Car and Driver Compares the Kia K900 to the LS460L
02-12-15, 11:09 AM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Car and Driver Compares the Kia K900 to the LS460L
Well, I've already full-reviewed the K900 and had my own say, so that's not the purpose of this thread. But Car and Driver magazine, now, has had long-term experience with the K900 (even though it's been in the U.S. market less than a year)...and here's what they have to say about it......pretty much what you'd expect to hear about a classic softly-sprung luxo-cruiser.
(They also agreed with something I said.....that this should have been Lincoln's Town Car replacement)
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...-update-review
WHAT WE LIKE: On an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Stiller screamed, “Serenity now!” He might have been begging for a K900. This Kia’s cockpit is a soothing library of motoring doldrums, an isolation pod, a rolling sofa, a tomb of rectitude and silence. It all recollects the interior of, oh, say, a Lexus LS460L. In fact, the Kia emits 36 decibels at idle (same as the Lexus), 73 dB at wide-open throttle (also same as the Lexus), and 67 dB at a 70-mph cruise (only 1 dB beyond the Lexus). That, folks, is some kind of serenity now, enough that you’ll be looking down at the tach to see if the engine is still running, which is pretty amazing given its 420-hp output. (A 3.8-liter V-6 should be available shortly.) The velvet fog of revs continues right up to the 6700-rpm redline, with the eight-speed automatic shuffling through gears like the world’s slickest croupier. All that power has held our average fuel economy to 21 mpg, but a 415-mile range compensates nicely.
Sixty mph is yours in 5.5 seconds (versus 6.0 seconds in the LS460L), and the quarter-mile is dispatched in a scant 13.9 seconds at a not-so-scant 104 mph—plenty quick for anything weighing 4670 pounds. Mash the throttle and it feels as if you can summon four-gear kickdowns—when’s the last time you heard someone say that?—to pass lumbering trucks and such. And 70 mph worth of velocity can be scrubbed in only 179 feet, which is pretty wonderful.
Depending on your motoring priorities, this is maybe our best-ever long-termer for interstate cruising, with seats that are comfortable for 16 hours at a crack. And on each of three occasions when we’ve hauled dual occupants to the airport, one or more has nodded off in the limousine-worthy rear seats. If there’s one word to define the K900, it’s “fluid.” This car is honest about being a soft luxo-cruiser and nothing else, as if Kia were saying, “We can do luxury, too.” And now it’s true.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE: By far the biggest knock against the K900 is that all that glorious ride compliance obliterates any pretense of handling, even in Sport mode. Dive, roll, squat, pitch—this Kia is simply a festival of unwanted motions on demanding roads. Despite the lovely ride, our Deep Formal Blue K900 will nonetheless circulate a skidpad at 0.80 g, which isn’t particularly bad for a luxo-sedan. That’s the same grip as the aforementioned LS460L, in fact. Still, whenever you approach the Kia’s lateral limits, the brain in your keister shouts, “Whoa, baby, let’s not get crazy!”
Steering feel, uh, is pea soup; self-centering is just satisfactory; effort build-up in turns is, well, what effort? And the brake pedal isn’t big on information, either. The BMW-style shifter is disappointing, with the tactile sensation of a week-old noodle, which is to insult all pasta. It is thus easy to grab “N” instead of “D,” but if you’ve summoned any revs in the meantime, no gears at all are available. The K900 is a cautious boy.
Despite this “Komfort Kia’s” leaden window sticker, there are still plasticky, frumpy surfaces in the cabin—the steering column, lower door panels, sills, some of the switchgear—that look to have been sourced from an Optima. Or a Forte. And apart from the faux-suede headliner, which is a soothing thing to touch, the rest of the cockpit is strangely old-fashioned. Check out the font on the gauges.
At approximately 11,400 miles, the adaptive cruise control falsely identified a vehicle ahead and threw the K900 into a full panic stop on I-90 in southeastern Montana. A scary event. Could a giant bug have splattered on the radar’s lens? So far, we all have theories but no hard data.
