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Living with the Optima

5K views 35 replies 6 participants last post by  johnathan1 
#1 ·
i have started yet another topic up as i can update this one with bits about living with the optima,

i know a few people have been asking about real world figures for the diesel engine and im happy so far, to start with the instant MPG was reading mid to late 40s (mpg) but the average was saying just over 40, so i had to drive a 220 mile drive back to camp on sunday night so reset the average mpg and set off on my way

what i found is it slowly crept up to around 51mpg and carryed on slowly but not by much. this was all done in 6th gear and sat at the 70mph speed limit with CRUISE CONTROL on. i think i could possibly get the figures higher without using cruise control, but i was happy enough with 51mpg to be fair.

up to now my reading have been £90 of diesel and the trip computer has come out at 715 miles to empty

here is a photo as proof with the cruise control on


i will tell you another god send, during a 4 hour journey (220 miles) that i did, i switched the heated seat on the top heat level is too too hot but the second setting is just right, i always thought it would only heat the bottom part of the seat but i was wrong, it heats the bottom and the low end of the back which feels very nice on those long drives.

another thing i did notice is the handling, around town it is very light but when you gain higher speeds it stiffens up nicely, especially for long bends it feels good, another thing i noticed with the handling is it hardly has any body role, i could almost mistaken it for running racing coilovers its that composed. it also has a better turning circle than my old honda civic.

found other things too, like the rear view mirror (when its turned on) when night driving it auto dims the lights of drivers behind you so your not blinded which is pretty cool.
 
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#2 ·
Good to have the update alex i take it you low 40's reading was town/urban driving then up to 51 when on motorway, It would have been interesting to have reset your average when you got on motorway to see what you were getting on cruise @70 as the previous pre motorway average would also have been counted as an overall average.
 
#3 ·
The low 40s where town driving, and yup I reset the average mpg when I was on the motorway, it crept from 47mpg and sat at just over 51mpg (in cruise control) for the majority of the trip, as you can see from the pik I am at 70mph with the cruise control on.

I think the 51mpg could possibly increase, I know the engines on these are bench ran in but are all the filters and working parts? This can have a overall affect on the mpg, I hope by about 2000 miles the car will achieve a higher mpg than 51mpg. Would be nice

EDIT: yup the low 40s where from town driving which is still pretty good, I don't think the stop start will ever have a significant affect on me as I spend most of my life on the motorway, but if u buy this car and doing town driving then your on to a winnerEdited by: Optima_alex
 
#5 ·
davy said:
Noticed its very low reving at 70mph only 2K revs thats good for economy. There will be a little turbo boost on at that rev to hold it on the inclines.  
The 6th gear really keeps the revs down and it's so bloody quiet

EDIT: it has variable geometry turbo so it's on most of the time but the biggest kick does come from 2-3kEdited by: Optima_alex
 
#6 ·
Optima_alex said:
The low 40s where town driving, and yup I reset the average mpg when I was on the motorway, it crept from 47mpg and sat at just over 51mpg (in cruise control) for the majority of the trip, as you can see from the pik I am at 70mph with the cruise control on.

I think the 51mpg could possibly increase, I know the engines on these are bench ran in but are all the filters and working parts? This can have a overall affect on the mpg, I hope by about 2000 miles the car will achieve a higher mpg than 51mpg. Would be nice

EDIT: yup the low 40s where from town driving which is still pretty good, I don't think the stop start will ever have a significant affect on me as I spend most of my life on the motorway, but if u buy this car and doing town driving then your on to a winner
I'm having another test drive end of next week for 24 hrs to get a good idea of the economy, the demo car had about 2500miles on it when i had a drive in it last week and I know its been out to fleet customers since for assessment which is why I have to wait for it, so i'm expecting a few more miles on it by next week so the mpg I get should give a good idea of general consumption, The other thing I want to try and assess is its towing potential ( bit difficult without towing something lol) but more to get an idea of what revs thetorque comes in the lower the better, looking at the specs itseems ok
 
#8 ·
Ok thanks alex its something i am going to have to try and judge, hopefully the caravan club or someone will do a test soon
 
