Video: 2017 Kia Forte Review

We'll cover two of them and talk about one reason, you still might wanna take a pause. First off, power. We're not talking about horsepower. We're talking about power operated features like these available power folding side-mirrors which can be a big help on tight streets to protect against damage. The Forte also offers a power releasing trunk that works with a keyless access system. Now, this is a feature borrowed from SUV's and if you're approaching the trunk with an arm full of cargo, all you have to do is stand next to it and wait for a few beeps then the trunk releases on its own. Except its self-driving technology, the Forte offers a lane keep assist system that can actually center you in your own lane using cameras and lane markings that it recognizes out ahead, once you set it to its most aggressive settings. Now you should keep your hands on your wheel and your eyes on the road because if you don't it times out pretty quickly and tells you to do that. But the fact that it can even do that to lane center the car, not just kind of bounce you off the lane markings, that's pretty advanced especially in an affordable car not a luxury model. Other than that, the Forte is pretty roomy, compact with a great warranty and solid crash test score. So what's really holding it back? Well, ride quality. Our test car here is a Forte S. That's the middle of three trim levels on the Forte sedan and it's got a sport-tuned suspension. And unfortunately that dials up just a degree of choppiness over potholes and manhole covers that you don't get in a lot of other compacts. There's no real, kind of, fun payoff for that either. The engine's too average, the chassis seems too nose heavy and the steering is too numb to really have that much fun behind the wheel. So what you end up getting is just a firm ride and not much else. The Forte has some appealing qualities but we think they would pair better with the non-sport suspension. The good news, there's two trim levels that do exactly that. So if there were our money, we'd consider one of those.