Test drive Kia Opirus (AMANTI) 2003 - 2007 sedan

Random coincidences

Kia Opirus
The car was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2003. It was built on the Hyundai Equus platform, known in our market under the name Santennial.
Engines: gasoline 3.0 liters (187 p.) And 3.5 l (203 hp).
Gearbox: automatic 4-speed, front drive.
Complex: Ten options.
Price in Russia: $ 29 99039 990.
Test car: 3.5 l, 203 l. p., Automatic 4-speed gearbox, leather salon, $ 38,000.

When I first saw the Opirus, it involuntarily slipped from my lips: glazed. The political correct mind corrected: the headlights are similar, but this does not mean anything. However, (possibly by chance) one of the sellers in the car dealership for a short conversation managed to compare this kia you realized with what.
A high hood line and a large grille of the radiator, emphasized the high -rear interior and doorways. The representative class is thus under the hood of serious engines, a convenient passage to the apartments and, of course, the supply of space over the head of an important person is also necessary. Although who said that only a passenger will be such a person?
For comfort sitting at the wheel, five electrical adjustments of the chair and two steers, separate climate control in front, electric drives and heating. Only an automatic gearbox with a function of consistent manual switching is provided. Most of the configuration involve a leather salon, but there are also options with velor. The range of adjustments of the seats characteristic of Korean machines is smaller than that of the Germans, but for the riders normal complexion is sufficient.
The seats would put a four with a plus. I can’t definitely formulate claims, but I remember that in other models of the representative class it was more convenient to place.
By the number of pleasant or useful trifles, the opirus (lat. Ophir rus rich earth) is quite consistent with the name: music with a CD changer, on-board computer, a course stability system, several airbags, you can order an electric hatch. Unless the headrests without a servo drive and an armrest in the front are unregulated. But you can change the rigidity of shock absorbers: by pressing the button on the tunnel, you activate sports settings or return them to normal.
Demonial parameter
A machine with such opportunities spurks to experiments. Having escaped to the operational scope, the first thing he put the suspension into the sport mode, and the machine gun selector into manual control. On a suburban highway, a car with a rigid setting of shock absorbers becomes more sensitive to the movements of the steering wheel and irregularities on the road. But the automatic box now remembers its task to contribute to comfortable driving. It switches more tender than an ambitious driver wants, but quickly enough for a balanced person. In the end, the intensity of acceleration in the representative class does not depend on the speed of climbing the steps, but the capabilities of the motor. In this case, a 3.5-liter with more than two hundred horses.
The return of the suspension to normal added an opirus of an impressiveness, but the car did not acquire feline softness on irregularities. As if by inertia, he continues to track the profile of the road.
Having recorded the box selector, I transfer it into a machine gun and relax. This is quite facilitated by the emergency steering wheel, long -flowing gas pedal, soft chairs and light skin around. The photographer sitting on the right was distracted from the search for a beautiful background outside the window and played out with a radio.
The suspension sometimes reports the passage of the pardon, but the engine is barely audible even with short, intense overtaking. Later he caught himself thinking that he did not pay attention to the characterization of the motor for a short test did not have a chance to keep the right pedal in the floor for a long time. Either comforted, setting up in a calm way, or the dynamic capabilities and settings of the car created a feeling of reserve. For the dynamics, of course, you have to pay in the test cycle the route computer showed more than 20 liters per hundred. But they went to pleasure!
In the anthill
It’s nice to ride on the highway on a representative car, but it’s time to go to the city where there are somewhat different conditions and requirements. Traditionally, maneuverability are attributed to them, but in relation to an almost five -meter machine, this characteristic is conditional. Opirus corresponds to the class, although it is subjectively heavy, and its hydraulic wrap does not like a very fast work by the steering wheel. However, is it necessary to fussyly twist the steering wheel on a representative car? The neighbors try not to interfere in the stream.
The thin front racks of Kia favors the review. The mirrors are good, although the left one, as it seemed, has a small curvature. The feed of the machine is noticeably rounded, and if it were not for the parking sensors that all the cars equip, the rear dimensions would be difficult to feel. But the rear bumper is located quite high under its lower edge enters the standard height of the curbs.
Saying goodbye to the opirus, I look around the salon again and collect the sensations together: how will I remember the car? Richly equipped, but moderate in price, slightly dabbled in its reactions, but very dynamic. Well, most coincidences with other machines, we will assume, are dictated by the class.

SUMMARY
KIA Opirus is a well -equipped representative of a representative class for a moderate price.
+ A rich selection of configurations, low price in the classroom.
- The suspension persistently conveys the irregularities of the road, flaws in the operation of the steering hydraulic power steering.
 
 

Alexander Budkin

Source: The magazine "Driving"