First Drive: 2011 Kia Forte5

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Fun with 5

Kia adds all-important five-door hatch to its Forte lineup

By John LeBlanc Ann Arbor, Mich. - After several years of rolling out one all-new product after another, it would have been easy for Kia to relax and pull its corporate foot off the gas. The launch of the well-received compact Soul, Forte sedan and Koup, as well as the Sportage compact crossover (one of this year's CAJ Best of the Best Finalists) and the Sorento midsize crossover have helped Kia's 2010 sales to improve at a rate more than double the Canadian industry average of seven per cent. But the sportier, youthful sister brand to Hyundai isn't letting up on its relentless new product offensive. Early next year, we'll get the all-new Optima midsize sedan, a car that promises to marry Kia's new European-inspired exterior looks and driver-oriented cabins, with a new turbocharged four-cylinder that promises class-leading horsepower and fuel economy. That motor will also find a home under the hood of the Sportage too. More immediately, though, and right in the heart of the Canadian new-car market, Kia is adding a third body style to its Forte family: a five-door hatchback. Understanding Canadians' love affair with hatchbacks, the new, five-passenger, front-wheel-drive 2011 Forte5 will be available to customers north of the 49th parallel first; American buyers will actually have to wait until the new year. From the A-pillars forward, the five-door Forte retains much from its existing four- and two-door counterparts, but it gets its own grille and fascia design. Upmarket features such as a push-button ignition system, a six-speed automatic and available paddles also make their debut on the 5. And like its sedan and coupe counterparts, the Forte5 is being competitively priced against fun-to-drive five-door hatch rivals like the Mazda3 Sport ($16,995), Suzuki SX4 ($17,695), Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback ($19,998) and Volkswagen Golf ($21,175). Like the rest of the Forte family, the five-door offers two gasoline inline-four engines, starting with a 156-hp, 2.0-litre in the base $16,695 Forte5 LX, which comes with a six-speed manual, six airbags, 15-inch steel wheels, ABS and electronic stability control, power windows and door locks as standard kit. The next level up, the $19,195 EX, adds bigger alloy wheels, keyless entry and air conditioning among other details. The sportiest Forte5, the $22,495 SX, gets a 2.4-litre four, even larger (17-inch) wheels and low-profile rubber, leather seats, push-button start, navigation and steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters if you pop for the new, $1,200 six-speed autobox. During the one-day media launch event held near Hyundai-Kia Motors' U.S. technical centre, just outside Ann Arbor, Mich., we had the chance to drive all three new Forte5 trim levels, but none with the six-speed manual. We also didn't get a chance to run any timed acceleration runs, but a Forte Koup SX I drove last year went from zero to 100 km/h in the mid-eight-second range, which the new five-door should match. Add about a second to that time for the 2.0L-powered Forte5 EX and LX models. The Forte5 is competitive at the pumps as well. Pardon the pun, but one of the Forte's fortes is fuel consumption. Its ratings range from a low of 8.1 L/100 km city and 5.7 L/100 km highway for the 2.0 models with the manual gearbox, to a high of 9.0 L/100 km city and 6.2 L/100 km highway for the SX with the new automatic. Although the Forte5's performance is right in there with cooking models of similarly-priced rivals, Kia doesn't offer a true, sports compact like the 263-hp Mazdaspeed3 ($32,395) or 200-hp five-door VW GTI ($29,695). But Kia officials aren't ruling out the possibility of an even higher performing Forte model at some point. May I suggest the over-270-hp 2.0L turbocharged and direct-injected four that's finding a home in the Optima and Sportage next year as a good place to start? With a longer wheelbase than the Mazda3 Sport and a wider body than most rivals, the Forte5 is easily one of the more spacious models in the segment. Obviously, without a trunk hanging out back, the five-door Forte is 190 mm shorter in overall length than the sedan. But the Kia's 385 litres of cargo room is smaller than the Mazda and VW. At least Kia has tried to make the most of what space is available, offering 60/40 split rear seats that can fold to create a completely flat floor. Although the overall height of the new hatchback and sedan is the same, the extended roofline of the five-door creates an extra 20 mm of rear-seat headroom. Even though the Forte is relatively new to the market, Kia has made some significant improvements underneath the sheet metal this year. In all 2011 Fortes, you'll find additional sound-dampening foam, the use of heavier gauge steel for the exterior cowling top panel, thicker insulation in the interior dash-top padding, extra insulation for the rear parcel tray and thicker trunk carpeting. All the effort has been worth it. Compared to earlier models, the 2011 Forte5 feels much more substantive, quieter and refined going down the road, which brings it closer to the class-leading Golf. Also noteworthy - and if not the luxury-car feel of the more expensive VW - the Kia's interior bits and pieces are of a higher quality, with better fit and finish than I remember from previous Fortes; it's much more robust than the Suzuki and right in line with the similarly-priced Mazda. In addition to reducing noise, vibration, and harshness levels, Kia chassis engineers worked hard to give the Forte5 a more sophisticated ride and handling balance. Both the LX and EX models I drove delivered a smooth ride and fun-to-drive driving characteristics, while all the important driver interfaces - steering, handling, braking, shifting gears with the manumatic - felt firm and well-engineered. On south eastern Michigan's infamously poor pavement, the Forte5 SX's sportier suspension setup delivered a deliberately stiff, if not harsh, ride. If out-and-out cornering grip isn't a priority for you, I'd stick to the better-riding LX and EX models. Overall, the new 2011 Forte5 has a grown-up feel that was absent in the Korean automaker's cars only a few years ago. Just as the Forte sedan and Koup nipped at the heels of more established, sporty driving compacts, the detailed improvements made to the new Kia five-door - and the rest of the Forte lineup - place it well ahead of the Suzuki SX4, while making it a viable alternative to the Mazda3 Sport and VW Golf. As well, subjectively, the crisply styled Forte5 may appeal to those pining for the older Mazda3's more, ahem, restrained looks. In the end, the 2011 Kia Forte5 is a good example of Kia's relentless product development and its understanding of what it takes to be successful in the Canadian market. 2011 Kia Forte5 WHAT I LIKE: Competitive performance and fuel economy; nice balance between ride and handling (LX, EX); excellent interior fit and finish. WHAT I DON'T: Small-ish trunk; SX ride may be too firm for some; no high-performance, sports compact model 2011 Kia Forte5 LX and EX Base prices: $16,695 / $19,195 Type of vehicle: FWD five-door hatchback Engines: 2.0L, 16-valve DOHC I-4 Power: 156 hp Torque: 144 lb.-ft. Transmissions: Six-speed manual (opt. Six-speed automatic) Fuel consumption (city?hwy): 8.1/5.7 L/100 km Competition: Mazda3 Sport, Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback, Suzuki SX4, Toyota Matrix 2011 Kia Forte5 SX Base prices: $22,495 Type of vehicle: FWD five-door hatchback Engines: 2.4L, 16-valve, DOHC I-4 Power: 173 hp Torque: 168 lb.-ft. Transmissions: Six-speed manual (opt. Six-speed automatic) Fuel consumption (city/hwy): 9.0/6.2 L/100 km Competition: Mazda3 Sport GT, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Matrix XRS, Volkswagen Golf

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