A race track is a trusted environment for a BMW, even if this 440i xDrive Gran Coupe isn't the first choice for a quick lap time.
And yet we're going to find out how it does on the circuit of Zandvoort, and this is why...
The Stinger. The biggest, most powerful, fastest and most expensive Kia we've ever seen in the Netherlands.
It almost costs €100.000. The South Koreans are very serious with this impressive GT.
They even hired a chief from the BMW M-division, to make sure Kia's became 'freude am fahren' as well.
Let's find out how they've done.
But first, the story of the Stinger.
It all started in 2011, when Kia presented a rear-wheel drive GT concept car.
We knew Kia and Hyundai, its sister brand, were ambitious manufacturers,
but didn't this go too fast? Well, the answer is no.
In the past decennium, Kia has undergone an incredible growth spurt.
It went from a modest budget manufacturer, to a manufacturer which builds nice and good driving cars.
This Stinger is the current pinnacle of their transformation.
The last big Kia we saw in the Netherlands, was the Opirus.
It was built between 2003 and 2008, and you'll probably recognize it as a sort of Mercedes E-Class clone.
Back then, it was kind of a laughing stock, and that was deserved.
Since then, Kia has built big cars, but they were aimed at Asia and the US.
With this Stinger, Kia enters the European market once again,
and they aim high this time. They want to compete with the established order with this.
The Audi A5 Sportback, the Jaguar XE, but the BMW 4-series Gran Coupe, like the one with us today.
The car I'm in right now is the most expensive Stinger available. It's got a biturbo 3.3-litre V6 in the front,
producing 370 horsepower and 510 Nm of torque. It can do 0-100 km/h in 4,9 seconds and it will keep going until you hit 270 km/h.
However, everybody can put a big engine in a car, but it's much harder to get all that power on the road.
Also, it should be able to get around a corner.
Well, I can tell you they've succeeded. The engine sounds nice. Quite dark and brute.
It's got a good throttle response, partly because of the 8-speed automatic gearbox,
which Kia has built themselves. A very pleasant drivetrain.
It picks up easily at low revs and it keeps going.
It really is a very good drivetrain.
When you're producing 370 horsepower, four-wheel drive usually comes in very handy,
but it sometimes takes the fun out of the drive. That's not the case in here though.
I've got it in Sport + now, which means 80% of the power goes to the rear wheels.
If you exit a corner and put your foot down... It's got an incredibly fun oversteering personality.
Normally, the distribution of power is 60-40, but in Sport-mode, 80% of the power is sent to the back.
Then, the steering. I can't do anything else but praise it.
Sometimes, steering columns tend to feel too much like power steering, or become to heavy, because that's sporty.
It's all about communication however, and this Stinger has beautifully neutral steering.
There's a lot of feedback to it, and you can precisely feel what the front wheels are doing.
It's also got a adaptive chassis, with adaptive dampers.
You can choose between five driving modes. The sportiest one is Sport +,
and that's when it really is at its sportiest. Barely any roll in the body.
If you put it in Comfort-mode, it's better suited for daily driving.
But there absolutely is sportiness in this car, and that's exactly what you're looking for in a GT.
Comfort with the right amount of sportiness.
What you do notice on a race track, is that a car like this isn't meant for driving on here.
It's kind of heavy, especially the backside.
If you want to slide it around a corner, you have to force it around.
That's partly because Kia doesn't use lightweight materials like aluminium, carbon fibre and other stuff like that.
The competition does use materials like that, which makes this car relatively heavy.
Heavier than, for example, a 4-series Gran Coupe.
This 4-series Gran Coupe is about 150 kg lighter, and that's noticable on a track.
On the other hand, it produces 44 horsepower and 60 Nm of torque less.
Of course, we find the famous straight-six in the front.
It's a 3.0-litre producing 326 horsepower and 450 Nm of torque.
The differences in power and weight compensate each other, which make sprint times a matter of tenths of a second.
Both cars are quicker than average.
