Video: 2014 Kia Forte

It's longer and wider than its predecessor, and it's got a lot of premium options not usually available in the compact class. Let's check it out. Now, Kia says the Forte has best in segment front leg room, and I got to say, it's pretty impressive. I'm about six feet tall and I've got the seat all the way back right now. I would actually sit with it a few inches forward to be in a comfortable driving position. Cabin styling is very interesting. It's very cockpit like. It doesn't have kind of the stacked layers that you get in some of these other cars nowadays. There's sort of concentric rings that kind of emerge from the gauges here and they come out all the way over to the passenger side of the dashboard materials. Pretty good. Kia's most upper trim levels will have nice soft touch things up here where your arms and your elbows fall. Pretty good stuff there. Nice Chrome along the door handles. Doesn't appear that they've really skimped on cabin quality, at least not in these auto show cars. So the question is, are your friends going to want to roll with you in the new Forte as well? Probably. That's where I would sit to drive and a backseat, a little low to the ground for adults, but decent leg room. Plenty of head room, actually, partly because it's so low and a lot of amenities if you move up the trim levels. Things like rear air vents here in the center, a heated rear seats, a heated and ventilated driver's seat, a heated steering wheel. Not common features you'd find in the commuter car class. Get to the back here, carter rooms about 15 cubic feet. Pretty good size there too. And look at the size of this trunk, opening really wide, plenty of space for you to stuff all your things into. A two inch longer wheelbase should help ride quality and new electric power steering and direct injection technology should help fuel efficiency. Can the new Forte make 40 miles per gallon? Now that's fast becoming the competitive figure for small cars. Well, highway numbers for the EPA are still out, so stay tuned for more. For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog KickingTires.net.