FORTE EX DESIGNED WITH MILLENNIALS IN MIND
kia’s bread-and-butter is A compact sedan that certainly doesn’t skimp on value
OTTAWA According to Michael Kopke, Kia Canada’s new marketing manager, what millennials want from what is often their first new car is not so different from what their parents and grandparents were looking for the first time they walked into a new-car dealership.
“Value and practicality are still the key motivators when millennials are shopping their first car,” the former Jaguar and Ford advertising manager says.
But how they define that value, well, that’s a little different, says Kopke, who contends that millennials, being more sophisticated — and if you wanted to read that as being more spoiled, please go ahead — are looking for as many luxury and safety items as possible within their price range. Deliver on that “practicality,” Kopke says, and “price becomes a secondary conversation.”
That’s why Kia’s advertising for the all-new 2019 Forte will be focusing on the well-optioned EX model, even going so far as to focus on the EX’s price — $20,995 — rather than leading with the base model’s $16,495 price tag. With millennial-friendly social media the primary focus for Forte, Kopke reasons, the actual pricing information would get disseminated so quickly that any advertising subterfuge would be found out quickly. Might as well try some truth in advertising; it always seems like such a novel approach when you’re confronted with it.
Besides traditional moveups — which Kopke estimates will make up 50 per cent of the company’s Forte sales — such as the automatic transmission (actually an “intelligent” CVT), the EX trim includes heated seats, a heated leather steering wheel, air conditioning, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, an eightinch infotainment touch screen, a rear-view camera, Bluetooth, forward-collision avoidance, active lane-keeping assist, driver attention alert, tire pressure monitoring system, blind-spot collision warning, rear crosstraffic collision avoidance assist, LED headlights, high-beam assist and wireless cellphone charging.
The EX’s equipment list more or less covers what now are considered essentials, especially in the safety-nanny category. Indeed, all of the extras available in more expensive trims — and you can get the EX Limited optioned all the way to $28,065 — are true “luxury items.” Things such as a smart trunk that opens when you approach the rear, Sofino synthetic leather seats, power seats and an upgraded UVO infotainment system. So, to Kopke’s point, the EX does seem to be in the sweet spot of value and practicality versus price.
Is the new Forte a good, as well as value-packed, automobile? For the most part, the answer is yes.
The engine, for instance — a 2.0-litre four-cylinder now operating under a fuel-sipping Atkinson cycle — is quite frugal. I’m no stranger to the throttle, and the little Kia still returned 7.3 L/100 kilometres during our test, despite being thrashed hard over some twisty Quebec side roads. Even using all its 147 horsepower — which meant exercising it well into the 5,000and 6,000-rpm range — dialed to render it parsimonious. Part of the reason is the adoption of Kia’s first continuously variable transmission. Now, those of you who’ve read terrible reviews of belt-driven transmissions, don’t worry: The Koreans have done a masterful job of masking a typical CVT’s ills.
By artificially creating eight “gears,” Kia’s IVT — as in “intelligent” variable transmission — has little of the hanging onto gears that causes the engines, especially high-revving little fours, to drone on. Indeed, except for relatively rare circumstances — such as climbing long hills at moderate speeds — the average consumer won’t know that this IVT isn’t a traditional automatic.
Road-holding, meanwhile, is a Forte ... well, forte. The steering is quite responsive and body roll is well-contained. Almost Honda Civic-like, in fact. The only issue might be that the suspension is definitively firm, certainly more so than the previous generation.
There’ll be no discomfort inside. There’s more room than in previous Fortes, easier ingress/egress, and the seats are plenty supportive. The audio system is not so bad and even the base air conditioning system offers controls for two zones. The wireless charging pad has an audible chime if you leave your cellphone behind after you’ve shut the Forte down, and a “you’ve left you phone behind” message will pop onto the dashboard. Kia really doesn’t want you to be without your iPhone.
The one flaw in Kopke’s value argument, however, is the Forte’s infotainment system. Even the EX trim, it seems, is not worthy of the Kia UVO infotainment system (which, by the way, we rated very highly in our giant infotainment system shootout). For that, you have to move up to the EX Premium package ($25,085). Worse yet, if you want the UVO’s “Intelligence” to include the navigation option, you have to bump up to the EX Limited trim, at $28,095.
So, yes, as good as it sounds, Kopke’s value message is not quite perfect. If, however, you’re a typical millennial — addicted to your cellphone, be it Android or Apple — you probably won’t mind. We boomers, not attuned to Kia’s EX-focused social media messaging, will just head to the Limited none the wiser.