2012 Kia Optima consumer reviews

I loved my Otima EX /GDI. It looks great and the performance was stunning. Everything a car guy would want until at 20K miles the engine blew up. I don't know what the cause was as the car is still in the shop. Very dissapointing as I use this car on the expressway for my daily 55 mile commute and always use the ECO application to save gas. Up until yesterday I recommended this car to everyone. I can't do that anymore with a blown engine.

I have had my 2012 SX for over a year, 14k miles and not a single issue. Me and the wife think it is the best out of the box car we have ever owned. When I purchased this car, I looked at BMW, Lexus, Infinity, VW, Dodge Charger, Ford Mustang GT, CHev Camaro SS, and several others, this car has more to offer that any of the others, better quality and is the only one manufactured in the USA by american union workers! Yeah team. My car is perfect in every way, great power, great MPG, great looking (turbo wheels), and it has more options. You can beat this car! Buy the SX model.

I bought a brand new loaded Optima at a sticker price of almost 35,000.00. As soon as I got it home the radio didn't work right. A couple weeks down the road the check engine light came on and it wasn't running right. They replaced the chip in the turbo and said it was from accelerating too fast. About a month later with 4,000 miles on the car, the engine started to shake and vibrate. The dealer said the engine was set too lean and has burnt the valves. They say they are going to put a new engine in it but it has been in the shop for a month waiting for it to come in. I've never had any new car need a new engine in 4,000 miles no matter how it was driven. Now I have a used KIA Rio loaner(stripped down model) and the check engine light is on in it. Thought I had something really nice at first. NEVER AGAIN will I ever purchase a KIA product.

I Bought a 2012 Kia optima, because i liked the design and interesting new looks it had. Little did i know this was going to be the worst car in history.Now i have bought about 6 Cars in my short 36 years and i have never encountered a car like this. At 1250 miles the check engine light came on, i thought the gas cap just wasn't on tight enough, i brought the vehicle in. The said its common for the kia's to be in the shop more often than others. Though they're warranty does cover some of the things that go wrong it doesn't compensate for the wasted time in the shop. Now i brought my 2012 Kia into the kia dealer mechanical shop 6 times for different problems, everything from airbags to actual engine problems. Just last week i traded in my 2012 kia optima sx with 8740 miles on it, to a hyundai dealer for a Sonata Limited and that has been the bestdecision this year for me. I highly recomend nobody to purchase a kia. Unless you want to waste time in and auto shop!

I bought my new car thinking that I had a winner. Then, 600 miles later I knew that I had a lemon. At 600 miles the brake warning indicator illuminated. I immediately took it to the dealership and they could find nothing wrong with it except the brake warning indicator was on. This continued to happen every couple hundred miles. It has been into the dealership six different times for the problem; where they have reset the computer (even though no codes stored) replaced the parking brake switch, replaced the brake boost pump (3 times now) and replaced the vacumm pump. The problem remains to this day. I contacted KIA global who sent me back to KIA regional who have stalled me for months. I am still waiting on an appointment for a supposed expert to look at my car. I now have 7,000 miles on my car and it continues to have brake issues. During one of the failures I had to brake especially hard and had no anti-lock braking. The brakes locked up and the car started to fishtail to the left almost causing an accident; although I did have brakes. Along with the brakes you have to factor in the steering issues. The KIA Optima has electric power steering and unlike hydraulic power steering the electric has to be continuously corrected while driving. This continuous correcting leads to hand fatigue after minimal driving. It is okay for around the town driving, but get out on the highway for an hour and your hands will start to cramp up. For all of those interested you can find information on the steering and brake issues at the National Highway and Traffic Safety website. In conclusion: I would really like to recommend this car, but the brake problems, steering issues and the lack of customer support speak volumes on the likelihood of reoccurence for future customers. KIA has to make some improvements to the car and their services before I can recommend it.

I have a 2012 EX with the 2.4L 4 cylinder and 6 speed automatic. When you take your foot off of the accelerator at 40 mph or slower, the transmission "hangs up" and then downshifts one and sometimes two gears. The dealer drove other identical models and they said they do the same thing. Standard operation, nothing they can do about it. Why would a manufacturer program a transmission where the car wouldn't coast? It just wastes fuel. I really like this car, but I am seriously thinking of trading it in because of this problem.

Love my Optima -What I love the most is when people drive buy and mouth WOW THATS A KIA. I like the size-style and the interior. My wife and I and I ARE AMAZED at the hiway mpg the only negative is the blue tooth has some kinks with older phones

i love the feeling of being in a cockpit!!!the trim work and leather are unbelievable..i dont even mind riding in the back seat..it is as comfortable as the front seat!!if i didnt know any better i would have thought i was in a european import

We also bought our car new. And 8 months later the paint started to peel off. We took to the dealer and they said they would not cover it. They in fact said it probably was acid rain. Seriously. We took it to auto body shops also and they said there was stuff under the paint. In fact you can see it. Have been talking to there customer service and they do not want to fix the problem. So watch out may seem like a good buy till your paints starts to peel off and it not even a year old. They do not stand by their product.

I bought many new cars over the years and the Kia Optima EX I bought six months is a great deal for the money. IT is ecomical and fun to drive after 6,000 I had no issues, IT has many extras like great technogy package, as the bluetooth works great and A/C and heated seats are a find for a car at this price. Warranty is bes in industry. I had cars costing three times as much without extras my Optima EX has.