Kia Optima

The turbocharged top-spec version of the handsome new Kia Optima, which shares its powertrain lineup and architecture with the 10 Best-winning Hyundai Sonata. The SX comes pretty well stocked, including the direct-injected 2.0-liter turbo four, 18-inch wheels with black-painted pockets, HID headlamps, LED taillights, dual-zone auto climate control, Bluetooth, an LCD in the instrument panel, leather upholstery, and racy body bits. If you’d like your blown Optima to be less furious-looking—yes, we just called a Kia “furious-looking”—and $1500 cheaper, the EX turbo is your car; it skips the sporty stuff everywhere but under the hood.
The 274-hp, 2.0-liter turbo four with 269 lb-ft of torque is silky smooth and punches hard enough to send the 3500-pound Optima to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds and through the quarter in 15 flat. Turbo response is basically seamless, which is excellent for drivability but bad if you want to stay out of it to improve fuel economy—we achieved 20 mpg with our Optima, below the 22 mpg city and 34 mpg highway EPA ratings. The six-speed automatic shifts smoothly, and the SX has steering-wheel-mounted paddles if you feel like playing F1 on the way to Froyo.