The 134bhp 1.7-litre diesel with the manual six-speed will return an official average of 57.6mpg, which is entirely reasonable. It beats the 138bhp 2.0-litre diesel Ford Mondeo that returns 53.3mpg. If fuel economy is your priority though, you’ll probably want to go for the 140bhp 2.0-litre diesel Peugeot 508 that returns 61mpg, or the Vauxhall Insignia 2.0-litre ecoFlex that returns 64mpg.

Servicing costs and insurance for the Optima, with its group 17 rating (16 if you go for the Optima 1), will be affordable too. You can go for Kia’s Care-3 servicing package that covers the first three services for £299 or the Care-3 Plus package that covers the first five services for £549.

Road tax and company car costs will be affordable thanks to the six-speed manual’s very creditable CO2 emissions of 128g/km. That puts it in VED Band D but the auto, with 158g/km is in Band G. As you’d expect the difference in emissions also translates to company car tax, meaning the manual model is the more affordable option.

The seven-year/100,000-mile warranty should provide enough peace of mind and Kia’s strong reputation for decent reliability means you should have few problems.