Kia Sportage Reviews

Car production is finally acknowledging what has been obvious for some time, very few offroaders actually head offroad.“We are seeing a shift in the market (towards the two-wheel drive softroader configuration),” Kia Australia’s director of sales and marketing, Bill Gillespie, says.“They’re very popular in the United States, and you’ll see more here in the future.”Kia has just added to the offerings here with the launch of a 2WD variant of the Sportage that – with the accompany new diesel version – flanks the the V6 petrol Sportage that has been on the market here since 2005At $24,990 for the base model, the 2WD Sportage matches the price of the similar Hyundai City Tucson, which is no surprise since they are sisters under the skin, but will compete well on price with 2WD versions of the Toyota Kluger and Hyundai Santa Fe, which are up to $10,000 more.That entry price puts you in the manual LX, with a $2000 premium for the auto. At that level you get single CD audio that can play MP3 discs, airconditioning, cloth trim with leather on the steering wheel and shifter, power windows and mirrors, 16” alloy wheels with full-size spare, rear cargo cover, cruise control, twin front airbags and anti-skid brakes. For another $1600 on the auto there is an option pack with electronic stability program (ESP) and side and curtain airbags.The appearance of the Sportage is largely unchanged, except that some of the V6 and diesel paint choices offer colour-matched bumpers and side sills, and there has been a minor brush-up in the cabins.Despite being classed as a compact, the SUV offers plenty of room except for longer-legged rear seat passengers. Cargo space is fine for a couple of large suitcases even without any of the seats being folded, but with all except the driver’s down you can increase the capacity from 667 litres to a hungry 1886. There’s the extra utility of the passenger seat having a hard `table’ back when you fold it, so there’s no worry about a long object piercing the upholstery.The Sportage hasn’t been crash-tested here, but Kia expects it to achieve the same five-star rating it was awarded in American tests, although those were down on a model with standard side curtain airbags.There’s no denying the 2WD Sportage will be happiest around the city or in calm highway cruising.Its 2.0-litre engine, borrowed from the small Cerato and 2WD Tucson, develops 104kW of power at 6000rpm and 184Nm of torque at a fairly high 4500prm. Kia says this gives it a top speed of 179km/h and gets it to 100km/h in 10.4 seconds with the manual version, but it actually felt a bit more than that, while the auto version seemed slower again.It was content to trundle around town and cruise along with the highway flow, but overtaking and a run through the hills had it grumbling even in the lower gears at times.The lack of any meaningful torque at the lower end of the rev range meant you had to keep the engine stirred up to get through the chore of steep slopes.And it didn’t take too much of that before we lost any chance of approaching Kia’s fuel economy figure of 8.2L/100km, although this looked like being achievable while we were in town and on the highway.The compliant suspension was excellent over rougher roads and even smoothed over some very threatening potholes, but the system allowed the Sportage to wallow around corners, where the front-wheel drive also threw up considerable understeer, especially during acceleration out of the curve.It didn’t help that the steering felt spongy, although some of the response could well have been muffled by the tread of the Hankook tyres.The Australian market for anything that remotely resembles an SUV is booming, with sales up 10.9 per cent on last year.And the compact segment of that class is almost double that with a 18.6 per cent increase and the likelihood of more than 90,000 sales by the end of the year.The current V6 Sportage has been notching up sales of about 1000 a year since it arrived in 2005, and while Kia is being conservative about sales forecasts for the two new Sportages, it believes the 2WD should go out the door at the rate of about 150 per month or 1800 next year in total.

It has been unveiled without the usual pomp or ceremony.Which is a shame, because the five-door AWD that sells at a highly respectable $31,990 driveaway, is quite a good car.It bears more than a passing resemblance to Hyundai's new Tucson, which has won wide praise, because it is in fact built off the same platform. Looks are important and at first glance the compact off-roader (that is highly likely to spend most of its time on-road) has a bold front.I am still undecided, however, about its rear. The car just seems to end, with a rather small side window panel, rather than boast a striking finish.The 2.7-litre V6 engine produces 129kW@6000 rpm and has a 241Nm maximum torque at 4000rpm.This is plenty of power for handling Sydney's highways and by-ways.On this test, which amounted to more than 700km in just over a week, the car showed off its power with a trip to Katoomba and back.Climbing up the hilly roads of the Blue Mountains it has plenty in reserve.The handling is good, even for a car where you sit high above the road.Under acceleration the engine note is clearly heard however, thanks to work on improving sound insulation, road noise reduction is improved from the previous model.Gear shifting is achieved with a four-speed automatic transmission with tiptronic-style manual gear selection available.At first the gear lever seemed very light and almost flimsy.However it was just a case of getting used to its movement. You can also manually select the 4WD mode.Inside there is no shortage of room for the front row and for the rear seat passengers.Kia claims it is class-leading in this regard,The test car's black interior was off-set by metal lining around the dash area.And it is inside the car that Kia's appeal to the modern versatile lifestyle shows off.There is a hook at the front for a shopping bag while net bags are on the back of both front seats. And the front passenger seat can be folded down to become a table.It's similar in the rear.There are two options to open the hatch. One flips open the rear glass window, the other lifts the entire hatch.Inside are several hooks that are perfect for shopping bags, although not completely suitable for the modern green supermarket reusable bags with their wider handles.There is also under-floor storage beneath the boot. Up front the dashboard display area is clean and everything is within easy reach.Again as a service to modern motoring, the 50km/h level on the speedo, the common speed limit in most suburban areas, is marked by a red line. Options are fairly limited on such a price-conscious car.Metallic and mica paint adds $190 to the driveaway price while adding an electric sunroof and electric seats will set you back $2800.The Sportage enters a very competitive market already the domain of proven vehicles such as the Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4 and the Nissan X-Trail.They are all priced the same as the Sportage, although the Kia benefits from having a driveway price which eliminates the dealer delivery charges the others incur.The Kia and the Tucson have larger engines and claim more interior space.Whether the Sportage can succeed could clearly come down to individual preference.