Yeah, its my first car in reality though I had a Ford Escape V6 but its forward clutch went out a few months after I got it, so in truth this is the first car I got. I love it, I have a few car buddies and it outruns their modded FRS's and handles better than my buddies G37 IPL package, and im super satisfied.
The A/T is good since I daily drive this thing, and the manual was non existent in Georgia basically and I needed a car. My mom also has the Sorento, and I can compare the two and the transmission on my 5 is definitely more satisfying to shift and the first 3 gears are definitely snappy. The only complaint is the small wiggle in the steering wheel which I also noticed on my mom's car, and when I stomp the pedal, the engine shifts just a little too soon for my liking. Other than that, this car is less than a GTI, can easily be modded to be better than one in terms of performance for price. Looks better IMO, and is a KIA! With standard 100k mile/10 year warranty and 5 star safety rating. Literally, the best car I could have bought. The Ford Fiesta ST was a manual and was a little quicker but was way too small and the features for tech were totally unnecessary. And to top it off, it was made by a German Auto Designer, just saying
I will try and post some photos tonight of her, I took some an awesome one in the mountains up in North Georgia a few weekends ago. Thanks for being so welcoming! It's awesome I could find a forum where people actually mod these things! I figured once i bought a KIA Forte5, I was going to have to make everything I wanted to do on it and me and Mighty Car Mods were going to be great friends! Of course, the aftermarket selection isn't anything like it is for a POS Civic, BUT, that's because this car doesn't need a lot to make it even better than it is, its pretty good in terms of handling, adequate power, and braking. What else could you ask for?