Straight off the bat I shall come out to say that the car I took out with the 1.6-litre under the bonnet was disappointing. Kia doesn’t have a forced-induced heritage to benefit from so what I ended up with was a car that seemed to need the length of an airport runway to get up to 100km/h.
Then we’ve got the four-speed automatic gearbox regulating the power the engine’s struggling to churn out. In the age where efficiency is the definitive talk of the industry, it’s not something the Koreans can proudly proclaim on possessing.
Now that the sombre introduction is out of the way, let me start telling you more about Kia’s new ride and exactly why if you’re in the market for an affordable two-door car with the ability to swallow five adults, you should be finding your way down to their Alexandra showroom for a more personal encounter with this stunner.
Curb appeal
This car has what I call “curb appeal”. After I took the Magentis out for a drive, I actually mentioned in my review that the car, along with the Cerato Forte, was probably the most ‘bang-for-buck’ car in its segment.
The Koup however has lifted the brand to a whole new level, something more emotional almost. With such an aggressive snout, three gaping holes in the bumper with strong lines creasing the sides from the swept-back headlights, the Koup invokes double-stares from the unsuspecting user of the road pavements and from envious drivers at the lights.
Then we’ve got the four-speed automatic gearbox regulating the power the engine’s struggling to churn out. In the age where efficiency is the definitive talk of the industry, it’s not something the Koreans can proudly proclaim on possessing.
Now that the sombre introduction is out of the way, let me start telling you more about Kia’s new ride and exactly why if you’re in the market for an affordable two-door car with the ability to swallow five adults, you should be finding your way down to their Alexandra showroom for a more personal encounter with this stunner.
Curb appeal
This car has what I call “curb appeal”. After I took the Magentis out for a drive, I actually mentioned in my review that the car, along with the Cerato Forte, was probably the most ‘bang-for-buck’ car in its segment.
The Koup however has lifted the brand to a whole new level, something more emotional almost. With such an aggressive snout, three gaping holes in the bumper with strong lines creasing the sides from the swept-back headlights, the Koup invokes double-stares from the unsuspecting user of the road pavements and from envious drivers at the lights.
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Sitting pretty on the Forte sedan’s 2650mm platform, it gets its roofline lowered by 60mm. What that translates to is that you get most of the sedan’s practicality in load accommodation, all in a muscular and stylish two-door layout.
Something that I think automotive designers find so hard to perfect is the rear of the car. We've seen cars that possess almost perfect proportions in the front but by the time we get to the rear, it'll be pretty easy to guess where all the inspiration went.
The Koup has an elegant sloping roofline almost like that from a skyline 33 (side view), leading to a slightly raised boot lid and a very clean rear section. The rear lamps could have been mistaken for those on the Renault Laguna Coupe or even an Aston to an extent. No wait, those look like the eye holes on Iron Man’s mask.
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At the very bottom of the rear bumper, diffusers have been installed to add to the sportiness of the car’s exterior plus an equally sporty twin-pipe exhaust, giving the tiny engine more credibility with some throaty vocals.
Inside
Interior build quality in the Koup remains the same as in its larger siblings, pretty good. Knobs don’t shake around unnecessarily when prodded and buttons on the driver’s side armrest feels much firmer than it looks.
The layout as well has been directly lifted off the sedan variant of the Forte line so all is well sorted and work well in reach of the driver.
Alcantara-looking seats adorn the inside with sporty hot red stitching running around the edges of nearly everything that’s a fabric, even the carpets don’t escape the red stitching treatment. Seats are comfortable but I found it annoying that I couldn’t lower my seats any lower than it went to create the illusion of sitting in a sports car.
Special in the Koup are the LED linings around the speakers at the foot of the door. It’s basically a circular red glow that, given a choice in being synchronized with the music you’re playing or just according to your mood, pulsates in harmony with whatever you’ve set it in. Thankfully there’s also the option of turning this feature off.
As cheesy as this feature is though, I really didn’t mind the pulsating lights. They weren’t distracting and wasn’t embarrassing since no one could see it from outside.
Inside
Interior build quality in the Koup remains the same as in its larger siblings, pretty good. Knobs don’t shake around unnecessarily when prodded and buttons on the driver’s side armrest feels much firmer than it looks.
