The glowup of Kia has to be the best in history. I’ve never seen anything turn it’s reputation right side up like they have. I especially love the K5’s design tbh
Yes, I'd go so far as to say the K5 (Known generally as the Optima outside of Korea) should be considered a design classic. I think it upturned the whole family sedan segment at the time - I believe it influenced Toyota and Nissan into re-thinking the image of the Camry and Maxima as mere family vehicles.
that's how I felt on the response to the Kia boys from Kia and how it took over 3 months for me to get my car back *without* completed repairs and half ass other repairs.
Me too. Engines and gear boxes blow up and under warranty they say they will repair it 'When they have time'' lol. I would avoid this crap like the plague. The paint is rubbish quality. Fit and Finish is only so so. Check out the underside of the exhaust welds. That is all the proof you need that they could care less about 'quality'.
I've been working for Kia for the past 10 years. In the beginning I was embarrassed to tell people I work for Kia but now I'm proud. No company is perfect there's still a lot of issues but the brand has probably seen the biggest turn around of all time. Stinger, Telluride, K5 and EV6 are class leaders.
I will say that I bought my 1st kia in 2005, a nice Spectra, loaded, 5 speed manual, and it was a great car, so reliable we added a 2007 Spectra to our garage. Both were really good, sold them off around 130.000 miles, both still running absolutely like new. I will add they were bought new, and very well maintained, 4000 mile oil changes etc.. and both were Southern California cars, so no negative environmental issues.
Class leaders in what? breaking down? . Paint chips? I haven't seen a single Kia car that holds up when it comes to quality. Especially the useless welds holding the exhaust together lol. I wouldn't trust my family in one at highway speed.
I've witnessed all this transformation myself to be honest. My first car, first new car, was Kia Rio JB - last Rio of 'pre-tiger nose' era. Truly loved the car and put miles on it and now I drive Kia NiroEV which, to be honest has much more tech in it than some BMWs. Much more planted drive characteristics and overall consumer quality
Same bro. My first car was a 2006 cerato forte and the second was an 06 kia sportage. So when I bought the 2019 kia sorento and then soon the stinger I was absolutely mind blown by how much they have changed and how much better the car feels and looks to drive. The tiger nose identity for kia is as gd as bmws kidney grills
I bought a 2012 Optima SX Turbo this year as my first car for college and I love it. In my opinion, that generation of Optima is where Kia really started getting serious about design. For a 10-year-old car, it's aged very well inside and out, and has the feel and features of a far more expensive car, with 274hp/270tq, full leather interior, heated seats front and rear (ventilated in front!), Bluetooth, keyless entry, pano roof, and navigation.
Can't believe you spoke about KIA and didn't mention the 2010 Optima/K5 ! That was THE turning point for KIA and the introduction of the 'tiger nose' by Peter Schreyer .
What Kia and Hyundai done the last few years in terms of design and quality is crazy. They really showed how a brand's design language should be and can be not boring or make one car looks like another one
I've had a 2010 Kia Rro that I bought from Enterprise rental car agency when I needed another car when mine got totaled in an accident. It served me fatefully for for 10 years and 235 thousand miles until the insurance company told me it's going to cost more to fix it than what it's worth when it was rear ended in my driveway by my neighbor across the street this year. I got a Kia Niro PHEV to replace it and no issues with it so far.
I used to have a 2004 Kia Amanti. Best car I ever had. It had everything I ever wanted in a car. It was black, black leather seats, radio, cassette, cd, auxiliary cord plug in, sunroof, V6 engine 200 horsepower, heated seats, large trunk, rear seat vents, full size spare tire with exact matching wheel, triple climate control, interior foot well lighting, interior door handle lighting, memory seating, felt lined glovebox. They don’t make them like that anymore. Unfortunately that car was totaled in an accident.
I love how Kia and Hyundai today are always at the top 10 most satisfactory and reliable brands in the market and yet you find guys that think Kia and Hyundai are still just as bad as they were in the 90s.
I have had Kia's for 20 years, and they were always good reliable cars, i still have 2 Kia Borrego, with over 250K on each of them, and they're still going strong, these things are super reliable.
The DRG Tiger nose is is subtle on the new Niro but most noticable on the EV version where the charging port forms the lower notch and the metal effect strip above the diamond embossed panel dips to form the top notch of the tiger nose. There's a tiger now design on the windscreen. The base of the windscreen meets a notch at one end of the bonnet and above it at the top of the windscreen there's another notch forming a tiger nose.
KIA must have gone an astronomical way if my man is saying he wants to circle around a simple SUV/Crossover and admire the design, and I completely agree!
I think the whole front end of that Kia Niro EV is the tiger nose. They flipped it though. Instead of it being the grill, it's the body panel with the grill on top and bottom.
You need to see the Niro in a front centered pic, the light bar with the headlights and bumper grill silhouette makes the tiger nose. So basically the front is 75% grill haha.
Very informative and completely agree. The Stinger and Telluride are still some of my favorite vehicles to look at. Even the Optima/K5 looks really good today! EV6 is one of my faves and can definitely see myself driving one, even though I have always been partial to the German designs..
@@Kev27RS Maybe for you, but I'm going to guess you're very conservative and perhaps a vanilla Honda Odyssey minivan or Chrysler Pacifica minivan is more suited for you. But for everyone else and people who've studied and understand design, there's a lot to appreciate with the EV6. Especially the rear.
@@alexandergoldman No, you got it wrong... 😂 Hey, to each their own I guess! KIA really stepped up their game in the last 10 years! It's great! (Hyundai is the same!) Certain of their latest models are not the best looking ones though. Generally speaking, modern cars are overstyled. Doesn't matter if it's korean, japanese or german...