For the past few years, BMW hasn't been focusing on sportiness as much as they used to.
They moved a little towards comfort, which makes Alfa Romeo and Jaguar the most sportive brands around.
Of course, that doesn't mean BMW's aren't dynamic anymore. On the contrary,
it sends 40% of its power to the front wheels, and 60% to the rear wheels.
However, if you put it in the sportiest setting, and you disable the traction control and stability systems,
you can still have a lot of fun with this BMW. Just like in the Kia.
You really have to force the Kia though, because of its heavy rear,
and the BMW just is a tad more agile.
This BMW features adaptive steering, and I'm not really sure if I like it.
On a circuit like this in Sport-mode, it offers more resistance,
and if you're driving under normal circumstances, it gets a little lighter.
But that also makes it a little artificial...
Which isn't the case in the Kia. It's always nice and neutral, and you'll always know what's going to happen.
In this BMW however... It's a matter of nuance really.
It's not that I think the steering is bad, on the contrary, but I just feel like it's a little artificial.
So when it comes to that, Kia scores some points here.
The engine then. The straight-six sure does sound good.
It doesn't sound better or anything, but it sounds different than the Kia V6.
Both have a dark growl to it, even if Kia amplifies it through the speakers.
The BMW-engine likes to rev. It constantly wants to be high up there,
that's where it feels at home. The Kia doesn't mind to be lower in the revs, because it produces more torque.
So. When it comes to the best dynamics... I have to say I'm incredibly impressed by the Kia.
It's a very good, grown-up chassis. It's got the right amount of comfort, it's got the right amount of dynamics...
But still. This is a BMW, and if you don't have to explain anything about tuning a chassis,
it's BMW. Kia comes quite close,
but as dynamic as this 4-series... They haven't come that far yet.
When it comes to dynamics, BMW takes the points.
But what do these two have to offer besides that? Well, if you tend to travel with more than two people,
you should take the Stinger, because it's a lot more spacious in the back.
In the front of the BMW, we're looking at an interior we've known since 2012,
it's originally from the BMW 3-series.
This 4-series has been facelifted very recently, but it's a trusted BMW-interface we're all used to.
Ergonomically, it's very good. It looks neat and clean, and the used materials are good as well,
just like the finishing. But, there are rivals which have a better hand.
An Audi A5 for example, but that isn't here today.
A Kia Stinger is though.
If you charge your customers €100.000 for your car, and you want to compete with the big boys,
your interior has to be 'premium' as well, how stupid the word may sound.
So what do we see here? A very nice, serene, clean cockpit.
A nice high and wide middle console. A compact steering wheel with edges,
for a real cockpit feeling. Then, the materials.
I've never seen plastic this beautiful in a Kia. There's some leather here, plastic, aluminium colored...
It all looks incredible, but if you look for the details,
and that's what it's about in this class, you can see the differences with the 'real' premium brands.
The plastics feel a tad rougher, the finishing is a tad less refined, the plastics feel a tad cheaper...
Incredibly small details, but they're details which'll make or break a car in this class.
With this Stinger Kia makes a very impressive entry, or rather a re-entry in the top-segment.
It can keep up with the 4-series on almost every single aspect, but it just can't match or even beat the BMW.
That isn't a bad thing if you consider the amount of time BMW has spent in this segment, and how short Kia is present there.
If you give them a few more years, they'll get another few steps closer.
There's one thing Kia can't solve by poaching engineers from other brands... Image.
Paying €100.000 for a Kia? That must sound like complete nonsense to a lot of people.
Especially if you consider you'll lose half that money when you leave the showroom.
The reason that it's this expensive, is because of our tax climate.
In Germany, this car costs about half of what it costs here, and in the USA, you can get this for approximately €32.000.
But that's not what this is about. This Stinger is a driving commerical for Kia.
It's a statement. 'Look at this, we can build beautiful cars too. Look at how good they drive!'
Small boys do grow up, and who knows,
they might outrun the established order one day...