Test drive Kia Sephia 1993 - 2001
The second feed
September last year. Frankfurt car salon. Among the record number of prime ministers of one, by no means the brightest, I wanted to wait. For about two hours I walked around the Kia Motors stand and clogged with an ashtrays with a red-white logo, until the Big Korean boss tore off the bedspread with the new Kia Sephia II. Spray of champagne, volleys of fowls ... Thought flashed: somewhere I saw her. And to the question where? Immediately there was a answer: not even a day has passed since the moment I parked almost the same Sephia in Sheremetyevo ... After waiting for the moment when the procession of the photocori retired in the direction of the core table, climbed into the salon, touched, sniffed. Definitely - almost all of this by me is already touched and nyuhano. It feels like I'm again in my car, only non -competitive. Just during my absence, someone sprayed everything here with a brilliant spray, rearranged ventilation deflectors and watches on the instrument panel, and on the floor - a handbrake ...
Last fall, Kia Motors was already at a deep peak, almost at a corkscrew. Councils of shares of the company were shaking the fall records weekly. What to expect from a new car? And how new is Kia Sephia II? Actually, no one hoped to see something fundamentally new on the Kia stand. The audience would have come to terms with the usual restyling of the previous Sephia. But the car was declared as a premiere ... After looking at the press release, we could conclude that Sephia II is a model with a fundamentally new platform. The car base increased by 60 mm, the track of the front and rear wheels - by 20 mm. The sedan has become 67 longer, wider by 20 and higher by 25 mm. In a word - continuous growth. Apparently, the company's management was hoping to put Sephia on one step with the best -selling Korean model - Hyundai Lantra, which falls out of the type of size accepted in Europe (in its size, Lantra exceeds the Golf class model, but is inferior to Passat, Vectra or forty Volvo series) . The new Sephia, let it not much, but surpasses Lantra in size - by 10 mm in the base, 5 mm in length and 10 mm in width.
By the way, in the same place - in Frankfurt - Kia Shuma, the 5 -door version of the new Sephia, was also lit. A rare case - the hatchback turned out to be longer than the basic sedan, and even as much as 50 mm. According to this parameter, Shuma practically came close to another GOLF -class degeneration - Skoda Octavia hatchback (the difference between them is 90 mm, or a cigarette pack). 
Design. The appearance of the new Sephia has become some kind of amorphous and trivial. The rear wings remind of Mitsubishi Lancer, the lanterns are about Ford Mondeo. Shuma hatchback with four headlights and an oval of the air intake can easily be taken for a reduced copy of the Ford Taurus. What is it for? After all, the first Sephia has a unique, rather strict appearance and charm more expensive than it really is, cars ... 
In addition to growth indicators, for some reason, the press release did not contain information about any serious mechanical changes in the car. As for the engines, manufacturers limited themselves to the message: engines 1.5 and 1.8 liters, 16 valves, injection. At the same time, representatives of the company refused to open the hood of a car standing at the car. This is where doubts appeared ... Spring this year. Kia Sephia II - in Moscow. At our disposal - one and a half in the basic performance. Engine power - 88 hp (version with a 1.8 liter engine with a capacity of 111 hp. Until Russia is supplied to Russia). Exactly the same units were installed and installed on the first Sephia and Sephia LEO. These motors are licensed Mazdovsky biasl four of the late 80s, equipped with a multi -point injection system. Since the motors remained the same, it was not worth expecting the appearance of a new transmission - it was left unchanged. Only the third step in the gearbox was recounted - it became a little longer.
The chassis: everything is still. The track is increased due to the expansion of pendants. The guides and elastic elements of the suspension are the same.
Salon. Gray and very high -quality soft plastic of the instrument panel. The panel shelf is whole, without a horizontal connector, which took place on the first Sephia: this is how it should creak less. The same necessary minimum of functional buttons. Everything is familiar and convenient. In the ergonomics of the driver's workplace there were changes for the better. The lock locks are moved from the upper edge of the door upholstery to the latch lever - now you do not need to stretch with your right hand by the left shoulder. The box lever is planted briefly. And the lever of the hand brake, on the contrary, is shot up. In the raised position, he creates certain interference in working with the box lever. So to move without noticing the raised handbrake, now it is unlikely that it will be possible. Chairs, pedal node and steering wheel - without visible changes.
It is pleasant to note that with an increase in the wheelbase, the space increased in the rear section of the cabin, which created more comfortable conditions for passengers. Now their knees do not rest on the backs of the front seats. The rear door opening has also increased. An additional 25 mm of the height of the ceiling and a smoothly falling line of the rear window here is very useful here - in the first generation sedan, the nape of passengers were in dangerous proximity to this glass. An increase in the width of the cabin is almost not felt - in the old Sephia, the elimination of the elbow in the front seats did not arise even this, and for the three, they do not play a large role sitting on the rear another 20 mm width. 
The car has grown significantly in size, but its dry mass remained the same. This made it possible to preserve the dynamic characteristics of the predecessor model - the capabilities of the Mazda B5 license engine have already exhausted. The maximum speed of one and a half liter Kia Sephia II is 170 km/h, acceleration to hundreds - 11.8 seconds. For comparison: the corresponding indicators of Octavia with 1.6 liters of the engine - 187 km/h and 11.7 seconds, and last year’s Daewoo Nubira 1.6 - 185 km/h and 11 sec. 
The decrease in the seven hundredths of the third stage of the box (the 3rd is close to the 4th) is imperceptibly: the Mazdovsky engine is quite elastic, and before switching to the fourth gear it is unlikely that anyone often had to promote it to the red zone. The car holds the road very well. An extended track and an enlarged wheelbase added Kia Sephia strict behavior. But the main thing that you pay attention to when driving is the absence of muffles and creaks in the cabin. Undoubted progress. Only the rumbling of the familiar motor and rustle of summer tires is heard.
What do we have in the end? Is the new Sephia so good to take the Kia Motors from the crisis? It seems to us that the totality of the above changes in the design will not allow this. The Koreans were clearly not enough for a full -fledged fresh development of forces. The crisis is apparently too deep, and - alas! - Sephia II, most likely, will remain the last, so to speak, by a new product from Kia Motors. 
Price. In the basic version, one and a half -liter Kia Sephia II is offered for $ 14.990 (with air conditioning - a thousand more expensive), while Lantra and Octavia with 1.6 liter engines cost $ 18,000. Decide ... Ivan Paderi
Source: Motor magazine [No. 6/1998]
