KIA Forte K3

Driving this car since end February 2016, current assessment:

1) The best feature of the car is the "Ventilated driver's seat". Does not sound much. When I first read that, I envisioned those office chairs with mesh back covers. But it is much more. I call it "Air-cond seat". Yes, cold air comes out of the seat to cool your back n butt. There are 3 fan speed settings to suit your desired comfort level. Just loved it.
Unfortunately it is available only for the Driver's seat. The front passenger only has the option to turn the seat warmer on! "Yes" the front seats have warmers too. Just in case, when drastic climate change comes and we have real cold winter in Singapore in the future.
One minor disappointment of this air-cond seat feature is that you have to switch it back on after starting the car. Would be better if it defaults back to the last setting like the car air-cond.

2) The second feature that I like is how the Smart Key in my pocket activates the "Welcome Lighting System" especially at night, when I approach the car. More appropriately, I like to call it, "Welcome Greeting" because it really welcomes you back to the car. As I neared the car, the wing mirrors unfold, the down lights in the wing mirrors turn on at the same time as the lights in the handles of the front doors. Wow what a welcome greeting, is like hearing, "Welcome and Enjoy your Drive"!

3) The Integrated Memory Driver Seat is another favourite of mine. On opening the door to get out, the seat automatically retracts from the steering wheel. This allows easier  getting out of the car and easy coming back in later on. The seat will return to the previous driving position when the engine is started. If you are not the previous immediate driver and you have pre-programmed your desired seat setting, you can just recall the setting with a press of the button. Two different seat settings can be programmed into the system for instant re-call. That's real cool convenient.

4) Decades ago I was sitting in my customer's Mercedes-Benz listening to him talking over the speaker phone while driving. In those days, the car has its own phone system and number. Now we have hands-free Bluetooth controls on the steering wheel. Once inside the car, my handphone automatically connects to the car system via Bluetooth. I can answer phone calls by just pressing the answer button on the steering wheel and start talking, like the person on the line is just sitting next to me. How technology has progressed. I can also make calls by searching thru my contact list with the same button. The contact list being displayed on the radio screen. Great for those drivers who love to chit-chat on the phone all the time, pity the passengers.

5) My first exposure to "Cruise" control was in a rental car. It was most useful for those long cross country drives. In those days, decades back, when the car reached the desired speed, you just pressed the "Cruise" button to lock in the speed, then step off the accelerator. The car would stay at that speed no matter it was going up or down hill. 

This car has upgraded the Cruise experience. To the uninitiated, just pressing the Cruise button, does not set the speed. It only gets the system ready. Once you have attained the desired speed you need to toggle the "Set" switch. It is a two steps set up. But now you can change the Cruise speed by just toggling the "Res+" and "Set-" switch. Up to increase speed, down to reduce speed, without having to step on the accelerator. The constant cruise speed can be halted by pressing the "Cancel" button (or stepping on the Brake pedal). After slowing down and if you want to go back to the original cruise speed, just toggle up to "Res+"  (Res = Resume). All these can be control by just the finger! 

They should have put another button for electronic "Breaking" to complete the whole experience of driving with just fingers!

6) There's a chill box in this car! Yes, the Glove Box doubles up as a chill box. There's a knob on the top right, inside the compartment that allows air-conditioned cool air to flood the Glove Box, chilling the drinks inside. To top it up, there's an interior light on opening. A dilemma, if use it as chill box, there's no storage glove box.

7) The other convenience feature is the overhead sunglasses case. Really thoughtful, I just put my sunglasses there, on really sunny days, just pop open the case, take the sunglasses out, put it on, the road glare is gone!

8) The published fuel consumption is 6.9 L/100km. Do not expect to get anything close to this in Singapore city driving. My best month average so far is 9.3 L/100km or 10.8 km/L, based on pump information and distance covered per the odometer. This somehow does not tally with the auto fuel consumption calculation. The computerized auto fuel consumption always show better result viz use less fuel per distance travelled, see below.

However, based on my latest mostly expressways driving on my last tank, managed to get 7.3 L/100 km or 13.7 km per litre. Getting close to the published rate. Bet you if the driving is 100% on expressways, it will drop below 7.0 L/100km. Need to drive up Malaysia to confirm......