It just needed that extra little something.
(Inspired by the elective rhinoplasty of yesterday’s Outtake.)
CC Outtake: 2002 Kia Sorento – Almost Perfick
– Posted on February 9, 2012
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Curbside Classics Archives
It just needed that extra little something.
(Inspired by the elective rhinoplasty of yesterday’s Outtake.)
For some reason I would love this even better with a Mack bulldog on the hood… although I have considered bying a used Amanti cheap and slapping either a three pointed star hood ornament on it or a Jaguar leaping cat… Just to be a smart ass.
Dan…having driven an Amanti…respectfully…you don’t want one.
I drove one for three weeks after I had to stop for something on a major highway and the DHL truck behind me couldn’t.
Scratching my eyeballs out might have been preferable.
The steering wheel would pulsate when taking a right turn under power. It was like being in a tug of war with the steering rack.
Then there was its thirst for premium gas. In a KIA?! And it was…thirsty.
Also I loved how the fake veneer on the console started to lift up.
I couldn’t wait for my ’97 Blazer to get out of the body shop.
This was in 2004 and I understand Kia’s gotten better…but that mid-90’s Pontiac you’ve said you want sounds like a far better deal.
Heck, that one’s so good that even as much as I’ve dissed GM’s FWD on these pages…I’d still own one.
Interesting. I just followed an Amanti on the road today. It struck me that it is the first one I have seen in quite awhile. I almost rented one on a trip a few years ago when they were new. But I swapped into a Taurus with satellite radio. I have always kind of wished that I had stuck to the Amanti just to get the experience of it. It sounds like I didn’t miss much.
What is also interesting is that having just bought a 2012 Kia Sorento minivan, it exhibits none of the attributes that you experienced in the Amanti.
About 2 years ago, a friend and I helped another friend buy a new used car. The buyer is in his 70’s, and loved the 2nd car he drove, a 2008 Amanti.
He sold his very tired ’92 Ninety-Eight Regency and got the Kia. I guess that makes sense, because the two cars are just variations on a theme.
The Amanti isn’t a very good car, but it sure has an engine in it. That sucker will flat -run-.
My Sedona is the same way. In many ways, I preferred my 99 T&C. But the Kia powertrain is amazing. Who would have guessed that a minivan would become the fastest car I have ever owned.
What is that stuck to the bonnet?
A rare North American fowl, called a “brougham.”
Little known fact the skin of the brougham can be harvested and turned into the rare and precious “pillow topped velour”. The extinction of this species cause the eventual death of Oldsmobile and Mercury.
But there’s good news: It appears that the once-endangered Nauga is still alive and well.
http://www.naugahyde.com/history.html
Pippa Garner did an almost identical sketch on the “Ms Goodwrench” page in Car&Driver about 10yrs ago – I’ll dig it out and post it when I finish work later.
Here’s the Pippa Garner original. It’s scary how much the Kia above is channelling this Hyundai from 2002…!