i bought a 2011 optima back at the end of august and absolutely love it. my friend who has a new e-class 430 was surprised at the features it has that his benz doesnt. i get a lot of looks on the road all the time asking about what kind of car it is and all. i would recommend it highly to anyone else
Disclaimer: I haven't read through the thread fully. The Optima is at the stage that the Sonata saw about 5-6 years ago: It is an excellent car with the most bang for the buck I have ever seen. The work that Hyundai put into the Sonata at a lower selling price did wonders for the Hyundai reputation. I expect the same to happen for Kia now that Hyundai is helping them out. The really does look to be Optima a fantastic car. That said: despite Hyundai's proven model, I would still be afraid to buy the first release of the Optima. I am completely risk averse and would probably wait a year or two to see some proof of Kia's upswing. If you're not worried about the money, you can't go wrong with the Passat. If you're feeling adventurous, go for the Kia EDIT: Just realized you're leasing. I would definitely go with the Passat (I think DonnyMost mentioned this too). By the time the lease term is up, Kia would have had enough time to iron out some kinks and their badge value would have increased a little too, and you can get it then. If money is not the problem, the question to ask yourself is which is more important: driving pleasure or regality?
Like some said, you'll have to repair your VW lots of times. Don't like their cars, the Passat is the only good one. I don't feel their interior design, looks cheap/unispired to me. Buy Audi.
bought 06 optima v2, still has no problem after 70k. It is funny that i found this thread, i actually had passat and then i traded it in to get the optima
Fun fact about the Kia: There's a button on the dashboard that you can press where Blake Griffin will appear and dunk on anybody talking s**t about your car.
Not that many didn't try and talk me out of it, but I couldn't get past the potential VW reliability issues and higher price, even considering I ultimately went the lease route. I may purchase the car when done, and didn't want to be stuck with a ****ty warranty on a brand still viewed as very unreliable. The Kia was cheaper, they offered me a $1k more on my trade-in, an $2k more than CarMax offered, had a better warranty, and offered more in every area except ultimate driving. The Optima is fast as hell and drives great, but the VW had a classic German sporty feel, which made it drive a little bit better. But I'm not on the Autobahn... so the Optima it was. I have a 3 year lease on the below:
I live in Austin. Southpoint Kia was the dealership. I probably left a little money on the table (i.e $500, maybe $750) if I was willing to really play hardball, but I had already done a lot of it, was getting a great price on my trade-in (seriously, I had that car appraised at 4 different dealerships and carmax, and looked at private sales online, and this was the best price), and was ready to just get on with driving the car.
lol I have owned a 2002 Jetta GL for almost 10 years and personally never had any mechanical problems. But the inside is so poorly done, I have not seen these problems with any other car brand. My cloth seats get dirty/stains even with water, lol. My seats are so dirty now, even tho I am a very neat and clean guy, people think I don't take care of my seats at all.. The dash/console is peeling off...almost every part of it has some kind of peeling... The door panel cloth/fabric has glued off on mine and passengers side, door handles peeled off..worst door handles material I have ever seen.. The headliner has pealed of twice, I replaced it once during warranty... The speakers have failed a few times..replaced during warranty.. Like I said, I bought it new and it has been 10 years..I'll be replacing it soon with a Audi Q5, already settled to it.
Tell that to the engine I had replaced at 50K miles on my wife's old Jetta. It was the worse car I've ever seen. The only VW engine I've heard being decent is the diesel.
Not really concerned with reliability (under warranty)..will replace in 2-3 years anyways .. Looking for luxury/looks/name..for the price, its the best..
personal anecdotal evidence means squat. I have a 2008 jetta 2.5 at 65,000 and there are zero problems. So does that make vw the most reliable ever just based on my luck of the draw? If you had a camry and had major engine faults at 50,000 would you never buy a Toyota again because your experience?
Statistical evidence support my position also. VW has ranked in the bottom quarter in reliability since forever. Note the JD Powers survey in the beginning of the thread.
sweet not sure if you can do this on a lease but i swapped out the kia emblems on mine for these: (kind of big pic) Spoiler mine didnt come with a lip spoiler but I plan to get one of those soon I think i've seen them floating online for around 150-200 from korea.
You should have kept your options open and considered a Madza6. I am curious, why did you only have two options?
