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Ever wondered what an Optima would look like as a wagon? Behold the Kia Optima Sportspace, bowing just ahead of its official debut in Geneva.
Images of the concept appeared on Bobaedream.co.kr today, showing off the concept’s long, low roofline draped in red paint. Inside the wagon, four sport seats of stitched leather and carbon fiber await occupants, as well as front and rear controls for the concept’s infotainment system.
Other details unearthed include: two gasoline engines — 2-liter GDi and 1.6-liter Turbo GDi — and a hybrid diesel option; seven-speed dual-clutch auto; smart cruise control, and night vision. More to come when the wagon fully bows early next month.
64 Comments on “Geneva 2015: Kia Optima Sportspace Revealed Ahead Of Show...”
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I’ll take the sedan instead.
I like this a lot.
If this had been on the market any time before I bought my minivan, I’d have been sold. With a 1500lb towing capacity, it would have been *exactly* what I was looking for.
Now that I’m man enough to own being seen in a minivan, it’d be pretty hard to justify that sweet looking wagon.
Interesting, make the door to glass ratio 55:45 and we have a deal.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Looks great, but also looks like you won’t be able to see out of it. A beltline about 3″ lower would be fantastic.
I can’t wait for this styling trend to be over.
You’re going to be waiting a very, very long time because dropping the beltline 3-4 inches without lowering the hood height is going to look very strange indeed. Hood heights aren’t going to drop any time soon without a drastic change in how engines are designed because of space requirements for pedestrian impact safety.
The space requirements aren’t going anywhere but you could also have a lower engine profile, like a boxer engine for example. Then you could lower the hood height and the beltline along with it. But it’s cheaper just to design a high beltline to go with a high hood and be done with it, and little incentive to do otherwise, especially as cars become more and more niche and tall CUVs more and more mainstream.
I understand the driver window and belt line, but what about those tiny windows in the back and the thick D-pillar? Why should the rear belt line be at the rear passenger’s eye brow level?
What’s wrong with a clean, glassy designs of wagons of the 90s, say an 850? Too boring and utilitarian by now?
Take a look at the overwhelming majority of modern car designs out there today – with the notable exception of large sedans and Audi, the beltline *already starts inches, sometimes several inches below the hood line.* Ford, BMW, Benz, Chevy, Hyundai, Nissan, Kia, Toyota, etc – they all do this.
So what you’re seeing is not an intentional narrowing of the greenhouse from the A pillar back. If modern cars followed the design of a clean line from hood to D-pillar, you’d see an even narrower slit for windows between the A and B pillars. What most people complain about without realizing what they’re seeing is that designers pulled the sill down at the driver’s position and used rearview mirror placement to hide the kink.
If you pulled that sill line all the way across from the A-pillar all the way back, you would have most cars having a greenhouse several inches lower that the top of the hood line, which just looks weird. There’s a reason that no manufacturer sells them that way.
As for the think D-Pillar, got me there.
If it weren’t for the Kia nose I would have thought this was an Alfa. The tail end looks straight off of a Giulietta.
I was thinking Volvo.
I see a side and rear of a TSX wagon.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/06/2011-acura-tsx-sport-wagon-628-r.jpg
Yep!
Except that as noted, that back window needs to be stretched back a few inches; as this is now, it’s mis-proportioned; not to mention, it creates a substantial blind spot. Honda just nails visibility with some exceptions (CrossTurd and ZDX cousins), and the rest of the industry could take note!
Now the dash/center-stack, OTOH, gets props — much better executed than Kia’s current Optima! But what is with the separate iPad-esque stuff in cars these days??!! You’re just asking for some unknowing ne’er-do-well to think it IS an iPad and..you do the math!! Integrate it into the dash (so that you have a few more inches for a couple more hard-buttons, which already look BMW or Audi-ish — isn’t one of Kia’s designers an Audi alum?), and keep it rectangular, without the weird look of the current dash, and you’d have a winner, provided the MMI-esque interface is also executed well.
Looks more like the Shortspace with that roofline.
Agreed. This is rather more a hatchback than a wagon.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but a little more overhang in the rear would be nice.
No, still a wagon (having a low roofline and sloping hatch doesn’t change that).
@bd62: Tell that to my Prius “wagon”. Seriously, where does one draw the line between wagon and hatchback?
Can generally tell.
For instance, the Sportage and RAV-4 are lifted hatches, but the Venza is all wagon.
If there’s a define long-ish window between the rear-door (of a four-door) and D-pillar, it’s a wagon! If there’s a short cargo area behind, it’s a hatch!
I’d consider the Prius, a BMW GT, or the like, a hatch. This, a Volvo 850, or a 1977 Ford LTD Country Squire, is a wagon.
The harder ones to figure are the Minis and Fiat 500 variations. I’d consider all the Fiats hatches, while the extended four-door Mini could be a wagon if not for the slight increase in ride height; once the height goes up, it loses the “wagon” thing to me, and goes to C/SUV.
Give it a real roof, loose the goofy show dazzle interior and sign me up.
I like it…which means we’ll never see it here.
I was thinking the same thing. Wife and I wanted an affordable, midsize wagon last time we car shopped, not SUV/CUV. Europeans were out, because of reliability and repair costs, shopped the Subaru but ultimately didn’t wanted the added expense of AWD maintenance and extra fuel cost – wife would be using it for a 60mile/day commute. So we were SOL. Would have considered a wagon like this for sure. Though visibility does look absolutely horrible.
We had the same requirements. We ended up with a Prius v.
Would have been a serious contender for us too, but it hadn’t been released yet. Missed it by only a few months.
For reals? Or just another automaker effing with us?
Sigh…
The proportions make this thing look as long as the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series.
