Kia's Cadenza offers luxury and safety on the cheap. (Photo courtesy of Kia Motors)Add the Kia Cadenza to the long list of full-size sedans left out in the cold by America's love affair with SUVs.
Powerful, competent, loaded with high-tech driver assistance features, with a great warranty, and reasonably priced, the Cadenza drew fewer than 1,300 buyers in 2020. In January, Kia pulled the plug, announcing there would neither be a 2021 Cadenza, nor its upscale cousin, the K900.
The move makes sense for Kia and its parent company, Hyundai. Genesis, the group's fledgling luxury nameplate, did much better last year with the G90 in the dwindling North American large luxury car segment.
As I put one more nail in the coffin of the large American car, suffer me a digression. We old folks remember when these were the cars the world envied. I remember, when Dad was stationed in Germany, we took a trip to Italy in a new 1955 Ford Galaxy station wagon. It had a huge V-8, was black and white, loaded with shiny switches, and bedecked in voluminous amounts of chrome front and rear.
And huge.
It barely fit through the narrow streets of the ancient Roman cities of the Italian Riviera, like Genova and San Remo, our destination. Several times, when we emerged from a ristorante, after meals the memories of which to this day cause my mouth to water, we returned to a car to surrounded by curious but impeccably polite Italians.
Dad would open the door. The men would scramble in. Mom, the daughter of an Italian immigrant, would attempt to have conversations with the smiling women. This was in the day when Europeans loved Americans.
On our way home, near Como, in a flat land at the base of the Italian Alps, the Galaxy was sideswiped by a blue Fiat that we could have stuffed into the back seat. The little car came flying across the highway and smacked the Ford amidships, It bounced off and careened into a ditch, where it fell into many pieces.
The driver, a resolutely cheerful fellow, emerged from the wreckage and pronounced himself well. So too did his passenger, who seemed less certain of his good health as he stumbled into waiting arms. Apparently, everybody in the vicinity of this event was related and not in the least surprised at the pair's latest peccadillo.
The sheet metal on the doors of the Galaxy was crushed. Here is where the episode became memorable to me. A farmer, who witnessed the wreck while working in his field, welcomed us into his home.
He gave us a tour of a cold shelter where he aged cold cuts and cheeses. Never have I tasted such heavenly cheeses or savory salamis. While a pair of local mechanics hammered and adjusted the Galaxy's doors so they would open and close, the farmer and his wife laid out a tasty spread for us.
My parents declined — over my objection — an invitation to spend the night, and we were soon traversing the Alps. The next thing I remember was Dad gently carrying me from the car to my bed.
Good deal
That was a beautiful memory, and the Kia Cadenza will soon be another. If you can find one, you will probably also find a salesman eager to deal. On top of whatever discount the dealer offers, Kia provides $5,000 cash and backs that with one of the best warranties in the business.
Read the reviews and you'll find that most critics like the Cadenza, but none love it.
Priced in the $38,000 to $44,000 range, low for its class, the Cadenza is a roomy, upscale sedan with a smartly designed and well-executed interior. A 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen is standard. There are four USB ports. Seats are comfortable and covered in Nappa leather. There's tons of legroom front and rear, and a huge trunk.
Materials have a classy feel, though if one looks closely it's obvious the veneer of class is thin.
A full suite of driver-assist technologies is standard. It includes:
A "Sensor Fusion" that combines forward collision warning, forward collision-avoidance assist with pedestrian/cyclist detection, smart cruise control with stop & go, and high beam assist
Lane following assist that follows visible lane markings or a preceding vehicle and provides steering inputs to maintain the vehicle's position in the lane
Blindspot collision avoidance assist — rear with lane change assist
Highway driving assist that uses federal highway speed limit information to automatically adjust vehicle speed to be within the posted speed limit
Navigation-based smart cruise control that uses navigation data to lower the vehicle's speed proactively before upcoming curves
Safe exit assist alerts the driver or passenger opening their door to not exit the vehicle when approaching traffic is detected
The Cadenza has the same 3.3-L V-6 block as the highly prized Stinger. They have the same bore and stroke. The twin-turbo Stinger V-6 cranks out 368 hp, while the naturally aspirated Cadenza puts out 290 hp and 253 ft.-lb. of torque through its 8-speed transmission.
That is plenty of power, especially accelerating into the fast lane on Interstate highways. Pushed through curves, the Cadenza is a nice combination of relaxed and planted.
The Cadenza's biggest problem is that the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima are laps ahead of the field in this category, plus Lexus, Mercedes, and Acura all are in the same general price range.
Still, if you're looking for luxury and safety on the cheap, backed by a 5-year/50,000-mile bumper to bumper and 10-year/100,000-mile transferrable warranty, the Cadenza seems like a bargain.
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BILL OWNEY | Bye-bye cadenza: Sporty and roomy large sedan doesn't quite measure up - Texarkana Gazette
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