@@Kev27RS Again disagree. This guy Brembli knows what he's talking about with respect to design: ua-cam.com/video/J0gAhonwYVM/v-deo.html Do some research before telling people they don't know what they're talking about..
@@Kev27RS Among the three, I think the Koreans have some pretty understated designs...lots of clean stuff. Germans and Japanese, yes, a lot of the designs are NOT good..agree with you there
It's great that KIA was able to find an identity. KIA used to be that "knock off Asia brand" when it came to cars. My mom actually purchased a KIA Spectra back in the mid 2000s and it looked like a generic cross between a Honda Civic / Toyota Corolla of the era. Nowadays when I see a KIA I know it's a KIA from KIA! Unfortunately the only things that plague it is faulty engines that often completely fail before 70,000 miles even with regular maintenance and the fact that you can literally "hot wire" many of the newer KIAs with a USB charging cable. Not even kidding about that, KIA thefts have been skyrocketing in the past few years.
Kia has come a long, long way! I worked in product planning a few years back at Hyundai/Kia/Genesis doing market research for many of the models you discussed and I can actually SEE where many of my product suggestions made it into production! I have a 2022 K5 AWD and 2020 Telluride AWD. They both have been fantastic vehicles. Thanks for highlighting this topic! It’d be interesting to see a video on Hyundai and Genesis too. The only other brand I think that has had a decent glow up, but still nothing near Hyundai and Kia, is Buick. We had a 2013 Regal Turbo and it drove nothing like your traditional Buick (because it was actually an Opel) - it was very sporty. And Buick was reversing their “stuffy old person’s car” image nicely with products like the Regal GS, Cascada, Regal TourX, etc. But they killed off all of those “cool cars” in order to sell SUVs (and eventually EVs), which is what everyone is doing now. I admire Kia simply for finding themselves, being the underdog and sticking to a formula and design that’s working for them after they figured it out. And it was a bigger honor to work at the company too and be part of the research process! 👍🏾
As a sales manager at a Kia dealer, I have to say I never thought I’d actually be proud of the product we’re selling. I was wrong. It’s a bummer about the Rio, as this year I’ve received a record number of inquiries, but zero allocations.
Growing up in korea, my parents bought Pride as our first family car in the late 80's. I believe the price was around 8 mil KRW which translates to ~$6k at the time. While I didnt know anything about cars and didnt have anything to compare to, I only have good memories travelling to many places in this car with my family.
Imo Kia has better design language than Hyundai. All Hyundai's models looks different, it seems that they dont find his own style. KIA is making a better job.
I remember around 2008-2009 i was 19ish and i was in a shop waiting for my truck to get an oil change, while i was waiting these two lady's were talking also waiting for their car and i remember one of them saying '"that their relative had bought a disposable cheap car named kia, that it was ugly and just to get around". That was the general idea on Kia, later my mom bought a first gen Soul, it was fine util the engine took a dump just past 100k miles in the middle of nowhere near Palm Springs California.
I went to the Atlanta Auto Show in 2011, and there were tons of automakers on exhibition, but the 2 that got the most attention were Kia and Hyundai. Everyone was amazed at how upscale they looked, and how many standard features were offered that were only available on certain trims in other cars. They even offered test drives on some of their models, and I got to drive a Kia Optima that I was pretty impressed with….mind you, I was only 20 at the time and hadn’t driven many different cars prior other than my parent’s and the one I bought after high school. The Optima was definitely better than what I had at the time, which was a ‘99 Volkswagen Jetta.
7:00 The tiger nose isn't gone. The shape itself is the car's front face. You can see the iconic line with thinner middle part and wider side part that covers headlights and stretches to the front fender. I think it's little hard to catch that.
I remember on Discovery Channel this show about a concept car, I can't remember which one, like 15-20 years ago. One of the designer there was like 'We are working here (with pride doing something spectacular) it's not like we work on a Kia'. It always stayed with me, what the guy said, never actually thought Kia will jump so high, but always had Kia in my mind.
I remember seeing my first Kia back in the early 90's. We had a neighbor who had a bus and a small sedan I believe was the Sephia (This was in Nigeri). I had no idea what they were or the fact that they were from Korea. The only Koreans I knew then were Hyundai and Daewoo.
The EV6 and the new Niro EV has rapidliy become a really common sights back here in Sweden. It seems while all EU and many Japaneese mainstream brands where trying (and failing) to be BMW/Audi/Mercedes rivals, Hyundai and KIA silently took over the mainstream nice (here in the EU at least) and when that was done, moved upwards in quality and style, leaving the competition behind before they even knew what hit them.
I’m on my 3rd Kia Sorento. Sadly my second Sorento was stolen, so I bought another one, same year and color but a higher trim (2020 Ex V6) My family loves it. Plus it doesn’t break the bank
It’s amazing to see this transformation not just from Hyundai and Kia, but Mazda, Lincoln, and Volvo as well. They have all gotten their act together in the last 10 years and now make some of the most gorgeous luxurious cars on the road today.
I have always liked the look of some 2000s KIA's. Magentis, Borrego and Sorento looked great. Especially the first gen Sorento is a great looking car in my opinion, sharp and clear lines throughout the car and enough muscle to make it look like a real off roader. That grey color makes it look a bit boring however, but in other colors it is pretty recognizable. I actually own one of them in a different color, and I've had people come up to me and ask "what is it, it looks great". But I also know a few people who don't like the look of it.
They’re good at turning out new products, but they’re having serious issues with quality and a $2B deficit for warranty repairs is the worst in the industry. Steer clear of this brand, do your research.
