2014 Kia Forte: First Drive

The Forte was Kia’s attempt to face stiff competition in the sub-compact category, particularly the Honda Civic.  As much as the Forte resembles much of its own and more popular genetic breed, the popularity of the Hyunda Elantra racked up to 200,000 units last year in 2013 while the Forte lagged back of expected sales number.  These catalytic sales figure was a clear signal to Hyundai that it was time to erase the white boards and re-think the overall design of the Kia Forte.

Given the huge success of the well acclaimed styling of the Kia Optima designed by former Audi designer, Peter Schreyer, Kia wasted no time in recognizing his talent.  As a matter of fact, Kia liked him so much that they nominated him to be the first ever non-Korean president of the company.  With the all new second generation Kia Forte, a refreshed exterior design.  Its body contours are now more sculpted giving the Kia a more modern and bolder look.

Apart from its revamped styling, its overall frame structure dimensions have been modified and improved.  Its wheel-base has been widened by a mere 2 inch while its body length is stretched by 1.2 inches.  These dimension figures don’t sound like a lot, but it does wonders to enlarging the interior cabin space.

Thanks to its revised body-frame design, the rear seats can comfortably fit two full-size passengers, while fitting a third in the back seats lead to a sandwiched passenger and a frustrating treasure hunt for the seat belt buckles.  Not to say that it’s a design flaw on Kia’s part.  This is often an issue with most sub-compact vehicles on the market.  At a cubic area of 14.9 cubic feet of trunk space with additional room when folding down the rear seats, Forte owners will enjoy a luxury of cargo space.  Our streak of excitement cut off when we popped the trunk lid and noticed the unfinished trunk lid.

In terms of power, Kia offers two power train option.  With both models available only with a four cylinder engine, the lower end LX model comes equipped with a 1.8 liter producing 148 hp and 131 ft.lbs of torque while the EX model is equipped with a more exciting 2.0 liter engine producing 173 horsepower and 154 ft.lbs of torque.  Unfortunate for the more engaging car drivers, the six speed manual transmission is only available with the LX model, but the EX model will be offered with an optional 6 speed automatic transmission.

Taking the Kia Forte out for a spin didn’t take long to define our overall driving impression.  Merging onto highways showed no signs of struggling and the equipped six speed automatic transmission shifts through its gears seamlessly with minimal torque hiccup.  Weighing in at a sub 2700 kg, the Forte feels light and its handling feels competent and the overall vehicle feels solid and rugged.  Other than describing a the Forte as a comfortable ride and the fact that it simply drives fine, we can’t quite praise Kia’s quoted drive experience as “spiritual”.

One thing we can give the Forte a thumbs up is the noise suppression in the interior cabin space.  Similar to its successors in previous generations such as the Kia Elantra, road noise and course gravel pavement racketing onto the car frame can be heard while driving.  The 2014 Forte has a much quieter interior cabin space, which also enhances the overall quality impression of the vehicle.  Koodoos to Kia for squeezing this design improvement into the 2014 model.

With the base price of 15,900$ for the 2014 Kia Forte LX model and 19,400$ for the EX model, we are expecting Kia to hit its sales numbers with no issue.