Kia Forte awarded IIHS ‘Top Safety Pick’
The Kia Forte received ratings of “Good” (the highest achievable) in front, side, rear and rollover impact crash tests – something that safety-minded buyers will surely appreciate. This gives the Kia’s Forte more ammo to compete head on with the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, its two main competitors, which have also been dubbed as Top Safety Picks by IIHS. Curiously, only the sedan was mentioned in the IIHS study, so we can’t say if this prestigious honor carries over to the two-door coupe Koup. Hit the jump to read the full IIHS press release.
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Kia Forte Koup SX-R
The Kia has announced a new ‘R’ package of its Forte Koup model with styling and performance accessories for the SX model. The bad new for fans: the ‘R’ package is available only to Canadian customers.
The package includes a pair of front lip spoiler, chunky side skirts and a discreet boot lid spoiler. The two-door model’s looks are complemented by a set of neat 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Yokohoma S-drive tires, and ‘R’ branded badges and door sills.
While the R treatment does nothing to the Koup SX’s 173-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, it does add a sport exhaust, AEM air filter, new springs that lower the ride height by 1.3” and a strut bar to improve handling.
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2011 Kia Sportage
Look at the first official photos of the next generation 2011 Kia Sportage that will be unveiled at the upcoming 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
The new Sportage carries the new Kia family look as seen on the Soul, Cadenza sedan and Sorento SUV, but it appears to have a more European flavor to it.
The five-door crossover shares its platform with the also new Hyundai Tucson, known as the Hyundai ix35 in Europe. It is longer and wider than the outgoing Sportage, something that should translate to improved cabin space.
The 2011 Sportage will be offered with the same 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter four cylinder engines coupled to six-speed transmissions as the Tuscon in North America, while in Europe, it will most likely get the same 1.7-liter and 2.0 liter diesels, and 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter gasoline units as the iX35.
Kia’s Safety Features and Reasons Its Cars are Cheap to Insure
Rising up out of Asia, as its name implies when translated to Sino-Korean, Kia began as a steel tubing and bicycle manufacturer when it was founded in 1944. It is the oldest car company of South Korea, and despite some trouble when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997, it still stands as one of the most well-known international car companies. When it comes to safety features, Kia Motors’ cars have a lot to offer. Let’s take a look at one of these cars to find out just how safe these features keep you.
The Kia Soul is a South Korea-produced compact, mini MPV launched at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. It has a bold and edgy design, and it comes with more styling and package combinations than any Kia vehicle created before. When it comes to its safety features, it’s apparently topnotch as it has been awarded by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) with 5 stars, which is the highest possible safety rating. Despite its size, it got an overall weighted score of 75%. Breaking down the crash test results, it was rated 87% for adult protection, 86% for child protection, 39% for pedestrian protection, and 86% for Safety Assist equipment.
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2011 Kia Sportage Compact SUV
The all-new Kia’s Sportage SUV has been given away through a lot of designs that were made for the E.U. patent office.
The reason why we’re saying this is the use of some specific styling features such as the chrome trim, the tail lamp arrangement, the alloy wheel designs and the styling of the lower part of the front bumper, all of which look suspiciously conceptual.
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2010 Kia Sorento Cobra Tuning
Look at the Kia Sorento SUV with a Cobra Technology & Lifestyle’s tuning. Cobra offers a variety of front, rear and rocker panel guards including a lower front bar with integrated LED daytime running lights.
Once buyer is done with the Kia Sorento body armor, he can also choose from numerous alloy wheel designs with diameters of 19 and 20 inches. The largest alloy wheels can be fitted with tires in size 265/45 R 20.
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Kia Soul Ignition
The special limited edition Kia Soul to be offered in the U.S. Based on the Soul+ model and called “Ignition”, the limited version features a unique ignition orange exterior finish with contrasting black rally stripes, a rear spoiler, an alloy fuel door and black 18-inch alloy wheels with machined accents.
Kia has loaded the Ignition with more features including a higher-grade audio system with iPod connection, center speaker, subwoofer, external amplifier and speaker lights, carpeted floor mats, moon roof, fender vents with side marker repeaters and fog lights.
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Kia Venga
Look at the new official photos of the Venga, the Kia’s new mini MPV, called Venga. The Kia Venga competitor in the B-segment that will rival the likes of the Opel Meriva and Citroen C3 Picasso. The Kia Venga, which was designed and will be produced in Europe, is 4,068 mm long and 1,600 mm tall with a stretchy 2,615 mm wheelbase that’s longer than let’s say.
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Kia VG
Kia releases first pictures of upcoming luxury sedan. Looks great! The new Kia VG sedan should make it debut at Detroit Auto Show in next year. The range of engines, possibly will include Kia’s 2.4-liter direct-injected four and 3.8-liter Lambda V6.
Kia Soul in Police Outfit
One of the local British Kia dealers has donated a new Kia Soul to the Sussex Police department. The small Kia’s crossover will be used by the team of Police Community Support Officer’s (PCSOs) as part of their street briefings and the general safe-keeping of Horsham South’s communities.
“The car is as highly visible as we are!” said PCSO Charlotte Whittaker. “We were delighted to have been given a car by Toll House, but to have one that turns heads as swiftly as this one does only helps us become more visible to the public.”
Toll House Kia, which provided the police-branded Soul Shaker to the Sussex Police department for a year, promice to replace the car after six months.