2017 Kia Cadenza

I spent the last few weeks driving the new 2017 Kia Cadenza, the first luxury sports sedan from the Korean car maker. Size wise, it falls between the Optima and the K900, while the Optima has been moving upmarket, the 2017 Cadenza takes luxury to a new level and offers technology and refinement that makes you wonder how they can sell it for around $45,000.

Cars in the Cadenza's class like the BMW 5 Series start at over $50,000 and to get the same level of technology and options in a new Jaguar XE, you would need to spend nearly $56,000. But while brands like BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes have established a reputation in the luxury market, Kia is relatively new and it's obvious that they set their sights on the biggest brands in the industry when they launched the redesigned Cadenza.

Inside the Cadenza Limited, I tested I was constantly surprised with the level of technology and how well it worked. For around $45,000 you get, heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel, glass panoramic roof, premium sound system, adaptive cruise and lane departure warning, power rear sunshade, and one of the coolest backup camera systems I have ever used. Plus for a "mid-size" car it has massive amounts of room in the passenger compartment and trunk. The 290 hp 3.3 V6, is coupled to an 8-speed automatic with sports mode and paddle shifters, meaning you can still have fun when the road bends.

Everyone who got in the car, loved it, and they just kept asking "This is a Kia?" which I think really shows how well Kia has done, not just with designing great looking cars, but also building quality cars, everything you touched in the Cadenza felt like it was well made and the designers really focused on the details. I could go on and on about how awesome the Kia is, but just watch my short video review below where I talk about how well it drives and show you some of the technology.