Test Drive Kia Opirus (Amanti) 2003 - 2007 Sedan

Casual coincidences

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

When I first saw the opir, the lips involuntarily slid: the eyes. Politched mind corrected: the headlights are similar, but it still does not say anything. However (perhaps, by chance), one of the sellers in the showroom in a short conversation had time to compare this kia, you understood with what.
High-line hood and large grille, highlighted high in the back of the cabin and doorways. The representative class is as follows under the hood. Serious motors, a convenient passage to apartments and, of course, a stock of space above the head of an important person is also necessary. Although who said that only a passenger will be such a person?
For comfort, five electrical adjustments of the chair and two steering wheel, separate climate control in front, electric drives and heating. There is only an automatic transmission with a successive manual switching function. Most of the packages implies a leather interior, but there are options with velor. The adjustment range of the chairs characteristic of Korean cars is smaller than the Germans, but for the riders of the normal set of sufficient.
Seats would put four with a plus. I can not accurately formulate claims, but it is remembered, in other models of the representative class it was more convenient to be accommodated.
By the number of pleasant or useful trifles of opir (lat. Ophir Rus Rich Earth) It is quite consistent with the name: Music with CD changer, on-board computer, course stability system, several airbags, can be ordered electric hatch. Is that head restraints without servo and an armrest in front unregulated. But you can change the stiffness of the shock absorbers: by pressing the button on the tunnel you activate the sports settings or return them to normal.
Regular parameter
The machine with such capabilities spurs to experiments. Bringing out the operational space, the first thing turned the suspension to the sport mode, and the automatic selector in manual control. On the country highway, the machine with rigid adjustment of the shock absorbers becomes more sensitive to the driving movements and irregularities on the road. But the automatic box and now remembers its task to promote comfortable ride. She switches tender than the ambitious driver wants, but quite quickly for a person balanced. In the end, the intensity of acceleration in the executive class depends not on the speed of the movement of steps, but the capabilities of the motor. In this case, the 3.5-liter with more than two stakes.
The return of the suspension to the norm added opair the excuses, but the car did not buy a feline softness on the irregularities. Like in inertia, he continues to track the profile of the road.
Admitted by the selector of the box, I translate it into the mode of the machine and relax. It is quite promoted by a non-stained steering wheel, a long gas pedal, soft chairs and light skin around. The photographer sitting on the right, distracted by the search for a beautiful background outside the window and played by the radio.
The suspension sometimes reports the passage of Koldybin, but the engine is barely heard even with short, intense overtakers. Later I caught myself thinking that I didn't pay attention to the engine characteristic for a short test I did not have a long time to keep the right pedal in the floor. Whether the comforts are lost by adjusting to a calm way, whether the dynamic capabilities and settings of the car created a feeling of stock. For the dynamics, of course, you have to pay in the test cycle, the route computer showed more than 20 liters per hundred. But we went to pleasure!
In an anthill
On the highway on a representative car ride nice, but it's time to the city, where there are some other conditions and requirements. Traditionally, they include maneuverability, but in relation to an almost five-meter machine, this characteristic is conditional. The opir corresponds to the class, although it is subjectively heavy, and its hydraulicel does not like very fast work with the steering wheel. However, is it necessary to twist the ram on the executive car? He is also trying to prevent neighbors in the stream.
Thin front racks of KIA favors a review. Good mirrors, although the left, as it seemed, has a small curvature. The feed of the car is markedly rounded, and if there are non-parking sensors, which equip all cars, the rear encyclicks would be difficult. But the rear bumper is located quite high under its lower edge included the standard height of the border.
Saying goodbye to the opir, again I look out the interior and collecting the sensation: how I will remember the car? It is richly equipped, but moderate in price, slightly designed in their reactions, but very dynamic. Well, the majority of coincidences with other machines will assume that the class is dictated.

SUMMARY
Kia Opirus is a well-staffed representative of the representative class for a reasonable price.
+ A rich choice of complete sets, low price in the classroom.
- The suspension persistently transfers the irregularities of the road, the flaws in the work of the power steering.
 
 

Alexander Budkin

A source: Journal "Behind the wheel"