2004 Kia Amanti

Pros: Interior quality, comfort, quiet smooth ride, safety features, price
Cons: Float, lean in turns, light steering, fuel economy

Mercedes has long offered the best power seat controls in the business. Shaped to resemble a seat, and thus thoroughly intuitive to use, these are mounted on the door where they are easy to see and reach. When Nissan included similar controls in the ...

Pros: Smooth highway ride, luxury feel at a midsize price
Cons: Questionable reliability & recognition, MPG

Luxury cars are not my forte. My leading favorites right now are offered by Mazda and Subaru, that fall more on the sporty end of the car continuum. That I ended up in an Amanti was more incidental than anything; I reserved an intermediate sized car for ...

Pros: Comfort, light steering, heated seats, auto tilting mirrors, power lumbar.
Cons: No telescoping steering wheel, lean in curves, gas mileage.

I bought my Amanti in September 2004, and have put about 15,000 miles on it. Like many Amanti buyers I wasn't seriously considering buying a Kia when i took my first test drive. At the time I was hell bent on buying a Saab 9-5 but after poor dealer ...

Pros: Beautiful Jag/Benz inspired styling cues/roomy/quiet/features galore/long real warranty stand behind/great climate control system
Cons: fast depreciation

In April of 2004 I bought a new Kia Optima it was like a mid-round Honda Accord. Three months later I went into the Kia Showroom saw for the first time a Pearl colored Amanti and 2 hours later I was driving that same Amanti home. My jaw dropped whenI saw ...

Pros: Comfortable, quiet, lots of room - built like a tank. Runs great on regular gas.
Cons: Low MPG figures. It also leans a little when pushed hard.

Well, after owning an Amanti for over a year now and and putting over 22,000 miles on it, I'm extremely happy to report this car is solid! If you want a sports car, this is NOT the car for you, as this is a quiet, comfortable riding car. It is built with very high quality materials (except the interior wood is faux -that really looks great and is probably safer). It has a very handsome interior and for the low cost, plus it's fantastic warranty, it is quite a tremendous value. I cannot imagine what I could replace this car with if I had to purchase another make, that would give me as much pleasure.
Although I'm seeing more and more of these on the road now, I'm still getting a lot of inquiries and compliments about my car.

Pros: Value, dependability, style
Cons: Back doors sound less expensive

I bought this car used and wouldn't mind living in it. It is an amazing car--especially for the price. It is solid and looks like a car that costs far more. All of my friends and family make comments about how much they like it. When I tell them how much I paid, they can't believe it. I know I've sold at least one car via word of mouth. I tell everyone who will listen how dependable they are and how I will drive this one for another year or two and buy another one. The paint seems excellent. The leather interior is great looking and wears well. Amazing car for the money. The only negatives that I can think of are the cruddy drink holder and the back doors don't feel as "solid" as the front ones. When I close the back doors they sound kind of like I'm closing the door of a Toyota Tercel or something--instead of the solid "thump" sounding closing of the front doors. The warranty is terrific--even though I didn't get the 100K warranty transferred because I'm not the original owner--the other bumper to bumper is fantastic.