I have a Combat Elite and it was a great gun right out of the box. It is an especially accurate pistol. The Combat Elite comes with a National Match barrel. At least mine did. I have not had a single malfunction with mine using a variety of magazines, with factory ammo and handloads.
That said, I passed on the first one I looked at because the thumb safety fit was not great (it was either the thumb safety or the plunger, either way, it was loose and sloppy feeling).
That Kimber uses a firing pin safety deactivated by the grip safety. The Colt uses a Series 80 style firing pin safety that is deactivated by pulling the trigger. I don't like the Kimber system because sometimes I don't get the grip safety depressed far enough to deactivate the firing pin safety.
I think you get better value for the money from the Colts or Springfields than Kimber, but that's my opinion. I have not been willing to pay what they want for the new Series II Kimbers. Now the older ones, that's different.