How about some really rare turkey? The exact details of how the Kia Besta van came to Canada might just be lost to us. I do have some theories but no real concrete facts. The first one involves Hyundai, which had just come to Canada in the early 80s with the Pony and Stellar. Success had come fast especially with the Pony. They were actively scoping out the American market as well. So perhaps Kia thought they’d run a trial in import and cheap car friendly Canada. The Besta van would have been a curious choice however.
So perhaps it was Mazda, whose van Kia was producing that was driving this? Perhaps they wanted to gauge the market reaction to their Bongo van without damaging the Mazda name. Adding strength to this theory is the vans were sold out of Mazda dealers but only in a handful in Canadian cities. I know Bestas were sold in Calgary and Vancouver but not sure of any others. The one below was spotted in Ontario. Can’t have been more than a few hundred ever sold.
Mechanically they are very close to the Mazda B-series pickup truck. In Canada they were sold with the same FE 2.0L inline four cylinder engine putting out only about 80hp. I owned a 1986 B2000 truck that was reliable but slow with a manual five speed so I can’t imagine the performance of the much heavier van. This lack of speed was likely one of the strikes against its customer acceptance. Overseas the Mazda Bongo, Kia Besta and also sold by Ford as the Freda had decent success and a long life span but was offered with diesel engines as well. The Kia even offered an electric version.
I’ve never actually had the good fortune to see one before but a friend of mine took who took the top photo has seen two. A few years back I did see an online ad for one in BC. Survival rates would have to be pretty low even with the parts commonality with the Mazda trucks.
Facinating yet another badge job on a Mazda van these have been sold by everyone never heard of the Besta the first Kia vans I remember was the Preggio in the late 90s.
Gosh that looks even more like a fridge box than most of those square Asian vans do.
Haha, that’s mostly the same as my year-2000 company-car Mazda E2000 (Bongo) van I mentioned in an earlier post. Mine was purple with enormous fruit on a vinyl wrap going up and over the rear. Being built in 2000 it was a facelift-front model with airbags, a/c etc (but identical to the Besta from the front doors back). Came standard from the factory with 165-series tyres, which had minimal road-holding ability – on suburban roads with speed advisory signs on corners, I couldn’t actually achieve said speed in the rain without the whole van slithering around – exciting and terrifying! I swapped the tyres out for 185-series and that problem went away. With the 2.0L 4 cylinder I once managed to achieve 160km/h (100mph) downhill.
The highlight of my 4 years in the Bongo-aka-Besta was doing an advanced driving course with it (this was compulsory for company-car drivers regardless of vehicle suitability). The course was at the Pukekohe Raceway here in New Zealand – the venue for some of the V8 Supercars racing series at the time. I was awestruck that at 50km/h it was actually possibly to do an emergency swerve and straighten without the van rolling. It also performed much better than expected in the forward and reverse slaloms – though the instructors forbade me from attempting these above 50km/h as the inside rear wheel was getting way too airborne for their comfort. Ah, good times, good times…sure glad I got promoted to a role with a Mazda 6 though!
You know Mazda made a Bongo camper version with a Westphalia style pop up roof… it was called the Bongo Friendee. seriously.
The Bongo is ubiquitous in Asian developing countries. The Philippines is full of them as is Thailand. This is because there is a need for a large, simple, easy to fix cargo/people mover. Nobody cares about the 1/4 mile time because the traffic is so bad anyway.
That said, the Besta has now supplanted the Bongo. Used Bestas are exported out of Korea by the boatload and the Philippines, again, is full of them. This is because you can get them fixed anywhere. I might add, Filipino grease monkeys really are mechanics, not part swappers like our “techs” here. Bring your broken Bongo by and he’ll fix it with simple tools and materials 99% of the time.
