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The 2019 Kia Optima features in fresh new tech, so let's dive in and take a look.
Kia has simplified the tech offering for the Optima, now there are three distinct levels of tech.
Each of which uses this 8 inch touch screen here.
As you go up through the levels you gain more functionality.
the base one just makes do with Apple Car playing Android Auto, while when you move up to the middle level you get things like a 4G LTE WiFi hotspot, and finally on this SX Trin, you have the top tier infotainment system which also includes embedded navigation.
The majority of your navigation through the infotainment screen will be done with actually the row of physical buttons down here.
You're allowed to access your radio, your media, your map In the set-up without having to dive through a bunch of menus which cuts down on distraction a bit.
When you first turn the car on, you'll be greeted with the home screen which offers at quick glance not only the navigation but also your radio and a quick access to Apple Car Play and other functions.
Now let's say you wanna go from the home screen to the map.
You wanna blow it up a bit and have it cover up the whole screen.
You can either hit the map button down here or just tap the map itself and boom, Bob's your uncle.
And getting back to the home screen is just as easy as finding the home button on the top left of the screen, Now let's say you're not just gonna look at the map.
You're actually gonna use it to go somewhere.
You hit the Nav button down here and it allows you to search by address or just a regular online search.
In case you're not familiar with the full address or the full name of the place you're going.
And in the event you have really no idea what you wanna do an you just wanna throw caution to the wind.
You can search for things like gas stations or restaurants through the quick access buttons on the Nav menu.
Now let's talk about your music options.
Hitting the radio button brings you to the radio which allows both AM, FM and Sirius XM as well as HD radio.
All of the banks of favorites are connected to the same list of favorites so you can have an FM, next to an SXM, next to an AM, so you don't have to be swapping through menus just to listen to your favorite radio stations.
Now for some reason you are either not a fun of apple car player and android auto or you have a phone that is not compatible with that, you still can use your regular blue tooth access through the info [INAUDIBLE] system.
You are allowed to look at your favourites and you call history as well as pulling up an actual good old function keypads and just dialling the number And that's about it for what you can get from the actual 8-inch infotainment screen on the center stack, so let's move over to the gauge cluster.
Now in addition to both the speedometer and tachometer, which are still physical gauges, you have a screen nestled right between the two that offers a full color look at all sorts of information.
Navigating through the center screen is pretty darn simple.
Using these single page shaped button here on the right side of the steering wheel.
you can browse through your random trip info, your drive modes, your fuel economy, as well as navigation directions, a compass, and a small little screen that lets you make sure that all of your ADAS systems are working.
In order to turn those ADAS systems on, the buttons are located over here on the left for the lane keep assist and blind spot monitoring.
Where's the adaptive cruise control is handle entirely through again the right side of the steering wheel.
And that my friends is a quick look at the 2019 Kia Optima SX.
Don't forget to read the full written review over theroadshow.com.
