I'd recommend you two great cars (if they were available in the US):
- Alfa Romeo Giulietta
http://www.alfaromeo.it/it/#/modelli/giulietta
http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/2012-alfa-romeo-giulietta-feature
(currently the world's best looking compact car imo; will probably be my next car; side note: they advertise the car in several European countries like Italy and Germany with Uma Thurman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiLxfSH8Oe8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDfYx9aoVJM )
- Skoda Octavia
http://www.skoda-auto.cz/cze/model/newoctavia/gallery/pictures/Pages/gallery.aspx
(a car with one of the best values imo; not ugly either; Skoda is VW's Czech daughter company; the Octavia is very popular in Germany - especially as station wagon - among people who don't want or can't afford one of the 5 most successful compact cars over here, which are VW Golf, Opel Astra, BMW 1, Ford Focus, Audi A3 - btw: the Opel Astra shares the GM platform with the Chevy Cruz, and the Octavia shares the platform with VW Golf and Audi A3)
- The C4 would have been my 3rd recommendation, but I just realised that Citroën is not on the NA market either, so I better stop here with recommendations of cars which are not available for you anyway.
There are many great European cars you NA guys don't get for some reason.
Man, the current Toyota Corolla iteration is incredibly ugly: http://www.toyota.com/corolla/
No wonder they don't sell it anymore over here. No one would buy it. The Auris is a comparable flop either over here and still looks way better than the current Corolla (which isn't too difficult). Toyota used to be very successful in Germany, especially with earlier Corolla models (the Corolla is extremely reliable), but today they're not really successful anymore over here. But even without the German market and with Hyundai/Kia on Toyota's heels the Corolla was again the world's bestselling car last year (and of course all-time with it's plenty of models and redesigns). It's still the world's consens car, even with the imo remarkably ugly current design.
Out of the 3 you listed I'd take the Kia Optima. But out of Kia I'd actually take the Cee'd (which is not available in NA). And out of Korea i'd take the Hyundai i30 (which shares the platform with the Cee'd but is the better car according to reviews). I think the i30 is called Hyundai Elantra GT in USA, but I'm not sure (btw: the i30 is the car which is most feared by VW as future most serious competitor to their - in Germany - overwhelmingly successful VW Golf).
