![]() This car’s air-conditioning was an option, even though the AM/FM/CD player was not. After all, the Koreans are known for producing a decent car on the cheap. You’ll never mistake this for a Ford Focus or VW Jetta, but it is miles beyond what this nameplate produced previously.įeeling the passion yet? Maybe you are. Anti-lock brakes are optional on all models except the base LX. There’s even road feel - despite the fact that the car uses a fully independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. The car also tracks down the highway straight, without the need for a lot of minor corrections, a problem on previous Kia small cars. The ride is small-car firm, assisted by lots of body lean, although it’s better than previous Kias. The automatic seemed to have rubbery shifts, holding each gear too long. You might want to consider the manual, as it would be best to extract the engine’s power. Power is courtesy of a 2-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine that produces 138 horsepower mated to your choice of a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. This is very surprising in such an inexpensive car. The best part of the car? The incredibly quiet cabin, which approaches Lexus levels for tomb-like silence. Flat, hard, pain-inducing and lacking in any support, they proved to be the worst part of the car. And let’s not even talk about the seats, which are just plain awful. Kia provided a base LX sedan for testing.Īs nice as those plastics might be, there are still some flimsy pieces, such as the window cranks. There are two body styles, a sedan available in LX and EX trim levels, and a five-door hatchback called the Spectra5. Its plastic parts feel pretty darn nice, considering the car’s $13,160 starting price. It has a surprisingly solid feel compared to Kias of old. The Spectra uses the Elantra platform as a starting point. It’s akin to getting passionate about a dryer that doesn’t leave lint on your clothes.īut the new Spectra is really quite respectable, in a ”buy it cheap and use it ’til the doors fall off” kind of way. Well, how about this? Thanks to parent company Hyundai, the new Kia Spectra is a respectable automotive appliance.įeeling the passion? Only if you really go for narrow panel gaps or the sound a car door makes when it shuts. Of course, Kia knows where it stands in the automotive food chain and, in a bid for some credibility, sponsored the music group, Sugar Ray, on their spring tour. Burning passion? Maybe at Kia’s corporate offices. When it comes to nameplates that elicit burning passion and desire, Kia is certainly not among them. The competition has some catching up to do.Kia Spectra is solid, quiet, inexpensive, but AC is optional. In addition to the mandatory two frontal airbags, front-seat occupants are protected by seat-mounted side-impact airbags, and full-coverage side curtain airbags protect front- and rear-seat occupants. No other car in this price range or size class, nor many costing thousands of dollars more and in larger classes, offer the same, full complement of standard airbag supplemental restraints. The trunk is larger.Īll these advances and improvements pale, however, alongside the new 2004 Spectra's occupant safety features. There's more headroom, more hip room and more rear legroom. Four-wheel disc brakes are now standard, where the previous model had rear drum brakes. The track is wider, which improves handling. The wheelbase is longer, which improves the ride. The engine is more powerful, more fuel efficient and cleaner. Mechanically, the new 2004 Spectra is all-new. It's also priced only a couple of hundred dollars more. The new one is all-new, with sharper styling. The old one is a carryover from the 2003 model year. That the company's dealers have two 2004 Spectra models for sale is the consequence of federal fuel economy regulations, not the car maker's choice.įortunately, it's easy to distinguish the new 2004 Spectra from the old 2004 Spectra.
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