2003 Kia Spectra Review: Can't Get More Regular Than This

It's cars like this one that gave Kia a bad reputation. Yet without it, the brand wouldn't be what it is today. It's like looking back at your old mohawk self, doing Metallica covers in the basement, realizing those frustrations made you a better salesman.

The Kia Spectra is the car stupid teens settle for. There are hundreds on Craigslist; they get good mileage and a cheap to buy. Don't you just hate it when the thumbnail of the ad is a picture of the dials, and inside there's just a press photo from 2005?

Ever wondered what KIA stands for and why it's written with capital letters? Well, according to the owner's manual of the Spectra, the Ki means "to arise from the world" or "to come up out of to the world"... whatever that means, while A is short for Asia. So Kia is actually short for a car company that comes from Asia?

We found what Mister Regular said towards the end of the video very interesting. He believes that we take beauty for granted and without the ugly, we wouldn't know what to consider attractive. The same goes for enjoyment or even safety. That's why we're featuring a recent video released by the IIHS that shows a 2005 Kia Spectra undergoing crash tests.

It's not spectacular, but even the critical IIHS calls the Spectra "acceptable." Right around the time the second generation came out was when Kia began to grow into a big company. We all read about how popular the "Cerato" was globally and how it was the new Corolla on the block. Even though the quality has changed that "refrigerator" attitude to designing vehicles has stayed with the company to this day.