I have been driving Honda's for the past 7 years and since working at a Kia dealer over the past 4 years, decided to take a chance on a 2011 6 speed manual trans Optima for a daily. The cars were considered the absolute base model in 2011 and were under $18k brand new. can regularly snag them for under $8,000 with relatively low miles on them.

They only imported about 1500 of them so finding one is pretty hard. Found this one locally to me in July. Had 93k on it when i bought it. Previous owner had somehow broken the 5th gear syncro so trans was gone through and clutch was replaced 200 miles before i bought it.





These cars were so utilitarian that they didn't even come with cruise from the factory. Simple install of the button and wiring in the steering wheel allows it to work though.

Added some Kia factory upgrades to it like turbo grille and SX Limited "wood grain" steering wheel.




Also added a small lip spoiler from S Korea to break up the boring rear end look.



Also added some SX Limited 18 inch factory wheels that were warrantied out here at my dealership until I could buy some actual wheels. Not bad looking but the chrome was beat up on a couple of them.



Next it was time for some exhaust. Did some research before settling on a Magnaflow catback. hardly noticeable at highway speeds but has a nice tone when you get on it.



Sound clip. No rasp at all throughout the rev range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNPcGPYjCTU

 

Added an Injen cold air intake system last month. Figured it may help with a couple mpg's as i rarely take this car past 4,000 rpm's.

 

Got tired of looking at the crappy chrome on the SX Limited wheels and bought some Konig Hypergrams. 18x8.5" and weight only 17.7 lbs each. Newer style wheel from Konig. Factory Limited wheels weigh 24 lbs each.








Next step is to clean up the brakes with some drilled and slotted rotors and possibly do a front caliper dual piston upgrade with a factory caliper. Also looking at a drop spring to clean up the wheel gap a bit while adding 235/45/18 tires to these wheels to get rid of the stretch.

 

looking great. I think there neat cars. What motor did those cars come with .

 

2.4L engine. i wish the turbo was offered but it wasn't. still has 200 hp though so it's plenty for a daily to get around the city with.

 

the weirdest thing i find about this car is that Kia didn't even bother putting a different shift linkage in it from the Korean factory. the shifter sits towards the passenger side of the car.

this is where it sits in neutral.


also snagged a better picture of the car and wheels.

 

Truhart lowering struts and Eibach Sport Kit came in recently. should be installing either today or tomorrow.






should be done with it for now. don't really have much more I want to do with it. can only do so much since it's the N/A engine.

 

suspension on and settled. sits just high enough to get into the driveways i was worried about. will need a new factory lip though since i have caught it on the curb in our parking lot and messed it up. will replace it once i get used to knowing where to park.

 

came across some interior trim pieces i had been looking for on Tuesday. was tired of looking at the cheap base model silver trim pieces around the cluster and center stack.



Replaced them with the SX leather/vinyl wrapped ones. cleans up the dash a ton. little things like this bug me when driving.

 

hey, I like this!!! needs a bike rack for the fat bike though

 

i've been looking at bike racks for it. wanting a roof rack, paint is kind of crappy so don't want a trunk mount. problem is...there are very few fat bike roof rack options.

 

i used my standard yakima with a fork adapter that worked flawless. you have to get creative with tying the rear wheel down though but a simple strap worked fine for me for years until i went with the hitch mounted rack. I will always use hitch mounted unless im carrying more than 2 bikes, then 2 on roof and 2 on hitch rack. do they have a hitch option for your car?

 

yeah but it's a pain to install. would rather just put a roof rack on it since it sits low. would have no issues getting a bike on it.

 

this is what i used for a long time with no issues

Hurricane Components