Kia Forte EX (2014)

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
This car competes against other cheap little cars: the Corolla, Civic, Fiesta. And it competes well. When loaded up, as in our EX trim tester, it’s a pretty nice car to drive, and is comparable to similarly equipped Corollas and Civics at $19,500.
For a car of its size, it’s got a very comfortable ride. You don’t feel like you’re being thrashed around. It doesn’t feel like you’ve made a huge compromise in comfort just to drive a smaller car. It helps that the front seats offer a good range of adjustment.
In EX trim, it has a lot of the luxuries you might expect to get with a larger, more expensive car, including navigation, heated seats, heated steering wheel, and keyless entry. These are great convenience features that, at one time, you had to forego if you wanted a smaller car.
We expected the Forte to be noisier. In fact, it’s comparable and perhaps a bit quieter than the Toyota Corolla, one of its direct competitors.
It’s a decent handling car, and we found it fun to drive.
The Forte has extraordinarily good power for a car of its size. The EX comes with a 2.0 liter, 173 hp GDI, “direct injection” engine, which injects the fuel at very high pressure into the cylinder, allowing for more power and efficiency out of a smaller engine. The result is an EPA rated 24 city/36 highway*
*Your mileage will suck more than that, as with any EPA rating.
Comes with Kia’s standard 100k drive train warranty—a better warranty than many competitors, including Toyota.
More modern looking than even the new, 2014 Corolla.
We hated parting with it!

Cons
Thanks to the modern look, don’t expect to see out the rear. There is a backup camera, however. Unfortunately, you’ll quickly start to hate the delay of several excruciating seconds, from when you shift into Reverse until the screen shows the view behind the car.
Overall, we found the Forte to be a little small, in terms of interior room. The back seat is not particularly roomy, either, and lacks good headroom for taller people (aka adults).
It’s still a small car, with a small wheelbase, which means the ride will never be like that of a larger car. And despite the fact that it was surprisingly quiet for a small car, you will hear engine noise from the smaller engine.
We never got close to their claimed fuel economy of 24 city/36 highway in our real world testing.
Navigation system is a little less user-friendly than some.