2011 Kia Optima

Kia's midsize sedan used to be a forgettable car with an obscure name. (Optimal? Altima? Optimus Prime?) Today, the redesigned 2011 Kia Optima boasts sharp styling, competent driving dynamics and a cabin that leapfrogs other family sedans — and could stay in the lead for years to come.

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Honda and Toyota should pay close attention to the Optima's success, which seems all but inevitable.

Trim levels for the car include the LX, uplevel EX and sport-tuned SX, with normally aspirated and turbocharged four-cylinder engines.

Assertive Styling

The Optima and its platform sibling, the Hyundai Sonata, are both sharp-looking cars, but the Optima looks better to my eye. Designed by Kia's studios in Germany and California, it's longer and wider than before, losing more than an inch of front and rear overhang versus its predecessor — a car that, in its final years, looked interesting up front but utterly forgettable everywhere else. What an improvement: The new Optima sports a clean, assertive profile. Its belt line rises simply, with no swooping curves or sudden kinks; the furrowed expression recalls many mid-decade Acuras. Kia has found a corporate face worth sticking to, and it doesn't matter so much that it's derivative — almost everything is these days.

Stick-shift LX models have 16-inch steel wheels with plastic covers; other cars get alloy wheels — 16-inchers on LX automatics and 17s on all EX models. One upscale touch: All models have body-colored side mirrors with integrated turn signals. EX cars add chrome door handles. The Optima SX gets a range of exterior appointments: xenon headlights, LED taillights, a small rear spoiler, various ground effects and 18-inch wheels. That description may sound gaudy, but the SX is tastefully done.

Competent Performance

Kia offers LX and EX trims with a 200-horsepower, direct-injection four-cylinder. Come December, a 274-hp, turbocharged four-cylinder will be optional in the EX and standard on the top-dog Optima SX. Alas, I didn't drive the turbo, just the normally aspirated EX models equipped with the Optima's staple transmission, a six-speed automatic. It's a capable pairing: The engine lacks the low-end oomph to come out of a corner in a high gear and accelerate uphill, but the transmission kicks down soon enough to get you back up to speed. On the highway, the car moves competently: Squeeze the accelerator two-thirds of the way down, give the automatic a beat to fetch 4th gear, and the Optima turns 60 mph into 80 mph with surprising vigor. It's no V-6 impersonator, but it represents a sort of halfway compromise that most owners should be able to live with — and appreciate, given the drivetrain's impressive 24/34 mpg city/highway EPA rating. Stick-shift models get a slightly better 24/35 mpg, while the turbo gets an impressive 22/34 mpg. Not bad, given both drivetrains run fine on regular gas.

Kia officials characterized the Optima's suspension tuning as decidedly firmer than the Sonata's — closer to a Mazda6 or Nissan Altima than a Toyota Camry or Chevy Malibu. The car rides a bit stiffer than its Hyundai counterpart, but not by much, and it's much better than the brittle Altima. On highways, our test car picked up the general rhythm of surfaces underneath it, but it didn't play them back staccato. Noise levels, too, are competitive — the Optima quells highway wind sounds better than road ones, but overall noise won't drown out conversations or music.