In the 2000s, Hyundai Auto took not only Peter Schreyer from Audi, but also Albert Bierman from BMW to not only lead styling for Kia, but performance platforms for both brands. Peter & Alberts work is spread across both brands, with Peter starting mid cycle refresh designs in 2007 for 2008 model year Kia's, as well as Hyundai. In 2006 in general, Hyundai really stepped up quality and performance, with Kia following right behind. Unfortunately, both of these guys have left the Hyundai group as of early 2021. Kia styling has always been better than Hyundai imo, but now with both gone and the N brand turning electric, it'll be curious to see how the brands perform moving forward. Hyundai has alotttt to thank for both of these guys for elevating their auto companies.
6:45 "I can't really see where the tiger nose is..." I felt really proud of myself as a non-designer because I picked up on it instantly, I'm fairly confident it's the lights. See how the daytime lights kind of make both sides of the grill and since they are running at all times while driving it really pushes that Kia design.
Absolutely love Hyundai & Kia. Previously, I've had 5 Hondas, 5 Toyotas & tons of other cars, but my Genesis, I have now, is my 7th Hyundai/Kia (I consider them the same brand) vehicle. It started with the Tiburon, it was a 2001 & was very reliable. Later on, I had a Veloster Turbo, Forte GT-Line, Stinger 2.0T Premium, K5 LXS, a full-on Forte GT & the Hyundai Genesis Sedan, that later became the Genesis G80. I've had other cars in-between, but besides Mopar, there's nothing else that I like. My favorite brands are Hyundai/Kia & "Mopar."
I just want to say yes there has been growth and improvements but I would like to tell this story. Last year I had purchased a Kia barely a year old. I ended up buying a car with a warped head gasket that caused the coolant to boil. It was under warranty from Kia and the dealership I bought it from. My car for the 5 months I had it was plagued with engine issues and they never did fix the head gasket I found out from the dealership the one I bought it from auctioned it to that the engine blew up when a single mom was driving her kids home from school. That car was barely a year old and I looked at the carfax before I bought it it was well maintained before me and I took obnoxiously good care of that car when I had it. That’s an issue that shouldn’t exist.
I had a Festiva and it was a really good little car. I bought it new and then my brother took it and then my sister. It wasn’t fancy, but nothing broke ever!
another quirk of kias is that they implement the tiger nose design on most of the cars' windshields. the tops of the windshield is shaped like the top half of the tiger nose design *i love my kia stinger*
Kia (and Hyundai) have come a long long way since arriving in the US. That said, here in Massholia, one of the 10 rustiest states for vehicles, I don't see many (any?) old Kias on the road. I do see old Nissans, Toyotas, Hondas, even Fords and Chevys. In 10 or 15 years, we'll know how good thet really are.
In my state of Washington, I see plenty of 15 to 20 year old Kias still on the road. They have been proven to be excellent vehicles already. I think you are 15 years too late with your post.
There was an article about Kia imitating the Germans to grab new customers who couldn’t afford those German cars. In doing so, they slowly started to be German like a fake Chinese Apple Watch
I remember in the early 2000s I had a Motortrend magazine with the Sorento ad and it came with a sticker sheet with BMW, VW and other manufacture grills that you could stick on its nose. Hilarious.
Tiger nose was such a sensational moment for Kia cuz Korea, where Kia is from, have lots of connection with tigers historically (Siberian tigers used to live in the Korean peninsula until Japanese occupation when Japanese decided to kill them all).
As an independent mechanic, Kia and Hyundai still have a long way to go. I never recommend them to family and friends. Stick with Honda and Toyota folks.
I used to have a white 2002 Kia Rio hatch and it looked just like an egg! I now drive a BMW e92 via hand control mods because I got crippled, and I started driving in a 1978 280z 2+2. Yet regardless, that 2002 rio is still among my favorite cars
Here in Europe, Romania me and my family have ordered there european model the 2023 Kia XCeed. Our version is a mild-hybrid petrol, 7 speed automatic gearbox, around 160hp. We can't wait for it! The model is sold only in Europe from what I know. It's a FWD kinda little SUV look a like version of there hatchback Ceed model. I think you have an american version kinda like the european Ceed model but you have it as a sedan and you call it Kia Forte. Correct me if I'm wrong! We were also looking for the Niro but it was too expensive, the Toyota Corolla felt kinda too cheap in terms of the materials from the interior (and it was also a few thousand euros more because of the full hybrid technology, around 30.000/32.000 €/$) so we ordered the XCeed with a middle trim level and we added a few extra options. The car has an orange fusion metallic paint, 16 inch alloy wheels with Michelin tires, leather steering wheel (I think it's heated as well as the front seats), a 10.25 inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, android auto and apple car play, USBs (front and rear), rear view camera and rear parking sensors, LED headlights and tail lights and some other stuff such as heated windshield (or something like that), electric folding mirrors (I believe), electric parking brake with autohold function and a few safety features (alert for the attention of the driver, lane keeping assist and something for front collision..like a warning system). In terms of the audio part the car has 6-7 speakers: 4 big speakers on every door, 2 twitters in the front on each side and a central speaker in the middle of the dashboard. You have to get one of the best trim levels in order to get access to the optional 10 speakers (plus subwoofer) JBL stereo system. But they add a few extra options as part of the JBL package and you have to pay for them even you don't want them otherwise you won't get the JBL stereo system. :))) It's a pretty cool car! The car was around 26.000 €/$ with all the extra options on it. :) P.S.: Love your videos! Keep up the good work! ✌❤
The Death Box "Kia Pride" is still being produced in Iran under the name "SAIPA SABA" and hundreds of thousands are still being sold in Iran and Iraq..
