Monday, February 16, 2009

First Look: 2010 Kia Forte



There's a new Kia and town, and its name is Forte -- finally putting an end to months of Internet speculation surrounding the official moniker of the long-awaited Spectra successor. Now that the name game's out of the way, upon initial examination, the Forte badge is affixed to a familiar Kia package, but with lots of welcome additions.

The first thing you'll likely notice about the new 2010 Kia Forte (pronounced FOR - TAY) is its styling, which appears to crib several cues from competitors Honda and Toyota. While a clear departure from the outgoing Spectra, the new look is relatively conservative from a design standpoint and likely won't prove controversial. The new car's grown an inch in wheelbase, length, and width, but the Spectra's MacPherson-strut front suspension and torsion beam rear suspension are still there and the interior volume has changed less than a cubic inch. Cargo volume is up though to 14.7 cu ft from 12.2 cu ft.

No comments: