K5 GT first impressions - good and bad

The positives?

  • It looks great.
  • It drives exceptionally well.

The downsides?

  • The audio system isn’t good (even the Bose).
  • The cup holders don’t seem to fit anything properly.
  • The infotainment and gauge cluster setup is a bit of a mess and lacks customization.

For example, as far as I know, the center of the gauge cluster can display navigation directions (which is nice), but it won’t show media info, speed, or anything else useful. Wireless Android Auto won’t work with my phone, even though it has Android 13 and full WAA support—Samsung, Apple, and Google phones seem fine. The Digital Key only works with very new Samsung or Apple phones, and maybe the Pixel. The wireless charging pad won’t fit thicker phones.

Overall, am I happy? Yes. It’s an amazing car to drive.

I’ve only had it for 4 days, so if I’ve gotten anything wrong, feel free to correct me!

5 Likes

Looked at one Friday and yesterday , did you get the one with the GT1 package ?

5 Likes

I dislike the cupholder design. I’m holding a medium-sized Red Bull the entire time since the small tabs push it at an angle and cause it to rattle around.

I also despise having to go to Mydrive every time I get in to drive in smart mode. My Forte GT, which cost less than $10,000, simply remained in the mode I chose. I’m also starting to miss the real air conditioning buttons. The remote start has around a 30-foot range, and the Kia Connect app does not respond to requests half the time.

Having saying that, it is still an excellent automobile. I hope there is an update at some point for the drive mode settings, else I’m just absolutely missing something here

4 Likes

Kia access seems to only work 50% of the time. The ac button is weird, but if you hold the media button, you can set it to default back to media after a short time. I wish it had oil temp/ boost info in the center like previous years. Haven’t had any qi issues using an s24 ultra. Can’t use the digital key since it’s not an option for this car (as far as I can find) I wish the guage cluster was more customizable, it’s an lcd so it shouldn’t be that hard to have some different cluster options. The sound isn’t great, but it’s not the worst I’ve had. Hopefully over the next year there will be some software updates that add some things. I wish the gt1 package added enough to justify the price for me.

3 Likes

Why do you say that the boss sucks?

2 Likes

Coming from a top trim 2024 Honda the Bose system sounds so much better to me than what was in my honda.

1 Like

Is this better than the top trim Camrys?