Driving in the Valley of Death

When South Korean automaker Kia puts out a new model, the first thing it does is take the vehicle to Death Valley. That's where it finds out what the car is really made of.

Death Valley, in California, is the lowest, driest and hottest desert in the United States. Since we began keeping records, the hottest temperature in this country - 134 degrees - occurred there, and it isn't uncommon to have day after day of 120 degrees in the summer. So if you're planning to visit Death Valley, you'd be wise to choose one of the other seasons.

In the carefully measured language of the official brochure of Death Valley National Park:

Summer starts early in Death Valley. By May the valley is too hot for most visitors. ... Lodging and camping are available, but only the most hardy will want to camp in the low elevations in the summer. Most summer visitors tour by car to the main points of interest along the paved roads but do little else due to the extreme heat.

Yet that dangerously high heat is exactly the reason many car makers send their prototype models to Death Valley in high summer: They want to see how the vehicles perform under the intense conditions in the...