Any 2019 K900 owners out there yet?
 

I'm in the market for buying luxury sedan and test drove a 2019 K900 VIP at a dealership near me last week. (note that I have also driven the new 2019 Audi A6 and the BMW 540xi before I drive the K900) I was REALLY impressed. I know the new K900 is a departure away from the first gen K900 and wanted to know if anyone else has bought it, or is considering buying it.

I think everything about the car is great except the fuel economy. (21/18/25) It's standard AWD and is built on the Stinger's platform with the 3.3L twin turbo engine (365HP) and no longer offers the V8. Most of the other German cars 3.0L turbo's achieve about 25 combined. That's really the only down side I see with the car. I could care less about the badge because I intend to purchase and keep the car for a long long time.

Anyone else looking at the 2019 K900?

Took a 2019 K900 out for a test drive and decided to buy one. Have had it for a few weeks now with a bit over 2k miles on it. Incredible car. What would you like to know about my experience with it? I am hoping more people buy them and we can get some more lively discussion about them going here.

Welcome, gentlemen! Always happy to see new blood coming into the community.

I think we'd all be interested in hearing your likes and dislikes on the 2019s.

I have been through now 4 new cars (including the K900) over the past 4 months trying to find one I am happy with. I had a 2019 Subaru Ascent, 2018 Lexus GX 460 and a 2018 Lexus RX350L before the K900. It's obviously been an expensive journey, but I have had valid reasons for disposing of each of those vehicles -- I won't get into that in this thread.

For the K900, I found an excellent combination of engine and transmission smoothness, comfort, looks, and quality. Each one of my previous vehicles lacked in at least one of those areas. In any case, there are few things I don't care for in the 2019 K900:

• The infotainment system is seemingly not compatible with my smartphone (LG G6). Android Auto won't work and I get a stuttering sound streaming music over bluetooth. I did have the dealer look at this issue and the service manager's phone (LG G7 ThinQ) worked fine as well as several co-worker phones (various models). So, at this point it seems like something between Android Oreo and this head unit. This same phone worked perfectly fine with every previous vehicle, including Android Auto in the Subaru (the Lexus vehicles don't support AA).
• I do not care for the auto start-stop feature of this car. Of these vehicles, only the K900 had this feature and I don't like it at all. I have wedged a small sliver of thin cardboard on the switch on the center console to keep it pressed down all the time so I don't have to worry about it now. :)
• Not a big fan of the auto high beam assist feature. I prefer full manual control of the high beams. Each previous vehicle I have owned has allowed me to override this feature, but my dealer could not make that change (it's not an exposed option anywhere they could see).
• Don't care for the Michelin Primacy XV4M tires this vehicle comes with. Before buying this K900, I noted a vibration issue felt in the steering wheel an car at highway speeds. They ended up replacing 3 of the 4 tires pre-sale because they had developed flat spots that wouldn't go away. Even after buying the car, I still have a slight steering wheel shimmy between 65-75MPH which I am still working on getting resolved. I suspect it's just more bad tires. Definitely unimpressed by these tires. Dealership support has been great, though!
• Right now, no all-weather floor liner/mats are available, even from Kia. Since I like in a rainy state, it certainly helps to have these types of mats. Perhaps this will be resolved in time.

Things I like:

• The engine is incredibly smooth and powerful. I wasn't quite used to this level of power and it certainly makes for some fun driving. Hopefully it won't earn me a ticket!
  
• The ride is awesome, especially if you setup the custom drive mode and select Comfort+ for the suspension setting. Even it sport mode, it is plenty acceptable.
  
• Sport mode dramatically wakes up this car. So if you are feeling like it, it's just a button press away
  
• Ergonomics are great! Buttons on the dash are easily accessible.
  
• I am reasonably tall at 6' 2" and this is the only car of the group that I don't need to move the driver's seat all the way back in order to get comfortable. I actually had to move the seat forward from maximum, which is great knowing I have extra room should I want it.

There are more items, but this is a starting point for this thread.

Interesting, bverant. You certainly have had quite a fleet recently!

I am not surprised at what you say about the entertainment system. I've heard similar things from people with several different kinds of cars. There are so many phones and so many cars systems out there that I guess some of them are bound to be incompatible. Maybe an upgrade to one or the other will eventually fix it.

Completely agree on start-stop! The older K900's don't have it, and that factored into my decision to buy. I'm showing my age here, but I couldn't help but chuckle at your cardboard hack, because it reminds me of putting a matchbook under the old 8-track tapes so they wouldn't skip. (Are there even matchbooks anymore?)

I'm not with you on the auto high-beam thing, though. That's the one feature I regret my car not having, and as fancy as the headlights are, I am amazed they didn't include it.

Tires do seem to be a K900 thing. If you browse around here, you will see some dissatisfaction with the Hankooks on the 2015's. Mine has Continentals, which indicates to me the factory figured something out and made a switch for '16. (The Continentals seem to be OK.) Interesting that they went on to Michelins on the '19s. I've had good luck with Michelins on Lincolns in the past, but of course nowadays wheels are so big and tires so small that there's very little rubber between you and the road. I suspect that magnifies any little tire issue that may exist.

This is a personal taste, but I'm not a fan of rubber mats. They take me back to the days of three-on-the-tree shifters and radio delete plates. (Showing my age again!) I like nice cushy carpet and mats, which the K900 certainly has.

I can generally agree with all your likes, except maybe the Sport mode thing. I don't think it makes a big difference on my car, although on that generation it doesn't change the suspension at all--just the steering and transmission settings. It may be that it does more on the newer cars.

Keep us posted on how it goes with your new ride!

