- The streets are filled with new generation tuner cars
like the Lexus F Sport that's super angry looking
and long nosed and domestically bad ass.
Look at my neck,
the joints are just done.
A lot of angry cars out there.
(clears throat)
I can't feel my voice anymore.
Angry, they're angry, all right?
All the new cars are upset.
Somebody kicked their dog.
I don't know what happened,
but they all got mad, angry,
they got rev matching,
and they got the interior
that finally doesn't look like my grandma Buddy's basement.
All right, it's weird,
(indistinct chatter)
weird sofa, odd colors.
The whole thing just didn't make sense.
Not even the eighties did it makes sense.
I won't ever forget that.
And even European cars like the Golf,
that for some reason can never just look bad
are now turning angry as well.
Everything's angry.
But what about the KTM Market?
The 12 that are over there?
That was a thing or was, or is, I think.
I'm Alex, Alex certified Instagram.
And today we're going to be talking about a car
that's made surf's up waves,
feel like a kiddie pool, okay?
A car that had real estate agents ecstatic
that they didn't need to just go
and buy the next typical three series
because they didn't want
an angry-bird's-looking ass car, all right?
A car that kind of just like Sarah Palin
just disappeared for a little bit.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we're gonna be talking about,
you want to own,
the one,
the only,
the baby masterpiece,
the KIA Stinger.
(upbeat music)
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don't forget to subscribe, all right?
And if you looking for aftermarket wheels tires
as a suspension for your newly acquired Kia Stinger
or otherwise,
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We have it all,
including like blogs,
for the 12 people that still love to read.
I mean, that's exciting, right?
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We're really excited about that
and we hope that you can share the support with us,
as we launch the brand in 2021.
Talking about the Kia Stinger,
we need to take it back to the days of old.
Approximately nine of them to be exact.
The Kia Stinger was introduced at the Frankfurt auto show
and was raved by designers
that were baffled at KIA's ability
to make an executive sports saloon.
KIA had been making money all the way
leading up to the introduction of the Kia Stinger
because of the fact that they were introducing cars
at a very strong price point,
that made a lot of domestic car manufacturers angry.
I mean, I know a lot of people have forgotten about
KIA Hyundai,
but they haven't exactly been sleeping.
They made decent cars like the Elantra, the Genesis,
the Tiburon, all right?
But the Stinger was something special.
It was designed by KIA's European studio,
but engineered by the former BMW M vice president
of engineering, Albert Biermann.
That's why it looks the way that it does.
Pocket pick right there for KIA, all right?
To tie the idea of quality performance styling,
without the other thing that usually comes along
with a BMW car,
which is piles of change,
was pretty damn tough, especially for KIA.
KIA had the additional difficulty of trying to design a car
that didn't look much like the competition.
And this is what,
this is what came out of that conversation.
If you ever wondered why KIA looks the way that it does,
it's because they really didn't want it to look
like anything else.
It wasn't terrible,
it's just kinda interesting.
It's like Dakota suit coat.
You really just don't know what to do.
He just yells taco ding-dong,
but you're wondering really where he got it.
But according to one of the chief designers,
the Stinger was partially inspired by the Coca Cola bottle.
Soft, central, curves, in all the right areas.
You know what I'm saying?
Look at the bottle, look at the shape, look at the car,
look at it all together, look at a Coca-Cola KIA Stinger.
It's that's all true.
Built for being a Gran Turismo.
The body lines feature longer strokes than harsh edges.
It's soft and sleek versus angulars and parallelograms,
all right?
To KIA, they wanted to make it all a part of the journey
and focus more on the overt physical appearance
of the whole car,
versus just small angular, angry pieces, all right?
I don't know if that's true,
but it's damn good marketing.
The Stinger would steal and shorten
the Hyundai Genesis's front engine, rear wheel drive set up
with some extra metal for weight distribution
and offer either two liter turbo charged
with 250 ponies
or a twin turbo V6 with 365 horses,
all right?
Ponies for the sub 300 and horses for above 300.
