#1 Cochran Automotive
4520 William Penn HighwayMonroeville,PA15146Vehicle Reviews
2007 Kia Amanti
Redesigned model offers luxury and styling. edited by Jim McCraw
Walk Around
Fresh styling sets the 2007 Kia Amanti apart from the 2004-06 models. We wouldn't have driven the previous version to impress other people, but this car is a completely different story when it comes to contemporary style.
Kia completely restyled the front end of the Amanti with a larger, better looking and more contemporary design for the grille, headlamps and driving lamps, with concomitant changes to the hood and fenders. Likewise, the taillamps, rear quarter panels and decklid have been redone, and the rear bumper has been rejiggered to feature dual exhaust tips. Altogether, this is a much, much better looking car than the original Amanti, the XG. It's somewhat reminiscent of the Lincoln Town Car in a smaller size, but the new nose misses out on one of its missions in that it does not contain a Kia logo anywhere.
The fact that it's 250 pounds lighter than its predecessor also counts when it comes to engineering refinement and fuel mileage.
Interior
2007 Kia Amanti
The Kia Amanti we drove was a festival of black leather, black upholstery, and white marking on all the switches, controls, and gauges, a simple, well laid out and very appealing interior scheme with very little crowding of controls. Everything was well placed and easily understood. Everything we touched and used felt like quality, with smooth actions and positive stops on everything that moved.
Because our test car was loaded with almost $6000 worth of optional equipment, our expectations were high, and they were met.
The cabin is quite roomy front and rear, with plenty of leg and head room for six-footers in the rear, along with separate air conditioning circuitry and a second 12-volt power point. The seats were thick, supportive and nicely coved, front and rear, and the driver's seat had plenty of adjustment range including lumbar support.
There was a 3-D effect to the instrument package that we liked a lot, with a centered gear indicator that switched back and forth between manual and automatic modes. We particularly liked the layout of the buttons on the steering wheel for the cruise control and sound system, beautifully integrated and easy to use.
The Infinity sound system was easy to use, clean and powerful through its nine speakers, but was lacking an Aux input for digital music players, a significant minus these days. Another feature we really liked was the top center digital display screen with trip computer, a large display with large, easy to read markings for time, day, date, temperature, mileage, distance to empty, etc. However, a navigation system is not currently offered, a deal breaker for some buyers.