Im getting the new Kia Sportage PHEV in december and my god the car looks so good inside it always gets a "wow" out of people that doent know it. The exterior depends on the persons liking but the interior is absolutely suberb design wise.
I have a 2021 Kia Forte GT and I love it, it looks great, it drives great, everything. Something I was curious about is if what if Kia made themselves a Sports Car, 2 Door Coupe, to add to their line-up? Personally I think it would look great with what Kia is doing nowadays, especially with the Tiger Nose grille and what they are doing with it, maybe that would be a cool vid to see of you making what one could possibly look like if Kia decided to make one?
Hey, same here except Gt-Line! Love my car. I really want Sketch Monkey to make a review of the Forte 2020 and 2021 vs the newer 2022 and 2023 models. IMO the new ones look ugly and lost their muscular look! Now they have a bunch of plastics and even the rear bumper is just a mess smh. Our cars are more aligned with the design philosophy and even the guy at the dealership who sold me the car told me it was a "baby stinger" haha. Not quite but at least it's a good looking car, I get compliments on it all the time (Fire Orange colorway 🔥)
@@gabrielgiron4273 I think that with Kia discontinuing or remodeling the Stinger (At least that is what I think is going on from what I can remember), I think it would be a cool thing to do where you turn the Stinger into a Sports car to keep in competition with other manufactures. It would also just be really really awesome to see especially if its Sketch Monkey doing it lol
@@-avalon107-8 you mean the Forte or turn the Stinger into strictly a sports car? It kind of is but I think its a bit too heavy, and maybe if they boosted it to 400bhp that would be dope
@@gabrielgiron4273 I think seeing a Stinger as a sports car would look cool, doesn't even have to be strictly a Stinger either, just influenced as a more daily drivable sports car, maybe throw in some kind of V6 in there, make it mid engine, I actually had an idea in my head with a tad bit of Ford GT thrown into it with those pieces that connect the roof and the rear fender, I really think it would look good and hell, maybe it could sell good if something like it was made lol. I think it would just be a really cool thing to see, especially with Kia's rise in reliability, popularity, etc.
On the Niro, the tiger nose (the lower part) has been split at the center and stretched out into the light shape. The upper part... I feel it's been replaced by the new identity of the horizontal line.
the last generation of the KIA Rio is my favorite design by any small car today, too sad that they'll be replacing it with something sterile and monotonous such as the Niro
Kia did right what hyundai messed up, i don't know why, but at least here in Brazil when they launched the 2020 hb20, a beautiful compact car turned disgustingly ugly, it was so bad that 2 years later they did a complete redesign and it's still not good, while when I saw a kia these days I literally turned my head to look at it and returned to see it properly, even though it was an suv I still wanted it for me, just beautiful lol
Can you explain the thousands of KIAs shipped every day with bad motors? The KIA dealership told my friend with a Soul that he was 6th in line for a new engine! His is only a year old! Has less than 20k miles on it! Please define Excellence for me.
Kia still doesn't use universal design language across models. Every model has it's own identity. That can be a good and bad thing....which is why I appreciate it. When it works it really works, when it doesn't it's a nightmare. For example.....telluride and soul are great design. The ev6, Sportage, and Niro are hideous.
Enter at www.omaze.com/bembli for your chance to win an All-electric HUMMER® EV Edition 1 and support a great cause, Rebuilding Together.
Please give us your commentary on Hyundai Grandeur
interijer kie je iz zlatnih vremena audija,vidise inspiracija iz audija.odlična kia telurad
Hey. I think you should address the 2 billions dollar q3 loss due to all the major recalls and warranty issues.
Now that GM makes a mid-engine Corvette, what would that mid-engine Cadillac Cien look like today?
The glowup of Kia has to be the best in history. I’ve never seen anything turn it’s reputation right side up like they have. I especially love the K5’s design tbh
The K900 and K5 GT also look great, and I don't particularly like SUVs but the Telluride is up there also. They got design down these days.
Maybe Robert Downey Jr lol
Yes, I'd go so far as to say the K5 (Known generally as the Optima outside of Korea) should be considered a design classic. I think it upturned the whole family sedan segment at the time - I believe it influenced Toyota and Nissan into re-thinking the image of the Camry and Maxima as mere family vehicles.
K5 is the best looking sedan on the market
that's nothing against my glow up
Kia and Hyundai never cease to amaze me recently.
Me 2 u can actually steal one with a car charger
that's how I felt on the response to the Kia boys from Kia and how it took over 3 months for me to get my car back *without* completed repairs and half ass other repairs.
Me too. Engines and gear boxes blow up and under warranty they say they will repair it 'When they have time'' lol. I would avoid this crap like the plague. The paint is rubbish quality. Fit and Finish is only so so. Check out the underside of the exhaust welds. That is all the proof you need that they could care less about 'quality'.
Yeah their car security is quite astonishing; you can steal one quite quickly
I still will never buy 1.
I've been working for Kia for the past 10 years. In the beginning I was embarrassed to tell people I work for Kia but now I'm proud. No company is perfect there's still a lot of issues but the brand has probably seen the biggest turn around of all time. Stinger, Telluride, K5 and EV6 are class leaders.
I will say that I bought my 1st kia in 2005, a nice Spectra, loaded, 5 speed manual, and it was a great car, so reliable we added a 2007 Spectra to our garage. Both were really good, sold them off around 130.000 miles, both still running absolutely like new. I will add they were bought new, and very well maintained, 4000 mile oil changes etc.. and both were Southern California cars, so no negative environmental issues.
Class leaders in what? breaking down? . Paint chips? I haven't seen a single Kia car that holds up when it comes to quality. Especially the useless welds holding the exhaust together lol. I wouldn't trust my family in one at highway speed.
