Scotty, I have owned, since new ,a Kia 2017 forte5 SX w/ automatic 7 speed, 1.6 turbo, with 74,000 miles. All the maintenance has been done by the dealer. A month after buying the car the first recall was the entire transmission ! There were others but just to let you know I have kept up with the cars needs. The problem Ihave had, since the beginning ,was the hesitation of the throttle when accelerating. It's like the car is stuck in some limit mode no matter how much I step on the petal it just sits there not reving . I almost FIL like it is in one gear and won't shift . I tried to fix it by putting a cold air K&N system on it but that just made the turbo sound louder. I can get it to go by getting off the we gas and then stepping on it hard and it takes off like a bat out of hell. Do you feel there is any fix for this or just trade it in before something just goes to pot?. Wish it was a standard, but was talked into the crappy automatic with bogus paddle shifters . My previous vehicles were a 95 mustang 5.0 5 speed, next a 09 WRX 6 speed. Thanks for any suggestions. Your the best 👌!
Even with a turbocharger a Kia with a 1.6L engine and automatic trans is not going to accelerate like a stick-shift Mustang V8 or WRX.
I'd look at the throttle-by-wire system for a intermittent problem - you have two sensors that tell the throttle how much to open.
Here's a discussion that might shed some light on the parts to check, and how a good OBD reader can tell you if the throttle is responding to your foot.
https://www.forteforums.com/threads/best-throttle-mod-ever.1342/page-4#post-17000
