IT’S a what? A Koup? The Korean cutie from Kia turned out to be one of the most admired cars we’d driven in a while, ranking alongside the Porsche Cayman and Lotus Elise in terms of head-turnability.
Even a religious sect doorknocker forgot her lines when I answered the door.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the neat coupe in the carport. “It’s so beautiful.”
The car, which Kia’s marketing people thought would appeal to a small niche market, has been an instant success, with initial stocks selling out almost overnight.
At one Perth dealership, most of the Koup allocation was snapped up by the firm’s administrative staff before it hit the showroom floor.
The coupe version of the Peter Schreyer-designed Cerato is priced from $23,690, just $500 more than a Cerato SLi sedan.
It uses the same 115kW 2.0litre four-cylinder engine as the sedan but has a beefed-up and lowered (by 60mm) suspension, a quicker steering and is slightly shorter and 20kg lighter.
Imported as a toe-in-the-water model to see if it would fill the void left by cult coupes like the Lancer and Celica, the Koup seems to be just what a lot of people want.
Style clearly counts way more than performance. And style is what the Koup is all about.
Even the rear badge is a bit of class.
The upright stroke of the K was colour-coded to the red test car, with the rest in chrome, so it still read ‘coup’ which is how the Americans tend to pronounce coupe.
Although obviously based on the sedan, the bonnet is the only panel the two cars have in common.
Also common to both is the transmission: a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic, the latter at a $2000 premium.
There is only one equipment level for the Koup, which features a leather-rimmed steering wheel, cloth-trimmed sports seats, twin sports exhausts, two-tone 17-inch alloy wheels, alloy pedals, frameless doors, vertical foglights, reversing sonar with a dashboard display, six airbags and the usual electronic safety list.
It has a full-sized alloy spare as well.
It’s very spacious, still capable of carrying five adults, despite having 28mm less rear leg room than the sedan.
Seating is quite tall and there’s a tilt-and-telescopic three-spoke leather-trimmed steering wheel, which doesn’t adjust low enough for sports-oriented drivers.
But such people are clearly a minority and the Koup was designed for people who prefer easy entry and comfort.
The black cloth seats have neat red stitching, the pedals are sporty alloy jobs, the instrumentation is big and clear and the five-speed manual gearshift on the test car was a delight.
Standard fare also includes climate control, cruise control, auto-on headlights, an MP3 CD four-speaker noisebox with USB and aux inputs.
Getting into the back is easy, too. A lever on the headrest does the trick.
The car runs nicely, reaches 100km/h in 9.5 seconds – which isn’t going to worry any ‘real’ sports car drivers, but who cares?
The big wheels, fat tyres and decent suspension give it very good agility through the twisty bits, though understeer kicks in should the driver get a bit carried away.
But that’s unlikely in what is essentially a show pony.
Fuel economy was impressive, too: we averaged 7.8litres/100km.
And enviro folk will be happy knowing the car has a 4.5 star rating on the Green Vehicle Guide.
It’s nicely put together and altogether a pleasant thing to be in.
The problem is getting hold of one. Next shipment is expected in January, we’re told. Let’s hope buyers like red, white, black or silver.
Those are the Seoul choices.