First Drive: 2010 Kia Forte

The Forte is technically the successor to the Spectra, but it is really so much more than that. This time, Kia decided to leave the help of the rocked-out Soul hamsters behind and instead concentrate on product, not marketing – though we do like the hamsters. The main competitors in the segment include the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda Mazda3 and when you add in the secondary targets of the Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cobalt, it shows why anyone would need to strike hard when attempting to show up as a seriously dominant player that sells on more than just low prices.

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Wiper blades
Blade inspection NOTICE: Commercial hot waxes applied by automatic car washes have been known to make the windshield difficult to clean. Contamination of either the windshield or the wiper bla ...

Interior Features
Test drivers say the Rio and Rio5 have easy-to-read gauges and generally like the layout of the dash, but the praise ends there. The Rio’s barebones interior comes with a four-speaker audio syst ...

Starting the engine
CAUTION Always wear appropriate shoes when operating your vehicle. Unsuitable shoes (high heels, ski boots,etc.) may interfere with your ability to use the brake and accelerator pedal, and the ...