Kia plays it straight
12/05/09 21:13 Filed in: Road
tests
If the Kia Soul surprised
with its rather funky style and individuality, the Magentis is much
more what we have come to expect from Kia. Practical, conservative,
neat, but maybe a tad dull.
The Kia Magentis is a conventional four-door saloon aimed squarely at the market occupied by the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia and Volkswagen Passat. Its strongest appeal is, predictably, price. At £17,295 the Magentis undercuts the two-litre diesel Mondeo saloon by around £3,000.
Unusually, for the moment at least, the Magentis can be had with any power unit as long as it is the 2.0 CRDi TR diesel. So your choices come down to manual or automatic.
When I turned on the ignition I was disappointed how clearly I could hear the diesel. However, most diesels are considerably more vocal when they are cold and ticking over, so I hoped that the noise would subside when the engine warmed up and we got onto the open road.
It did. But only to a point. As soon as you accelerate up comes the tedious soundtrack of the diesel drone.
The second reason I wanted a petrol Magentis, was the way this diesel seems to lose its momentum every time you change gear. Accelerating becomes a rather tiresome series of building up the revs, only to have the engine go flat whenever you change to the next gear. It feels as if the turbo has spun down and the old turbocharger lag has returned from history to slow the uptake.
It’s not particularly slow. The 0-60 time is 10.4 seconds. But accelerating through the gears becomes rather tiresome – the more so because I found the gearchange rather long in its throw and occasionally quite obstructive.
All this made my daily commute of dual carriageways with roundabouts (where you have to accelerate through six gears and six lags on the exit) and several sections of twisty B-roads, not the happiest of routes for the Magentis.
While the Magentis holds the road well, it is not particularly inspiring due to rather lifeless steering.
Right, time for a reality check time!
If you buy a car with your head, not your heart, read on.
A large proportion of the motoring population out there simply want a reasonably priced, reliable, comfortable and economical car that will get them and their passengers from A to B in un-dramatic style. There are also – quite apparently – many people out there who either don’t hear the discordant drone of diesel engines, or don’t find them so annoying.
For them, the Magentis is ideal. For the price of a hatch you get a full-size saloon and one that, with a little care, can top 40 mpg with ease.
If that sounds like the car you, form a queue now.
The Kia Magentis is a conventional four-door saloon aimed squarely at the market occupied by the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia and Volkswagen Passat. Its strongest appeal is, predictably, price. At £17,295 the Magentis undercuts the two-litre diesel Mondeo saloon by around £3,000.
Unusually, for the moment at least, the Magentis can be had with any power unit as long as it is the 2.0 CRDi TR diesel. So your choices come down to manual or automatic.
When I turned on the ignition I was disappointed how clearly I could hear the diesel. However, most diesels are considerably more vocal when they are cold and ticking over, so I hoped that the noise would subside when the engine warmed up and we got onto the open road.
It did. But only to a point. As soon as you accelerate up comes the tedious soundtrack of the diesel drone.
The second reason I wanted a petrol Magentis, was the way this diesel seems to lose its momentum every time you change gear. Accelerating becomes a rather tiresome series of building up the revs, only to have the engine go flat whenever you change to the next gear. It feels as if the turbo has spun down and the old turbocharger lag has returned from history to slow the uptake.
It’s not particularly slow. The 0-60 time is 10.4 seconds. But accelerating through the gears becomes rather tiresome – the more so because I found the gearchange rather long in its throw and occasionally quite obstructive.
All this made my daily commute of dual carriageways with roundabouts (where you have to accelerate through six gears and six lags on the exit) and several sections of twisty B-roads, not the happiest of routes for the Magentis.
While the Magentis holds the road well, it is not particularly inspiring due to rather lifeless steering.
Right, time for a reality check time!
If you buy a car with your head, not your heart, read on.
A large proportion of the motoring population out there simply want a reasonably priced, reliable, comfortable and economical car that will get them and their passengers from A to B in un-dramatic style. There are also – quite apparently – many people out there who either don’t hear the discordant drone of diesel engines, or don’t find them so annoying.
For them, the Magentis is ideal. For the price of a hatch you get a full-size saloon and one that, with a little care, can top 40 mpg with ease.
If that sounds like the car you, form a queue now.