I absolutely love these compact, driver-over-the-engine Asian vans. Never saw (much less drove) them until we moved to Australia, but have since rented several from budget rental outfits for moving house, etc. Sitting over the front axle gives you a feeling of driving a small boat over choppy seas, and the light weight and RWD make them surprisingly quick for darting around city corners. Never driven a Besta, but the Mitsubishi Star Wagon I’ve borrowed a few times is hilarious.
There is still one in our neighbourhood in Victoria. I think it’s still in use. There’s also a Nissan Homy down our street, a Toyota Soarer around the corner and the guy two doors down just bought a 1996 Mitsubishi Delica.
Im thinking of buying one. I currently drive an older maxima with the v6(160hp)auto. I love it,it is fast. From what I have read the besta does not qualify as a fast vehicle. The main reason I might consider buying this van is; roominess and the manual transmission. Having said all that. Here are some pics!
-calgary
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Bought a 1987 red Besta in April 1988 for $11,999 in Acton Ont., about 387 came into Canada, was waiting for one after the Expo1986. Because of the price they sold out within the week many dealers sold out in one day. Being given a quota.There were some safety issues, Canadian just let in the one shipment. Sold by Mazda dealers. In Nanaimo BC the local dealer just got one Besta and it sold the day it arrived. One of the best cars I owned. Carried kids great. Seat belts were stamped “VW” Orphan parts were flown in from Korea usually within the week, Mazda dealer was quite helpful
I went to expo 86 was a kid then
Hello from Quebec City,
The Mazda dealer here (Chatel) had a few Kia Besta parked on their front lot in 1987. Wrote to Mazda Canada in the early 90’s to learn more about it. Looks like 300 unites were imported. I guess to test the market? Then the Mpv arrived for 1989… I recall that I saw one in the mid 2000 but in poor shape (putty etc…). Would be cool to find one in a barn 🙂
Have a look at the Facebook page for classic Asian cars in Quebec : voitures asiatiques classiques du Québec.
Seb
I still drive one of these around Calgary (blue). Minimal rust and 97,000KM!
If you know of a windshield/windscreen that will interchange with the ’87 Kia Besta please share! Also looking for a blower motor that will fit or can be rigged into place.
Air Filter is NOT from a B2000, it’s from an 87 Mazda 626 – Fram 3997 / Wix 46118
Confirmed compatibility w/ B2000 – Starter Motor and Oil Filter
anmack AT Google Mail
Still driving my Besta, up to 117,000KM
Clutch slave cylinder from a B2000 fits, master does not! Had to order a reman from eBay europe. Door handles have cracked twice due to the cold, first time found a replacement on eBay, second time found a replacement on aliexpress.
I’ve cranked the torsion bars to give me some lift but left me with unbalanced suspension and a lower rear end, installing Monroe Max-Air front/rear to correct this problem.
Anyone in Canada still driving or (better yet) parting one out?
Thanks,
Andrew
hi there
where can I buy the rear tail lamps for my kia besta
feraad
south Africa
area code 0027
728542461
Hi there just saw this post I own a 1987 kia besta manual transmission here in Tillsonburg Ontario if your ever in the area pop a reply and you can take her for a spin !
Hi Kevin,
What colour is it?? I had one in Burlington back in the 90’s
Hi everyone, Me too have 1988 kia besta but i need its red light.I forgot I’m in morocco, if any one know where can I bey them
I first saw a Mazda Bongo in a ’70s Popular Science, perhaps a “What’s New In The Land Of The Rising Sun” sidebar or somesuch.
In ’94 we were preparing to leave for an epic camping holiday in an old Volare wagon, and a fellow in the neighbourhood was selling a tan ’87 Kia Besta. It was low-mileage (80,000 km), had the coveted 5-speed manual, was in very good shape, and the owner was only asking $5500. I passed, reluctantly, because we really wanted our next vehicle to have air conditioning. I loved the utility and the style though. It was, for years, the road-not-taken vehicle.
The owner had written to Kia in Korea, asking about the availability of a factory service manual. After some weeks, a full manual had shown up in the mail, no charge.
