What's the news?
This is the first look at the new Kia Optima Sportswagon, which will make its debut at next month's Geneva Motor Show. The four-door, five-seat estate is based on the Sportspace Concept that was previewed in Geneva last year.
Exterior
Not quite as sleek as the Sportspace concept, the new Sportswagon is, nevertheless, a long, lean and handsome tourer. The new estate is the same width (1,860mm) and length (4,855mm) as the Optima saloon, but grows in height by 5mm (to 1,470mm) to make room for an expanded boot. At the front, the company retains its latest 'tiger nose' shutter grille design and keeps the headlights from the latest Optima saloon.
The wide LED tail lamps that wrap around the corners of the bodywork are similar to those in the Optima saloon, whilst the rear bumper features a neatly integrated single oval exhaust.
In Europe, the Sportswagon will be offered with a choice of nine paint colours and will ride on alloys ranging from 16- to 18 inches in diameter.
Interior
The Sportswagon cabin is finished with a high proportion of soft-touch materials and will come with a choice of single (black) - or two-tone (dark grey with light grey) colour schemes in cloth or leather trims.
The cockpit utilises the same materials and design as the Optima saloon and features a wide dashboard, with a centre console finished in gloss black and chrome.
The Optima Sportswagon will be available with a seven- or eight-inch touchscreen, the latter with satnav. There's a full Kia Connected Services package, with up-to-date, driver-oriented information provided by TomTom. This system will be free for European buyers for seven years after the car's purchase date.
The Optima Sportswagon will be among the first Kia models to feature Android Auto, which is available from launch, and Apple CarPlay, which is available from the end of 2016 - both systems feature voice recognition and control. Furthermore, the Optima Sportswagon will be available with wireless charging for mobile devices, which is situated at the base of the centre console.
The Optima Sportswagon will be available with a host of safety and technology features including a 360-degree Around View Monitor with four cameras that display a bird's eye view of the car on the screen; Smart Parking Assist System (SPAS), which parks the car automatically in parallel and perpendicular spaces; and Dynamic Bending Headlamps, which sweep the road ahead in line with the steering wheel. Kia claims that its Automatic Emergency Braking is a first in the segment as it uses two radars - one for short range and one for higher speeds and longer range, which allow it to avoid or mitigate collisions at speeds up to 60km/h (for pedestrians) and 80km/h (for other cars).
Of course, as this is an estate, the boot space has grown to a useful 553 litres cargo space behind the second row of seats - 48 litres more than the saloon. The boot has some handy features too, including a barrier net built in to the back of the rear seats and pop-up sliding luggage rails to help secure individual items, as well as a low, flat boot-lip and a Smart Power Tailgate, which automatically opens the boot when the car's smart key is in close proximity to the tailgate. Fitted as standard are 40:20:40 split-folding rear seats.
Mechanicals
The Optima Sportswagon will be front-wheel drive and though it's offered with a range of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines throughout Europe, it's likely to be diesel only in Ireland. The diesel option is a redeveloped 1.7-litre CRDi unit, upgraded to produce 141hp at 4,000rpm and 340Nm at 1,750- to 2,500rpm. It's mated to a six-speed manual gearbox or Kia's new seven-speed double-clutch automatic transmission.
For the record, where petrol engines are offered, there's a 2.0-litre CVVL unit, producing 163hp at 6,500rpm and 196Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. GT models will be fitted with Kia's new 2.0-litre T-GDI petrol engine, which produces 245hp at 6,000rpm and maximum torque of 353Nm at 1,350- to 4,000rpm. This is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. Kia anticipates that the 1.7-litre CRDi engine will be the biggest seller in Europe.
Official emissions and economy figures for all engines have yet to be released.
Anything else?
The Kia Optima Sportswagon goes on sale in Europe towards the end of 2016. The new estate comes with Kia's seven-year or 150,000km warranty as standard.