In an alternate universe, we're tearing through the blissfully serpentine asphalt twisting through Topanga Canyon outside of Los Angeles; a pull of the steering wheel paddle shifter drops the transmission into second before we enter a sweeping corner. Hard on the brakes, and then back into throttle to power out; we're now three-up in the new turbocharged 2011 Kia Optima SX, and quickly bearing down upon a BMW 5 Series. Sound like a dream? Hardly: the Optima SX hungrily devours challenging corners, and its turbocharged engine backs up its good looks with plenty of bite.The 2011 Optima SX is part of an ongoing paradigm shift for Kia. Until very recently, the Korean automaker was content in building the blandest of transportation devices, designed neither to offend nor excite, and priced at bargain-basement levels. Now they're done with that. Over the past year, Kia has introduced disturbingly appealing vehicles at market-beating prices, and doing its best to shake its previously dodgy image. With the Optima SX, Kia has built a car that can legitimately vie for the title of best midsize family sedan on the market.
Let's not pretend about what we're looking at here. Since Hyundai and Kia are corporate bosom buddies, nearly all the hard parts and mechanical bits beneath the skin are shared with the also-new Hyundai Sonata Turbo. As is the case with the base Optima, the chassis features a McPherson strut front suspension, a multi-link setup in back, and a complete alphabet soup of stability aids. The top-of-the-line SX model receives upgraded 12.6-inch front discs, more aggressive damper tuning, and -- most importantly -- the all-new Theta Turbo GDI . read more >>>>>>>>
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