Test Drive Review of the Kia Forte Koup

Today I went to Test Drive Kia On Tour 2011 at 1 Utama, LG Oval. I wanted to test drive the new Kia Forte Koup and I managed to get behind the wheel of the sleek coupe for a 15 minutes test drive.

The sexy Kia Forte Koup is powered by a 2.0 DOHC MPI CVVT Theta II engine that produces a respectable 156ps and 194Nm of torque.  All the power goes through the 6-speed shift-tronic  gearbox with paddle shifters which shift seamless through all the clogs. The car is lively when pushed hard but not tarmac burning though. I find that the engine noise starts to intrude into the cabin when the RPM needle passes 4500 rpm.

The Forte is fitted with MacPherson strut at the front and torsion beam at the rear. The car handles pretty well through the corners and car’s ride is on the firm side but not bone-jarring.  Road noise is evident as the car is fitted with a 17” inch rims with a set of 215/45 low profile tyres.

One of the strengths of Kia Forte Koup and its siblings, the Forte sedan are its state of the art technology and an array of accessories. The coupe comes with frameless doors, ABS, ESP, 6 airbags, a cool sliding power sunroof, leather bucket seats, keyless entry, engine start/stop button, steering control that has audio and auto cruise. If entertainment on the go is your cup of tea, the car is packed with 6 CD changer in-car entertainment system that supports USB and iPOD connections.

This car comes with a price tag of RM115,800 OTR with insurance. Many of us still questions KIA’s resale value but since KIA has improved a lot in design and quality throughout the years, it is still too early to judge on the Forte’s resale as it’s about only a year in the market and I’ve not seen a lot of Forte selling in the used car market yet.