One problem related to manual transmission has been reported for the 2008 Kia Motor Optima. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Kia Motor Optima based on all problems reported for the 2008 Optima.
My new kia has about 700 miles on it, and when I park it on an incline such as the one entering my garage and I shut the engine off and place it into 1st gear (it is a standard shift), the car slips backward. Upon taking it to the dealership, they informed me that the engine compression in the car is too low to hold the car in 1st gear alone, and that the emergency brake must also be applied. My question I have a 3 yr old grandson, but let's suppose he is 5 and he wants to go out and play, which he could do unsupervised, and he decides he wants to get in grandma's car and play and accidentally lets the emergency brake off. My car would then begin slipping backward with the child inside. I consider that to be a big safety hazard. Further I have always been taught that if your parking brake fails, the gear box would still keep the car from rolling backwards. 2. My car stalls fairly frequently in 1st gear, and very frequently in reverse, both incidents occur when the car is inching up or out of a parking space. The dealership said they are looking into it and will let me know, but again, in heavy traffic this runs the risk of being rearended. If you can inform me on either of these items, I would appreciate it as the dealership doesn't seem inclined to do anything about either problem at the moment. It may just be a fuel to air ratio mix going into the engine on the stalling, which should be simple enough to fix, but surely the compression in the engine can also be adjusted so the car will not slip backward when in first gear.