Due to Thanksgiving travel, we had limited time with the KIA Optima Hybrid. Oddly enough, that doesn’t really impact a review. Though this will not be a nuanced and detailed account, it’s easy to sum up the Optima Hybrid after only a couple of drives along an empty PCH and a few quick freeway interchanges, plus around-town shuttling.

First, the bad news. The Hyundai/KIA hybrid system is no equal for either the Toyota or Ford Fusion systems, proving considerably less refined. Toyota Camry Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid would not be our first choices, either, as we’d go for a Prii of one sort or another. Hard to deny the leaders.

Driving the Optima Hybrid, there’s a clear step between regenerative braking and conventional mechanical braking, as on the first-gen Prius of 2001. Toyota fixed that problem, and so can KIA. It’s a matter of refinement, and focused engineering work.

Under medium throttle, the engine fires up gruffly. Under the lightest possible throttle, attempting to stay in EV puttering along at parking lot speeds, the engine fluttered in quietly and smoothly. Clearly, KIA and Hyundai are on the right path, but they have not yet mastered the concept. Probably quite a lot of software coding left to script to smooth the interplay of electric motors and gas engine. For us to delve in any deeper than this is pointless. It’s better than the now-aborted Nissan Hybrid system, but it’s no equal for the two best passenger car systems

Now, the good news, which is pretty much everything else about the Optima Hybrid, and you can figure it out for yourself walking around one in a parking lot, or taking a short drive. With its great-looking alloys and lower body kit, Optima Hybrid’s exterior design is a triumph. Interior design, interior packaging, and for the most part interior materials garner similar praise. We end up wondering just how nice a top-line KIA Optima with the standard gasoline engine must be. That’s likely the Optima to buy.

Optima Hybrid is handsome, very handsome, as in Alfa Romeo handsome. A bit more refinement of the lines, uprated detailing (better head- and taillights, more substantial door handles, richer detailing of grilles and grille inserts, etc) and it could pass for a compact Jaguar at ten paces. It certainly has finer proportions than a Jaguar XJ, a car that completely loses the thread at the rear end, turning into a member of the Narwhal species.

Yet Optima Hybrid is not overly pretty and feminine, like the Mazda6. The Optima Hybrid has sculpted, handsome and substantial forms, very masculine. Hard not to like it.

Approaching the Optima in a parking lot, I had a moment of unreality, of vertigo. I thought, “Really? That’s a KIA?” Photos tell the tale, but the car is well drawn, with excellent detailing for a mid-size mainstream family sedan. I once interviewed at the original KIA agency, in San Francisco. Because the cars were so dowdy, so homely, and so poorly built, I suggested they use a Godzilla monster and humor to launch the brand. Oddly enough, they did. But the 2012 Optima Hybrid is several light years removed from the KIA Sephia and the original Sportage, both of which were engineering and design abominations beyond mention. That was 20 years ago.

Ten years ago, I attended the launch of the original KIA Optima, on a run from the Sonoma Mission Inn to Bodega Bay and back. At that time, KIA worked a lot with both Lotus Engineering and Porsche Engineering, so the car had a slick Tiptronic system, and a very well-sorted chassis. The then-CEO of KIA’s US operations asked me to push the car a bit on the curves near Bodega, and we were both surprised at its poise and capability, in part due to its multi-link rear suspension. I had no end of fun sliding the Optima around corners near Bodega. Sure, it was losing speed sliding, but it was very controllable. That was just over ten years ago. In the past five years, KIA has gone ballistic, quality and design on a steep upward path

Inside? Materials quality and more importantly assembly quality is several notches above what we found in the KIA Soul, and more like what we found in the KIA Sportage that began to change opinions around here of the capabilities of Korean companies. Panels come together smoothly, with neat, tight seams.

Thanks to the long wheelbase that Hyundai specced in an attempt to position the Sonata/Optima slightly above Camry and Accord, Optima has a rear seat that’s roomy and comfortable. My big feet and long legs were no trouble at all—could have taken a nap without trouble. For perspective, we looked up rear legroom on Mercedes C- and E-class sedans: Optima has about an inch more than a C-class and about an inch less than an E-class. Toyota Camry has 38.9 inches of rear legroom, or 4.25 inches more than Optima, which provides perspective.  Though not the leader, Optima has a generous and comfortable rear seat.

And then there’s dynamics, the act of driving. Unlike the Hyundai Sonata we drove some time ago, which we damned with almost no praise, deservedly so, Optima handled and rode well. The electric power steering had that gumminess we seem to find in every KIA, but there was none of the listless, drunken wandering we found so horrendous in the Hyundai Sonata that is the Optima’s fraternal twin. KIA works with European engineering companies to help tune its vehicles, and it shows. This is, in effect, a Euro-spec chassis set-up. Optima Hybrid proved a pretty good car to drive, and only nitpickers like myself would find much fault. It’s not a Mazda6, or perhaps even a Camry, but there’s a sense of competency one rarely found in pats Korean vehicles. As a friend said, the KIA will age well, the Sonata will not. Optima tracks and corners and rides fairly well.

We would not recommend the current iteration of Hyundai/KIA hybrid drive. But based on everything else we found in the Optima Hybrid, we’d certainly recommend looking at the conventional gas-engined Optima when shopping family sedans. So long as the Optima has the aggressive lower body kit of the Hybrid model, the exterior design is strong, sculpted, and masculine. The interior is properly assembled, the ride and handling are very good, and only the steering is the slightest bit off, as we’ve found in virtually every KIA. We would recommend shopping the Optima if you’re also looking at Altima, Camry and Accord. We suspect that unless the KIA dealer offers a smoking deal, the Japanese will prove superior, but the gap is closing.