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Kia Amanti arrives as a premium luxury sedan for a low price
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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DEL MAR, Calif. -- Inventive Kia, the car company from South Korea which makes a lot of value-priced vehicles, is moving its mix of products decidedly upscale by building a new sedan that measures up to large-car status and carries the trappings of a premium luxury model.
The new Kia, named Amanti, stretches long and looks rather elegant with sculptured styling drawn from classic luxury touring sedans out of Europe.
Its arrival marks the largest product for this fleet and brings a higher level of quality, comfort and passenger space to the line, and it contains lavish features plus more standard safety equipment than any previous Kia.
But here's the inimitable Kia twist: Amanti bears a bottom-line price tag of only $24,995.
Tack on the unavoidable freight fee of $540 and the drive-it-home figure for Amanti bumps up to $25,535, which may well represent the least amount of dollars required to get the most amount of car among all 2004 models.
Then the manufacturer supports this product with an impressive warranty program which extends well beyond protection for other vehicles -- the powertrain is insured for ten years or 100,000 miles and there's a five-year or 60,000-mile shield against defects.
Check out that tony exterior package and you might easily assume it's a fancy import worth double the price.
Conformed as a notchback four-door sedan with seats inside for four or five, Amanti looks substantial with a bold prow displaying a prominent egg-crate grille in chrome tucked between flanking pairs of oval articulated headlamps.
The canted hood and bulging fenders incorporate striking ripples patterned after curves of the headlamps and these waves flow back in tapering lines. The shapes seem familiar, as they're similar to sweeping fender designs on luxury sedans by Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.
Profile of Amanti reveals an arching roofline which rolls down at rear pillars into a convexly curved rear window that evokes images of a classic 1930s-vintage Type 57 Bugatti sports coupe.
Tail treatment looks conservative with a squarish flat deck but curvaceous corners and wraparound horizontal taillamp clusters.
Foundation of Amanti comes out of the XG350 sedan by Hyundai, Korea's larger automaker and Kia's parent, only the wheelbase has been stretched several inches, the width of the body is about an inch greater and the length of the body projects for four inches longer.
The resultant stretched structure forges a four-door passenger compartment of generous dimensions with a high ceiling so the headroom for front and rear seats is good even for someone with a tall torso.
This is also a broad space so there's ample room for shoulders of those riding in the back, and the long wheelbase adds sufficient legroom for all seats.
A conventional layout puts a pair of comfortable bucket seats up front with a center console housing the transmission shift lever. Behind the front seats, a bench for three has indentations for two, plus a fold-down armrest and porthole for access to the trunk.
Front buckets, designed to fit large American frames, slide forward and back on long tracks to exaggerate floor space and accommodate even a long-legged driver.
And there's a significant list of standard equipment aboard in the manner of a premium luxury car, such as eight-way power controls on the driver's seat plus memory settings for two different drivers.
Trim streaks of faux grained hardwood decorate the dash with a central stack of controls like a dual-zone climate system and Infinity 270-watt stereo with CD deck and eight speakers scattered around the cabin.
A hood on the top of the dash extends for the width of the car and shelters a center panel for the optional four-inch video monitor plus a horizontal glove box on the right and the instrument cluster to the left in front of the driver.
Instruments features a Machine-Age look with large round analog gauges rimmed in matte-finish aluminum and a background with white and black circles and legible white-on-black lettering with vivid red needles.
On the plump leather-wrapped steering wheel, there are multiple remote buttons for operating climate and audio systems plus a cruise controller.
What cannot be seen from inside Amanti can only be heard -- or, more precisely, not heard -- because there's extensive material wrapping the cabin to stifle noise and block exterior sounds from intruding into the space.
Creating a vehicle that fosters a serene and rattle-free interior environment is no trick, as a variety of pricy luxury cars demonstrate. However, properties of superior sound isolation are rarely found in vehicles pitched at the bottom of competitive price charts, and that point alone makes Amanti the unusual vehicle.
A steel unibody structure surrounds the passenger compartment, with high-tension reinforcements layered at critical junctures to increase rigidity of the system.
The suspension employs independent elements of a double wishbone in front with coil springs, gas-charged shocks and stabilizer bar, plus a rear multi-link system and stabilizer bar. Ride quality feels smooth yet firm and controlled, as the system eliminates typical squat or dive response when accelerating rapidly or braking hard.
Speed-sensitive rack and pinion steering contributes to the agile nature of Amanti.
Also, there are power-assisted brakes with ventilated front discs and solid discs in back, each coupled to a computerized anti-lock brake system (ABS).
And Kia provides elaborate passive safety equipment, including air bags up front, on the side for all four outboard seats as well as in the ceiling as curtain-style air bags hidden above the four side windows.
Kia also offers as an option for Amanti an electronic stability program (ESP) with traction control system (TCS).
Under the hood, Amanti packs a dual-cam 3.5-liter V6 engine that develops 200 hp at 5500 rpm and 220 lb-ft of torque at 3500 rpm.
All power translates through a sophisticated electronically-controlled five-speed automatic transaxle with no-load choice of a manual shift control (MSC) mode.
During our tests steering an Amanti on California freeways and curvy mountain roads through San Diego County, we discover an assertive power posture when you put your foot in it. Despite the twin-ton bulk, it feels frisky.
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| Vehicle Specifications: |
| 2004 KIA AMANTI Specs |
| Description: |
Full-size luxury sedan
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| Model Options: |
Full-size luxury sedan
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| Wheelbase: |
110.2 inches
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| Overall Length: |
196.0 inches
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| Engine Size: |
DOHC 3.5-L V6
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| Transmission: |
Auto/5
Auto/5 MSC
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| Drive: |
Front
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| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS
opt. TCS/ESP
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| Airbags: |
2 (front) + 4 (side)
+ 4 (side curtain)
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| Gas Mileage: |
17/25 mpg
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| Price: |
$ 24,995 |
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