Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year! I love everything about the Holiday – the music, the gift giving (and receiving 😉 and most importantly the Christmas lights! So when I was asked to review the Kia Optima I knew it would be the perfect chance to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes – checking out all of the fabulous lights around town.
I wanted to go where there would be an abundance of lights, beautiful homes to ogle at and imagine living in, and people unashamed to revel in the holiday spirit. Candy Cane Lane in El Segundo was just the place to go.
The streets are blocked off to cars so you’re free to stroll the neighborhood on foot and get an up close look at the incredible light displays. I loved that everyone was super friendly and although there were tons of people on the street I didn’t feel claustrophobic.
One of my favorites was a house that was set up to look like a movie theater and played Elf on repeat.
On top of that there was a beautiful orchestra that played Christmas music as you strolled through the street.
Here are a few more shots of some of my favorite Christmas lights from Candy Cane Lane…
Since this post is all about my experience in the Kia Optima 2016, I also got some really cool shots of the car in front of the various houses as well. Can I just say that I loved driving the Kia around the neighborhoods. It was super comfy and the sound system was perfect to play my Christmas music out of.
Ok so now that you’ve indulged my Christmas fix, let’s talk about the Kia Optima 2016!
I was SO super stocked to get this car! I was hoping, praying, wishing to review this car since I started reviewing cars. I’d seen it on the road and I just wondered how the car handled, how it looked on the inside, how loud the sound system could go(yeah I’m THAT girl). So I’m sad to say that upon first getting into the car I was a tad bit disappointed 🙁
I thought it would so much more plush than it ended up being, especially since all the other car’s that I’d reviewed ( you can see those here here and here) were so fancy inside. So if I’m being honest (which I always do with ya’ll) the Optima unfortunately didn’t give me all of the feels the other car’s did. It was super hard for me to believe that the top of the line Kia could be so bland on the inside, so I went online and researched a bit more to see if this was what to be expected from the car. Thank God I did that because I realized that you can totally customize the car to your liking! I mean seriously down to the kind of key you get, the car can be built to your liking. So what started out as a negative turned into a total positive (don’t you love when that happens?).
So after my initial disappointment I was back on the Kia bandwagon.Can I just tell you I fell head over feet in love with this car?!?! It felt the safest of all the other cars I’ve driven and it had SO much power on top of that! I’m used to having to slowly merge on the highway in my little Volkswagen, but with this car I seemed to get right in line with traffic super fast and smoothly.
Since I’m way better with making lists I’ve gathered my pros and cons for you guys instead.
Pros
- Smooth ride
- Crystal clear easy to use sound system
- It also comes with HD radio! I didn’t initially understand this concept but once I did, I feel life is just not the same!
- Roomy and comfortable inside
- Dual side climate control
- Great on gas!
- Price point is also pretty affordable
- Horsepower is out of this world at 185 hp @ 6,000 rpm
- I loved that when I locked the car the side mirrors automatically retract
- FOB key access
- Sleek body style
- Most importantly I felt SUPER safe in this car
Cons
- I just could not figure out the navigation system. Now this often happens to me in new cars so it may just be an ID-10-T error on my part but if you’re anything like me this may be a problem for you
- Didn’t love the factory seats on this one
- The button controls weren’t my style either
- I’m used to a lower price point for Kia’s , so though affordable, the starting price of $21,000 threw me off
Overall I loved the car and I encourage you guys to keep it on your radar if you’re looking to upgrade your current vehicle.