Interesting that they took the route of the Caddy regarding the ride.

2015 Kia

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Jim

looks exactly like a buick to me, or maybe all new cars are far to close in looks these days, at the top end of the spectrum. I do like caddy rides though.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Requiem for the Dollar. Requiem for common sense. Inflated paper for bloated toys and trinkets made with slave labor. Shameful.

That there can so much good in life and then there is this. Life is short and people are idiots.

I wonder how much URO class stuff is on that 60K POS.

yep

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Jim

It's going to take more than a few rich hamsters to buy those . . .

Grill looks like it is copied from Jaguar - high slab sides make it look ungainly.

It might sell if they discount it like a Renault.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I'm not going to come out and say it is a POS before even seeing the thing in person, but they need to have done a better job than the Equus. I am curious as to why this is badged a Kia and not a Hyundai, seems like they are trying to move Hyundai up market and leave kia as the budget brand.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Can you say "attempted Phaeton"?

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62 220sb
67 250S
72 280SE 4.5
74 280C
77 300D
82 240D
85 190E 2.3
86 300E RIP 12/28/09
85 300SD
92 300D 2.5
00 E320 Current
Over 1,000,000 miles in Benzes, Since66

....and a whole passel of BMW 2002 and Tii

"Slave Labor"? Really?

You do know that Hyundai and Kia are made in various plants around the world, including the USA. The home factory is in SOUTH Korea, one of the best capitalistic countries.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

This is really just old school marketing. GM didn't have five divisions because they wanted to employ a lot of redundant people. They had five divisions to allow you, the customer, to 'grow' through their product line.

You start out with a Chevy Nova, move up to an Impala, then to a Buick, Pontiac or Olds depending on your tastes and you eventually wind up in a Caddy when you hit age 62. And when you are spending that Caddy money GM is raking in the bigger bucks.

Kia is only hoping to do the same. You may start out in a Kia Soul, but the day will come when you hit the big time and Kia does not want to lose you and your money.

Will it work? It didn't work for VW and they have tried it with the VW brand several times. They still keep at it, but I bet the folks at VW are glad their forefathers had the good sense to buy Auto Union when they had the chance.

That's a very interesting take on it. I wonder how large the customer base that has owned Kias that long is? Kia came out in the, what, late '80s? And their "nicer" products -- heck, their products in general -- got palatable, what, six years ago? I wonder how much sales growth they'd be anticipating for the $60,000 Kia segment in, say, the next decade, when more people have actually had a chance to work their way through the palatable Kias.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

It's going to be a tough sell IMO when you can get an E class for the same money.

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'83 300D, 126K miles.

To me it looks like a Jag. Kia Optima meets Jaguar XF, with much more Jag than Optima.

Kia L900:



Jaguar XF:



Kia Optima:

Attached Thumbnails

 

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

You change avatars and gloves more often than I change underwear.