The midsize sedan market is stuffed with the identical previous names yr after yr. You recognize their names, and you understand their personalities.
The Kia K5 is hardly a newcomer, having been bought underneath that title within the U.S. since 2020. However, in a stolid section, that makes it the thrilling younger factor.
And thrilling it’s. The K5’s sporty seems, up to date cabin, and accessible 290-horsepower turbocharged engine lean into its picture because the cool one in a parking zone filled with uncool household automobiles.
In top-of-the-line GT trim, it’s a household 4-door that does a convincing impersonation of a European sport sedan while you discover an open highway. The K5 GT begins at $31,690. A number of dearer colour selections and a single choices bundle can push that to over $37,000.
However you get rather a lot on your cash. The K5 GT could be the precise indulgence for some consumers.
Let’s study what you get on a top-of-the-line Kia K5 GT.
290 Horsepower
The engine present in different K5 trims – a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder making 180 horsepower – is all anybody wants. However the upgraded 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder is one thing many consumers need.
It gives extra energy than you’ll discover in any Honda Accord or Nissan Altima. And it nonetheless manages a good 27 mpg in mixed driving.
Sport Sedan Suspension Tuning, Sport Sedan Really feel
Our check driver calls the K5 GT “a correct sport sedan — with a bespoke suspension and steering setup, supportive entrance seats, paddle shifters, and bigger disc brakes.”
The suspension, mechanically, matches the identical description because the springs present in different K5 fashions. Up entrance, it makes use of MacPherson struts and a stabilizer bar. Within the again, an impartial multilink setup absorbs bumps, and one other stabilizer bar retains issues calm.
However engineers retuned it with a lot of observe time to make it nook sharper and really feel firmer. The identical is true of the responsive steering. It’s not meant to imitate what a Porsche 911 appears like. However, if you happen to take pleasure in a spirited drive, you’ll really feel extra linked to the GT than you’d a tamer sedan.
Jazzed-Up Inside
Sport sedans are largely about efficiency. However they’re partly about perspective and aesthetics, too. Nothing improves the sporty really feel of a automobile as shortly as making the surfaces you contact most really feel particular.
Kia places a completely completely different set of entrance seats within the GT. Added bolstering helps maintain you in place in spirited driving. They’re upholstered in Kia’s SynTex vegan leather-based, which is among the most convincing fake leather-based surfaces available on the market. And so they look cool, too. Chestnut leather-based variations get cool darkish grey inserts and contrast-color seatbelts. Black SynTex seats get purple distinction stitching for a glance that’s all sport.
Actual leather-based wraps the flat-bottom steering wheel and, if you happen to spring for the GT1 bundle, the shifter.
Sort to Rear-Seat Passengers
Some sporty fashions coddle the motive force and depart everybody else out. However each K5 provides rear-seat passengers their very own USB charging ports. The GT mannequin provides rear-seat air con and heating vents to assist preserve everybody snug.
Sportier Seems to be
The K5 GT isn’t conserving secrets and techniques about its sporty nature. It takes on a extra aggressive look than different K5 variants, due to restyled entrance and rear bumpers.
A gloss black rear spoiler is commonplace gear. Gloss black aspect mirrors match it.
Additionally commonplace are LEDs for the fog lights, flip indicators, and tail lights. The optionally available GT1 bundle provides LED projector headlights as nicely.
You don’t should spend GT cash to get the GT look. The GT-Line mannequin borrows the sportier look however skips the efficiency upgrades.
Elective Freeway Driving Help
The optionally available GT1 bundle provides some superior driver aids, together with the Freeway Driving Help system that may help with steering, acceleration, and deceleration on the freeway. It doesn’t allow you to take your fingers off the wheel and switch your consideration from the highway, however it does assist forestall fatigue on lengthy drives.
Extra Kia K5 Highlights
Learn our full evaluate or construct and worth your individual Kia K5 GT. In case you’re able to take some motion, try the Kia K5 fashions on the market close to you.
