Kia's Middle American Amanti

Kia's Buick-style upmarket sedan offers a great value, nice interior, smooth ride, and a good warranty for less than $30,000

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Bang for the buck, nice interior, good warranty

The Bad: Cobbled-together exterior styling, no navigation system

The Bottom Line: A Buick-style sedan at a bargain price

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

If ever there was a car targeted at the heart of Middle America, it's the '07 Kia Amanti sedan. It's a Buick-style, entry-level luxury sedan with a ride cushy enough to satisfy a suburban retiree, an attractive leather-lined interior, and tons of standard equipment. Yet you can buy a well-loaded Amanti for less than $30,000.

The Amanti's restyling for '07 is typical of a trend by Korean automakers, at least based on the vehicles I've been test-driving lately. Kia's parent company, Hyundai, has come out with its hot-selling Santa Fe SUV and its new, bigger Veracruz, which like the Amanti have been heavily focus-grouped to appeal to Middle American tastes. To some degree, Kia's Sorento SUV has a similar focus-grouped feel to it. Korean carmakers are moving upscale by making quicker, nicer, and pricier vehicles, and the Amanti is part of that trend.

The Amanti, which first came out in 2004, has been significantly upgraded. The '07 has a bigger engine—a 3.8-liter, 264-horsepower V6—than the previous version of the car, yet is significantly lighter and gets better mileage than the model it's replacing. The '07 is rated to get 19 mpg from regular gasoline in the city and 26 on the highway. And, if my experience is any indication, the car comes close to matching its government mileage rating. In 516 miles of mainly highway driving, I got 22.8 mpg.

The Amanti's big appeal is bang for the buck. There's only one trim level, with a starting price of just $26,175. Standard equipment includes power doors, windows, and mirrors; an auto-dimming rearview mirror; steering wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls; a CD player; power front seats; and 16-in. alloy wheels. Standard safety gear includes eight air bags, including full-length side curtain air bags that often cost extra, and four-wheel antilock brakes with electronic brake force distribution.

There are relatively few options. The main package adds numerous extras for $2,500: leather upholstery, heated front seats with a memory system for driver's-seat settings, an upgraded sound system, adjustable pedals, a trip computer with 4-in. display, and heated outside mirrors that automatically tilt down when you back up.

For another $1,300 you can upgrade to black leather, aluminum interior trim, and 17-in. spoked alloy wheels. A sunroof adds $900, and a package that includes electronic stability control, traction control, and braking assist only costs $500. The only thing missing is a navigation system, which isn't offered on the '07.

Excellent warranty coverage is another plus. The Amanti's includes a five-year/60,000-mile basic warranty with free roadside assistance over that period, plus 10-year/100,000-mile limited power train protection.

Exterior styling is a negative for me, though this of course is subjective. For '07, the Amanti was supposedly only "freshened up" (rather than fully redesigned), but changes were made in the design of the hood, grille, headlights, front and rear bumpers, trunk, tail lights, exhaust outlets, and rear quarter panels.

To me, the result is a sort of Frankenstein design that seems cobbled together from several rival models Kia hopes to emulate. For instance, my regular FedEx delivery guy approached the car from the front and thought it might be a Mercedes because the new grille is vaguely reminiscent of a Mercedes grille (minus the famous logo, of course). From the rear, the Amanti looks a little like a Lincoln Town Car to me (not exactly the look I would have chosen).