R.I.P. Kia Forte Koup
And with that, we lose yet another sedan-based coupe variant.
If you want a coupe, there are plenty of options out there. But affordable coupes are harder to find, and with the death of the Kia Forte Koup, that search will become even more difficult.
There will be no 2017 model year for the Kia Forte Koup, a two-door variant of the popular Forte compact sedan, CarsDirect reports. Kia will sell down its remaining 2016-model-year inventory, which means if you act quickly, you might get a pretty decent deal on one.
The Honda Civic Coupe will soldier on as one of a very small number of coupes based on sedans.
Buyers had the choice of two different engines for the Forte Koup. The base engine was a 173-horsepower, 2.0-liter I4, with its MSRP just a hair under $20,000. If you want something speedier, opt for the SX trim and its 1.6-liter, turbocharged I4, which puts out 201 horsepower and starts around $21,000.
It's getting harder to find a cheap coupe that isn't positioned as a sports car. Honda seems to be the only automaker interested in building coupe variants of sedans these days, as it still offers both the Civic Coupe and Accord Coupe. Nissan hasn't made a Sentra or Altima coupe in ages, and the Toyota Camry coupe is now old enough to have a college degree.
These days, if you want to buy a small coupe, you'll be met with baby sports cars like the Toyota 86. The 86 is a fine car, but if you want some semblance of daily usability, second-row space and other things that matter when your household includes more than one person or animal, the 86 might not be the perfect fit.
What's interesting is that, while Kia decided to axe the Forte Koup, the sedan is selling very well. Kia sold 103,292 examples of the Forte last year, its best sales year ever. And, through the first three months of 2017, it's on track to meet or even exceed those figures. The sedan is a bit more affordable than the coupe, with a starting price of $16,600 for a base Forte LX.
Maybe it wasn't the most attractive car on the block, but we'll still miss it for what it represented.