[QUOTE=Rick]
Better that than DOA.
[/QUOTE]
Right… In Japanese, do (from a Chinese word) means ‘the way of’ so that DOA could be interpreted ‘the way of Asia’. Suuuure.
[QUOTE=yabob]
It’s a Korean company. According to the Kia corporate site, the name is derived from the Chinese chartacter “ki”, meaning to “arise or come up out of”, and “a”, referring to Asia, so the name indicates “Arising out of Asia”.
[/QUOTE]
Thus showing that the silly habit of co-opting Chinese characters because you think they look or sound cool is not a uniquely American phenomenon. I wonder if the founders of Kia all got the character in question tattooed on themselves somewhere… 
I can’t speak for long term reliability, but in April/May I had used some Kia Optimas, Rios, and Amantis as rental cars. I had to drive some long distances for a client and even though I get paid mileage I didn’t want to put thousands of miles on my own car.
Using my entertainment book coupons I got a rate from Enterprise that was even better than my corporate account rate.
So I billed the mileage, used the money for the rental fee/gas, and still came out with money left over. All without putting thousands of miles on my own car.
I drove the Rio for 2 days and HATED it!:mad: A brand new one too. Just found it to be chinsy and under powered.
The 4 cylinder version of the Optima was alright, but the 6 cyl. version I had for an entire week was very, very nice. Very zippy, very fun to drive. Steering was very responsive. Controls easy to use. Leg room okay. A pleasure to drive.
The 6 cylinder Amanti they gave me for a week was powerful and classy. Though I didn’t care for the wood grain highlights of the interior. Blech.
I can’t speak for long term reliability, but the upper end Kias are nice and fun to drive. 
A Hyundai or Kia could beat a BMW in all categories and few would buy it due to the “lower quality” stigma they have, whether fair or unfair.