New Car Review: The 2010 Kia Forte
By Bob Plunkett
Forte (say: FOUR-tay) is a word which denotes one's strong point, a strength or special talent. Kia, the inventive automaker out of South Korea, uses this word as the label on a shapely new four-door sedan for the compact class stocking a respectable powerplant, noteworthy safety systems as standard equipment and value-packed price points honed to a competitive edge. Tagged as a 2010 model, the Kia Forte in notchback sedan configuration calibrates to a generous scale in a stylish and sleek package with surprising space in the five-seat cabin and plenty of spark stemming from a sophisticated four-pack engine.
Each Forte model looks downright handsome with a prominent face, chiseled contours on the body and wheelwell flares that turn into sculpted shoulders. The shapely design will no doubt provoke a second peek, should you find a Forte on the street. It's marked by a thick and flat bumper in body-colored tint thrust ahead of the chrome-rimmed grille, which tucks horizontally between narrow headlamp clusters shimmering like jewels from multiple round lenses.
Two distinct creases at top edges of the headlamps attract the eye and lead it up the hood to define front fenders accentuated further by arching swells wrapping around frontal rims of the wheelwells. The flared rims sweep rearward across flanks to form sloping shoulders set below a broad expanse of windows in side doors with center pillars fading to black to simulate the profile of a sporty coupe. At the stubbed tail of Forte there's a subtle spoiler lip topside arching between vast clusters of corner lamps and a thick and smooth wrap-around bumper in the body color.
Decor for the cabin consists of subdued colors with fabric upholstery on seats and soft-touch plastics for hard-case surfaces such as the dashboard and console or map pockets on side doors. Layout of the cabin appears conventional with two buckets up front and a bench for up to three riders in back. However, the personal space for heads and shoulders and legs is definitely not conventional for a car in the compact mold -- the cabin seems tall and broad with generous room to stretch out.
Now check the list of standard equipment on Forte and you'll see that this car also exceeds convention for the caliber and quantity of on-board safety equipment. Measures for passenger safety in the cabin extend from the sturdy safety-cage construction to front seatbelts with load-limiting and pretensioning apparatus, backseat restraints with anchors to mount a child's seat, smart multi-stage frontal air bags and side air bags for the front seats along with curtain-style air bags tucked in the ceiling for outboard seats on two rows. Forte also stocks active safety systems designed to avoid accidents, including a rack and pinion steering system and an anti-lock brake system (ABS) with brake assist system (BAS) and electronic brake force distribution (EBD), plus a traction control system (TCS) and an anti-skid device via the electronic stability control (ESC) system. There's even a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) on tap.
Then the manufacturer supports this product with an impressive warranty program which extends well beyond protection for most other vehicles -- the powertrain is insured for ten years or 100,000 miles and there's a five-year or 60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper shield against defects plus unlimited mileage for a five-year roadside assistance program with emergency towing and even lockout service.
And Kia racks the MSRP chart quite low for Forte -- down to $13,695 for Forte LX with a manual shifter.
For more information see Road &Travel Magazine's Kia Buying Guide or visit kia.com
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