First Drive: 2010 Kia Forte

The Forte is technically the successor to the Spectra, but it is really so much more than that. This time, Kia decided to leave the help of the rocked-out Soul hamsters behind and instead concentrate on product, not marketing – though we do like the hamsters. The main competitors in the segment include the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda Mazda3 and when you add in the secondary targets of the Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cobalt, it shows why anyone would need to strike hard when attempting to show up as a seriously dominant player that sells on more than just low prices.

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Overheating
If your temperature gauge indicates overheating, if you experience a loss of power, or if you hear a loud knocking or pinging noise, the engine has probably overheated. Should any of these sympto ...

Interior light
CAUTION: Do not use the interior lights for extended periods when the engine is not running. It may cause battery discharge. Map lamp • : Push the switch to turn the map lamp on or off. Th ...

Driving
The Kia is available with 2.0-litre or 2.7-litre V6 petrol engines, but we prefer the 2.0-litre turbodiesel. There's a fair amount of diesel clatter at idle, but once on the move it delivers power ...