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— Atlanta, Georgia

To say that Kia has made a lot of changes to the Sorento for the 2011 model year doesn’t quite capture the spirit of it. It’s roomier, lighter, more efficient, offers different powertrain options, and is built in the U.S. to boot. While it is by all means a crossover, Kia has tried to keep the new Sorento from falling in with the rest of the herd, and has created what promises to be a formidable competitor in the otherwise dreary and uninspired segment of affordable CUVs.

CLICK HERE to continue reading this article.

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PROS
- Eye-catching, but not too funky, styling inside and out
- Boxy shape yields amazing interior space for a small car
- Driving manners are good

CONS
- Engine power is adequate, but only just
- Some other cars in this class are more engaging to drive
- Not the last word in fuel economy

SUMMARY
The Soul is another in a series of box-shaped cars that neatly combine “make you smile” design with functional sense. We were thoroughly impressed with this Kia, though aggressive drivers will want to look elsewhere.

The exterior design of the Soul is engaging, and many people commented that it seemed like a successor to the lamented first generation Scion xB. Even more impressive is the interior of the Soul, which on our tester was an attractive black and red mix. The attention to design detail flows throughout the interior, the materials are of high quality, and almost all comments were favorable. As we found with the Nissan Cube, the Soul has impressive headroom and legroom for second row passengers. With the rear seats folded, the Soul has a flat load floor and lots of space for stuff.

On the road, the Soul handles well. It has a good ride quality, and handling is balanced. Roll is kept in check pretty well, though once you’re really boiling along there is some lean angle. The driving limitation of the Soul comes in the elusive area of “feel”. The Soul drives well, but simply isn’t doesn’t deliver the so-called go-kart handling of a few competitors.

You can read more about the 2010 Kia Soul on the vehicle's buyer's guide page. Looking for reviews of other cars? Click here to search through the NextAutos Buyer's Guide database.

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The hardworking Kia pundits over at Kia World, have spotted changes to the Korean market Pride, which should foretell what North American customers could expect in the 2010 Rio. 

The new Kia Pride, will come with several changes to the interiors and to the front of the car. The updates include a redesigned front fascia with different front bumpers and signature grille. The updated bumper and Kia’s latest H-shaped grille will allow larger air-intake and new fog-lamps. 

The interiors have been delicately revised and the center stack comes with new controls and an advanced audio system. The steering-wheel design and the gauges on the instrument panel have also been given a facelift. The new 2010 Kia Rio is believed to go on sale by the beginning of next year in the U.S., and in Korea within the next month.

For more details about the potential Rio facelift, click on the link to the Kia World Website.

+ Kia World: 2010 Kia Rio Facelift

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PROS
- Attractive design sets it apart from its competitors.
- Peppy (optional) 2.4-liter engine with a choice of five-speed auto or six-speed manual boxes.
- Base 2.0-liter engine is surprisingly good.

CONS
- Not very enthusiastic to drive, even with the 2.4.
- Manual transmission is soupy and not engaging to use.
- Lack of features like navigation sets it down a notch from the Honda Civic.

SUMMARY
The Kia Forte EX shows how far this Korean carmaker has come. From the get go, the Forte impressed us with its solidity, with the intelligent and straightforward placement of key instruments and controls, and with the satisfying firmness of its suspension. Interior materials and surface textures are well chosen, too, and pleasantly harmonized to give a coherent look and feel. There are no hints of the cheapness or cheesiness that marred some Kia efforts in the past. In short, the Forte is in many respects a very well buttoned down little car.

Perhaps the only real disappointment involves the engine/transmission interface, which represents a not very happy marriage on the whole. Our sense was that the 156-horsepower engine was willing enough, but that the four-speed automatic did not (and could not) play to the engine’s potential strengths. As a result, we often had the subjective sense that the car was in the wrong gear and that the engine was therefore audibly laboring to pull the Forte up to speed. Once you arrive at cruising speed, though, the Forte is pleasant place to spend time, and its firm suspension inspires driver confidence.

Click here to continue reading about the 2010 Kia Forte on the vehicle's Buyer's Guide page. For more Buyer's Guide reviews, click here to browse through the NextAutos vehicle database.

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Our spy photographer caught the 2010 Kia Cee’d showing off it’s new face. Though still wearing some camouflage to hide the details, we can see that the 2010 Cee’d gets new headlights and bumpers, as well as some other minor changes, as our shooter points out. As for the interior and under the hood, we’ll have to wait until the Frankfurt show in September to see if the Cee’d gets any upgrades there.

