2010 Kia Forte Preview

A lot of people would be happy to emulate the Kia Forte: It’s skipping 2009 and going directly to 2010. Since the Forte will be in showrooms by early summer 2009, it’s less of a skip and more of a running head start. A bit of momentum will be welcome as the Forte is charged with replacing the Spectra as the compact four-door sedan in Kia’s broad lineup.

Aggressively Styled

The powerful and aggressively styled Forte will compete against the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic on the more-expensive side. On the less-expensive flank, it’ll face the likes of the Nissan Versa and Hyundai Elantra. (The Elantra and Forte share the same platform.) As this is written, prices have not been announced, but expect the Forte to be no more expensive than the Spectra. That would place the lowest-priced Forte around $14,000 with the most expensive version coming in at about $19,000. Depending on economic developments, the Forte will also be offered as a two-door, a version the Spectra doesn’t have. Arrival date for the Forte Koup is unknown.


The Forte will come in three trims levels: The base LX, the uplevel EX and the sporty (and even more powerful) SX. It’ll be easy to spot the difference: The LX will come with 15-inch diameter steel wheels, the EX will have 16-inch aluminum-alloy wheels and the SX will be fitted with 17s. Compared to the Spectra, the Forte will be more powerful, yet offer better fuel mileage. The LX and EX will be equipped with a 2.0-liter, double overhead cam, four-cylinder engine. Thanks in part to continuously variable timing, this engine makes 156 horsepower: a useful 18 more than the 2009 Spectra. The 2.0-liter will be mated to either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. Official fuel-economy numbers weren’t available but expect Forte’s equipped with this engine and the automatic to get about 25 more miles per gallon on the government’s city driving cycle and about 34 mpg on the highway.

Performance and Handling

Available will be a fuel-economy package that will provide another couple of mpg, boosting the Forte’s highway economy to about 36 mpg. This package includes a five-speed automatic transmission, tires that offer less rolling resistance, electrically (rather than the traditional hydraulically) assisted power steering and some aerodynamic tweaks. You start to understand how hard it is to improve fuel mileage when all these changes combine for but two additional miles per gallon.


The sport-flavored SX will have a larger, 2.4-liter four-cylinder that pumps out an impressive 173 horsepower. It will come with either a six-speed manual or a five-speed automatic. The 2.4 will make the Forte among the most powerful small, low-cost four-doors available. To match its horsepower, the SX will have a firmer suspension, grippier tires, a rear spoiler and larger front brakes. Another SX difference will be a telescope-style adjustable steering column.