@@DEVILTAZ35 stick with your video games. You know little about automobiles. Are you even old enough to drive?
Stinger is being discontinued. Telluride is overrated. K5 will blow up at 40,000 miles. EV6 is a failed experiment. Very impressive!
Literally none of those cars are leading the classes they represent.
Can you elaborate as to why you think that'd be the case?
It’s crazy how the tiger nose just works. It makes them look instantly recognizable and more upscale. I hope they don’t fuck it up.
Yep, like BMW from kidney grills to pig nose and beaver teeth, which is really a shame.
I've witnessed all this transformation myself to be honest. My first car, first new car, was Kia Rio JB - last Rio of 'pre-tiger nose' era. Truly loved the car and put miles on it and now I drive Kia NiroEV which, to be honest has much more tech in it than some BMWs. Much more planted drive characteristics and overall consumer quality
Same bro. My first car was a 2006 cerato forte and the second was an 06 kia sportage. So when I bought the 2019 kia sorento and then soon the stinger I was absolutely mind blown by how much they have changed and how much better the car feels and looks to drive. The tiger nose identity for kia is as gd as bmws kidney grills
I bought a 2012 Optima SX Turbo this year as my first car for college and I love it. In my opinion, that generation of Optima is where Kia really started getting serious about design. For a 10-year-old car, it's aged very well inside and out, and has the feel and features of a far more expensive car, with 274hp/270tq, full leather interior, heated seats front and rear (ventilated in front!), Bluetooth, keyless entry, pano roof, and navigation.
Can't believe you spoke about KIA and didn't mention the 2010 Optima/K5 ! That was THE turning point for KIA and the introduction of the 'tiger nose' by Peter Schreyer .
and no mention of the Stinger :(
What Kia and Hyundai done the last few years in terms of design and quality is crazy. They really showed how a brand's design language should be and can be not boring or make one car looks like another one
German design
I've had a 2010 Kia Rro that I bought from Enterprise rental car agency when I needed another car when mine got totaled in an accident. It served me fatefully for for 10 years and 235 thousand miles until the insurance company told me it's going to cost more to fix it than what it's worth when it was rear ended in my driveway by my neighbor across the street this year. I got a Kia Niro PHEV to replace it and no issues with it so far.
I used to have a 2004 Kia Amanti. Best car I ever had. It had everything I ever wanted in a car. It was black, black leather seats, radio, cassette, cd, auxiliary cord plug in, sunroof, V6 engine 200 horsepower, heated seats, large trunk, rear seat vents, full size spare tire with exact matching wheel, triple climate control, interior foot well lighting, interior door handle lighting, memory seating, felt lined glovebox. They don’t make them like that anymore. Unfortunately that car was totaled in an accident.
I love how Kia and Hyundai today are always at the top 10 most satisfactory and reliable brands in the market and yet you find guys that think Kia and Hyundai are still just as bad as they were in the 90s.
I have had Kia's for 20 years, and they were always good reliable cars, i still have 2 Kia Borrego, with over 250K on each of them, and they're still going strong, these things are super reliable.
One of my favourite brands. Well done Kia!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
tbf, it's Hyundai-Kia together, so that helps majorly
Bembli - "Kia have now become know for Quality and Reliability"
* Scotty Kilmer has entered the chat *
Scottys a fool.
The Koreans way overdo it with styling.
The DRG Tiger nose is is subtle on the new Niro but most noticable on the EV version where the charging port forms the lower notch and the metal effect strip above the diamond embossed panel dips to form the top notch of the tiger nose.
There's a tiger now design on the windscreen. The base of the windscreen meets a notch at one end of the bonnet and above it at the top of the windscreen there's another notch forming a tiger nose.
KIA must have gone an astronomical way if my man is saying he wants to circle around a simple SUV/Crossover and admire the design, and I completely agree!
I think the whole front end of that Kia Niro EV is the tiger nose. They flipped it though. Instead of it being the grill, it's the body panel with the grill on top and bottom.
Been a fan of Kia since riding in a Forte in 2012 while living in South Korea. Today, my daily driver is a 2017 Niro touring edition and I love it.
You need to see the Niro in a front centered pic, the light bar with the headlights and bumper grill silhouette makes the tiger nose. So basically the front is 75% grill haha.
All car brands had crappy cars in their early iterations...all cars have to improve but Kia and Hyundai improved in a shorter time than most
Bembli you need to make one of those for Hyundai as well
Very informative and completely agree. The Stinger and Telluride are still some of my favorite vehicles to look at. Even the Optima/K5 looks really good today! EV6 is one of my faves and can definitely see myself driving one, even though I have always been partial to the German designs..
EV6 is a bit too much in terms of design...
Especially the rear.
@@Kev27RS Maybe for you, but I'm going to guess you're very conservative and perhaps a vanilla Honda Odyssey minivan or Chrysler Pacifica minivan is more suited for you. But for everyone else and people who've studied and understand design, there's a lot to appreciate with the EV6. Especially the rear.
@@alexandergoldman No, you got it wrong... 😂
Hey, to each their own I guess!
KIA really stepped up their game in the last 10 years! It's great!
(Hyundai is the same!)
Certain of their latest models are not the best looking ones though.
Generally speaking, modern cars are overstyled.
Doesn't matter if it's korean, japanese or german...
@@Kev27RS Again disagree. This guy Brembli knows what he's talking about with respect to design: ua-cam.com/video/J0gAhonwYVM/v-deo.html Do some research before telling people they don't know what they're talking about..
