2018 Kia Optima gets a FACELIFT and new engines

The Kia Optima – Saloon and Sportswagon estate – gets a facelift for 2018 as well as new engines and added technology. Debuts at the Geneva Motor Show.

It’s a bit more than two years since the latest Kia Optima arrived – at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015 – so it’s time for a bit of a facelift and some tweaking of the offerings.

The Kia Optima Facelift – which will debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month – gets styling tweaks which follow the usual facelift formula.

That means new bumpers, a tweak to the grille, revised headlights, fog lights and LED tail lights, as well as a new colour option – Runway Red – and some new alloy designs.

The Sport GT and GT-Line models also get LED Fogs, some gloss black highlights, bigger sills, revised air intakes and twin tail pipes.

Inside there’s Kia’s latest infotainment with 7″ or 8″ touchscreen, new upholstery options, new steering wheel, ambient lighting and extra dashboard trim.

Under the bonnet is a new 1.6 litre diesel engine with 134bhp and 236lb/ft of torque to replace the old 1.7 litre unit, and there’s also the arrival of Kia’s 178bhp 1.6 litre petrol – which is already available in the Sportage – and is available with Kia’s seven-speed auto gearbox, as well as a new drive mode selector with Eco, Comfort, Sport and Smart settings.

Active safety stuff now includes Kia’s Advanced Driver Assistance System to avoid or mitigate collisions, Driver Attention warning, Forward Collision Avoidance, Lane Keep, High Beam Assist and Dynamic Bending lights.

The new Kia Optima will be on sale in the UK in Q3 2018.