Click through the gallery above to see what’s new on the Cee’d, or scroll down for the photographer’s own words.

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—Seattle, Washington

While sitting around a candlelit table at Chandler’s Crabhouse in downtown Seattle, we talked with other journalists about our recent drive in Kia’s all-new Forte sedan—the replacement for the long-running Spectra. We discussed our generally lukewarm driving impressions, but still resolved that the Forte is a good competitor in the compact segment. One colleague said, “If I only write about the drive experience, it could come off as a bad review—but it isn’t actually a bad car at all.” So stay with us here, because while there may not be any juicy, exciting, sports-car-type bits about the Kia Forte, it’s still a perfectly adequate player in a segment that needs to appeal to the widest variety of shoppers. Think about the Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Ford Focus sedans—these cars are tragically vanilla, but they still sell in droves. And so the Kia Forte comes to town, bringing with it a bigger pile of standard equipment, attractive design, and a very low price point. None of these cars are particularly exciting, and the Forte still manages to seal up the whole compact sedan package better than these aforementioned competitors.

(Click through the post to continue reading this review.)

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When Kia launched the boxy new Soul, we knew that all sorts of personalization and customization would be cropping up in the near future. The first factory-fresh example of this comes in the Kia Soul Special Edition, the first in a series of little tweaks to the Soul five-door. Kia is planning to release special edition Souls over the vehicle's lifespan, so look for more in the future -- think of Scion's Release Series.

We got to take a look at the first Soul Special Edition while in Seattle attending the launch of the 2010 Kia Forte sedan (stay tuned for that review). Essentially, this special Soul starts as a normal Plus model, featuring the larger 2.0-liter four-pot engine and a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. From there, Kia adds white painted eighteen-inch wheels, white mirror caps, and an off-center white stripe down the hood, roof, and rear. Additionally, the exterior color (called Denim) is specific to this special edition.

We don't have any word as to how much this option package will retail for, but expect the first Soul Special Editions to hit dealers sometime this July.

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Kia debuted their new Forte sedan at this February's Chicago Auto Show, but we were hoping to see some more evolution of the Kia Koup Concept come through into production. Thus, a two-door Forte with the Koup name was brought for all to see at the New York Auto Show, squarely aimed at the Honda Civic, Ford Focus, and Scion tC. From these images, we think the Forte Koup looks worlds better than the Focus, and even the Civic's hit-or-miss design might be trumped by the Forte's sleek, sporty stance.

There are two engine choices -- a 2.0-liter four producing 156 horsepower and 146 pound-feet of torque, or a much peppier 2.4-liter mill which cranks out 173 horsepower and 168 pound-feet. The base engine makes do with a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission, while the larger powerplant benefits from six-speed manual and five-speed autoboxes. Moving inside, it's obvious that Kia's revised design scheme (seen on the Soul) has made its way to the Forte, and based on our impressions with the Soul, we think this interior will sit well with consumers.

Click through the post and read about all of the details in Kia's press release. A gallery of photos is above.

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—Miami, Florida

When an automaker launches a new vehicle, there’s usually a lot of corporate enthusiasm built in. All of the engineers, executives, and public relations people get really excited about their latest and greatest offering, and in turn, they hope that the automotive press feels that excitement, too. The Kia people are no different in this regard but, given the automaker’s rather bland current lineup, it’s been harder for them to sell it.

Kia executives seemed to recognize that their current line doesn’t offer any sort of heart-throbbing passion, but they have big plans to completely turn the tables over the next few years, starting with the introduction of the 2010 Soul which we recently had the chance to experience first-hand on the sun-drenched streets of Miami.

We’ve said before that the Kia Soul, in a way, picks up where the original Scion xB left off. The new Scion is much larger (heavier) and it has lost a lot of its youthful charm. Kia says that the Soul “redefines the box,” and it’s using words like “cool” and “urban” in reference to their Generation Y-oriented vehicle. In fact, during our product briefing, there was an entire segment dedicated to explaining who the Gen Y market is. (Your author, at twenty-three years old, did not need to take notes during this part of the presentation.)

Click through the post to continue reading this review.

We’re pretty excited to take our first turn in Kia’s new Soul next week, with high hopes that it might take over some of the funky driving pleasure that Scion’s xB seems to have lost in its generational shift. Does the Soul smell like a hit to you, or is America already over the boxy, cute-ute thing?

Share your opinion by clicking through the link below, and stay tuned for our review of the Soul in the next installment of Winding Road. 

+ NextAutos Forums: Will the Kia Soul Be the Best New Funky Small Car?