You can put yourself in a K900 for as “little” as $60,400, but we, of course, went all carnivale and specified the VIP Package ($6000), giving us, among other wonderments, power door latches, ventilated rear seats, and a driver’s seat-cushion extension for those trips when the driver needs a nap. That brought the total to $66,400. It is hard to describe the typical civilian reaction to the fiscal news, except to say it follows the basic pattern of, “Sixty grand? For a Kia?! Are you s------g me?” The Kia’s tame styling does damage, too, revealing nothing about its owner except his advancing age. Or it might suggest you’re a chauffeured Asian CEO. Either way, that’s probably not the image you had in mind. In Minnesota, the car was mistaken for a Maserati, but everyone else has so far ID’d it as a Buick. In fairness, quite a nice Buick. Speaking of luxury brands, at least two C/D editors noted, “This should have been the latest Lincoln.” Truly, that’s a fair assessment. In the years ahead, it will be interesting to monitor K900 resale values. Not that the sample size will be very large—only 1330 K900s were sold in America in all of 2014.
WHAT WENT WRONG: No sooner did we take delivery of the K900 than we lost a battle with a Michigan pothole. Typically such potholes are filled with water and are thus “invisible,” although you’d think the whitecaps on the surface would have given it away. In any event, Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists straightened the bent wheel ($135) and Discount Tire balanced and affixed it ($36).
We first serviced the Kia at Ann Arbor Automotive at 8987 miles (basic inspections, lube and filter, for $56.05) and again at 15,413 miles at Rimrock Kia in Billings, Montana. Rimrock had never seen a K900 before—we get ’em fresh, don’t we?—and thus had no replacement cabin air filter. They nonetheless performed the basic inspections, plus lube and engine air filter, for $86.20; we’ll get the filter replaced soon.
Other than the installation of 19-inch Pirelli Sottozero 3 winter rubber to replace the OE Hankook Optimos, the K900 has so far held firm, with nothing falling off or going haywire apart from the adaptive-cruise event. Not bad considering the craters of Michigan and the shake-fest that typifies rural Montana’s scabrous byways.
WHERE WE WENT: For four adults, the K900 is a kind of luxurious auditorium on wheels, and the car thus logged treks to West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Then, immediately following the magazine’s annual 10Best soirée, the editor of our Montana Desk sequestered the K900 for four months, navigating it through the Bitterroot Mountains and on to Washington state’s San Juan and Orcas Islands. On one of its many ferry rides, the Kia was parked nose-first into the ship’s open bow. When it emerged, it was slathered in a white saddle of evaporated sea foam and salt. We’re not sure its Korean creators intended such artistic defilement. In the end, though, the Montana snow forced this rear-drive, 420-hp sedan back east. Even the “Snow” mode—which leavens shifts and revs to levels seen only in locomotive diesels—the car was unable to defeat eight inches of ice-capped slush. —John Phillips
Months in Fleet: 8 months
Current Mileage: 16,979 miles Average Fuel Economy: 21 mpg
Fuel Tank Size: 19.8 gal Fuel Range: 415 miles
Service: $142.25 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $171 Continued...
(They also agreed with something I said.....that this should have been Lincoln's Town Car replacement)
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...-update-review
WHAT WE LIKE: On an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Stiller screamed, “Serenity now!” He might have been begging for a K900. This Kia’s cockpit is a soothing library of motoring doldrums, an isolation pod, a rolling sofa, a tomb of rectitude and silence. It all recollects the interior of, oh, say, a Lexus LS460L. In fact, the Kia emits 36 decibels at idle (same as the Lexus), 73 dB at wide-open throttle (also same as the Lexus), and 67 dB at a 70-mph cruise (only 1 dB beyond the Lexus). That, folks, is some kind of serenity now, enough that you’ll be looking down at the tach to see if the engine is still running, which is pretty amazing given its 420-hp output. (A 3.8-liter V-6 should be available shortly.) The velvet fog of revs continues right up to the 6700-rpm redline, with the eight-speed automatic shuffling through gears like the world’s slickest croupier. All that power has held our average fuel economy to 21 mpg, but a 415-mile range compensates nicely.
Sixty mph is yours in 5.5 seconds (versus 6.0 seconds in the LS460L), and the quarter-mile is dispatched in a scant 13.9 seconds at a not-so-scant 104 mph—plenty quick for anything weighing 4670 pounds. Mash the throttle and it feels as if you can summon four-gear kickdowns—when’s the last time you heard someone say that?—to pass lumbering trucks and such. And 70 mph worth of velocity can be scrubbed in only 179 feet, which is pretty wonderful.
