Kia Optima Review 2016-2020 review | A practical and good-value saloon car

What is the Kia Optima?

It’s very rare to see saloons these days, because the public has gone doolally for SUVs. In some ways, that’s a shame, because it means quality cars such as the Kia Optima never really grabbed buyers’ imagination. As a rival to established favourites such as the Ford Mondeo, the Vauxhall Insignia, and the Volkswagen Passat, the Optima is a fine car, with plenty to recommend, and if you’re not entirely sold on the SUV hype, it’s an even better used buy, because you can pick up a used saloon for a bargain.

Sold from the start of 2016, this is the fourth generation of a car that first appeared back in 2000 (it was previously known as the Magentis). It was available both as a four-door saloon and as a five-door estate, called the Sportswagon, which launched in the middle of 2016, and powered by a range of diesel engines (more bad timing, following the Volkswagen Dieselgate debacle), as well as a performance-focused petrol option and a plug-in hybrid.

We’ll let you make up your own mind about the car’s styling, save to say it’s different enough from its rivals to make it readily identifiable. Inside, things are a bit more conservative, but it’s well made, with solid materials. All models have lots of standard equipment – more on that in a moment – which gives it a classy touch. Sure, it’s no Audi or BMW, but it comfortably matches the Mondeo and Insignia.

How practical is it?

There’s lots of space inside the Optima, with plenty of rear-seat legroom and reasonable headroom, and there’s even more in the Sportswagon. You’ll find a big tray in front of the gearstick, several cupholders, and a storage box under the centre armrest.

The saloon’s boot is roomy, at 505 litres, and the rear seats fold down in a 60/40 split if you need more space, although there are sizeable intrusions from the wheel wells and a big lip to lug stuff over. The cavernous Skoda Superb trumps it on space, courtesy of its 565-litre boot.

The Sportswagon estate ups room in the boot to 552 litres. That’s sizeable, but still less than the 660 in the Superb Estate, and it drops to 440 litres in the plug-in hybrid, because of the location of the batteries. The Sportswagon’s rear seats fold in a more flexible 40/20/40 split.

What's it like to drive?

The Optima leans over a bit too much in the corners, and the steering isn’t exactly sharp, but it’s comfortable, and bad road surfaces well soaked up.

At launch, the Optima had a 1.7-litre CRDI diesel engine with 139bhp and a choice of a six-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission. It’s not the quietest of engines, and you have to work it surprisingly hard to get the best out of it. The automatic gearbox is decent, though, with smooth changes. If you’re doing lots of long motorway cruises, it’s not a bad setup, but it isn’t as good as a Skoda Superb’s diesel engine.

Kia facelifted the Optima in 2018 and replaced the 1.7-litre diesel with a 1.6-litre version. This has slightly less power, but it is more refined and has better fuel economy.

There’s also a petrol model, introduced in 2017. Found only in the Optima GT, it stands on a different step to the rest of the range, with a few tweaks to the suspension to make it a bit more involving to drive. The engine is a 2.0-litre turbo, with 237bhp, so it’s brisk, if not an outright performance model. It’s certainly more entertaining than other Optimas, but not really an enthusiast’s car.

Technology and equipment

A touchscreen infotainment system with satnav is included on all models, and most cars come with an eight-inch screen. It’s not the snazziest interface, but it’s easy to use and quick to respond.

The entry-level model at the Optima’s launch was the 2, which has 17-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone air-conditioning, and cruise control, with a seven-inch infotainment system screen. The 3 adds the larger eight-inch touchscreen system, an electric driver’s seat (heated, by the way), 18-inch alloys, and a Harman Kardon sound system. Upgrade to 4, and you get a wireless phone charger, a 360-degree camera system and, crucially, most of the best safety kit, including automatic emergency braking.

GT Line S models followed later, and the 4 trim was dropped, but GT Line S was almost identical to 4.

The 2018 facelift saw a mildly tweaked design and refresh of the trim levels. The GT-Line S was dropped in saloon form, but retained as an estate, although the specs barely changed. The potent GT joined the range, also available only as an estate, and with an almost equipment list to the GT Line S – though it also got electronically adaptive suspension and a sound generator.

Kia Optima running costs

As we said, you’ll get tremendous fuel economy from the plug-in hybrid, but that massively depends on how you use it. The official MPG figure is 188.3, but that’s almost meaningless in the real world, because it’s heavily dependent on how much of its time it spends running on electric power – and that will depend on how often you can plug it in.

Of the diesel engines, the 1.7 promises up to 64mpg, while the 1.6 promises 58mpg, but it’s important to note that the way of measuring these official figures changed between the release of each unit. In the real world, you’ll get better fuel economy from the 1.6, and MPG in the low 50s should be achievable. The petrol-powered GT has an official consumption figure of 28mpg, which is pretty thirsty.

You’ll need to service your Optima every year or every 20,000 miles. Prices at Kia dealers vary depending on whether the service is major or minor, and these will alternate each year. All Optimas have timing chains, rather than belts, which means they don’t need to be changed.

When it comes to insurance, the Optima sits between groups 19 and 25 of 50, which is about the average for this type of car.

Kia Optima reliability

Kia has an excellent reputation for reliability, and that’s backed up its top-class seven-year/100,000-mile warranty, which will still cover a lot of Optimas. Kia regularly sits in the top rankings of manufacturers in independent dependability studies and its dealers have a good reputation for customer service, so the brand is a safe bet all-round.

That said, the Optima has been subject to a couple of recalls. Early PHEV models were called into dealers to have new wiring fitted, because there was a danger that the old voltage control unit could inadvertently switch off the electric motor. A second recall concerned the camera controlling the automatic emergency braking system and required a software update. Both issues should have been sorted by now, but it’s still worth checking with a Kia dealer that the car you’re looking at is up to date.