The Sl‍‍‍eek Entrant

Now infused with an array of changes, the all-new Optima features a modern, new exterior, a bold interior design with more space for all occupants. Besides that, it also leads the class with a new and extremely-potent 242bhp turbocharged motor.

Design

The exterior styling of the all-new Kia Optima was a question of balance for Kia’s global design teams. The all-new Optima maintains the athletic identity that made it so popular, while making a confident leap forward to attract car buyers looking for something different.

Instantly recognisable as a Kia, the all-new Optima integrates the brand’s hallmark ‘tiger-nose’ grille with the longer, wider, wrap-around headlamps, pulled taut over the blistered wheel arches. The bumper swells into bold right angles around the front fog lamps, adding greater volume to the lower part of the ‘face’ and giving the car a more stable, wider look.

In profile, the glass area maintains the raked A-pillar and sweeping C-pillar that define the Optima’s sports-sedan appearance, with the rear quarter light kicking up smartly as the shoulder line extends towards the raised boot lid.

The shoulder line itself is an extension of the parallel followed by the front headlamps, forming a clean, straight light that connects front and rear. The deeply-sculptured body panels of the doors curve fluently into slightly extended side sills, again increasing the visual weight around the skirt of the Optima.

Dimensions

Interior

Drawing inspiration from Kia’s global range of models, the all-new Optima boasts a more luxurious, driver-focused interior than ever before, with a range of features and technologies available which are typically associated with the class above. The new cabin is crafted with an obsessive attention to detail, and represents the biggest step forward for the new model.

Kia’s design team focused on delivering a thor‍‍‍oughly modern interior look and feel, with the cabin offering a cleaner, more unified design than the previous generation. The dashboard is spread along a more horizontal plane and a wider central console, creating a greater sense of spaciousness.

The dashboard is divided into an upper ‘display’ zone and a lower ‘control’ zone, ensuring drivers need never take their eyes off the road in order to see the key information displayed. The central fascia is angled 8.5 degrees towards the driver, with the upper ‘display’ zone housing a new 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system and lower ‘control’ zone offering fewer buttons than the outgoing Optima to manage the various cabin functions that aren’t already built into the touchscreen.

In reshaping the front and rear seats, the interior design team also paid particular attention to seat comfort. Stiffer seat frames reduce the level of vibrations through the seats while improving seat durability and reducing the weight of each seat by 2.6 kg, while softer foam in the headrests, upper back and under-thigh supports allows occupants to nestle into the seats more comfortably. In the front, deeper side bolsters are made up of denser, more supportive foam.

Refinement

Reinforcing the need to provide a calm and relaxing driving environment, the all-new Optima boasts greater refinement than ever before, with considerable efforts made by development teams to reduce noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

Some of the most important innovations to reduce NVH include a larger under-floor cover and more effective windshield seals, each of which help to reduce wind noise by 2% while aiding aerodynamics and, ultimately, fuel efficiency.

Powertrain

2.0-litre T-GDI Gasoline

Type Four cylinder in-line, turbocharged

Capacity 2.0-litres, 1,998 cc

Bore and stroke 86.0 x 86.0 mm

Compression ratio 10.0:1

Max power 242bhp at 6,000 rpm

Max torque 350Nm at 1,400-4,000 rpm

Valves 16 (four per cylinder)

Fuel system Direct injection

Transmission Six-speed automatic

Steering

Gearing 14.34:1

Turns lock-to-lock 2.78

Turning circle 5.45 metres

Type Rack-mounted electric motor (R-MDPS)

Brakes

Front 280~320 mm ventilated discs

Rear 262~284 mm solid discs

Dimensions

Exterior

Overall length 4,855mm Overall width* 1,860mm

Overall height 1,465mm Wheelbase 2,805mm

Front track 1,597mm Rear track 1,608mm‍‍‍

Front overhang 965mm Rear overhang 1,085mm

Ground clearance 135mm

*excluding door mirrors

Interior

Head room 1st: 1,020  2nd: 970

Leg room 1st: 1,155  2nd: 905

Shoulder room 1st: 1,475  2nd: 1,432

Hip room 1st: 1,423  2nd: 1,422

Specifications

Price: OTR (without insurance) from RM174,833.35

Colour Selection

The all-new Optima features a uniquely engineered body which combines more high-strength materials than ever before, resulting in even higher standards of crash safety. While passive safety is improved, the new model is also equipped with a series of high-tech active and autonomous safety features, and Kia’s engineers have targeted the highest possible global safety ratings throughout the Optima’s development programme, including a five-star Euro NCAP rating.

The bodyshell of the all-new Optima is stronger than ever thanks to the more extensive use of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). 50% of the body is now made up of AAHS – representing a 150% increase over that of the previous car (20%) – and boasts a 450% increase in the amount of structural adhesive used.

The result is that torsional rigidity has been improved by 50% over the model that it replaces, while the body shell is also 8.6 kg lighter. The higher-strength steel alloys have been applied to reinforce the A and B-pillars, side sills, roof, floor, front wheel arches and rear bulkhead, boosting the all-round structural integrity of the body.

Passive safety is further improved for occupants with all-round six airbags protection. ‍‍‍‍‍The all-new Optima will be available with driver, ‍‍‍passenger, two front side and two curtain airbags.

Safety

The all-new Optima’s evolutionary new look was designed to be functional and sporty, with exterior dimensions that are marginally longer, taller and wider. The wheelbase has been extended by 10 mm to 2,805mm, with the full vehicle length growing 10mm to 4,855mm. Meanwhile the new model is 25mm wider, at 1,860mm, and 10mm taller (1,465mm).

‍‍‍These ch‍‍‍anges enable a roomier and more comfortable cabin, with more head-, shoulder- and rear-seat leg-room and greater cargo capacity. From a styling perspective, the new dimensions afforded Kia’s designers the chance to introduce a more swept-back, dynamic shape.