If I were casting cars for movies, I’d have the perfect role for the 2009 Kia Amanti. Picture this scene: The British super spy is prisoner in the evil mastermind’s heavily fortified hideout.

The '09 Amanti's design speaks of luxury, but is somewhat generic-looking. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

He cuts his way out of his cell with a laser watch, frees his beautiful Russian counterpart and commandeers a converted army truck, bursting out through the front gates. In hot pursuit, tires screeching in protest around the corners, are a trio of black Kia Amantis carrying a dozen beefy henchmen.

It makes perfect sense. The Amanti is a full-size, luxury sedan challenger with a base price that’s pretty darn reasonable considering what you get. Even evil masterminds like a good deal, and when you’re buying a whole fleet of cars for your worldwide operations, every penny counts.

The Amanti has spacious seating for four burly, muscle-bound henchmen. Fold up the back seat’s central armrest and there’s even room for a “guest.” The seats are a bit on the firm side of euro-firm, but for a big bruiser used to taking kidney shots they’ll seem downright cushy.

Front or back, there's plenty of room to stretch out in seats that are accommodating, if a bit firm. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

And there’s a huge trunk, easily big enough to fit several suitcases full of unmarked bills, a decent-size diabolical weapon, or a trussed-up British super spy and leggy Russian counterpart.

Even the Amanti’s styling is perfectly suited for a use in a world-girding evil organization: It clearly speaks of luxury, but in a somewhat generic and derivative language, with elements of Lincoln’s Town Car in the rear, and a badgeless front end that could be an older Mercedes-Benz E-Class or perhaps a Buick LaCrosse. At any rate, when the local police start asking witnesses for a description of what the bad guys were driving, they’ll get enough incorrect and conflicting statements to throw them completely off the trail.

The 3.6-litre, DOHC V6 generates 264 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

In pursuit of our escaping British agent, the Kia Amanti will be able to put in a bloody good showing thanks to its 3.6-litre, DOHC, 24-valve V6 with continuously variable valve timing. This engine puts out 264 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 260 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm, and can haul the 1,790-kilogram Amanti up to 100 km/h in about nine seconds. Thanks to the 5-speed steptronic automatic transmission with electronically-controlled overdrive, even the henchman behind the wheel will have a spare hand to unload his weapon in the direction of the fleeing army truck.

Hire a chauffeur, and you'll be able to really arrive in style. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

The power-assisted rack and pinion steering with fully-independent double-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension gives this front-wheel drive sedan enough handling licks to avoid the oil drums being pushed out of the truck by the provocatively-dressed Russian agent. But at the same time the suspension is soft enough to exhibit plenty of body roll and tire squeal when pushed hard, making for great-looking action sequences.

Unfortunately for our British spy the Amanti has the safety front covered with ABS brakes, traction control, electronic stability control and advanced airbags in front, side and curtain positions. So not only will the Amanti easily be able to keep up with the fleeing army truck, but its stability control will keep the henchmen on track around the corners. And even if our British agent does manage to run an Amanti full of henchmen off the road and straight into a farmer’s stone cottage, the car’s class-leading array of airbags mean they’ll simply climb out of the wreck and dust themselves off to fight another day.

The black interior gets aluminum trim, while the grey interior gets wood trim. Switchgear and controls are good quality and well located. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press)

In base trim, which is what the henchmen get to drive, the full size Kia Amanti has an MSRP of $29,995, putting it in the same price range as many competitor’s base-model midsize cars. For that price, the full-size Kia comes with features such as an eight-speaker audio system equipped with Sirius satellite radio, dual-zone automatic temperature control, leather-wrapped steering wheel, heated power-adjustable front seats, remote keyless entry and alarm, plus a comprehensive 5-year/100,000km warranty. The Amanti Luxury trim adds leather upholstery, heated rear seats with heated/ventilated front seats, 17-inch alloy wheels, power sunroof, Xenon HID headlights, Homelink, electroluminescent gauge cluster and auto-dimming mirror with memory side mirrors, but these luxuries come with a hefty $7,900 price increase, bringing the MSRP up to $37,895. Understandably, our evil mastermind reserves this car for himself only. But, of course, if you’re buying one for your own civilian use, the choice is entirely up to you.