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CRYSTAL KIA

Models Covered: (4 dr saloon 2.0, 2.7 litre petrol, 2.0 diesel [GS, LS])

BY ANDY ENRIGHT

‘People who know’ about cars won’t buy a Kia Magentis. That may sound damning but those in the know will be clued into the latest must-have car and this isn’t it. While Kia has pulled its socks up with some genuinely smart vehicles like the cee’d and the Sedona, the Magentis has remained strictly sub rosa. It resides in a black hole of public perception, ignored by ‘people who know’. Thing is, people who don’t know may just stumble across what might just be one of the most smoking used car bargains around. It might well pay to keep this one on the down low…

I could highlight for you the long backstory behind the current Kia Magentis, starting with the Clarus, a car that morphed into the first generation Magentis. Doing so would fill in some of the blanks that the Magentis has come to represent but chances are if you’ve made it this far that would be enough to switch you off. The brief line is that the Clarus was dull but reliable and the first generation Magentis better than expected but still only class competitive to a certain rather left-field viewpoint. All of which fast forwards us neatly to 2006 and the launch of the latest Magentis. Sister car to the Hyundai Sonata, the Magentis is sold in the US as the Optima and is a true world car. This usually means it’s a bit of a jack of all trades and while the car is blander than its predecessor, perhaps that’s no bad thing. It’s also fairly good looking in an unobtrusive manner. It first saw the light of day in 2005 in Korea and has been a hard sell for Kia in the UK.

First impressions are promising. The styling of the MK1 Magentis was always something of an acquired taste. It was almost as if the Koreans had decided that lots of chrome equated to a dignified and upmarket presence and didn’t hold back. The MK2 car is far more restrained and mature in its design philosophy. Some would say it’s less conspicuous but that’s not always a bad thing. Created by Kia design teams in Korea, Germany and the USA, the Magentis must cater to the tastes of all three markets, so something a little less gaudy was always on the menu. Although it looks more compact than its rather presidential predecessor, the tape measure doesn’t lie and the current car is actually a few millimetres longer, significantly taller by 70mm and a tad wider. More importantly, it adopts more modern packaging practices which put a wheel at each corner, freeing up wheelbase and offering more rear passenger legroom and a bigger boot as well. The 420 litres of space back there for your bags make it a better load lugger than a Jaguar S-TYPE. All versions have air conditioning, an MP3-compatible radio/CD player, driver's seat height adjustment and a tilt-adjust steering column, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, powered and heated door mirrors, four electric windows and remote central locking. Plusher LS models have in addition automatic lights, a trip computer, telescopic steering wheel adjustment, full climate control with an air quality monitoring system, an eight-way powered driver’s seat, heated front seats and stability and traction control with emergency brake assist.

A sizeable Korean car that few people have heard of, powered by a thirsty V6 engine, would normally be a prime candidate for the sort of depreciation curve that starts steep and just keeps going. The 2.7-litre V6 model’s £17,495 asking price from new always did look a bit optimistic and retail buyers could often knock a grand off that with a bit of spirited negotiation. This is reflected in the residual values for this car which means you’ll be able to pick up a low mileage 06 plater for around £11,600. My advice would be to wait another year or two on this particular model. A far better choice for the here and now is the 2.0-litre diesel, a car which holds its value a bit better and which therefore isn’t going to sting the nearly new buyer quite so viciously. These open at around £9,000 for a 56-plated GS while the petrol-engined 2.0-litre car on the same plate retails at around £500 less. Both offer a decent amount of car for the price of a new Fiesta.

Make sure the car is in perfect condition. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be, as it will be within warranty, but any dents, scratches or interior damage will knock values hard. One advantage of the Magentis is that most cars will have had a relatively easy life, the majority of customers using them for motorway wafting. Otherwise insist on a full service record and contact a few franchised dealers to try to find the best bargain available.

(approx based on a 2006 Magentis 2.7) Like their cars, Kia spares prices have gained an enviable reputation for good value, and replacement parts for the Magentis are all agreeably cheap. A clutch assembly is around £255, whilst front brake pads weigh in at around £40. An alternator will cost around £150, and for a starter motor you’ll be looking at £130. The only comparatively pricey parts are the jewel effect headlamps.

Riding on the company’s MG platform, the Magentis uses MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link independent rear setup. Unusually in this class, all of the Magentis’ engines will be offered with an automatic gearbox option. The 2.0-litre petrol and diesel powerplants can be specified with a four-speed auto while the 2.7-litre is mated as standard to a five-speed self-shifter that features Kia’s Sport Mode if you want to take over proceedings and change gears up and down sequentially yourself. The auto ‘box is an optional extra on the two-litre models however, and in basic showroom trim, the petrol car comes equipped with a five-speed manual while the diesel gets a six-speed box. Kia has worked at a certain amount of tailoring to each major market. Instead of the grey and beige two-tone interior that has tested so well in Asian and American markets, the rather more style-conscious Europeans get either all black or grey and black seat and trim combinations with longer cushions and larger side bolsters to cater for our higher average cornering speeds. Kia has also spent a lot of time tuning the suspension for each market’s separate requirements.

There’s a lot to like about the post ’06 Kia Magentis but for many used buyers it’s in a bit of a no man’s land at the moment. Those looking for the sort of value the Kia badge represents will probably prefer to wait a year or two for depreciation to level off and real bargains to appear. In the meantime, limiting your exposure with a 2.0-litre diesel isn’t unappealing.