@@Kev27RS Among the three, I think the Koreans have some pretty understated designs...lots of clean stuff. Germans and Japanese, yes, a lot of the designs are NOT good..agree with you there
meanwhile BMW doesn't know where they're heading design wise XD
It's great that KIA was able to find an identity. KIA used to be that "knock off Asia brand" when it came to cars. My mom actually purchased a KIA Spectra back in the mid 2000s and it looked like a generic cross between a Honda Civic / Toyota Corolla of the era. Nowadays when I see a KIA I know it's a KIA from KIA! Unfortunately the only things that plague it is faulty engines that often completely fail before 70,000 miles even with regular maintenance and the fact that you can literally "hot wire" many of the newer KIAs with a USB charging cable. Not even kidding about that, KIA thefts have been skyrocketing in the past few years.
The Telluride is the opposite of stately. The Palisade is the definition of stately.
Kia has come a long, long way! I worked in product planning a few years back at Hyundai/Kia/Genesis doing market research for many of the models you discussed and I can actually SEE where many of my product suggestions made it into production! I have a 2022 K5 AWD and 2020 Telluride AWD. They both have been fantastic vehicles. Thanks for highlighting this topic! It’d be interesting to see a video on Hyundai and Genesis too.
The only other brand I think that has had a decent glow up, but still nothing near Hyundai and Kia, is Buick. We had a 2013 Regal Turbo and it drove nothing like your traditional Buick (because it was actually an Opel) - it was very sporty. And Buick was reversing their “stuffy old person’s car” image nicely with products like the Regal GS, Cascada, Regal TourX, etc. But they killed off all of those “cool cars” in order to sell SUVs (and eventually EVs), which is what everyone is doing now. I admire Kia simply for finding themselves, being the underdog and sticking to a formula and design that’s working for them after they figured it out. And it was a bigger honor to work at the company too and be part of the research process! 👍🏾
As a sales manager at a Kia dealer, I have to say I never thought I’d actually be proud of the product we’re selling. I was wrong. It’s a bummer about the Rio, as this year I’ve received a record number of inquiries, but zero allocations.
6:56 It looks like the tiger nose is actually implemented in the body colored part of the bumper
Growing up in korea, my parents bought Pride as our first family car in the late 80's. I believe the price was around 8 mil KRW which translates to ~$6k at the time. While I didnt know anything about cars and didnt have anything to compare to, I only have good memories travelling to many places in this car with my family.
6:48 It looks like they broadened the nose a bit, basically, the entire top and bottom part has been incorporated into the tiger nose design.
Imo Kia has better design language than Hyundai. All Hyundai's models looks different, it seems that they dont find his own style. KIA is making a better job.
I remember around 2008-2009 i was 19ish and i was in a shop waiting for my truck to get an oil change, while i was waiting these two lady's were talking also waiting for their car and i remember one of them saying '"that their relative had bought a disposable cheap car named kia, that it was ugly and just to get around". That was the general idea on Kia, later my mom bought a first gen Soul, it was fine util the engine took a dump just past 100k miles in the middle of nowhere near Palm Springs California.
Favorite Quote: "The absence of constraints stifles creativity" - Orson Welles. Tiger nose is that constraint for KIA
I went to the Atlanta Auto Show in 2011, and there were tons of automakers on exhibition, but the 2 that got the most attention were Kia and Hyundai. Everyone was amazed at how upscale they looked, and how many standard features were offered that were only available on certain trims in other cars. They even offered test drives on some of their models, and I got to drive a Kia Optima that I was pretty impressed with….mind you, I was only 20 at the time and hadn’t driven many different cars prior other than my parent’s and the one I bought after high school. The Optima was definitely better than what I had at the time, which was a ‘99 Volkswagen Jetta.
Especially the Kia Sephia and the Sportage. The Kia armanti had a design language of part C class and Lincoln town car
7:00 The tiger nose isn't gone. The shape itself is the car's front face. You can see the iconic line with thinner middle part and wider side part that covers headlights and stretches to the front fender. I think it's little hard to catch that.
I remember on Discovery Channel this show about a concept car, I can't remember which one, like 15-20 years ago. One of the designer there was like 'We are working here (with pride doing something spectacular) it's not like we work on a Kia'. It always stayed with me, what the guy said, never actually thought Kia will jump so high, but always had Kia in my mind.
I’ve always wanted to hear your opinion of the Stinger Bembli and how you feel about that design.
I remember seeing my first Kia back in the early 90's. We had a neighbor who had a bus and a small sedan I believe was the Sephia (This was in Nigeri). I had no idea what they were or the fact that they were from Korea. The only Koreans I knew then were Hyundai and Daewoo.
The EV6 and the new Niro EV has rapidliy become a really common sights back here in Sweden. It seems while all EU and many Japaneese mainstream brands where trying (and failing) to be BMW/Audi/Mercedes rivals, Hyundai and KIA silently took over the mainstream nice (here in the EU at least) and when that was done, moved upwards in quality and style, leaving the competition behind before they even knew what hit them.
I’m on my 3rd Kia Sorento. Sadly my second Sorento was stolen, so I bought another one, same year and color but a higher trim (2020 Ex V6) My family loves it. Plus it doesn’t break the bank
I'd love to hear your opinion on the new renault stuff/concepts that got introduced. from the new megane e-tech to the 4 concept or the 5 e-drifter.
The tiger-nose in the Niro? Look at the entire front end, it's the grille enlarged over the complete front, lights included. Great design!
It’s amazing to see this transformation not just from Hyundai and Kia, but Mazda, Lincoln, and Volvo as well. They have all gotten their act together in the last 10 years and now make some of the most gorgeous luxurious cars on the road today.
Looks to me like the tiger nose theme is carried by the LED DRLs on the front end of the new Kia Niro.
07:50 Actually, my first thought is that's a rip on the 90s Jaguar S-Type but the Merc is close too.