Depending on your motoring priorities, this is maybe our best-ever long-termer for interstate cruising, with seats that are comfortable for 16 hours at a crack. And on each of three occasions when we’ve hauled dual occupants to the airport, one or more has nodded off in the limousine-worthy rear seats. If there’s one word to define the K900, it’s “fluid.” This car is honest about being a soft luxo-cruiser and nothing else, as if Kia were saying, “We can do luxury, too.” And now it’s true.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE: By far the biggest knock against the K900 is that all that glorious ride compliance obliterates any pretense of handling, even in Sport mode. Dive, roll, squat, pitch—this Kia is simply a festival of unwanted motions on demanding roads. Despite the lovely ride, our Deep Formal Blue K900 will nonetheless circulate a skidpad at 0.80 g, which isn’t particularly bad for a luxo-sedan. That’s the same grip as the aforementioned LS460L, in fact. Still, whenever you approach the Kia’s lateral limits, the brain in your keister shouts, “Whoa, baby, let’s not get crazy!”
Steering feel, uh, is pea soup; self-centering is just satisfactory; effort build-up in turns is, well, what effort? And the brake pedal isn’t big on information, either. The BMW-style shifter is disappointing, with the tactile sensation of a week-old noodle, which is to insult all pasta. It is thus easy to grab “N” instead of “D,” but if you’ve summoned any revs in the meantime, no gears at all are available. The K900 is a cautious boy.
Despite this “Komfort Kia’s” leaden window sticker, there are still plasticky, frumpy surfaces in the cabin—the steering column, lower door panels, sills, some of the switchgear—that look to have been sourced from an Optima. Or a Forte. And apart from the faux-suede headliner, which is a soothing thing to touch, the rest of the cockpit is strangely old-fashioned. Check out the font on the gauges.
At approximately 11,400 miles, the adaptive cruise control falsely identified a vehicle ahead and threw the K900 into a full panic stop on I-90 in southeastern Montana. A scary event. Could a giant bug have splattered on the radar’s lens? So far, we all have theories but no hard data.
You can put yourself in a K900 for as “little” as $60,400, but we, of course, went all carnivale and specified the VIP Package ($6000), giving us, among other wonderments, power door latches, ventilated rear seats, and a driver’s seat-cushion extension for those trips when the driver needs a nap. That brought the total to $66,400. It is hard to describe the typical civilian reaction to the fiscal news, except to say it follows the basic pattern of, “Sixty grand? For a Kia?! Are you s------g me?” The Kia’s tame styling does damage, too, revealing nothing about its owner except his advancing age. Or it might suggest you’re a chauffeured Asian CEO. Either way, that’s probably not the image you had in mind. In Minnesota, the car was mistaken for a Maserati, but everyone else has so far ID’d it as a Buick. In fairness, quite a nice Buick. Speaking of luxury brands, at least two C/D editors noted, “This should have been the latest Lincoln.” Truly, that’s a fair assessment. In the years ahead, it will be interesting to monitor K900 resale values. Not that the sample size will be very large—only 1330 K900s were sold in America in all of 2014.
WHAT WENT WRONG: No sooner did we take delivery of the K900 than we lost a battle with a Michigan pothole. Typically such potholes are filled with water and are thus “invisible,” although you’d think the whitecaps on the surface would have given it away. In any event, Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists straightened the bent wheel ($135) and Discount Tire balanced and affixed it ($36).
We first serviced the Kia at Ann Arbor Automotive at 8987 miles (basic inspections, lube and filter, for $56.05) and again at 15,413 miles at Rimrock Kia in Billings, Montana. Rimrock had never seen a K900 before—we get ’em fresh, don’t we?—and thus had no replacement cabin air filter. They nonetheless performed the basic inspections, plus lube and engine air filter, for $86.20; we’ll get the filter replaced soon.
Other than the installation of 19-inch Pirelli Sottozero 3 winter rubber to replace the OE Hankook Optimos, the K900 has so far held firm, with nothing falling off or going haywire apart from the adaptive-cruise event. Not bad considering the craters of Michigan and the shake-fest that typifies rural Montana’s scabrous byways.
