I’ve meant to start a new series on my blog for a long time and I finally have my first post for you in the “Love It or Leave It” series! I recently had the opportunity to review a 2014 Kia Forte EX for a week in working with Drive STI and I am excited to tell you all about it: the good, the bad, and the confusing.
I drive a mid-size now and it’s kind of a pain in the butt, because this light is broken or that light is flashing. It’s a mess. So, I’m not really loyal to any car company (yet), and when this sweet little blue beauty showed up in my driveway, I was pretty excited to test it out.
I like pretty things. I’m very much into aesthetics. I would rather have a pretty thing that is good, than an ugly thing that is great. Luckily for me, and you, the Kia Forte is not only incredibly sleek and attractive but it’s also loaded with all the best features.
The Good:
Hello, extra features. This Forte was totally decked out with all of my favorite goodies.
- Push button start. OMG. I’ve never driven a car with this and being a woman, who carries a purse, filled with MY ENTIRE LIFE, this was the coolest part of the car. I didn’t have to dig in my bottomless pit of a purse forever looking for keys. Nope. As long as they were in there somewhere, I was able to unlock the door and turn the car on with the push of a button.
- The bluetooth. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m totally tech savvy and attached to my devices so this was perfect for me. I love that this car not only has Bluetooth wireless technology, but also USB and auxiliary input jacks. Every time I got in the car it easily synced up with my phone and started playing music from my playlists. It also has SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio.
- Rear camera display. I’m not good at parking. I’m not good at reversing. I’m not good at things involving moving a car in any direction other than perfectly straight. The rear camera eased my reversing anxiety. You still won’t catch my trying to parallel park though, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
- Heated front and rear leather seats and steering wheel. Vital in these Chicago winters. A warm booty is a happy booty, after all. Front seats were also cooled for you warm weather folks.
- Dual-Zone automatic climate control. This was perfect for the days I drove around with my always-cold mother. Do you lose the ability to maintain body heat when you cross the age of 40?
- Navigation System with SIRIUS Traffic. When I had the car, I drove out to downtown Chicago to visit my little nephew in the hospital. I’m a suburb type of girl. I love the city, but I don’t know where I’m going 99% of the time. The nav system saved me more than a few wrong turns.
- Beautiful exterior! I love blue cars, so this Abyss Blue Forte was right up my alley. I definitely find this Forte more appealing than those other popular compact cars… you know what I’m talking about.
- 28 MPG. You can save $2000 in fuel costs over 5 years compared to the average new vehicle. Holler holler, money dollar.
- Snowy roads approved. There was plenty of snow and ice on the roads when I was test driving and I never had a single issue. It’s really important for me to have a car that I can safely drive in these hazardous midwest winters because of my curly-headed cargo.
The Bad:
- Leg room. I have two toddlers that are in gigantic car seats (my kids are pretty much giants too FYI). The car seats are definitely oversized and I have a problem with them no matter which car I put them in, but the kids have never had less leg room than when they were in this Kia Forte. They actually had to put their feet on either side of the front seats. To be honest, it’s more of a car seat problem than a back seat problem. Being a compact car, I thought the Forte actually had a nice sized back seat. When driving around with other adults, no car seats, the back seat was no issue.
- When I drive, I jam. My music is as loud as humanly possible without causing real harm to my ear drums. I’m a terrible singer, but I belt out every song when I’m driving, so I need to drown out my tone-deaf singing. The stereo wasn’t quite loud enough for my liking. But it was pretty crisp.
The Confusing:
- I’m not going to lie, the push button start took me a few tries to figure out. And I stepped out of the car more than once without shutting it off.
- The navigation took me like 10 minutes to figure out initially. I’m a pretty savvy chick, but it stumped me for a bit. Turns out, it’s actually super easy to use.
- I kept walking up to the car and trying to open the door without hitting the little button on the handle. By day 5 with the car, I totally had it down. Pardon my slowness, I had holiday brain.
The Verdict:
So, should you love it or leave it? I definitely have to go with love it. I love the look of this car and all of the extra features really sold me. As pictured, the 2014 Kia Forte EX is right around 25K. My only real issue was the size of the back seat, but I tested it with a more reasonably sized 5-point harness car seat and the kids’ leg room was no longer an issue. I love the small size of the car, but I’m also a 5’4″ woman with short legs. So don’t just take my word for it, go test it out for yourself!
Disclaimer: I partnered with Drive STI to test drive the Kia Forte for 7 days in exchange for this honest review.
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