Kia K5

The name is a continuation of the Optima. In 2020 the Optima was retired globally and the fifth generation of this fastback saloon is called K5. In Europe Kia stopped selling saloons because of the dominance of SUVs, so officially the K5 is not sold here at all.

The channels are two and that is what matters. Our cars come from the American insurance auctions. There the base engine until 2024 is the 1.6 Turbo GDI with 180 hp on a conventional eight-speed automatic, and after the facelift for 2025 and 2026 the 2.5 Smartstream naturally aspirated with 191 arrives — easier to convert to gas than the turbo. The top is the K5 GT with the 2.5 Turbo GDI and 290 hp, to 100 km/h in about 5.4 seconds, on an eight-speed DCT.

The drivetrain is the American channel's advantage. The GT-Line trims can be ordered with intelligent all-wheel drive, which for our winters means something, while the rest are front-drive. We do hold genuine 4x4 cars, though the front-drive ones are more numerous. That is a rarity in a saloon of this class and worth looking for deliberately.

The other channel is the Korean one and you need to know it, because it competes with our cars. Dealers specialising in Korean vehicles import the 2.0 LPi directly from the Korean home market. Those cars leave the factory with no petrol tank at all — no petrol system, no injectors, no pump — running solely on gas injected in liquid phase. 146 hp and an everlasting six-speed torque-converter automatic. They start on gas at minus twenty and are cheap to keep. Their catch is different: a great many were taxis or rental cars, so the mileage wants checking.

And the most common trap in the market: GT-Line is not GT. The GT-Line has the same aggressive look — sports bumpers, black spoiler, sports wheel — but under the bonnet sits the economical 1.6 turbo or the 2.5 naturally aspirated. The real GT is recognised by the four exhaust tips at the back and by considerably larger brake calipers.