MAGENTIC ATTRACTION
Kia’s Magentis is back once again, trying to convince us that big South Korean saloons are a good idea. Andy Enright reports

While many car buyers will consider a small Korean car, there’s something about larger ones that puts them off. Maybe it’s the lack of sophistication or the thought that a big car with a low-rent badge is an indicator that its driver is trying a little too hard but sales of larger Korean models have been slow. This is an undoubted fact but rewind twenty years, replace the word ‘Korean’ with the word ‘Japanese’ and you’ll probably agree that Korean cars are bound to shake off their urban runabout image through relentless product development. Cars like Kia’s latest Magentis give us a valuable insight into how far along that road they’ve come.

First impressions are promising. The styling of the old Magentis was always something of an acquired taste. It was almost as if the Koreans had decided that lots of chrome equated to a dignified and upmarket presence and didn’t hold back. The latest car is far more restrained and mature in its design philosophy. Some would say it’s less conspicuous but that’s not always a bad thing. Created by Kia design teams in Korea, Germany and the USA, the Magentis must cater to the tastes of all three markets, so something a little less gaudy was always on the menu. Although it looks more compact than its rather presidential predecessor, the tape measure doesn’t lie and the current car is actually a few millimetres longer, significantly taller by 70mm and a tad wider. More importantly, it adopts more modern packaging practices which put a wheel at each corner, freeing up wheelbase and offering more rear passenger legroom and a bigger boot as well. The 420 litres of space back there for your bags make it a better load lugger than a Jaguar S-TYPE. The engine of most interest to UK buyers is a 2.0-litre 140bhp CRDi diesel unit which features a variable geometry turbocharger to plump up torque at low revs and a diesel particulate filter, helping the Magentis comply with Euro4 emissions regulations. With 305Nm of torque to call upon, it’s not going to run out of breath attempting an overtaking manoeuvre too often. Two petrol engines are also offered, starting with a 144bhp 2.0-litre ‘Theta’ unit and topping out with a 187bhp 2.7-litre ‘Mu’ V6 with VIS (variable intake system).

"The latest Magentis could well change your view of Korean cars"

Prices start at £14,545 and of course, the car is very well equipped. All versions have air conditioning, an MP3-compatible radio/CD player, driver's seat height adjustment and a tilt-adjust steering column, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, powered and heated door mirrors, four electric windows and remote central locking. Plusher LS models have in addition automatic lights, a trip computer, telescopic steering wheel adjustment, full climate control with an air quality monitoring system, 8-way powered driver’s seat and heated front seats and stability and traction control with emergency brake assist. Riding on the company’s new MG platform, the Magentis uses MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link independent rear setup. Unusually in this class, all of the Magentis’ engines will be offered with an automatic gearbox option. The 2.0-litre petrol and diesel powerplants can be specified with a four-speed auto while the 2.7-litre is mated as standard to a five-speed self-shifter that features Kia’s Sport Mode if you want to take over proceedings and change gears up and down sequentially yourself. The auto ‘box is an optional extra on the two-litre models however, and in basic showroom trim, the petrol car comes equipped with a five-speed manual while the diesel gets a six-speed box. The Magentis offers plenty of car for the money: but then Kias have always done that. The question is whether this one really will be able to make a dent in the mainstream market here in the UK. It will certainly have its work cut out against the usual suspects such as the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Vectra models – though if you want one of those with similar specification, be prepared to pay £2,000-£3,000 more for it. Even so, it is perhaps fairer to compare this car with something a little less European and more in line with the Magentis’ value proposition. Hyundai’s Sonata for instance. Kia have worked at a certain amount of tailoring to each major market. Instead of the grey and beige two-tone interior that has tested so well in Asian and American markets, the rather more style-conscious Europeans get either all black or grey and black seat and trim combinations with longer cushions and larger side bolsters to cater for our higher average cornering speeds. Kia have also spent a lot of time tuning the suspension for each market’s separate requirements. Magentis sales projections look pretty modest given that a Focus can comfortably notch up over 20,000 sales in a decent month, but perhaps it’s best to get some sort of perspective here. After Hyundai rescued the company from bankruptcy in 1998, its total UK car sales stood at around 2,000 for that year. With 10,000 Magentis sales expected this year in Europe and a good proportion of those earmarked for the UK, this is a car that must pull its own weight instead of allowing smaller models like the Focus-sized Rio, the Picanto citycar and the Cerato family car to keep this momentum going. So judged against the total number of units that Kia is looking to sell, the importance of the Magentis to the British importers becomes evident. Although the Magentis is never going to be the breakthrough model that suddenly elevates Korean cars to a position of equality with the major European marques, it is definitely chipping away at the gap in class and sophistication. Alongside the Hyundai Sonata, it’s the first generation of big Korean cars that need no pre-arranged excuses.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Kia Magentis range PRICES: £14,545-£17,545 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 13-15 CO2 EMISSIONS: 162-220g/km PERFORMANCE: [2.0 petrol] 0-60mph 10.2s / Max Speed 129mph FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.0 petrol] (urban) 26.9mpg / (extra urban) 46.3mpg / (combined) 36.7mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags / ABS with EBD WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height 4735/1805/1480mm