I have always liked the look of some 2000s KIA's. Magentis, Borrego and Sorento looked great. Especially the first gen Sorento is a great looking car in my opinion, sharp and clear lines throughout the car and enough muscle to make it look like a real off roader. That grey color makes it look a bit boring however, but in other colors it is pretty recognizable. I actually own one of them in a different color, and I've had people come up to me and ask "what is it, it looks great". But I also know a few people who don't like the look of it.
In my opinion the EV6 is the most beautiful car ever make by KIA ❤
They’re good at turning out new products, but they’re having serious issues with quality and a $2B deficit for warranty repairs is the worst in the industry. Steer clear of this brand, do your research.
Kia so excellent you can hotwire their car's in record time! 11/10
In the 2000s, Hyundai Auto took not only Peter Schreyer from Audi, but also Albert Bierman from BMW to not only lead styling for Kia, but performance platforms for both brands. Peter & Alberts work is spread across both brands, with Peter starting mid cycle refresh designs in 2007 for 2008 model year Kia's, as well as Hyundai. In 2006 in general, Hyundai really stepped up quality and performance, with Kia following right behind. Unfortunately, both of these guys have left the Hyundai group as of early 2021. Kia styling has always been better than Hyundai imo, but now with both gone and the N brand turning electric, it'll be curious to see how the brands perform moving forward. Hyundai has alotttt to thank for both of these guys for elevating their auto companies.
Albert retired but still works as an advisor. I believe Peter still works in the HMG.
6:45 "I can't really see where the tiger nose is..." I felt really proud of myself as a non-designer because I picked up on it instantly, I'm fairly confident it's the lights. See how the daytime lights kind of make both sides of the grill and since they are running at all times while driving it really pushes that Kia design.
Kia K5 has amazing design
Absolutely love Hyundai & Kia. Previously, I've had 5 Hondas, 5 Toyotas & tons of other cars, but my Genesis, I have now, is my 7th Hyundai/Kia (I consider them the same brand) vehicle. It started with the Tiburon, it was a 2001 & was very reliable. Later on, I had a Veloster Turbo, Forte GT-Line, Stinger 2.0T Premium, K5 LXS, a full-on Forte GT & the Hyundai Genesis Sedan, that later became the Genesis G80. I've had other cars in-between, but besides Mopar, there's nothing else that I like. My favorite brands are Hyundai/Kia & "Mopar."
My dream Kia's are the Opruis (Amanti), Cadenza, and the Quoris (K900). The unknown luxury cars.
I just want to say yes there has been growth and improvements but I would like to tell this story. Last year I had purchased a Kia barely a year old. I ended up buying a car with a warped head gasket that caused the coolant to boil. It was under warranty from Kia and the dealership I bought it from. My car for the 5 months I had it was plagued with engine issues and they never did fix the head gasket I found out from the dealership the one I bought it from auctioned it to that the engine blew up when a single mom was driving her kids home from school. That car was barely a year old and I looked at the carfax before I bought it it was well maintained before me and I took obnoxiously good care of that car when I had it. That’s an issue that shouldn’t exist.
Great video appreciated the analysis! I'm gonna add this to my bedtime successful stories list!
kia pride is a regular car still in iran and was in production till 2020... we call it death chariot
This was an excellent watch. Thank you.
I had a Festiva and it was a really good little car. I bought it new and then my brother took it and then my sister. It wasn’t fancy, but nothing broke ever!
another quirk of kias is that they implement the tiger nose design on most of the cars' windshields. the tops of the windshield is shaped like the top half of the tiger nose design
*i love my kia stinger*
If you haven't already, you should talk about Skoda's glow up! I remember when they were boxy little unreliable nuggets. Nothing like today
Rio officially has a 2023 lineup
6:55 the niro's tiger nose is inverted on the front. The body colour is the inside the nose and the outside of the nose is black.
Kia (and Hyundai) have come a long long way since arriving in the US. That said, here in Massholia, one of the 10 rustiest states for vehicles, I don't see many (any?) old Kias on the road. I do see old Nissans, Toyotas, Hondas, even Fords and Chevys. In 10 or 15 years, we'll know how good thet really are.
In my state of Washington, I see plenty of 15 to 20 year old Kias still on the road. They have been proven to be excellent vehicles already. I think you are 15 years too late with your post.
There was an article about Kia imitating the Germans to grab new customers who couldn’t afford those German cars. In doing so, they slowly started to be German like a fake Chinese Apple Watch
Yout really stretching to find that tiger nose lol
No tiger nose, but tiger eyes with the headlights
I remember in the early 2000s I had a Motortrend magazine with the Sorento ad and it came with a sticker sheet with BMW, VW and other manufacture grills that you could stick on its nose. Hilarious.
I worked on the Amantis when they were new. They really did try on it. The dash has literally a million screws in it for no reason.
Tiger nose was such a sensational moment for Kia cuz Korea, where Kia is from, have lots of connection with tigers historically (Siberian tigers used to live in the Korean peninsula until Japanese occupation when Japanese decided to kill them all).
As an independent mechanic, Kia and Hyundai still have a long way to go. I never recommend them to family and friends. Stick with Honda and Toyota folks.
I used to have a white 2002 Kia Rio hatch and it looked just like an egg!
I now drive a BMW e92 via hand control mods because I got crippled, and I started driving in a 1978 280z 2+2.
Yet regardless, that 2002 rio is still among my favorite cars
The faster growth rate company!
