Kia Sportage GT petrol 2018 off-road review

At $45,990 before on-roads, the GT line is absolutely stuffed to the gills with onboard equipment, including heated and vented front seats, multiple USB and 12-volt charging points, a large touchscreen multimedia system with bluetooth streaming, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic headlights and wipers, a powered tailgate, LED lighting throughout, and an inductive charge mat for suitably equipped phones. 

There’s also leather-appointed (read; it’s not all real leather) seat trim front and rear, as well as driver aids including AEB, lane-departure warning and rear cross traffic alert. It does miss out on adaptive cruise control, though.

The leather-appointed seats are two-tone in this case.

The Sportage is strictly a five-seater, but it’s generously apportioned to fit those five in relative comfort. Up front, the leather-appointed seats have decently long bases and sufficient side bolstering to be very comfortable on long trips. 

The extra venting and heating is a unique touch, though we didn't really feel a lot of benefit from the venting mode on the front seats. With two USB charging points, as well as the 12-volt socket, there are plenty of options to keep electronic items on the go. These are complemented by a pair of 12v charging points for the second-row passengers. 

Despite the presence of a full-length sunroof, headroom in the rear is still excellent, while knee and toe room for older kids is more than acceptable. There are bottle holders in all four doors, but they are best suited to smaller capacity drink containers, and won't fit 1.25-litre bottles. There is also a pair of cup holders in the front, as well as in the centre pull-down armrest. Two ISOFIX baby seats can be mounted on the outside rears, as well.

The rear seat has great head and legroom.

That second row can be tumbled forward to create a larger loading space, but the lowering of the seats is actually a little bit of a pain. 

We're becoming quite used to having toggles or levers in the cargo area to flip down the seat backs, but the Kia requires each door to be opened and a lever down the side of the seat to be activated. The seat backs are locked in the lower position, which also means the lever needs to be activated to raise them again. It's not a big point, but it is a little bit of an irritation. 

As well, the centre sash belt needs to be unclipped if the seats are to be lowered, and retracted into a slot in the roof. 

A full-size spare hides underneath the boot floor and there are tie-down points in the cargo area. The space itself at 466 litres (measured to the tops of the seats) is very roomy and the door aperture is large enough to accept larger boxes. With the seats down, there’s 1455 litres available, which is sufficient for even large-sized mountain bikes.

Boot space measures 466 litres with the seats up.

Front-seat occupant comfort is pretty high, as well. The Sportage is a very easy device to get along with. There's plenty of high adjustment in the steering column and seat combination, and drivers of smaller stature feel perfectly at home behind the wheel.

The 1455 litres on offer with the seats down is enough for a couple of mountain bikes.

As we've pointed out, the Sportage GT line really is oriented towards on-road use, thanks in the main to the large wheel rim and low-profile tyre combination. 

Those four little bits of rubber really are the key to how you can best use your car, and while the Sportage GT line will cope with a gravel driveway or a graded fireroad over a reasonable distance, ultimately it's not that well-suited to dirt-road work out of the box.

You can lock the AWD system to 50/50 which will be useful if you go skiing in winter.

It does come with all-wheel drive as standard, combined with the six-speed automatic gearbox, which does give the Sportage a greater level of confidence and grip when the going gets slippery. Kia’s also fitted the drivetrain with a 50/50 front/rear lock that operates at speeds under 40km/h, which will be pretty useful if you head to the ski fields in winter. 

The LED light combo with those fancy driving lights does give great vision at night, and there's also a full-sized spare wheel under the boot floor.

The Sportage GT-Line can tow up to 1500kg of braked trailer, though this healthy figure is blunted by a relatively low 100kg maximum downball weight.

Kia’s seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty includes roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty, as well as a free first service at three months.

Capped-price servicing also covers the seven-year warranty period, and Kia recommends servicing once a year or every 15,000km.

It costs between $306 and $711 per service, with the majority of services costing less $400. The seven-year average equals $420 for a total of $2942.