The opulent luxury of the 2015 Kia K900 is evident from first glance and continues to intrigue your senses as you step into the plush interior. Whether you are looking for a vehicle to swathe you in extravagance as you’re chauffeured around in the roomy rear seating area, or if you prefer to be in control as the driver, the 2015 Kia K900 doesn’t disappoint! With two models to choose from and a base price of $49,995, you can’t pass up the opportunity to take a K900 for a test drive!
ENGINE & DRIVE
The base model K900 is equipped with the 311 horsepower 3.8L six cylinder engine, while the upgraded Elite model sports the 420 horsepower 5.0L eight cylinder. Both engines are paired with an 8 speed automatic transmission, which provides plenty of power for this full size sedan. However, as you can imagine the most spirited driving will come from the V8!
As you can also imagine, the full size sedan equipped with the large 420hp engine does consume a fair amount of premium gas. Rated at 10.3L/100km on the highway and 15.7 L/100km in the city, our spirited test drive landed right in line at 14.7 L/100 km over 500km of combined city and highway driving.
Driving the 2015 Kia K900, you’ll feel the power of the V8 engine, but in a fully refined manner. While the acceleration will throw you back in your seat, the super quiet engine cycles through its 8 gears with incredible smoothness. The whole feel of the steering, cornering, acceleration and smooth ride is right in line with comparable luxury vehicles that cost tens of thousands more!
DRIVING TECHNOLOGY
The 2015 Kia K900 comes equipped with a plethora of advanced technology adding to both the driving experience and the passengers’ comfort. The most useful technologies I found were the adaptive headlights, the smart cruise control and the 360 degree camera. The adaptive headlights turned with the car to light the way at night around the corners of turns. The smart cruise control allowed for programming the follow distance from the car in front as well as predefining the speed. If an accident were to happen, passengers can be comforted by the whiplash resistant headrests.
Perhaps the most useful driving technology was the 360 camera, which was a huge help when parallel parking to avoid scraping the wheels on the curb and also to get a full and clear view of the car’s surroundings while navigating tight areas. Another handy feature that’s frequently overlooked is the windshield heads up display that projects information like speed, driving directions and more onto the windshield allowing the driver to maintain eye contact with the road. Other technologies of note include the lane departure warning, blind spot warning system and the cross traffic alert when reversing out of a parking spot.
EXTERIOR DESIGN
As expected, the 2015 Kia K900 sports a lavish exterior design with a long, sculpted body with many pleasing accent lines. Adding to an aggressive looking exterior are the dual exhaust, black and chrome highlights and headlights that look like they come from a science fiction movie. The wide stance, full length skylight and large tires and rims also add to the elegant exterior design.
INTERIOR COMFORT & CONVENIENCE
Passengers of the 2015 Kia K900 are surrounded by the lavish interior design using top quality materials assembled with exacting standards. All passengers benefit from the comfort of electronically adjustable, heated and cooled plush leather seats with lumbar support. Even the rear passengers have the option to recline their seats, control their own climate settings and optionally raise and lower the rear sun shades. The beautifully stitched premium leather seating swaddles passengers in luxury.
Adding to the overall feel of the interior cabin is the pleasant ambient LED lighting, highlighting the cup holders, door features and dash. Although the dash is equipped with a large screen to display navigation, media and other vehicle settings, I would have liked for it to be a touch screen rather than controlled solely throught the center console and steering wheel mounted buttons.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re in the market for a refined, luxurious, full sized sedan then don’t discount the 2015 Kia K900 just because of the brand. Kia has indeed made incredible headway with quality, reliability and luxury and it’s only a matter of time before everyone finds out! Be one of the pioneers to get into a luxury Kia while the prices are still incredibly reasonable. If you don’t believe me, then take a test drive for yourself!
