When Kia first got to the U.S. in the early '90s with the Sephia, it had nowhere to go but up. After unveiling the GT Concept at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show, it becamepretty clear that Kia had some serious upmarket aspirations. Kia can't just go from Sephia to GT though; it's got to work its way to the top. That's where the Kia Optima Limited comes in to play, representing the Korean automaker's first test to see if buyers will bite on a $35,000 Kia.

According to Kia, the vast majority of those who passed on the Kia Optima opted for entry-level premium cars like the Honda Accord EX, Toyota Avalon, Nissan Maxima, and the Lexus ES350. With its premium interior, Kia hopes the Optima Limited will steal some of those sales back from Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and even Lexus, while building customer's perceptions of Kia upwards.

At the car's launch this week in Orlando I wasn't expecting the new Optima Limited to differ much from our Long Term Optima SX. Both Optimas get the same turbocharged four-pot, same transmission, same horsepower and torque figures, and same EPA rating of 22/34 mpg city/highway. Not surprisingly both drive identically, offering an unexpected amount of grunt for a midsize family sedan.

The real differences lie inside; our Kia Optima is already pretty nicely equipped, how much of a difference could the Limited's new interior really make?

A big one actually; while our long term Optima makes due with plain ol' leather, our Snow White Pearl Optima Limited tester gets soft, buttery Nappa leather spread throughout the cabin, in either white (like our tester), or black. The Optima Limited didn't just have Nappa leather seating though, it also had stitched leather door panels, center console armrest, and center console trim; the latter, especially in white, did much to brighten up the Optima's interior. The Limited also getsrealwood not only on the door and center console trim, but also on the top of the steering wheel. Surprisingly the wood trim does a lot to brighten up the Optima's interior, giving it a decidedly more upscale feel.

The other issue I have with the Optima Limited's exterior is its red-paintedfrontbrake calipers. Only the front brake calipers are painted red - and not even the whole caliper at that, as only the upper caliper half is red, with the other half in silver. It looks like a parking lot rattle-can job with just the front calipers painted red and the rear's left silver. The Limited would in all likelihood look much better either with red calipers all around or just unpainted. For better or worse, Kia didn't just leave the Optima's exterior alone in the move upwards from SX to Limited. Let's start with the chrome wheels: where the Optima SX gets a unique set of flat-faced machined wheels, the Optima Limited gets five-spoke chrome wheels that would probably look more at home on a Pep Boys shelf than on the Optima.

While the Optima Limited may not be perfect, it does say a fair amount about the car if the only things I can find to complain about it are the chrome wheels and red front brake calipers. The reality is that the Kia Optima was already a well put together midsize family sedan, and the Limited only improves upon the formula. If it exceeds Kia's modest sales expectations (it expects just 10 percent of Optima buyers to go for the Limited), it could help propel the brand further upwards in the minds of American car buyers, and pave the way for even more upscale models from the former "budget" brand.