The TTAC checklist:
Station Wagon – checked
Diesel – checked
Manual Transmission – oops it is a dsg
Make it in brown please – todo
DODGE MAGNUM HELLCAT…
…or Kia?
Thought the same, Asian Magnum. Skinny enough for my taste. I also noticed they hit other notes such as the trending shooting brake and a little AM Rapide. If them old folks at the company know what’s good for them they’ll make it, or better yet our American Marketing arm pushes it through.
I was reading down the post to see if anybody else saw this as I did.
Good catch.
It does look great. And I was speaking to a guy with his old Dodge wagon and we both wished they never left. They would have been solid options today.
I wish they would quit teasing us with these Euro wagons we never get!!!
Last year it was the AWESOME Mazda6 wagon…plus promised in diesel!
Oh, well…..
The Magnum was the last wagon that really caught my eye.
The interior is a little bit unimaginative by concept standards, but the exterior is quite fetching. We’ll see how much of this gets lost in translation. Hopefully not too much. Doubtful we’ll see it Stateside.
(Get those wheels on the K900, STAT!)
Eh. So many times car makers havet this idea of extending the roofline and it rarely works. All you get is a car that isn’t a wagon and isn’t a sedan and a few years later they discontinue it. I get that some Americans want a wagon, but we all know that most don’t.
This looks good compared to the sedan, which, with that C-pillar, is still enough to cause me waves of nausea every time I see one!
Normally I can’t stand wagons and all the goofy hipster brown diesel nonsense but that actually looks quite nice.
I’m certainly not in the market for this kind of thing but kudos for not making it hideous.
Citroen DS9. As all get out.
http://www.inautonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/citroen-ds9-178.jpg
Frack I love purple Citroens.
http://www.supercars.net/gallery/119513/2657/995816.jpg
If Kia actually brought this and the Santa Cruz to market in the US, heads would explode.
The engine choices sure make it seem like it’s not intended for the US market though.
i like it. bet it sells less than when lexus tried it with the is300
I have seen one of those, once in me life. And it was not in good shape, pity nobody had taken care of it.
Don’t forget the Audi Allroad HA!
I once saw Glenn Frey driving one of those in Hollywood!
Ha Mike you jest, but I still see a few of them driving around these parts. They’re different colors so I know they’re different lol
Why have they put wicker weave vinyl seats in it? Yech. And it’d be mighty hot with that all glass roof. But becomes a convertible when rolled over.
The new Kia Sportyspice!
A coffin. With wheels.
Note to stylists: Windows are OK. Really.
It looks awesome from the C forward.
It doesn’t look as truly cool as the Mazda6 wagon(diesel) we NEVER got!
…indeed, this only serves as a reminder that mazda won’t bring the 6 wagon stateside…
I shouldn’t say it looks awful in the rear…just the disappearing rear view gets bothersome.
Although not nearly as bad as the new Utes from Nissan and Hyundai. Those rear windows are horrible small.
Awful is a bit strong….
Windows are so overrated! Who needs them!?
Does it come with a periscope or is that an option?
You have to get the “Visibility Package” for the periscope. However, the Visibility Package is only available on the top SX trim, which includes the moonroof for the periscope to emerge from.
Camaro wagon anybody?
I know it is a concept, but those seats look awful and uncomfortable.
As mentioned by others, the Dodge Magnum was the first thing that came to mind – especially the roof line in the main photo.
Which marque will be the first to dispense entirely with the antiquated ‘window’ fad of the previous century, and instead provide side video screens for the interior occupants? Imagine – while Dad’s driving you to your soccer game, you could be barreling down the Grand Canyon!
I do not like wagons, nor modern Kias (though the GT4 concept was great), but this doesnt look bad at all IMO. I couldnt see myself buying it, but I wouldnt mind having the option and seeing them around if they decide to bring it to the US.
Id really rather see a production GT4, though. Make mine a non-turbo base model with a manual trans and no options. :)
If they offered that here with their 2.4L engine, I would buy it. And not some internet post hypothetical, where it would have to cost $8000. If it was with a couple grand of the sedan, I would be at the dealer tomorrow.
As much as I like wagons, theres no point in a wagon with a low roof-line.
The Scion XB, cheap interior or not, is more comparable to a “proper” wagon.
You can still transport oversize objects, like coolers, furniture (some), dog crates, and bicycles in this thing but the disappearing roof is getting a bit annoying. It’s almost like the designer is embarrassed to be designing a wagon, so they take a page out of 4-door “coupe” designers book and create this new quasi-wagon that’s now so common (e.g. Acura TSX, Volvo V60, CTS wagon and so on. Form above utility.
If the popularity of CUVs has taught us anything its that average people want their greenhouse.
I would like to compare this to the Magnum but I cannot, both are entirely different cars, the Magnum was pretty lousy as a wagon while this Kia looks like it might be somewhat spacious, just ugly.
Fyi Jacob automakers have been embarrassed to make wagons for almost a decade by now, note how most tack on “sport” or “X” like this example.
I don’t think this has a low roofline as much as it has a high beltline. Something that’s becoming very common.
Looks like flying penis.
It looks a bit like the Chrysler Magnum. The windows look even smaller here.
Looks great. Us Euros would definitely buy that. A lot of Euro Accord (TSX) owners are wondering what they will replace their car with, as Honda is not commited to continuing to sell the Accord in Europe. This looks like the answer for a lot of those owners.
The IS300, not the audi. I thought it made him cooler somehow driving a compact import Japanese wagon with a straight-six.
Looks sleek , elegant (except these ‘chaep wheels’..) .. beter than ‘more prestigeous’ ‘still-eerie-korean’ designed Hujnundajiji ..
but 2-liter GDi and 1.6-liter Turbo GDi for this body ? – ‘More Show than Go’ ..!