Driving was a surprise in the feel department for similar sized cars. Very heavy feeling, which gave the feeling of safety, not to mention the 8+ airbaf this vehicle has. The power was adequate for the car, but not as much as you would expect for something that has a 6 cyclinder 3.5 engine in it. I'm guessing the weight has something do with it, though I do not know how much car really weighs. With dual climate controls and heated seats, I could see myself driving long distances in this vehicle without getting tired & beat up.

The bad things I have noticed over the past year - the very first thing was cup holders that were just big enough to have a soda popp can in. If you use anything bigger you might as well figure on your passenger just holding their drink. This was a very bad design for the American market & whoever came up with it should be fired immediately for being stupid. The second thing is that in 1 year my tires started going flat, one by one. The car came with Kuhnho tires, forgive me if I mispelled that as I am sure I did. From my experience I just thought they were cheap. I have replaced them with Big-O tires & have not had any problem since. As soon as I replace the tires I started looking at every othe Amanti I saw & notice that every other owner had a different set of tires on their car as well. Its obvious that since every Amanti had a different brand of tire on them from one car to the next that the ones that come with the vehicle must be a real piece of crap. The problem I have been running into lately has been two-fold with this car. One, the car sputters around 40mph when giving it some gas, particularly if you happen to make a right turn just previous to that to go around a corner or highway entry/exit ramp. I have yet to figure this out as to why, but if I buy premium gas in it then the problem does not seem to be as bad, but I cannot afford to fill up with premium, so it makes me mad. The next recent proble, which really scares me, is that on occasion, I can pull out of a parking place & I cannot get the car to move beyond a first gear speed. I can press the pedal to the floor & the car does not even rev up to make the attempt. I can let off the gas & punch it again & the car will take off so fast you'll jerk your head off. Earlier in the review I said the power was more or less ok, but when punched it seems to have plenty. The very last time this problem occured something different happened. I found myself going about 3000rpm at 50mph. When I shifter to the right to go into manual shifting I noticed I was still in 4th gear. When I manually upshifter it went to 5th & I never had any more problems. Of course, when this thinkg happens it doesn't stick long enough to happen when I take it to the garage, so they look at me like I'm a nutt.

I really like this car, but the recent problems bother me to say that I will probably not buy another one. It's not to say that maybe other people do not have these problems with this model, but I have heard of similar problems on other kia vehicles. My wife had a Kia Sorento and never had any of these problems, so they must have done something right on that model & need to stick it in the Amanti. This is a great luxury car for half the price of similar American luxury cars. I like it very much, but it seems I keep waiting for the shoe to drop.