Kia K5/Optima Hybrid

After winning its 2010-2011 Korean Car of the Year, the red dot design award, and the Product Design award 2011, Kia Motors celebrated the K5's success by offering Korea's finest executive medium-sized sedan with a hybrid variant of the K5 (known to the world market as the Optima), the all-new Kia K5/Optima Hybrid.

2012 Kia K5 Hybrid

2012 Kia K5 Hybrid interior

This is ecology to the world best, the Kia K5 is based on the blockbuster K5 sedan with some minor touches to make it more aggressively nice. What differs the gasoline-fed K5 to the K5 Hybrid are the front bumpers, EcoDynamics badge on the side view, and a different view of the tail lamps. This design made it more sophisticated and highly aggressive than the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and with the trademark Tiger Nose grille penned by Peter Schreyer, expect the K5 Hybrid's design to the world best.

Same thing from the Hyundai YF Sonata Hybrid, the Kia K5 Hybrid is powered with the Nu 2.0 MPI engine that produces 150 PS of power output but it can be turned into 191 PS thanks to the 30kW motor attached to it. It even has the Lithium-ion Polymer battery, which is a perfect match to use the K5 Hybrid's EV mode when you're not in a hurry, saving some gas and saving you some money. Unlike the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, the Kia K5 Hybrid is the most aerodynamic production hybrid medium sedan in South Korea because of the Tiger Nose grille that absorbs a lot of air, giving you a straight push to South Korea's finest executive hybrid medium sedan that is not your ordinary hybrid medium sedan.

On an uphill climb, both the Nu 2.0 MPI engine and the Li-ion battery are active but at a downhill climb, the Li-ion battery is presently active.

The Kia K5 Hybrid attains the highest fuel economy in its class because 21km/L of fuel economy is as far as she goes and it is mated with a clutch and a six-speed automatic transmission connected to the engine and the electric motor, allowing the vehicle to run solely on the electric motor at low speeds.

The Kia K5 Hybrid is available in three trim levels such as Luxury, Noblesse, and Prestige and it comes with four available colors such as Snow White Pearl, Satin Metal, Light Graphite, and Ebony Black.

My Comment:

Both the Sonata Hybrid and the Kia K5 Hybrid are arch rivals, showing which executive hybrid sedan is the pick among Korean executives. The Kia K5 Hybrid shared its success from the Kia Forte Hybrid LPi, the brand's first LPG-powered hybrid car that shares the functionality of Hyundai's Avante LPi Hybrid. We don't which of these two are fit for environmentally-conscious drivers like us but to me the Kia K5 Hybrid's design makes it an obvious pick over the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.

Let's hope that Ginia Domingo, the head of Columbian Autocar Corporation, add the K5 Hybrid to the queue of upcoming Kia cars in the Philippines and I hope she'll not mess up with the pricing for sure. I think I might be seeing another overpriced hybrid sedan. If you're in a hurry, why not request this to Hancars? Since Hancars are highly-respected in offering new grey market cars from South Korea, I expect that Hancars are willing to accept reservations to the K5 Hybrid, ahead before Ms. Ginia Domingo green lits the distribution of K5 Hybrid as the Optima Hybrid to the Philippines soon. I hope....

Photo: Kia Motors