Backup cameras are now almost ubiquitous on new cars and trucks. But the 360-view system we had on a 2016 Kia Optima we tested is still a novelty.Watch video
DETROIT, MI - Backup cameras are now almost ubiquitous on new cars and trucks. But the 360-view system on a 2016 Kia Optima we tested is still a novelty.
Officially called a Surround View Monitor system, the safety feature uses four cameras - front, rear and two on the sides - to give a bird's eye view of the car as it negotiates its way in and out of parking spots.
This is useful if you're as prone as I am to shoehorning vehicles into tight spaces.
I'm not that guy who parks three inches from your car so that you have to climb through the trunk to get in without denting or damaging either your car or your neighbor's.
But I have an old driveway in an even older neighborhood so the distance between houses is only a bit wider than that of a car.
In this instance, the Kia Optima's Surround View Monitor System came in handy. It also was useful at a parking garage downtown, where cement walls would have been merciless to the Optima's Snow White Pearl paint finish.
But that's just one of the latest safety and technology features found standard on the Optima SX LTD. It also has lane departure warning, rear-parking assist, blind spot detection and an autonomous emergency braking system, to name a few things.
There are some luxury features, too. With April temperatures in the 60s, we didn't' get much use out of the Optima's ventilated front seats, but certainly they'd be a welcome feature in July, when leather can get hot and sticky. Both the front and rear seats are also heated.
And Kia's use of a panoramic sunroof is always welcome.
All of this, and the Optima is priced at $36,615.
The Kia Optima has been a fairly well-received midsize sedan in a segment that has been struggling as of late in the U.S., as an improving economy and low fuel prices have attracted Americans more toward buying trucks and SUVs.
But Kia appears to have bucked his trend as of late. Its March sales results in the U.S. included all-time high sales for its Forte compact cars.
The Optima has not sold as well, with its sales in the first three months of the year dipping to 29,768 units, as compared to 36,463 units in the first quarter of 2015.
That still made it Kia's second-best selling vehicle in terms of volume, after the Soul.
The Optima first debuted in 2000, and is now in its fourth generation. The new-for-2016 model comes with three engine choices and five trim levels: LX, LX Turbo, EX, SX Turbo and SXL. Sales of the 2016 Kia Optima began in the fourth quarter of the 2015.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.