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This is your father's Oldsmobile. Well, not quite. My Dad's Olds was a '65 Starfire with a 425. A lead sled, sure, but not in the pejorative sense that the phrase "your father's Oldsmobile" is supposed to connote. Okay, so the Kia Amanti is more like the hyperbolic manifestation of your father's Oldsmobile, were that car to be exceptionally plush and fitted with a suspension made of marshmallow.
The Amanti is a very well appointed vehicle; you get a lot for your dollar. If your idea of a good car equates to the most stuff for the lowest expenditure, the Amanti's value proposition is difficult to top. The engine room is occupied by an amply torquey 3.8 liter V6, so you'll be to bingo on time, and with the Kia's capricious accommodations, you will end up being the chauffeur. We already knew that the Amanti was a well-fitted ride for a very reasonable price, so our time with it offered insight into how the package works as a whole.
This is your father's Oldsmobile. Well, not quite. My Dad's Olds was a '65 Starfire with a 425. A lead sled, sure, but not in the pejorative sense that the phrase "your father's Oldsmobile" is supposed to connote. Okay, so the Kia Amanti is more like the hyperbolic manifestation of your father's Oldsmobile, were that car to be exceptionally plush and fitted with a suspension made of marshmallow.
The Amanti is a very well appointed vehicle; you get a lot for your dollar. If your idea of a good car equates to the most stuff for the lowest expenditure, the Amanti's value proposition is difficult to top. The engine room is occupied by an amply torquey 3.8 liter V6, so you'll be to bingo on time, and with the Kia's capricious accommodations, you will end up being the chauffeur. We already knew that the Amanti was a well-fitted ride for a very reasonable price, so our time with it offered insight into how the package works as a whole.
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0056_450.jpg)
The Amanti is a distinctively nondescript car with its amalgam of borrowed lines. The slightly revised front end apes the Mercedes C-Class, while the greenhouse says Lincoln Town Car and the trunk has a snifter of Bentley. The mish-mash is not drop dead gorgeous, but it does show handsome restraint from some angles. Class rival Avalon has more crisply pressed trousers, but the Amanti trades slight blandness of form to successfully stave off pointless frippery. The trunk's squared-off shape, along with the bubblicious back window give the Amanti a formal profile, and the strong shoulder line doesn't have any untoward whoop-de-doos to break its path. The style pretty much flies under the radar, but we did collect a couple comments on that Mercedes-esque grille, which came in for rhinoplasty for 2007.
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0025_200.jpg)
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The Amanti's appeal amongst the text-message and iPod set is severely limited, we're afraid. There's far more Greatest Generation than Millennial in the Amanti's mission. Folks aged enough to drive the AmeriBarges of the 1970s when they were new will find the same mien in the Kia. It's not a total throwback to the bad old days in the way Ford's Panther platform is; the Amanti's more of an emulator. It does a great job driving like a '74 Newport, with its ultra-compliant ride, slow steering, and muted powertrain. It even feels like it rotates from the same spot in front of your feet, just like the old days.
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0035_200.jpg)
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![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/int_dsc_0031_200.jpg)
The LCD in the center of the dash is kind of a strange touch. Without a navigation system to make pretty pictures on the display, it's more like having a Pong console permanently installed. It does display radio and trip computer data, but those details could have been easily incorporated into the face of the radio or gauge panel, where we've been conditioned to find such information. At least Kia can claim in its ad copy that there's an LCD in the dash. The smoky-looking woodgrain trim also sucked a little character out of the cabin – something bearing less of a resemblance to charcoal would make the interior more welcoming.
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/int_dsc_0067_200.jpg)
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/int_dsc_0029_200.jpg)
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0028_200.jpg)
![](https://s.aolcdn.com/commerce/blogcdn/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0106_450.jpg)
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