Comments on: [Photos added] Kia KOUP concept unveiled

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:12:36 +0000

looks like a civc/G37.

gbb: You refer to Kia as the ****box king as if honda doesn’t exist.

By: AmericanMade

AmericanMade — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:50:55 +0000

This car will turn out to be a pile of garbage..

By: brocky

brocky — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:05:31 +0000

The interior is very impressive. But the exterior looks like a concept of a concept. I just hope I won’t be as disappointed as I was with the Genesis coupe. The Genesis coupe looks like garbage compared to its concept.

By: GTBruiser

GTBruiser — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:15:18 +0000

Except for the typically huge, obnoxious show-car wheels, I think this is a very nice looking car. It is much like a Civic coupe, but, with much better, cleaner and more defined styling details. Appears to be penned by the same person front to rear as opposed to the mismatched front/middle/rear designs of Civic, Cobalt, Scion TC, and (not very) Focus.
It would be really nice if it came to market as a true hardtop as in the pictures, but, I think the safety zealots will win on that point. Too bad. Look at what happened to both the “hardtop” Challenger and Camaro concepts on their way to production.

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:54:17 +0000

This car will make the Civic look like a pile of horse dung … this will be the best-looking, non-luxury coupe.

By: AmericanMade

AmericanMade — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:57 +0000

K cant Kia / Hyundai design a car the DOESNT immitate ANYTHING?!?! this POS looks like a civic from the front….the New Optima looks like an Accord/Camry…

By: gbb

gbb — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:57:44 +0000

Another ****box from the ****box king. Yum.

By: 05mpwright

05mpwright — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:27:10 +0000

the front looks a bit like a newer Honda Civic Type R

By: LJ

LJ — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:04:14 +0000

I was hoping for the Pro-C’eed, like they have overseas(3 doors, sporty car).
This is ok, if you like 2 door sedans.

Three Doors or No Purchase.
Why can’t they do this?

At least there’s some hope: by 2010, new 3 door Astra, and Ford Fiesta(don’t care for the name: VERVE was the concept name last year),based on a Mazda2….may not be fast..but fun is ok, so is 3 doors( a sedan And 3 door “coupe” are being highly considered, especially since Jim Press from 30+ years with Toyota, is pushing for the 3 door, and it was highly popular at the autoshow this year).

Asian’s cut back on inexpensive, fwd sporty,, Three(3) door hatches? Fine… there’s hope in the other 2(European designed) cars, 1 from Saturn, one from Ford, then.

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:42:11 +0000

The fact that it may have taillights resembling those of the Camaro means nothing … who’s to say this wasn’t designed before the new Camaro?

The fact that it may have headlights resembling those of Honda/Acura means nothing … the integration of the headlights with the rest of this car works much better than any Honda/Acura.

If this car comes out looking like the pics in the ‘Official images’ section above (barring the interior which displays a Transformers-like dash, although Honda’s is worse), this will be the best-looking, non-luxury coupe on the market. And that engine would be the cherry on top.

BUILD IT AS IS (okay, except for the dash design).

By: autonut

autonut — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:14:28 +0000

Every rental Kia I had was absolute POS. Auto tranny clinks and clanks worse then my children with my manual transmission (and I have nasty kids in regards to transmission). Don’t care what it looks like if it drives like kakel.

By: zoomzoomr

zoomzoomr — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:35:15 +0000

This will be introduced as the Spectra Coupe shortly after the recently spied Spectra sedan arrives.

By: nestle_s

nestle_s — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:29:49 +0000

it has a look of its own. it reminds me of an rsx, mixed with a little bit of suzuki, camaro (from the rear) and it looks sweet! i hope that they build it.

By: stick2clutch

stick2clutch — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:41:52 +0000

I agree with those that say civic rippoff… I can see Honda bitchin about this one the way Beamer got pissed with the Chinese X5.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:38:23 +0000

This looks far too close to production ready to be dismissed as just another Korean concept headed towards the butcher’s block before production. We know Hyundai/Kia has an American design studio and this has far less of an Asian look about it.

However it is still a Kia, and much like the Genesis Coupe I’m sure HyundaiCo will find a way to dumb it down for the masses.

By: LJ

LJ — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:10:45 +0000

I thought this was supposed to be a 3 Door Coupe, like the Tiburon, tC, Eclipse, etc?

