Kia Cerato Forte

I am in the car rental business and have been driving all sort of vehicle daily. From Toyota to BMW. Quick review and conclusion. Took the car up to KL and Genting over weekend. Power was the most powerful in its class. No problem overtaking or driving consistently on the right lane of NS Hwy. 6 speed gear box and great chassis makes going up genting and down hill a breeze. Peddle shift was very responsive and also auto shift up when you touch redline. Brilliant gearbox! During down hill, I uses 2nd and 3rd gear only and hardly uses brake or accelerator. Handling was sharp and nifty. Very little body roll and traction was perfect. No loss of traction or skid experience despite wet road and sharp bend. Attributed to the good chassis, suspension setup, 17" rim, ESC and surprisingly the stock Kumho tyres. Seat was the most comfortable among all the cars I have driven beyond C segment. I sat in it for 6 hours due to jam with no complain. Feels everything is right and great support all round. Self installed cruise control and notice engine lack of torque during normal cruising speed to maintAin speed when encounter up slope. Usually auto gear will drop 2 speed to archive the torque required to maintain. Over NS Hwy, my average fuel consumption is approximate 13km/L at 120-130km/hr. When driving in Singapore, I almost doing 100% city driving with 0% expressway. Archive 9-10km/L. Air con is very efficient. Loves the sound system as it has the best audio quality I ever heard from a car in this segment. Bluetooth capability is impressive as it also allows the playback of MP3 from my iPhone.... Read More

Since I didn't allocate much budget for the car but neither did I want a cheapo one. I was looking for value for money car. Must be functional, but must not be so basic type, at least you must enjoy what you ride. Definitely forget about the brand or made to show off. I found that this is the car that I was looking for. Have been riding Kia Cerato Forte 1.6 SX for almost 6+ months already, so far the car has been good on me, of course in terms of fuel consumption cannot compare with VW, Honda or Toyota. Of course in terms of confort, cannot compare with BMW or Merc. But its the car that you feel you really can rely on (will not make you stranded in the middle of road or afraid of rain seepage), it's the car you can really depend on (will carry you where you want to go safely). With the money you paid, you have all the functionalities that you can get only at premium high end cars. P.S. some people say the car pick up is not good, I think it is during the initial 3000 km when the engine is still quite new. After that the pickup is comparable to others, recommend to use Shell fuel which you will give better power than other at pick up. Also regarding power, I think it depends on how much you know about your car and individual skill.... Read More