#9 ·
Once again another update, well i had another 220 mile journey back to hull tonight, reset the average MPG computer on the motorway again and this is what was coming up on the readout for most of the journey back


also here is my current miles and what the computer says till empty, roughly 700 miles to a tank

 
#10 ·
Hey Alex,Those are very good figures for mpg on your motorway trips. Still thinking about the purchase and the wife is now ok with it-I think she liked the size of the Sportage and its AWD-but we rarely get snow here in Belfast. Anyway I'm nearly convinced to part with my lovely Sportage even just to save on fuel as its getting very pricey out there. Please keep updating as there aren't many Optima owners YET. There have been no significant diffs with the Optimas in USA to date and they've been out over a year there!
 
#12 ·
johnathan1 said:
Alex I forgot to say that my Sportage which now has nearly 26000 miles on her gave me 39.1 mpg at best and a full tank would take me no more than 397miles-compared to the Optima that is much lower.
Yeah the optima will defiantly get you better mpg than that.

UPDATE:

Hand break feels ok however I found it needs pulling really high up, I have never been a fan of racheting the handbreak right to the top but you have to, it kind of clicks in and gives a false sence it is engaged but in reality it needs to pull up higher to engage. I found this out yesterday as the car rolled slightly forward, luckily I was still covering the break.

This is not a major problem just a little niggly one, I wouldn't say it has put me off, every car is different I guess

Alex
 
#13 ·
Hi alex i was wondering how you find the hand brake with it being nearer the passenger seat, do you have any problem pulling it on ok, I found it bit far over at first on the test drive but i think i would get used to it over time, i was just worried about getting it on enough with not being a direct pull.
 
#14 ·
kiaman said:
Hi alex i was wondering how you find the hand brake with it being nearer the passenger seat, do you have any problem pulling it on ok, I found it bit far over at first on the test drive but i think i would get used to it over time, i was just worried about getting it on enough with not being a direct pull.
the position has never bothered me and its not like you have to lunge over to get it. if anything i like it there because when my arm is on the arm rest and my hand is hanging off it doesnt sit touching the hand break because its slightly to one side.

i have no problem pulling the hand break up, you just need to make sure its pulled up enough and fully engaged

(i am probibally being over criticle about the handbreak because i cant fault anything else tho)
 
#15 ·
Just had a 24hr test drive in a 2 tech, Overall i was very impressed, i did a couple of mpg tests one of 50 or so miles mainly town with very little A road this gave me 48.6, the other about 250 miles mainly motorway with a little A roads it averaged 54.3 but topped out at 57 mpg on the motorway on cruise at 70mph but it was still climbing all be it slowly at this point when i left the motorway, both these tests were with3 adults in the car.The sat nav worked well and i have no complaints about it, the only real issues for mewere no steering wheel control of the Ipod and the handbrake position, this i found awkward but maybe i would get used to it.To sum up it was comfortable and easy to drive in town and on motorway. it was smooth and quietwhen cruising on the motorway and generaly very economical, it seems to get quite close to the unreachable official consumption as well.
Now i have to decide if i can part with my sportage, a decision which would mainly be based on fuel economy
and if i did change which model to get
 
#16 ·
I was surprised by the fuel, really close to the figures that KIA states.

You do get used to the handbreak, but the fact that you only use it at the beginning and end of the journey means it doesn't really bother you.

Did they give u a manual booklet to look at with the test car to look at all the gadgets? There is possibly a way to get the controls to work the iPod on the steering wheel. I havnt really looked myself, just plugged a 8gb USB stick in crammed with thousands of songs, and you can defiantly use the steering wheel controls with them.

Yup the hard part is choosing the model, I wouldn't personally go for the 3 pack, the biggest question is which of the 2 packs to choose from?
 