If it’s not a 3 door(doesn’t look like it), I won’t waste money.(to me, sedans are ok,if all you haul is groceries)….3 doors or nothing.

Guess this may make life easier for the 3 door Astra, then, if this is trunk,and most want hatches.

By: jjayc08

jjayc08 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:05:37 +0000

I think it looks really good, it’s pretty close to production trim in the first place. It looks aggressive, but I think without those headlights and tail lights, people would associate this more with Mitsubishi Evo (front grill, headlights). Like I said, we can associate it with a lot of things.

Lots of plastic in the interior though. I fear it’ll be watered down like the Optima pictures posted- I can see the resemblance, and I can see this being based off of it, unfortunately.

By: EijiO1

EijiO1 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:00:50 +0000

evoking Obiwan Kenobi

“That’s no KIA… It’s a HONDA!!!”

By: affliction

affliction — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:56:46 +0000

those headlights were jacked off an acura 100% . That was the first thing that came to mind.

By: Get Real

Get Real — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:53:18 +0000

Corvette Butt Ugly.

Someone redesign the rear-ends of these 2 cars.

By: car-dude44

car-dude44 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:19:37 +0000

I gotta say it’s the best looking Kia yet.

By: Ray Sinclair

Ray Sinclair — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:30:33 +0000

Bullseye. Kia nailed this concept. It’s a winner.

By: Zo0M 6 Zo0M

Zo0M 6 Zo0M — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:06:49 +0000

Go KIA!! Go HYUNDAII!!

I personally like the design. Yes it has the camaro look in the back end but I like on here better than on the camaro. yes it has the civic look on the front end and headlights but I like it on here better than on the civic. Hopefully *prays* that it stays looking like this then i would have a tough decision to make in the year 2010 with so many great products coming out. All they need to do is tone down the looks a little and keep the engine for crying out loud and its a seller to the new generation of high school teenagers around the world.

By: bolex

bolex — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:52:04 +0000

i take it back it looks nothing like a stang, it looks more like the civic coupe si with the corporate subaru grill.

nice lookin, good job for kia—-KIA!

By: mazdaman

mazdaman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:44:53 +0000

Another derivative Kia/Hyundai design. If it makes production, it will be the most attractive product that Kia has offered the market. At least they improved the looks of their odd grille by moving the Kia badge to its appropriate place between the grille’s “lips”. If they keep the price relatively reasonable, then they should attract a lot of 1st time buyers with this one.

By: Mitch Bangowitz

Mitch Bangowitz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:13:57 +0000

Audi Coupe/Honda Accord Coupe Ripoff!

By: manhertm

manhertm — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:06:46 +0000

Rebadged Civc coupe?

By: Upgraydd

Upgraydd — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:02:21 +0000

go KIA, nice job

By: jumpoffit

jumpoffit — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:00:16 +0000

where do people see a camaro in this? hell i thought it was a Honda Civic until i read Kia- it looks more like the HondaCivic Mugen RR , minus the 2 extra doors of course

By: SwerveEarly

SwerveEarly — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:00:07 +0000

Decent looking concept. They will water it down so much for production you wont recognize it. Then there is the fact that you only by a Kia because you have to. Id rather drive a mo-ped.

By: planet_drive

planet_drive — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:57:00 +0000

Cool little car with big car horsepower! I doubt the production version will get all the carbon fibre trim (unless it will be part of an optional package) Hopefully it gets the big brakes. I would trust a Kia’s reliability these days, my buddy has a 4yr old Kia sedona van with over 250k on it already and everything runs fine. This will probably be the most affordable high performance car on the planet.

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:55:19 +0000

Pretty damn nice! Not sure how big it is, but it looks better than any Honda or Toyota on the road.

Or Ford or VW.

And probably also GM for what I guess is the price range.

By: SS4LIFE

SS4LIFE — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:42:00 +0000

A Kia KOUP? I actually really like this. Those headlamps have “Honda” written all over it. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I’m actually impressed. I think Kia really needs this. This would make a great Tc, Civic, Cobalt, Focus, G5, coupe competitor. I also think it looks better already then the following that I just mentioned.
Bring it Kia!

By: Shismo

Shismo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:00:18 +0000

Are those rims carbon fiber AND chrome?

By: BlackX

BlackX — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:53:55 +0000

Im surprised how good this looks. Korea is catching up