WHERE WE WENT: For four adults, the K900 is a kind of luxurious auditorium on wheels, and the car thus logged treks to West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Then, immediately following the magazine’s annual 10Best soirée, the editor of our Montana Desk sequestered the K900 for four months, navigating it through the Bitterroot Mountains and on to Washington state’s San Juan and Orcas Islands. On one of its many ferry rides, the Kia was parked nose-first into the ship’s open bow. When it emerged, it was slathered in a white saddle of evaporated sea foam and salt. We’re not sure its Korean creators intended such artistic defilement. In the end, though, the Montana snow forced this rear-drive, 420-hp sedan back east. Even the “Snow” mode—which leavens shifts and revs to levels seen only in locomotive diesels—the car was unable to defeat eight inches of ice-capped slush. —John Phillips
Months in Fleet: 8 months
Current Mileage: 16,979 miles Average Fuel Economy: 21 mpg
Fuel Tank Size: 19.8 gal Fuel Range: 415 miles
Service: $142.25 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $171 Continued...
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-12-15 at 11:13 AM.
02-12-15, 11:54 AM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
02-12-15, 12:04 PM
#6
It's not C&D looking for attention, if you clicked the link and you'd see that they're just updating on a long-term test vehicle that they have. It's a normal part of their evaluations.
02-12-15, 12:54 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
'NEVER' is a long time. 
given dramatically declining print magazine circulation rates, probably all car mags at this point no longer print any 'objective reviews' - instead relying on money and 'input' from their 'sponsors'.
given dramatically declining print magazine circulation rates, probably all car mags at this point no longer print any 'objective reviews' - instead relying on money and 'input' from their 'sponsors'.
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02-12-15, 01:28 PM
#8
Lead Lap
02-12-15, 01:56 PM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
given dramatically declining print magazine circulation rates, probably all car mags at this point no longer print any 'objective reviews' - instead relying on money and 'input' from their 'sponsors'.
Simply draw straws to determine the rankings? Or rank the cars by which manufacturer pays the most? I'd like to think that most auto journalists are more credible than that.
02-12-15, 03:20 PM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
And, having driven and reviewed both that model Azera and LS, I can testify, without a doubt, that the LS is MUCH smoother and quieter.....there is simply no comparison. But then, in comparison to the old Azera vs. the new Kia K900, the K900 is ALSO much smoother and quieter.....for less money than an LS.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-12-15 at 03:26 PM.
02-13-15, 02:50 AM
#13
Lexus Test Driver
Car mags all have websites, and the same tests you see in print are also online. So I would assume they've found a replacement audience and the requisite advertising to keep from getting desperate with automaker's support.
About the Kia. Enough time has gone by for that cheap stigma to be erased. They've produced enough nice cars in the last ten years to be creditable. I'd have no shame owning an Optima or K900. Just don't care for the name, which is too close to a K9 dog.
About the Kia. Enough time has gone by for that cheap stigma to be erased. They've produced enough nice cars in the last ten years to be creditable. I'd have no shame owning an Optima or K900. Just don't care for the name, which is too close to a K9 dog.
02-13-15, 06:03 AM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Fizzboy7
Car mags all have websites, and the same tests you see in print are also online. So I would assume they've found a replacement audience and the requisite advertising to keep from getting desperate with automaker's support.
About the Kia. Enough time has gone by for that cheap stigma to be erased. They've produced enough nice cars in the last ten years to be creditable. I'd have no shame owning an Optima or K900. Just don't care for the name, which is too close to a K9 dog.
About the Kia. Enough time has gone by for that cheap stigma to be erased. They've produced enough nice cars in the last ten years to be creditable. I'd have no shame owning an Optima or K900. Just don't care for the name, which is too close to a K9 dog.
Totally agree on all points. What's shown online is usually the same as the printed copies, except that the online versions are sometimes delayed a little to encourage magazine sales. Yeah, Kia could have come up with a better name than K9...that was one of my first reactions, too. My brother has a humble Kia Soul which was barely 18K out the door when he bought it, but not only has it been just as reliable as any of the Japanese-brand cars he's owned, but he also gets superlative customer service from the Kia/Volvo shop where he purchased it.
Originally Posted by pman6
nope. If i'm spending $60k, it better have a respectable badge.
I'd rather buy another 3 year old luxobarge
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-13-15 at 06:12 AM.