#17 ·
I did have a quick look through the radio/sat navmanual which is the size of a small suitcase (lol)and didn't see anything, but to be fair i didn't give it too much of my time, it would have to be something i would ask the dealer about, but i was thinking it may be because its a sat nav model but if yours is the same its obviously not for this reason.
fuel consumption wise i was very impressed, i think the 57mpg figure would have gone up more if i had stayed on the motorway on cruise, this consumtion put and extra 40 odd miles on the range from when i started off.
As far as the model goes i was originaly thinking of the lux, the sound of the stereo on the tech was very good and i was quite impressed by the nav unit,it was a lot better than expected. I have never really been a fan of built in nav units mainly because of the cost of the updates, the ones for a navara i used to have were extortionate, plus you dont get cameras etc, but on the upside the woman in the optima one pronounces things a lot better than my tomtom woman lol, she even gets some welsh names right and instructions are clear and in good time,all in all though the cost of the 3 is just not worth the extra money in my eyes, so its a choice of the lux and tech, but first i have got decide wheatherto change or not this is the hard one
 
#18 ·
UPDATE!

i have finally done over 1000 miles in the optima, and since i last put fuel in here she got a record MPG on the way back home from camp yesterday, i couldnt believe my eyes, i managed to get

72.2MPG (all motorway driving sat at 70mph all the way back)

i know some of you will be sckeptical so i snapped a photo (sorry about shaky quality)



also my K badges arrived from ammerica so i put them on today and they look really good, piks to follow



 
#19 ·
Hi Alex,

I'm awaiting delivery of my Optima - should be in the next 2 weeks - so have been very interested in your updates.

Do you have a link where you got the badges? Were they easy to fit? Do you think it would be possible to put the original ones back on at a later date? (mine is a company car and not sure it they like me changing the badges)

cheers in advance
 
#20 ·
Hey jpfrost,

If you go on eBay just put in "KIA optima badges" and the k logo badges come up they are approximately £30 for a set of 3 (front, back, steering wheel) the KIA badges them selves are easy enough to remove just a little time consuming. And for re fitting in the future would be easy, you would just need to buy some d
Heavy duty double sided sticky tape.

The k badges do come from America/Korea so expect up to a month for delivery

Alex
 
#22 ·
garynic said:
Why hide the Kia badge? Ashamed?
Kia sportage will hold it's value loads more than optima which is competing in a whole different area. Good mpg fair enough but you will pay in the end........
I'm not hiding the KIA badge, the k badge is an alternative badge that is being used in Korea and America so shows how little you know about it really? Why have you come into this section of the forum boasting about sportages this section is about optimas? Did you get lost?

Why will I loose in the long run? If I keep the car 7 years and it does it's purpose then I will be the one laughing!
 
#23 ·
Sorry to look in just someone was commenting on moving from sportage to optima.
Thanks for the welcome but will leave your very exclusive club to the optima owners. Yes I've learned something as well thanks, an alternative badge........?
 
#24 ·
Buddy, you came to this section with a really negative post as your first post in the optima section, excuse me if I'm being a bit brash and unwelcoming but if I did the same in the sportage section saying "in the long run you will loose out" then I'm pretty sure I would get shot down Instantly from the sportage owners!

But welcome anyways
 
#26 ·
Hey guys cool it please-ALL kias are good cars now and only those people who've never had one like to sling the mud about them but they do so in TOTAL ignorance. I have a Sportage and its gorgeous and all my friends who drive Mercs, Volvos, Audis Land Rovers, Fords etc etc agree that Kia are now a very good car. I agree with Optima_Alex re the badge that this badge is well known as being an alternative Kia badge and he's not shying away just using a different Kia badge and its more attractive too-in Korea they all have "K5" as the emblem. I've ordered my Optima and should arrive next week-its the 2 tech as I wanted the sound system-its also in Bright Silver so will post pics to give you guys an idea of what that colour looks like in the flesh so to speak as I can't see it online or have seen several pics for "Bright Silver" and they all seem different! Anyway had to think long and hard re changing from my Sportage as I really like this car but the fuel economy won through and the wife finally succombed and gave me permission to swap LOL. Incidentally I saw my very 1st Kia Optima on the road here in Belfast earlier this pm and I have to say it stuck out like a sore thumb-in the nicest possible way-a striking looking car-it was in white and looked class-maybe should've ordered white lol!!
 
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