When is a car not a car? This could be construed as a silly question, I suppose, but is it?
When is an MPV not an MPV? When is an SUV not an SUV? When is a coupé not a coupe?
The latest Kia Magentis doesn't really lend itself to categorisation. It is the vanilla among the Haagen Das - the Meat and Two Veg on the A La Carte - the HB on the artist's palette. This does not mean that the Magentis doesn't have a place. There is still a demand for a good old-fashioned, bread-and-butter saloon car out there. Not everyone needs nor wants cavernous load carrying capability or to be able to take 7 people around.
When all is said and done, the Magentis is actually a very good-value, competent car, with good levels of comfort and an adequate amount of boot space for what, at the end of the day most people usually put in the boot anyway. If that dreaded washing machine really needs to be moved, then why not use the money that you saved by not buying the all-frills load-carrier towards hiring a van.
As a driver's car it's not that bad! It rides and handles reasonably well! It is comfortable and spacious and offers plenty of legroom for both front and rear passengers. I found the interior trim to be a little drab though, with 101 shades of grey employed to try to create an air of sophistication. In my opinion it hasn't worked and it has left me remembering some of the earlier far-eastern imports of the seventies, with their drab and somewhat utilitarian airs about them. The 2-litre diesel engine though, is surprisingly quiet and smooth and offers reasonable performance in what is again a quite an anonymous way.
The Magentis doesn't really stand out from the crowd. It is part of the crowd and blends in as unobtrusively as it could. It doesn't draw admiring glances, it doesn't turn heads. However, it does get you from point A to Point B with the minimum of fuss, cheaply, comfortably and despite some of its aesthetic misgivings, in a relaxed and contended state. It is a car my Grandfather would have liked. He liked things plain and simple, with no frills, but with an understated quality about it. Build quality is excellent and I'm sure this is a car that would last and last, offering many years of faithful service to its owner.
Being a bit of a 'Kia Convert' over recent years, having been completely blown away by some of their newer models such as the fantastic new 'cee'd', I feel that the Magentis is performing a last dance, a swansong, in its class. To me it doesn't offer that special something that some of its siblings now do and as such I think that even though it offers a good value-for-money and understated overall package, it doesn't inspire me in the same way.
If I had £15,000 and wanted a well-built, comfortable, traditional car to serve me well for the next ten years, it would probably be somewhere on my shortlist. Despite many people's liking for nouvelle cuisine, there are still many more who still like their Sunday Roast.
Model Driven:
2.0 CRDI GS Manual (6-speed)
Price (OTR) £15,545
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