Kia Forte GT: Clearly in the Middle

2020 Kia Forte GT

The Forte GT was my final car to test drive out of a trio that included the Mazda3 and Honda Civic Si. Of the three, the Kia represents a comfortable middle ground. It’s looks are not in any way offensive, the slats and venting of the Honda are minimized here with purposeful mild aggression. While the Kia lacked the distinctly upscale look inside like the Mazda, it’s exterior appearance was not likely to polarize as it’s silhouette could pass for more sedate cars like the VW Jetta. That’s not all bad in this segment where cars like the Civic look ridiculous next to the grown up refinement of the Forte’s design. That alone made it worth checking out.

2019 Kia Forte LX

Sensible Design
The European influence was no accident. The Forte GT’s design comes courtesy of Peter Schreyer, who came over from Audi about a decade ago and revamped the corporate design language at Kia. Primary among the Kia’s design traits is the corporate tiger grille, which on the Forte GT looks great with a slither of bright-work to accentuate its shape. Also cool are the two round fog lights pushed into the center air intake. The effect is very European in a ’90s way, but refreshing considering that most cars push fog lights to the far edges.

My test car was the wonderful fire orange color. Along with the snow white pearl are two of the most attractive colors on the GT. For 2020 there are 8 exterior colors and almost as many interior options (for seat color/materials) on the Forte line in general. Kia offers buyers GT looks with economy car function with it’s GT-Line. The GT-Line might have been considered if it offered a manual option. Truth is the GT cars have subtle cues that set them apart that at first glance could be missed – that could work to its disadvantage against a comparable GT-Line model. Aside from the attractive (if not busy) 18 in wheels, GT cars feature red accents on the grille and very subtle ground effects. For GT-line and GT trims, Kia offers a nice fake leather with red stitching that matches the glow of the instrument clusters.

2020 Kia Forte GT in fire orange

The interior of the Forte GT was nice, but not the special place that the Mazda3 was. The switch gear looked slightly upscale with chrome bezels on the circular HVAC vents. Cabin materials looked good, despite some hard plastics. Despite varying textures, there was a lack of color breakup – everything was black. The strongest point of the dash’s design was the infotainment system. Hyundai/Kia is known for it’s simple well laid out system that was intuitive and fast. It was a generation ahead of the somewhat sluggish and dated Honda System.

The Test Drive

My time in the Forte GT was curated by a saleswoman who like all salespeople spouted off brochure facts that I had already studied. I did not take any curves aggressively because she was in the car at all times (and I did not want to alarm her). Acceleration from a highway off ramp (the only time I could really test the car’s straight-line performance) was adequate. The gear changes were a bit on the long throw side but were smooth (not short and smooth like the Honda). With a 1.6 liter turbocharged four cylinder with 201 hp, the Forte GT power-train was similar to the Civic Si’s 1.5 at 205 hp. The Forte is rated for regular gasoline and 34 mpg in manual trim. The Civic was far more efficient with 4 more mpg on the highway. While on the highway, I found it necessary to downshift from 6th gear to fifth to pass traffic moving faster than 65 mph. That honestly was the case for all of the cars I tested with the possible exception of the Civic which seemed more lively at higher RPMs (and nosier). Overall I got the feeling that the Forte was more fun to drive than I was able to test.

2020 Kia Forte GT interior

Interior Impressions
The cabin was reasonable quiet with just enough feedback from the thick steering wheel. It was not as loud as the Civic at highway speeds, but also lacked the feeling of contentedness I got with the Honda. That might be due to the quieter cabin of the Forte. Both the Forts and Civic were loud compared to the Mazda, but were more engaging to drive in normal city traffic. Like the other two, the Forte GT had a premium stereo. I have to say that many manufacturers seem to confuse loud with quality sound. That said the 320 watt Harman Kardon sounded as good as the stereo in the Honda, but the Bose system in the Mazda seemed more balanced and was clearly the superior setup.

On paper, the Kia’s biggest advantage was the amount of standard features for the price. Like Honda, Kia has its own version of a safety suite, but I really did not care about that aside from the auto cruise control which did not work as expected in the Forte GT I tested. As I would find out, the Forte GT with the manual was the most expensive Forte, but lacked some of the features I was looking for that the 7 speed dual clutch auto car had like leather seats and a sunroof. Kia offered only one package for the GT called GT2 which was not available for the manual (at this writing at my dealer). That package included important things like a sunroof, heated seats (to me) and not so important nice to have items like wireless phone charging, and LED interior lighting. It’s still early in the model year and many dealers had one if any of these manual GT cars on their lots. It might be worth waiting to see what the allocation ends up being as there is no real urgency to buy.

Forte GT detail

Conclusion
I came way from the Kia Forte GT not impressed or disappointed with the car itself. The true disappointment came with knowing that the configuration I’d hoped for was not available with the manual. It seems that Mazda is the only manufacturer that does not punish the manual fan with stripped down content. Both the Honda and Kia offer version of the Civic and Forte as stripped down entry level offerings. In the case of Kia, the base Forte has much of the attractive looks of the GT car, but with a more efficient (40 mpg) normally aspirated 2.0 rated at 147 hp. For a second I thought that if I kept the BMW, I could go for the base Forte FE as a basic second car. After thinking about it, I realized that option however more efficient, had less power than the my old Focus and was probably not as fun to drive.

So far it’s looking like the Mazda3 might be the winner although I so badly wanted to love the Civic Si. The right Civic might come along, but I have to be willing to live without some of the luxuries I’ve gotten accustomed to. Mazda3s with a manual will be rare and are likely to be hard to fine for the foreseeable future. The passage of time might mean one will pop up on Carmax or some other site, allowing me to bypass the bite of depreciation. Either way I can wait. I learned my lesson from the last time I went car shopping and wanted the Mazda3 and ended up with a Focus once I realized that the Mazda I wanted was not available in a manual. Two weeks after buying the Focus, Mazda announced that it would be selling the Mazda3 GT with a manual. I won’t make that mistake again.

2020 Kia Forte GT

Plus:
Fun to drive
Fast and modern infotainment
Lowest price
Sensible and attractive design

Minus:
Not quite the total package without a GT2 package
Not as efficient as the Mazda3 GT or Civic Si

Update: Spring 2022
I’ve abandoned my second car search altogether. High prices, low inventory and the pandemic made driving less a priority. Besides, I work from home mostly and could ride my bike in to the office if I really wanted to. At some point I will resume my car search. I still need a small sedan (not a truck or crossover)
and have been keeping an eye on the Forte. Meanwhile the Civic has evolved and might be a real contender. Despite not changing much since 2019, the sleek Mazda3 would be my first choice if I were to buy today, but with prices so high, whose in a hurry?