New Kia K5 kicks off a round of affordable sedan tests

2021 Kia K5 GT-Line AWD: The promise of a new Kia sedan.

Price: $31,300 as tested. Options mentioned below. (A base model starts at $23,900.)

Marketer’s pitch: “Evolution of the sedan.”

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver liked that it was “gorgeous outside and in, loads of luxury options, smooth power train operation,” but not that the “touch functions are distracting, driver’s seat set too high, some rivals drive better.”

Reality: Promises, promises.

Sedan send-up: The Mr. Driver’s Seat email features three major requests: more electrics and hybrids, and more affordable vehicles. I never thought I’d see the day when a $30,000 car was “affordable,” but here’s where we are.

In any case, we’ll put this new unit up against the Mazda6 and the surprise bargain of the three, the Volkswagen Passat.

What’s new: The whole darn thing. The K5 sedan replaces the Optima midsize sedan for the 2021 model year.

Up to speed: K5 may sound a little neater than the Optima, but the 1.6-liter turbo four isn’t. Though it produces 180 horses, the turbo takes a moment to engage, so standing starts require a bit of patience. Mashing the pedal does produce momentum, and Car and Driver says 60 mph comes in 7 seconds.

Fortunately, the K5 can be had with a 290-horsepower 2.5-liter turbo four. That sounds more like it, with Kia’s promised 0-60 of 5.8 seconds. (Watch for a review of the Hyundai Sonata N Line, featuring the same components.)

Shifty: The 8-speed automatic transmission does its best to help. The first five gears run pretty high, so they all offer some power. The shiftability is comfortable, and the T-bar shifter not only looks snazzy but also shifts comfortably.

On the curves: The K5 rounds corners nicer. The lower, longer, wider stance puts the K5 into sports car territory for road-holding, although the suspension is not quite there. Even in Sport mode, it feels quite Kia-y — straightforward enough and it’ll make some crazy moves, but it’s the automotive equivalent of an indifferent session band. It’ll play the notes, but you’re not paying the K5 to feel it.

On the highway, Smart mode is the only way to go. Every other mode seemed to almost trip the K5.

Driver’s Seat: Longer, lower, wider — this baby sits way down there. We’re scraping Miata territory here.

The seat is comfortable enough, although I would naturally sit a little crooked — I have this same problem with Sorentos, strangely enough — so long-term ownership could be challenging.

Friends and stuff: For K5 buyers, it pays to be short. Upon attempting to enter the rear door, Mr. Driver’s Seat banged his head on the door frame, and then had a tough stretch getting down to the seat cushion.

Once there, legroom felt adequate, but foot room and headroom are both poor. Middle-seat victims will be stuck on a fairly large hump, both foot-wise and butt-wise.

The seat itself is angled too far back to be sitting but too far forward to be reclined. Don’t try any selfies or you’ll look like the blob that ate Phoenixville.

The K5 hatchbacky-looking sedan looks like a baby version of the big, fast Stinger, which actually has a hatchback lid for extra practicality. Here’s it’s just a rather small trunk lid opening funneling your stuff to a very healthy 16.0 cubic feet.

Play some tunes: Kia took its workable touchscreen and upgraded it, offering a snazzy 10.25-inch screen (part of an $800 package, which also added SynTex seating material, smart cruise and highway driving assist).

But you know how “upgrades” go, right? The volume knob is still there, but bye-bye tuning dial. Now, tiny touchscreen-based tuning arrows are far too fussy to operate when you, well, drive like I do.

Buttons on the outer edges allow for easy transport through all the sources and the map, though, and the rest of the touchscreen works just fine.

Sound from the system is really clear, about an A-. The clarity is close to what I get from my earbuds.

Night shift: We need to talk about headlights again, because the LED reflector headlights on the K5 are a disaster waiting to happen.

LED headlights in some vehicles tested often shine too low to light the way. I was starting to think it was my aging eyes, but no. Sturgis Kid 4.0 needed to be followed to the dealer for a car repair one night, and afterward he mentioned without prompting, “I wondered who was behind me when you caught up, because I thought, ‘Man, those lights really suck.’”

Keeping warm and cool: Dials control the temperature and fan speed, and buttons control everything else.

Fuel economy: I didn’t put too many miles on the K5 — busy week when I didn’t get out much — and averaged a dismal 22 mpg. I’m sure it’s better than that.

Where it’s built: West Point, Ga.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the reliability to be a 3 out of 5.

Next week: Let’s try the Mazda6.