I fear your error was buying the wrong car. It certainly would be easier to have chosen the right truck in the first place rather than buying what was handy.
Sorry I don’t have any better ideas, Maybe you can find someone who bought a car with the power you want but has found he does not like the economy of what he bought.
This is not the answer to the OP, but it is amusing. We discovered the secret to instant power in any car back in high school in the sixtys:
Go to the model airplane shop and buy a pint of nitromethane fuel. Pour it in your windshield washer reservoir. Remove air cleaner, pull the hoses off the washers and stick them in the carb.
Put car in drive. Floor it, Press the washer button. Don’t hit anything, and don’t blow exhaust where someone might breathe it.
Works several times before you burn a hole in a piston.
Good thing we did not know where to get hold of any hydrazine.
@Lette - one area you might improve is the handling. Once it’s time to replace the tires do some research, there will likely be better tires available than what came with the car. I use tirerack.com for that kind of information.
This response is not to the OP but to anyone who has not yet bought the car. What you want is best found in a new (at least new to you) car. That car can be engineered from the ground up to provide you with what you want from a car, rather than trying to jury-rig something.
Does the car have alloy wheels? One way to improve the sensation of smooth power and responsiveness [to acceleration, not to cornering grip] is to put on the standard steel wheels that usually come on the base models. These wheel/tire combos are in often lighter than the wider alloy wheels and tires. That increases the peak wheel HP, and results in faster acceleration. Source: “Understanding Wheel Weight” in Honda/Acura Performance, HPBooks, New York, 1999, p. 24.
@texases and @shanonia, WOW!! Yours are the kind of simple, subtle, easy-but-effective tweaks I am looking for. Contrary to the assumptions of those in this thread who have mourned for me or accused me of “buying the wrong car,” I am really enjoying my Kia, falling in love with it more & more each day, fabricating reasons to go drive somewhere just so the two of us can get better acquainted! None of that means that I adore every single last one of its features… but then who does?? Isn’t that why there are shops that modify cars and stores that supply DIY auto modifiers??
What you two have suggested puts a slight uptick in my driving pleasure within reach… THANKS!!