It's a lot of horsepower actually.
But it wasn't only horsepower
that made the car special.
There is also technological advancements
that put the car on the map.
Coming from KIA,
this is insane, all right?
You see KIA,
was and has been a brand that promises you
that you get value for your money.
If you look at any KIA ever,
it's always been about that.
And you can jump into one of the KIAs
that looked pretty good for not a lot of cash.
It's not the cheapest,
but it was like a 10 buck bucket from KFC.
You've got a lot of value from buying a KIA.
So, when they introduced the Kia Stinger,
they wanted to keep the price below $50,000,
even with a chunk of options
like their advanced driving assistance system package
and all of that.
KIA wanted the everyday owner to feel like
they weren't jumping into a Panamera abyss of repairs
and reliability issues.
So then, on top of all the tech,
KIA slapped a hundred thousand mile power train warranty
on top of it.
So, KIA was beginning to provide,
a long nose, aggressive grand tourer
that had mid three hundreds for horsepower,
all wheel drive,
a decent warranty.
a wasn't terrible to look at.
To boot, the interior had some pieces that looked legit,
but really didn't have the same cost association.
Like it was, like it was leather,
but it wasn't really leather.
The interior bits were metal,
kind of,
but you just had to take it as you will,
because you were buying a KIA, all right?
You got all of that
but you didn't get the Porsche Panamera
unreliability-ness of it, okay?
But that was expected from a car
that KIA wanted to provide the people with an option
that wasn't six figures.
And even though the Stinger is only in its terrible twos,
the car has already been bitten by the bug
of car enthusiasts, all right?
Because the Stinger would come in the GT line,
which had a turbocharged four cylinder.
You had the GT, GT one trend
or you had the GT two trim
and the twin turbo V6.
With the climbing onslaught of technology
and comfort packages,
people started just to get with these different trims.
It literally was a car
that really started check all the boxes and dot all the I's,
that you could go and have fun with,
and then go still fit the all these groceries in the back.
The car was set up for success.
But we're not here to talk about the history of a car
that's only two years old!
You want that?
Go watch Toonami, all right.
I miss that.
That was a good time.
I watched Inuyasha, like midnight.
We're here to talk about the Porsche
in sheep's clothing.
The car that's like, has people thinking,
"Wait, that's a KIA?"
Car, all right?
The car that for some ungodly known reason,
always has a rattly ass trunk.
If you've ever sat in one,
you know what I'm talking about.
So, you want
a KIA Stinger.
Well, set down your K-pop
and grab your favorite league of legends plush
because we're about to talk about
what it's like to actually own
a luxury grand tourer, KTM.
If you're looking to jump into a KIA Stinger,
there's two major things
that you're gonna wanna keep in mind.
Grab your pencil
or pen point seven.
You're buying a KTM with 360 horsepower.
It's a grand tourer,
but it's still only $30,000.
So there's gonna be a couple Doug DeMuro quirks and features
with the KIA Stinger
that you're wanna
and you're gonna to wanna get used to, okay?
Probably the most notable is the fact that not everything
is what it seems on the KIA.
The parts and pieces of the interior
are made to look like one thing,
but they're actually made of another.
You also can start to see
where some of the cost savings went into the car
to provide you with all of the fancy technology
and horsepower and motor.
You're gonna wanna understand that,
as you jump into these cars,
because it's going to be a real big let down
if you're not prepared for it.
If you're okay with that
and you're okay with a little noise,
okay with a little STI rattle,
then you're gonna be okay with the KIA Stinger.
In addition to that,
we're all still in the honeymoon phase a bit with the car,
with it actually being so new.
I mean, when we even started to look at it,
it was shocking to only see them be two, three years old
and they just seem to disappear.
Here's what I mean.
For $1,100 you can make your KIA Stinger,
a 450 horsepower sedan
that can take on the likes of the M3 and the AMG Sport.
However, we're only two years in,
and the honeymoon phase
can really mess with you here,
all right?
