Kia plans Toyobaru rival

[Hughes412]

drop that 2.0T engine into that lil beast, RWD and keep it under 3000lbs winner!

Also keep in mind it's radical design...it's a concept...it'll be smoothed out and have input by focus groups as to the styling...so dont get your panties in a bunch over the current look

Correct, but lets hope they don't stray to far away.

 

[BlackCherry06]

I don't know about that. The Kia Forte Koup changed very little on its way from concept to production. Fortunately, they started with something attractive. This thing (color aside for a moment) is a different story. YUCK

 

[mikeyb]

KIA is going to sale the Forte Koup with the 2.0T.

 

[BlackCherry06]

Yeah...as much fun as that sounds, I'm kinda over turbos for the time being. I guess I'm in a phase where I'm looking for LESS headaches.

 

[mikeyb]

Yeah...as much fun as that sounds, I'm kinda over turbos for the time being. I guess I'm in a phase where I'm looking for LESS headaches.

Sounds to me that you are looking for a grewup car...

 

[Wagonbacker9]

KILL IT WITH FIRE. dear god its ugly. and what the hell did they do to the center console!?


and a final thought: gee, I wonder if they're trying to market that to 25-35 to males....

 

[mikeyb]

Carl it's just the concept not the production vehicle.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

i can read mikey... thank you. concepting a terribly anti-functional interior is not excusable though.

 

[mikeyb]

i can read mikey... thank you. concepting a terribly anti-functional interior is not excusable though.

All manufacturers do that with interiors.

 

[JC-MP5]

Nothing good can come from this..

 

[1sty]

I'm interested to see how many of these little RWD coupes make it past one production cycle. There's a reason all of these RWD coupes left the market a while back: A RWD coupe just isn't practical for most people, and many of the people who could drive one can't afford to spend $25k+ on a new car. Given the choice between an AWD 5-door WRX and a RWD 2-door 240SX/Toyobaru/Genesis/Kee/whatever else, especially in WI, I'm going with the practical choice that's every bit as fast and then some. YMMV

I am rocking the genesis coupe in NH with snow tires...fun as hell.
But yeah, there is barely any place to put my balls let alone cargo or passengers.

 

[mikeyb]

I'm interested to see how many of these little RWD coupes make it past one production cycle. There's a reason all of these RWD coupes left the market a while back: A RWD coupe just isn't practical for most people, and many of the people who could drive one can't afford to spend $25k+ on a new car. Given the choice between an AWD 5-door WRX and a RWD 2-door 240SX/Toyobaru/Genesis/Kee/whatever else, especially in WI, I'm going with the practical choice that's every bit as fast and then some. YMMV

You have forgotten that back in the day everyone drove RWD before FWD and AWD become popular.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

You have forgotten that back in the day everyone drove RWD before FWD and AWD become popular.

you sound like the big 3 in about 1980... "small cars will never catch on, we should just keep making huge cars, people will buy them".

LOL

 

[mikeyb]

you sound like the big 3 in about 1980... "small cars will never catch on, we should just keep making huge cars, people will buy them".

LOL

lol...some of the small cars back then were RWD. My great grandmother drove a 78 Dodge Colt which was a rebadge of a Mitsu.

 

[1sty]

Jsut to help out Timm for a sec, notice the drive platform was only part of the statement, its RWD COUPES he is refering too.
Obviously even BMW and Mercedes sell a ton of these but then their average buyer can afford a second vehicle for moving the kids.
So when you take the number of people that would avoid it for the rear wheel drive aspect and then add to it the people that would avoid it for being a very limited size and combine that into a lower priced category that needs a do it all vehicle a lot of times....you have a low volume car.

There is certainly room for it, the miata has proved that for years.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

lol...some of the small cars back then were RWD. My great grandmother drove a 78 Dodge Colt which was a rebadge of a Mitsu.

my point has nothing to do with RWD, only that believe "it used to work, so it still will" is foolish.

Jsut to help out Timm for a sec, notice the drive platform was only part of the statement, its RWD COUPES he is refering too.
Obviously even BMW and Mercedes sell a ton of these but then their average buyer can afford a second vehicle for moving the kids.
So when you take the number of people that would avoid it for the rear wheel drive aspect and then add to it the people that would avoid it for being a very limited size and combine that into a lower priced category that needs a do it all vehicle a lot of times....you have a low volume car.

There is certainly room for it, the miata has proved that for years.

exactly... the niche they are all trying to fill is small... the way I see it, their market is this:

25-35 yo guys who can afford a $300/mo payment... at that payment level, either make pretty good money (but don't want a luxury car), don't have kids, and don't deal with snow (or don't mind driving a RWD car in snow)....

 

[1sty]

my point has nothing to do with RWD, only that believe "it used to work, so it still will" is foolish.



exactly... the niche they are all trying to fill is small... the way I see it, their market is this:

25-35 yo guys who can afford a $300/mo payment... at that payment level, either make pretty good money (but don't want a luxury car), don't have kids, and don't deal with snow (or don't mind driving a RWD car in snow)....

almost dead on, one small change:
25-35 yo guys who can afford a $300/mo payment... at that payment level, either make pretty good money (but don't want a luxury car), don't have kids (or don't care that they have kids ), and don't deal with snow (or don't mind driving a RWD car in snow)....

 

[Kymerik]

almost dead on, one small change:
25-35 yo guys who can afford a $300/mo payment... at that payment level, either make pretty good money (but don't want a luxury car), don't have kids (or don't care that they have kids ), and don't deal with snow (or don't mind driving a RWD car in snow)....

+1 for not letting kiddies get in the way of having a good time

 

[TinmanMS6]

almost dead on, one small change:
25-35 yo guys who can afford a $300/mo payment... at that payment level, either make pretty good money (but don't want a luxury car), don't have kids (or don't care that they have kids ), and don't deal with snow (or don't mind driving a RWD car in snow)....

$300? You'd have to put a lot of money down or lease one to get to $300/mo. Most of these things are going to be $20k+. $300/mo finances you ~$15k for 60 months at a pretty good interest rate. IIRC, when I bought my Si new I financed around $15k for 60 months at 5.9% and paid $306/month. If you added some options and financed 100% you could easily hit $500/month.

 

[coolmazda5]

All manufacturers do that with interiors.

KIA may make it a reality, the Chevy Camaro kept its word (interior and exterior) (eyeballs)