Oh, I'm not embarrassed by it being a KIA. Because it's such a different car, I like the fact that people don't know what it is and are curious to find out. It's the only one in my small town that I'm aware of and I enjoy telling them it's a Kia but it's even better when they walk around it admiring it and THEN find out it's a Kia. I feel that Kia has surpassed Honda and Toyota in their engineering and style. I own 2 Optimas too and people constantly talk about what a nice cars they are. I have never had a single issue with any of the 3. I change the oil and do the routine maintenance and that's it.