First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/suvs/" rel="tag">SUVs</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/kia/" rel="tag">Kia</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/driving/" rel="tag">First Drive</a></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934826/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_06_opt.jpg " /></a><br /><em>Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Kia Borrego</em><br /><br />Could there be an any worse time to debut a brand new body-on-frame SUV like Kia has done with the new 2009 Borrego? Gas prices have most every new car shopper running from SUVs into small cars with four-cylinder engines. In fact, many SUV early adopters are now driving much smaller sedans like those models that make up Kia's bread-and-butter line. Enough new Korean vehicles were sold in America so far this year that the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group managed to outpace mighty Honda in total sales as it roared into the <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/04/hyundai-kia-pass-honda-to-become-worlds-5th-largest-automaker/">number five</a> worldwide automaker spot. Therefore, our immediate thought is that Kia must be crazy to go ahead and introduce the new Borrego in the American market... but Kia would have you believe otherwise. <br /><br />As Kia's sales team sees it, since the Korean automaker currently offers no contenders in the true midsize SUV category, any slice of the dwindling market is a win. Is the Borrego good enough to win over any remaining SUV buyers? Read on.<br /><br /><div class="postgallery"><p><s trong>Gallery: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/">2009 Kia Borrego First Drive</a></strong></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934836/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_07_thumbna il.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934832/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_05_thumbna il.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934842/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_28_thumbna il.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934852/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_43_thumbna il.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2009-kia-borrego-first-drive/934850/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/kia_borrego_fd_14_thumbna il.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a></div><br /><strong><em>All photos copyright Jeremy Korzeniewski / Weblogs Inc.</em></strong><p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/21/first-drive-2009-kia-borrego/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego</em></a></p><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/21/first-drive-2009-kia-borrego/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1261641/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/21/first-drive-2009-kia-borrego/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p><hr />

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