New Kia Stinger 2021 detailed! Australia misses out on more powerful engine for rear-wheel-drive sedan

Kia has confirmed its worst-kept secret, with the facelifted version of the Stinger large sedan to officially feature more powerful engine options when it goes on sale globally from the third quarter of this year, although Australia will miss out on one of them.

The Stinger’s new 2.5-litre single-turbo Smartstream four-cylinder petrol engine remains off the cards locally, with it to produce 224kW of power at 5800rpm and 422Nm of torque from 1650-4000rpm in the North American and Korean markets only.

These outputs are a handy improvement over the 2.0-litre single-turbo Theta II four-cylinder petrol engine that will carry over as the entry-level option in Australia. Just like before, it develops 182kW at 6200rpm and 353Nm from 1400-4000rpm.

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New Kia Stinger 2021 detailed: Facelift for rear-wheel-drive flagship goes official

In some good news for local buyers, though, the Stinger’s 3.3-litre twin-turbo Lambda II V6 petrol engine will return with a new variable exhaust system, which increases power by 2kW, to 274kW at 6000rpm, although torque holds steady at 510Nm from 1300-4500rpm.

Either way, all three engine options are mated to an eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission, which exclusively sends drive to the rear wheels in Australia.

2021 Kia Stinger

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2021 Kia Stinger

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And while not offered locally previously, the Stinger’s 2.2-litre single-turbo R II four-cylinder diesel engine has been discontinued globally. It punched out 147kW at 3800rpm and 441Nm from 1750-2750rpm.

Beyond the changes CarsGuide previously reported (see link above), Kia has confirmed the Stinger’s suite of advanced driver-assist systems has been expanded, with its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system adding intersection assist and working at more speeds.

The blind-spot monitoring system now prevents potential collisions by applying differential braking, with the same true of the rear cross-traffic alert system, while the adaptive cruise control system now uses map data to automatically slow down when approaching corners.

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New Kia Stinger 2021: No engine changes for Australian rear-wheel-drive hero model

New active safety features include steering assist, rear occupant alert and safe exit warning as well as a live feed of the Stinger’s blind spots in the 7.0-inch Supervision multifunction display (MFD) of select variants. A colour 4.2-inch MFD is otherwise fitted, replacing the previous monochrome 3.5-inch item.

The Stinger facelift will arrive in Australia by the end of this year, with its pricing and full specification details to be released closer to launch.

For reference, the pre-facelifted version is currently priced from $47,390 and $60,990 plus on-road costs for full-time variants.