Official detail shots of Kia Mesa leaked
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The first teaser/detail shots of the production Kia Mesa SUV are out, and it looks like the body-on-frame truck's outward appearance is going to be close to the KCD-II Mesa concept that made its debut back in 2005 at the Detroit Auto Show. (Is it us, or does that grille look very New Tribeca/Chrysler Town & Country-ish?) Rumored to be showing up sometime in the fall in Korea and early '08 in the US, we should expect to see a 260-horsepower 3.8L V6 underhood. Spy shots that appeared earlier in the year hint at an attractive interior, and there has been speculation that a V8 will be in the mix at some point, too. We have to assume that it'll be shown at either Los Angeles or Detroit if the US release timing really is set for early '08. The biggest question might be whether or not Kia will find an audience for a big SUV in the current climate. That said, with V6 power, a snappy cabin, and assuming it's got three rows of seating, it could be positioned against the GM Lambda crossovers, which are sizable machines, themselves.[Source: Hyundai Exchange (registration req'd) via Left Lane News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ron 12:52PM (7/24/2007)
hey look another boring, underpowered Kia
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CMOG 1:01PM (7/24/2007)
yea, with the new 's' diegel engine that produces
more horsepower and torque than the AUDI,
BMW diegel v6s
Bob-omb 1:23PM (7/24/2007)
Hey look, another loser living in the past.
Don 3:40PM (7/24/2007)
Did you time warp in from the year 1990?
dave 1:10PM (7/24/2007)
I love Hyundai. I can't wait to see this. 260-horsepower 3.8L V6 doesn't seem underpowered to me.
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Seminole 1:22PM (7/24/2007)
I'm gonna throw this out there, but that shot of the grille of the KIA looks almost 100% like that of the new Subaru Tribeca.
http://www.drivingsportsvideo.com/subiesport/08tribeca_driving.jpg
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AlexP 1:31PM (7/24/2007)
Yeah, pretty much - same about of bars on the grille and the headlights look pretty much the same.
I wonder if they came up with the concept before Subaru decided to go with that grille for the updated Tribeca.
M 1:42PM (7/24/2007)
if you are seing it now, that means a designer sketched it at least 2 years ago, an engineer worked on it, tooling was made for the factory, quality testing took place... these parts don't just go from sketch to factory part overnight....
Mr. Oak 1:28PM (7/24/2007)
Ha! they're going to build the Volt. before GM does. Piracy in overdrive.
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brian 1:43PM (7/24/2007)
lol. Any more insecurity here? I'm sure it wll be a great product just like the rest of the Hyundai/Kia lineup. No one has even seen the entire car in production form and already the slandering begins. Talk about bias. lol
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Juan 1:47PM (7/24/2007)
The sketches look nice and all but why body-on-frame when everyone else is moving to unibody? That makes no sense...
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I_Hate_China 4:17PM (7/24/2007)
Because Kia has a V8 pickup for you in the future.
Mr. Oak 1:55PM (7/24/2007)
Brian, ever seen the Volt? this looks like a larger copy of it. Copy right down to the color. Hope they remember to remove the bowtie from the final product.
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AlexP 1:59PM (7/24/2007)
http://www.automobilemag.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0701_b+2007_chevrolet_volt_concept+03.jpg
I doubt I'm the only one who fails to see how this looks like the Chevy Volt.
M 1:13PM (7/26/2007)
this truck is based on the Mesa concept car that came out two years ago... way before the Chevy Volt.... keep smoking crack Mr. Oak!
Mr. Oak 1:20PM (7/26/2007)
Weed ma brother, just weed.
Mr. Wiggles 1:55PM (7/24/2007)
Maybe they'll use the platform for a proper pickup truck later on. Would be nice, anyway.
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AlexP 1:57PM (7/24/2007)
I'm sorry, but the Accent, Rio, Spectra, Magentis (it's overpriced and boring to drive), Amanti (what the hell is it doing with economy tires? And the exterior styling is still forgettable (in a sense that you don't want to remember it)), Sportage and Tucson could all be much better.
And although I like the Elantra, the price for equipment ratio isn't nearly as interesting here as it is in the United States. I'd rather import one than buy one locally, to be honest (I'd save a thousand for a better equipped version... And get a choice of colors we don't get here (Canada).
(Oh yeah - something noteworthy about the Rondo... Probably the worst thing about it, as a matter of fact: BASE AUDIO UNIT HAS A CASSETTE PLAYER - a format you can't buy media for unless you're creating it yourself, but why anyone would chose cassette over CD in this day and age is beyond me)
Hyundai is doing a lot of progress, but it doesn't mean all their cars are great.
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Bob-omb 3:28AM (7/25/2007)
Take your crap elsewhere, Alex. The Rondo has an AM/FM/CD standard in the U.S. and Canada. The UPGRADED U.S. stereo ADDS a cassette player, which is the next best thing to an aux input jack. Considering a lot of cars DON'T have aux jacks, I appreciate that some cars still have cassette players in addition to CD players.
brian 2:01PM (7/24/2007)
All I have to say is "driving is believing." ^^
And no the rondo dosen't offer a base cassette player, it offers a AM/FM/CD-MP3/Cassette audio system w/6 speakers. Go to website for more info and stop giving false info please.
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