Strangely enough, a GM (Pontiac, IIRC) dealer in town was selling a used blue one at the same time. I phoned on a whim, and the salesman insisted on calling it a Mazda, and wanted to bring it to my home for a test drive. I was intrigued, but declined.
I checked with the manager at a now-defunct Mazda dealer, and he walked a tightrope, saying the Besta (which his dealership might have sold only a few years before) was a good van, but definitely not of Mazda quality.
According to him, Mazda, desperate to get in on the minivan boom of the mid-’80s, had imported 150 Bestas into Canada for model years ’87 and ’88. The MPV was available for ’89.
I saw the (presumably same) brown/tan one a few years later – by this time it had developed a lot of surface rust. The family looked to be African immigrants, and had likely bought a familiar vehicle. The mid-engine boxy vans are very common in the 3rd world.
We moved to NZ for a year in 2003/04, and bought … TAH DAH … a ’95 Mazda Bongo. 2.0 l SOHC, carbureted (with manual choke!), 9-passenger, RHD, 5-speed manual, with mutant (and very helpful) mirrors on the front and rear.
Drove it for a year and racked up 16,000 km. I had to replace the front wiper motor, which I got used. Other than that it was good mechanically.
It was an excellent urban vehicle. The seats all folded flat, making a gigantic cushy bed. Would have been good to camp in. The middle bench was on a pedestal, and could rotate 180 degrees, so it (the middle bench) could face the back. It was absolutely cavernous for moving furniture or carrying great quantities of groceries. One time we actually had nine people in it.
I found it terrifying on the highway, or indeed on urban curves. It tended to get badly buffeted by the wind, with the sides acting as giant flat sails, and the centre of gravity was quite high for the narrow width.
While there we also test-drove a ’92 Mitsubishi Delica. I liked the column-shifted 5-speed, but my wife said it was too weird, thus the Bongo.
The driving position was excellent, though I cringed to think of being part of the crumple zone. Being a passenger up front was terrifying; I kept thinking of being a fly on a windowpane.
150 for ’87 and 150 for ’88, or 150 total across both model years?
I was told 150 total over both model years. And to think that I saw two of them!
I saw another one (or perhaps one of the earlier two) years later at a children’s amusement park (in the parking lot, not as an attraction). I can’t remember the colour, but it had a bright contrasting rear body panel, perhaps the hatch, testifying to the scarcity of parts.
I owned a new blue KIA Besta van. Bought it through a Mazda dealer in Thunder Bay Ontario. Had it for around 10 years. Great vehicle had very few problems with it. Unfortunately after around 6 years Mazda stopped supporting them and parts became a big problem. Our local dealer refused to help cross reference parts. Most came from either a B2000 or a 626. I eventually sold it. It was fun to drive and tuned on a dime.
I had heard similar, that a lot of the mechanical parts were the same, but that the Mazda dealers did not have a cross-reference.
I think this was atypical of Mazda; they supported our ancient (’97) MPV right through the end of 2018 when we finally retired it.
Wow, I had entirely forgotten about these. I was working for Wolfe Mazda in Burnaby when these came in. I think 6 or 8 were allocated to us. They arrived the day before I was to leave for a 1 week vacation. I recall sitting in it and thinking the ergonomics were terrible. Steering wheel angled up like a city bus, and there was a steering column between your legs. Would not have wanted to be in an accident in it. They were selling for about the same price as a base model 323, which I think was around $8000ish. They all sold (for list price, no discounts) by the time I came back from vacation.
I went to elementary school in the 90s in Vancouver and one of the girls in my class, her mom had a kia besta. I used to look at it and be like why is it so ugly. And i had never heard of or seen a KIA before that. I asked her once like where is van from. And she said “it’s just like a mazda”. I literally thought she was nuts and trying to pull one over me. That is how i found this article. So i guess she wasn’t nuts after all ??. Oops.