I had something unprecedented happen with the Forte. I recommended it to my daughter (which is usually a death knell in terms of any hope of her actually buying that). Reluctantly, she let me go with her to look at new cars.
For better or worse, when we pulled into the lot, the first car she saw was this "hot, red sports car." She got in and immediately fell in love with the car. At some point, she did say, "Okay, dad, I like this car - now what car did you say I should look at?"
I asked her if she had any idea what car she was sitting in. She got out, went to the back of the car, and saw that it was a Kia Forte SX (the high-end sport model). She got that look on her face that gave away that she had just made dad look good.
She also got smart enough to resist getting that car, and instead getting the mid-line EX (a wise purchase, I believe). She loves it - so do I.
And I can tell you that in just about any way imaginable, it blows away the competition. It is just large enough that one may not have to purchase a bigger car because of lack of space. It has every imaginable piece of safety equipment, is modern and up-to-date, and matches good power with good fuel economy.
Finally, Kia is getting around to producing some seriously good vehicles. And with their seriously good prices to match, they are an almost irresistable value.