The layout as well has been directly lifted off the sedan variant of the Forte line so all is well sorted and work well in reach of the driver.
Alcantara-looking seats adorn the inside with sporty hot red stitching running around the edges of nearly everything that’s a fabric, even the carpets don’t escape the red stitching treatment. Seats are comfortable but I found it annoying that I couldn’t lower my seats any lower than it went to create the illusion of sitting in a sports car.
Special in the Koup are the LED linings around the speakers at the foot of the door. It’s basically a circular red glow that, given a choice in being synchronized with the music you’re playing or just according to your mood, pulsates in harmony with whatever you’ve set it in. Thankfully there’s also the option of turning this feature off.
As cheesy as this feature is though, I really didn’t mind the pulsating lights. They weren’t distracting and wasn’t embarrassing since no one could see it from outside.
Disappointing for me was the feel of the steering wheel. The leather on it was so taut that it didn’t feel anything at all like leather, would rather have gone with something more synthetic and “grippy”.
Driving impressions and should you buy one?
If you’re the kind who places performance at the top of your list when buying a car, you probably shouldn’t be looking to acquire this car even for its “fierce” looks. The 1.6-litre unit pushes out a respectable 124bhp but it’s beyond me to guess where all of it goes once on the throttle.
Suspension has also been reworked on the Koup to suit the car’s appeal but they seem to have over done it, making it a tad harder than it really should be. Going over imperfections on the roads were an almost jarring experience and I actually felt the car skip over some minor bumps on the road when making a corner at around 60km/h. Not a very good thing.
Going past the unsatisfactory steering wheel leather, the steering feel and feedback you get from the two front-wheels strikes a good balance between direct feel and relaxed steering. Driving becomes more involving with the manual over ride on the gear shifts when the selector’s been shifted to the left of ‘D’.
No precise gear shifts here though, whether you’re shifting up manually, downshifting or stomping on the accelerator to overtake, the gear box seems to be undecided on its next course of action before remembering its primary job description.
Driving impressions and should you buy one?
If you’re the kind who places performance at the top of your list when buying a car, you probably shouldn’t be looking to acquire this car even for its “fierce” looks. The 1.6-litre unit pushes out a respectable 124bhp but it’s beyond me to guess where all of it goes once on the throttle.
Suspension has also been reworked on the Koup to suit the car’s appeal but they seem to have over done it, making it a tad harder than it really should be. Going over imperfections on the roads were an almost jarring experience and I actually felt the car skip over some minor bumps on the road when making a corner at around 60km/h. Not a very good thing.
Going past the unsatisfactory steering wheel leather, the steering feel and feedback you get from the two front-wheels strikes a good balance between direct feel and relaxed steering. Driving becomes more involving with the manual over ride on the gear shifts when the selector’s been shifted to the left of ‘D’.
No precise gear shifts here though, whether you’re shifting up manually, downshifting or stomping on the accelerator to overtake, the gear box seems to be undecided on its next course of action before remembering its primary job description.
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So here we are. Stylish, two-door, affordable, slew of extra’s…something we’re increasingly ready to accept as typical Kia. And at $60,999 with COE, the car’s main competitor is er…the Copen (PI’s are selling this at $70,000). A quick look at sgcarmart’s used car listings fishes other ‘competitor’ cars like the Hyundai Tuscani at $36,800 and old Honda EG’s and EK’s going even cheaper than the latter.
But where one can’t house five adults, let alone four, the other’s way too old to be run comfortably for the remainder of its useful life.
But where one can’t house five adults, let alone four, the other’s way too old to be run comfortably for the remainder of its useful life.
The Kia Koup is by no means a sports car in essence, but rather in theory. It’s great to look at but not particularly great fun to drive. So if you could do without the ‘go’ and rather keep the ‘show’ factor rolling, this has to be the best buy of the year.
It has basically revived the ‘bang-for-buck two-seater’ that the MX-5 famously introduced when it came about back in ’89.
It has basically revived the ‘bang-for-buck two-seater’ that the MX-5 famously introduced when it came about back in ’89.
