Kia Forte Fully Revealed

[mikeyb]

Two 1.6-liter engines. Spectra/ Cerato gone

The new Kia Forte sedan has been revealed. Forte will replace Cerato/ Spectra models and is under concrete plans to move 220,000 units per year, of which 50,000 will be in home market South Korea alone. It has taken Kia just over two years to bring the car to life, from paper to public, a remarkable achievement even in this day and age of CAD and automated manufacturing processes.

When we get under the skin of Forte we find a 124 bhp 1.6-liter gas motor, and a 1.6-liter turbo diesel plant of 128 bhp. A 2.0-liter version is on the cards to supplement the range. The cars are expected to be priced from around USD11,500 when they hit US showroom floors mid-2009, and a coupe variant will show up too. This is based on the Koup Concept seen at the New York Auto Show. The Korean examples will be fitted with a number of ‘bigger car’ accessories like Bluetooth, lots of airbags, and a navigation system with voice recognition.

 

[boostdog]

Damn that looks nice! i wonder what the price is loaded out like that?

 

[Kymerik]

Not a bad showing from kia but i see styling cues from Acura and Toyota in it. The back end screams Corolla and the front kinda says, hi, I'm the burned out version of an acura TSX

 

[minus28]

this screams Civic knockoff

 

[Falango]

I'm definately seeing the Corolla and TSX in it too. I'm seeing a bit of Accord up front too. And the other thing, 1.6L turbo diesel to get 128hp?? I'm not as familiar with diesels, but don't VW diesels with similar engine sizes put out just as much, if not more, without the turbo? Also, is this the first diesel for Kia?

 

[mountjonas]

i saw one of these driving on the freeway today, but it was all camo'd up.

 

[NCZ13]

i see alot of civic in the front end...

 

[Roywhitep5]

I'm definately seeing the Corolla and TSX in it too. I'm seeing a bit of Accord up front too. And the other thing, 1.6L turbo diesel to get 128hp?? I'm not as familiar with diesels, but don't VW diesels with similar engine sizes put out just as much, if not more, without the turbo? Also, is this the first diesel for Kia?

128hp out of a 1.6 d is pretty good. itll probably put out 200ft/lbs tq. maybe more

 

[coolmazda5]

Nice wheels and gauges

 

[clicknext]

Looks like a Civic! Guess they're really competing head to head now?

 

[altspace]

Boy ya'll rough on car designers. There's always going to be similarities in design, that's the nature of the biz. Personally I applaud KIA for stepping up. Hey look, it has the same headlight as a.... wow. Look at the entire car, at all the lines and angles. Completely different car.