Yep, I am not stressing this part out too much. My friend's Apple iPhone 6S -- a 4 year old phone -- worked beautifully, including with Apple Car Play. In my opinion, Car Play is superior to Android Auto -- it looks and feels much more polished. I am considering switching to an iPhone, but no decisions until my current phone is fully paid for.


I am just glad that holding down the button before starting the engine works to take the ECU out of auto start/stop mode. At least make it an option the dealer can override at your request. I understand many more cars -- maybe most of them -- for 2019 or 2020 will have this stupid feature. While I am convinced there isn't a wear/tear issue because it's been engineered to work this way, with my typical driving habits, I don't believe it will benefit me. It turns the engine off too aggressively. I was pulling into a gas station and just as I stopped the car, before I could press the Park button, it had killed the engine. When I pressed Park, it started it up again only for me to turn it off to fill the tank. It should be waiting for at least 5-10 seconds (I believe Engineering Explained estimated 7 seconds is the breakpoint) before killing the engine.

I am actually coming around to it. Of all of the cars I have owned recently, I believe the algorithm used by Kia to determine when to turn off or on the high beams is one of the best I have seen. It doesn't seem to have too many false positives reading lights along the side of the road or your own headlight reflections from road signs. Not perfect, but it is acceptable. You can override the function and go into manual high beam mode if you press the light stalk forward a second time (first time = auto high beam mode, second time = force high beam on, third time returns to auto high beam mode, etc...).

Agreed, but keep this in mind: my 2019 Subaru Ascent had 20" wheels with 245/50 rubber on them. The sidewall on those was barely 1/2" larger in radius than the 245/45 on the K900. So, it's not *that* much lower profile than tires on some of these SUVs rolling around. And right now that Ascent drove with less vibration than the K900. I am feeling a cyclical vibration that seems to coincide with wheel RPM, not normal road vibrations, which are much higher frequency. I will be discussing another check of the balance of my tires with the service manager this week as I am still not satisfied with it right now.

Indeed, this is a personal preference. I just realize that cushy mats are going to be a magnet for dirt and water and will be a pain in the butt to clean as compared to simply spraying down rubber mats. Perhaps it doesn't exude that "luxury" feel when you look at them, but this is a daily driver car to me and I like practical in this department.

Oh on this 2019, it changes the powertrain (ECM and TCM mappings), steering, suspension and AWD parameters. It really is considerably more responsive in sport mode. The steering firms up notably (the driver's seat bolsters will tighten in to their max if you set that parameter). The suspension firms up. And the AWD system moves 80% of the power to the real wheels instead of 50/50 -- remember that all 2019 K900s are AWD. It's definitely a different car in sport mode in my opinion. Now, in Eco mode, I can't tell much difference between that in the standard Comfort mode.

Fun fact about the adaptive cruise control (perhaps you may know this already): by default, you can increment or decrement your set speed by 1MPH. However, if you press and hold the toggle switch either up or down for 1 second, it will increment or decrement by 5MPH.

bverant,
Thank you for posting your thoughts on the your 2019 K900. All you feedback is very appreciated. What color combination did you get?

I just drove a different color K900 yesterday right after re-testing the BMW 5 series an hour before and there's no comparison to the ride quality for comfort. The K900 test drive re-affirmed my original thoughts.

As for your Android Auto issue, I have 4 cars with Android Auto (2015 Sonata, 2017 Santa Fe, 2018 Audi A5, 2018 Impreza) and they all have issues with the Oreo on LG6 and LG7 phones (my wife has an LG7). There's hot forum thread on google's AA support site about it. Bottom line is that there's an issue with the phone drawing too much current from the head unit using standard grade USB-A to USB-C cables. I know this because it happens both my Hyundai cars with the LG phones. There are cables out there that have a built-in 56Kohm pull down resistor to help limit the draw on the head unit so that the phone can maintain the projection mode protocol. I have been swearing by the Belkin F2CU029bt1M-BLK cable. It's been rock solid for all combinations of our phones and cars on Android Auto and although its a bit on the more expensive side, it has never let me down. ( I think Walmart.com sells it for $20, Amazon sells it for more I think). Anyway, give it a try if you'd like to see if it helps with your G7

Is there an online owners manual PDF for this 2019 yet? I went looking but could not find one. I have to imagine there is a way to suspend the auto-high beam. I mean normally on recent KIA/Hyundai cars there are four positions for the headlights.
1. OFF
2. AUTO
3. PARKING
4. HEADLIGHTS

On both my 2015 Sonata and 2017 Sanata Fe, the Auto High High beam in the ultimate packages will only allow to be enabled when the headlight switch is in #2 AUTO. When in #4 , the high beam stalk is manual.

Bob

AlexOnAuto agrees with you on the tire issues. https://youtu.be/JS4EVpCKgHU?t=1096

bverant,
I have some questions:
Do the front and rear turn signals light up solid (single) or are they progressive (animated) on you 2019 K900? I've heard conflicting info on that and I didn't get a chance to verify that on my test drives.

How's the Lane Keeping and Lane Following assist features working for you? Does it work well with the adaptive cruise control?

About the audio system. Does it sound good at low volume levels? When I drove the 2 different K900's all I tried was an FM radio station and it was very loud even at the lowest volume levels. I think it was the station using compression on ads mostly but the FM radio was not impressive. Just wondering what sources you've used and how you like it.

Thanks
Bob

If you have a problem with tires flat spotting. It is more than likely your tires have nylon sidewalls.
Nylon sidewalls are know to flatspot, it usually goes away after a number of miles driving. If they
set for any length of time may not go away.
I learned that with my 2015 K900. Way around that get tires with polyester side walls flat spotting
is no where as bad and it stopped my vibration