Kia tuned the Optima's suspension for comfort, not handling. That doesn't mean a floaty, imprecise ride. It's smooth and stable at high speeds. It doesn't feel as connected to wet roads as a Honda Accord or Mazda6, though. While hustling down some back roads, the Optima displayed remarkable poise over bumps and lumps in mid-corner, its line not diverted by bumps in the road. The Optima operates best in its comfort zone. Push it really hard and you begin to see more chassis flex than that of the leading brands. The nose dives under hard braking and the rear squats under hard acceleration. There's considerable understeer (the tendency of the front tires to lose grip before the rear tires, causing the car to describe a wider arc in a corner). Also, the steering is relatively slow, so you have to turn the wheel more than you do in an Accord.
Kia engineers have managed to filter out most road and tire noise, but there's a ruffle of wind noise from the top of the windshield. Overall, it isn't quite as quiet as the Hyundai Sonata. At highway speeds, conversations between front and back seat were easy at normal speaking volume. Next Page