2017 Kia Cadenza - Test drive

Since Kia launched the Cadenza for 2014, roughly 28,000 have found homes in the US. That's hardly a sales-chart-shattering number of cars, but Kia execs say they see extra value in those buyers because they were new customers to the brand who otherwise wouldn't have been drawn into showrooms by offerings like the quirky Soul or Optima family sedan. In light of that perspective, the introduction of the second-generation near-luxury sedan earlier this year at March's New York Auto Show makes sense.

What doesn't seem to make much sense is Kia putting me behind the wheel of the new Cadenza on twisty, undulating roads through Virginia's countryside. The drive route would be amazing in something lightweight and rear-wheel drive like, say, Roadshow's long-term Mazda MX-5 Miata, but seems less than ideal for a near-4,800-pound front-wheel-drive sedan.