the missus. She is TOUGH! She tells the Nissan guy, poor Abdeul, "I gotta be honest with you, I don't like the way the Nissan drives." I mean, OWCH!!