I root hard for KIA/Hyundai
Here in Europe, Romania me and my family have ordered there european model the 2023 Kia XCeed. Our version is a mild-hybrid petrol, 7 speed automatic gearbox, around 160hp. We can't wait for it! The model is sold only in Europe from what I know. It's a FWD kinda little SUV look a like version of there hatchback Ceed model. I think you have an american version kinda like the european Ceed model but you have it as a sedan and you call it Kia Forte. Correct me if I'm wrong! We were also looking for the Niro but it was too expensive, the Toyota Corolla felt kinda too cheap in terms of the materials from the interior (and it was also a few thousand euros more because of the full hybrid technology, around 30.000/32.000 €/$) so we ordered the XCeed with a middle trim level and we added a few extra options. The car has an orange fusion metallic paint, 16 inch alloy wheels with Michelin tires, leather steering wheel (I think it's heated as well as the front seats), a 10.25 inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, android auto and apple car play, USBs (front and rear), rear view camera and rear parking sensors, LED headlights and tail lights and some other stuff such as heated windshield (or something like that), electric folding mirrors (I believe), electric parking brake with autohold function and a few safety features (alert for the attention of the driver, lane keeping assist and something for front collision..like a warning system). In terms of the audio part the car has 6-7 speakers: 4 big speakers on every door, 2 twitters in the front on each side and a central speaker in the middle of the dashboard. You have to get one of the best trim levels in order to get access to the optional 10 speakers (plus subwoofer) JBL stereo system. But they add a few extra options as part of the JBL package and you have to pay for them even you don't want them otherwise you won't get the JBL stereo system. :))) It's a pretty cool car! The car was around 26.000 €/$ with all the extra options on it. :)
P.S.: Love your videos! Keep up the good work! ✌❤
The Death Box "Kia Pride" is still being produced in Iran under the name "SAIPA SABA" and hundreds of thousands are still being sold in Iran and Iraq..
Im getting the new Kia Sportage PHEV in december and my god the car looks so good inside it always gets a "wow" out of people that doent know it. The exterior depends on the persons liking but the interior is absolutely suberb design wise.
I have a 2021 Kia Forte GT and I love it, it looks great, it drives great, everything. Something I was curious about is if what if Kia made themselves a Sports Car, 2 Door Coupe, to add to their line-up? Personally I think it would look great with what Kia is doing nowadays, especially with the Tiger Nose grille and what they are doing with it, maybe that would be a cool vid to see of you making what one could possibly look like if Kia decided to make one?
Hey, same here except Gt-Line! Love my car. I really want Sketch Monkey to make a review of the Forte 2020 and 2021 vs the newer 2022 and 2023 models. IMO the new ones look ugly and lost their muscular look! Now they have a bunch of plastics and even the rear bumper is just a mess smh. Our cars are more aligned with the design philosophy and even the guy at the dealership who sold me the car told me it was a "baby stinger" haha. Not quite but at least it's a good looking car, I get compliments on it all the time (Fire Orange colorway 🔥)
@@gabrielgiron4273 I think that with Kia discontinuing or remodeling the Stinger (At least that is what I think is going on from what I can remember), I think it would be a cool thing to do where you turn the Stinger into a Sports car to keep in competition with other manufactures. It would also just be really really awesome to see especially if its Sketch Monkey doing it lol
@@-avalon107-8 you mean the Forte or turn the Stinger into strictly a sports car? It kind of is but I think its a bit too heavy, and maybe if they boosted it to 400bhp that would be dope
@@gabrielgiron4273 I think seeing a Stinger as a sports car would look cool, doesn't even have to be strictly a Stinger either, just influenced as a more daily drivable sports car, maybe throw in some kind of V6 in there, make it mid engine, I actually had an idea in my head with a tad bit of Ford GT thrown into it with those pieces that connect the roof and the rear fender, I really think it would look good and hell, maybe it could sell good if something like it was made lol. I think it would just be a really cool thing to see, especially with Kia's rise in reliability, popularity, etc.
I heard their dealership experience are still pretty mediocre, for both sales and maintenance/repairs. That alone keeps me away.
Good video, I think you should have mention the Optima since that's the car that really started it all. in terms of commercial appeal
On the Niro, the tiger nose (the lower part) has been split at the center and stretched out into the light shape.
The upper part... I feel it's been replaced by the new identity of the horizontal line.
I would just say there starting to look futuristic
KIA is Korean Industry for Automotive - founded after 5 different automobile part manufacturers formed a car company.
the last generation of the KIA Rio is my favorite design by any small car today, too sad that they'll be replacing it with something sterile and monotonous such as the Niro
Great video! Just FYI tiger is the national animal of South Korea. You can see tiger emblems on national soccer/football teams, for example.
I used to hate Kias and Hyundais in the 90's. I gotta say they have come a long way and deserve all of the respect.
0:42 All the “Kannadigas” 😎
Kia did right what hyundai messed up, i don't know why, but at least here in Brazil when they launched the 2020 hb20, a beautiful compact car turned disgustingly ugly, it was so bad that 2 years later they did a complete redesign and it's still not good, while when I saw a kia these days I literally turned my head to look at it and returned to see it properly, even though it was an suv I still wanted it for me, just beautiful lol
Thanks to audi designers coming over to Kia back in 2012-13
Can you explain the thousands of KIAs shipped every day with bad motors? The KIA dealership told my friend with a Soul that he was 6th in line for a new engine! His is only a year old! Has less than 20k miles on it! Please define Excellence for me.
I truly respect Kia for the effort they put in differentiating each car. Unlike Mercedes
Great vid
When Kia makes good engines
Kia still doesn't use universal design language across models. Every model has it's own identity. That can be a good and bad thing....which is why I appreciate it. When it works it really works, when it doesn't it's a nightmare.
For example.....telluride and soul are great design. The ev6, Sportage, and Niro are hideous.
I like this car👍
First generation was basically rebadged mazda 121.