We know that in the last two years,
we've already begun to see stingers,
age a little bit quicker than most.
Typical thing to happen, all right?
Here's what I mean by that,
when it comes to like the honeymoon phase.
They've aged a little bit quicker than, than the rest,
all right?
In addition, they've also experienced some use issues
with the car.
Rotors are likely the biggest culprit
that'll have issues due to the weight
and the sports suspension setup.
This car eats their own rotors, all right?
The trunk actually does rattle a bit
and it can be a little bit annoying.
The leather can and does fade
and the design work is already showing,
a little bit of aging.
It's maybe a little bit too contemporary, all right?
They also have more warnings and systems and tutorial island
that just prevents you from doing too much hooligan stuff.
Like, it's almost too much or overtly conservative
in what it wants you to do
and it's just the way that it is.
It's what makes part of this car, a grand touring.
That in KIAs eyes, are needed.
But that's where some people may get it wrong
with the KIA Stinger.
Can you slam it on the ground?
The answer,
my good friends,
is absolutely.
Put it on some H&R lowering springs or air suspension,
and you'll have some cars sitting proper.
I recommend slamming it on the ground with air suspension,
just my opinion,
but you can put lowering springs.
Wheels easy,
do some big old thin Rohanas,
some Velgens
or some Ferradas,
all right?
Depending on the trim,
you've got some decent Brembos
and some nice looking calipers to boot,
as long as they don't vibrate.
Tires, cross climates, if you're in 2021
and you wanna feel cool
and you want something that can get you around
in the winter time.
However, a decent all season or winter summer setup,
then you have a good car
that can do just about everything.
In my opinion,
if you're up North,
I recommend getting some off seasons
or getting some winter tires
on your stokers
and then get some nice summer tires on your aftermarket.
But it's a new car.
It's a car that KIA built to offer as much as possible
without overpricing it.
And because of that,
the car will experience
some of the classic KTM issues over time.
Genesis is redefining that.
So, we may see that change.
But the Stinger
will likely have some of the same
bits and pieces,
that start to not operate as well as they should,
because it's a KIA!
And you wanna be okay with that.
The car is meant to provide a driving experience
for the working man or woman.
It's meant to do everything seamlessly without aggression.
It was meant to show the world
that KIA could do something outside of the box,
all right?
And keep it reliable.
Through the external designs of the Germans
and the time taken up producing,
and the time taken up producing a motor,
they could do good power without ruining reliability
in the eight speed automatic,
it does cross a ton of the boxes.
The modification scene for the car also exists,
but it's just not as large yet.
The car is reliable for the time being.
The car is fun,
as long as you're okay with jumping into the unknown.
There's just a lot of unknown with this car.
The thing to remember is this,
when you're picking up a KIA Stinger,
you're picking up a car
that's just looking to be a good conservative car
in all the different ways that you'd want it for.
Like, it tries to do it all without breaking on you,
but still kind of being like the edgy kid.
Like, it gives you all the horsepower,
but it's not gonna actually allow you to use all of it
because the tech and systems aren't allowing you
to potentially break the car.
That's why it came with the mileage warranty that it did.
That's why it came with a lot of the safety standards
that it did.
That's why it came with a lot of the backup from KIA
as it did,
because it offered all of this,
but it offered it with very tight thresholds
in terms of ever allowing you to potentially break it.
And that's why,
you can take a little bit of money,
throw it into the car,
get mid four hundreds for horsepower,
have a tune hot time.
But you're also going to experience,
likely the reason,
why they gave you those thresholds so much.
And it's probably because the car
may not be able to support that horsepower.
But, what do you think about the KIA Stinger?
In my eye, I thought it was cool
and then they just disappear.
I don't see 'em as much anymore.
Be nice to see 'em more.
If you have one,
drop it in the gallery.
FITMENTINDUSTRIES.COM.
If you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires
or suspension,
be sure to hit us up over @FITMENTINDUSTRIES.COM
where we have everything you could possibly imagine.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
and we will see you later.
Peace.
(upbeat music)