Road Test: Kia Optima 1.7 CRDi 2 4dr

Optima. Not a name to fill the soul with hope, is it? ‘Dog got worms? A course of Kia Optima will see him right!’ ‘Stubborn stains won’t shift? Pop a splash of Optima in the wash!’

Not a great name, but at least it’s not… Magentis. Because that’s what the Optima is: Kia’s all-new replacement for the soggy old Mag’, a big four-door saloon set to battle the Mondeo and Insignia for the hearts of Britain’s family-minded reps.

Beyond the name, the Optima looks promising: sharp lines, angry, chrome-fringed front end, an almost Jag XJ-ish execution of the C-pillars. The good impressions continue inside, where – despite a few tacky plastics – a smartshiny-wood insert at the top of the steering wheel helps raise the cabin. The cabin is enormous. Cavernous. Forget ‘room for one six-footer behind another’, you could just about squeeze another row of full-size humans in between.

The Optima can’t quite disguise its sheer size on the road. The 134bhp diesel – the only engine option until a 2.0-litre petrol arrives later this year – is polite enough, though entirely reliant on its short burst of turbo power to make progress, making you work the six-speed manual hard (a six-speed auto is available, too, which is pleasingly smooth, if lazy). Unusually for a big, angry-faced saloon, the Optima is set up soft, a pillowiness occasionally undermined bythe glammy 18-inch wheels on our test car, which transmit the road’s nastiestcracks and fissures.

Unfashionable they might be, but we’d spec the 16-inchers for maximum squishability, and to hell with the on-limit handling. For the Optima is one of those cars, like the Saab 9-5, that it feels a bit inappropriate to tackle in Maximum Stig Mode. Bar a touch of wallow at the limit, the Optima doesn’t do anything wrong as such, but there’s a manifest lack of enthusiasm for the task. A Mondeo or an Insignia would be far more fun, but you’ll pay for the privilege.

The Optima is all about much metal for modest money. It starts at around £20,000, undercutting the Insignia and Mondeo but with more space and gadgetry than either – and, of course, Kia’s lovely seven-year warranty. It’s big, it’s cheap, it’ll get your whites whiter than white and clear out your dog’s innards. Choose Optima!