Vehicle: 2010 Kia Forte SX with 4-speed automatic
Price as tested: CDN$22195

Performance: While the Sephia and Spectra weren’t exactly terrible cars, they weren’t exactly spectacular ones. Kia promises the new Forte to be a car that is finally able to challenge the best in this ever competitive segment. How does it fare out? We will tell you at the end of this review.

The Forte is powered by 2 different 4-cylinder engines. On our uplevel SX tester, its standard with a 2.4 liter 4-cylinder 16-valve with DOHC and variable valve timing; while the base LX and EX are only come with 2.0 liter version of the same engine. Unlike the Kia’s wheezy 4-cylinders of the past, it doesn’t feel rough and noisy. It actually feels delightfully refined and smooth. The level of refinement is on par with those from Honda and Toyota but not exactly as free-revving as them. 173 horses certainly not shabby in this class of compacts. However, its the 168 lb/ft of torque that really keep the Forte moving especially the maximum torque arrives at 4000rpm. The Forte is standard with a decent 5-speed manual or 5-speed Steptronic on our SX tester. Other than the tall 2nd gear that completely drove us nuts during acceleration, which you have to compensate through the use of manumatic mode. The Steptronic has worked surprisingly well with the engine. The 1st gear is short enough for good acceleration, if 2nd gear is as short. 4th and 5th gears are tall enough for comfortable highway cruising.

Handling: Kia has engineered an entirely new platform for Forte, this chassis will share with the next generation Hyundai Elantra in a few years. That means this platform has a lot of expectations to be fulfill with. It doesn’t disappoint us, however. The platform is solid and tough-as-a-rock for suspension components to hang its heads. As a foundation, it is as good as anything else on the market. Unlike the LX and EX, our SX comes with sports suspension rather than lower silibing’s standard setting. While the handling capabilies are much more confidence-inspiring than the Spectra of the past, we found the sports suspension doesn’t seem to like patholes and washboard pavements. On a contrary, the standard suspension seems to accept the same kinds of roughness with more forgiving nature. There are some terminal understeer and body rolls when pushed through corners, which is kinda expect in a family car. We have to applaud Kia’s move of giving electronic stability control as standard feature on both EX and SX. If they can make ESC as an option or even standard on base LX, even better. The steering has decent response although the off-center feels a bit vague. On-center feedback is much improved over the dead feel of the outgoing Spectra.

Brakes: Another move that we should give credit to Kia is the standard of all discs all around in the new Forte, while offering ABS as standard on uplevel EX and SX. That set, the brake pedal feels firm and solid, while the stopping distance is decent. The pedal modulation is better than average. ABS only steps in necessarily which is an added bonus.

Interior: While the previous Spectra’s interior is blend and boring, Forte’s styling is much more pleasant to the eyes. Everything else fall right at hands from power windows to automatic climate control standard on our SX tester. The leather quality is surprisingly supple and soft, with the right amount of support at the right places. However, there is one major let down to the overall nice package. There are just too much hard plastic on the top of the dashboard to the center console.

The rear seat is surprisingly comfortable, with decent head and legrooms for 2 passengers and 3 in a squeeze.

While the trunk liftover is a little bit high, it doesn’t mean Forte isn’t a versatile family car. Fold down the split fold-down rear seats with the well-padded trunk hinges on the side, Forte is able to swallow lots of groceries and luggages once you get passed the liftover.

Conclusion: The Forte marks a dramatic improvements over its predecessor in all major areas. Its not only got the refined powertrain that its been crying out for since the Sephia era, it got the right mix of driving dynamics and features. Best of all, it has a classic good looks to match with its value ingredients. The Forte should be in everyone’s shopping list when they are shopping for an affordable family sedan.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2010 Kia Forte
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Performance: 3.5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 3.5/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 4/5
Value-for-money: 3/5

Overall rating: 4/5