The word ‘evolution’ is perhaps a tad overused in the automotive industry, but it’s
particularly appropriate when discussing the South Korean manufacturer Kia – a carmaker
that is rapidly climbing the sales and popularity charts.
But will its new-generation Sportage help or hinder that growth? Well, being labelled
as a crossover SUV means it belongs to a very crowded market segment that includes competition
like the Renault Kadjar, Mazda CX-5 and of course the Nissan Qashqai – and due to its
huge success, the previous-generation Sportage as well.
Now, make what you will of the revised front-end, but we’re going to start by taking a look
at its all-new interior. As with many other SUVs aiming to offer a
stylish yet hard-wearing cabin, the Sportage offers a blend of different quality materials,
giving you soft, up-market trimmings on the dash and yet some cheaper plastics lower down
- If you’ve sat in the Sportage’s near-identical twin, the Hyundai Tucson, then you will know
exactly what I mean. Regardless of those plastics though, this is a much nicer interior than
ever before. Kit wise, not that many people will go for
the entry-level option, but if you do you’ll still get Bluetooth, air-con, DAB radio and
cruise control. But go for the second trim up, aptly named ‘2’, and you get some
surprisingly luxurious features like a reversing camera, parking sensors and sat-nav. And thankfully
Kia’s infotainment system remains razor sharp in its responsiveness. Also worth noting
is the new sporty mid-range trim called GT-Line, which adds a host of aesthetic upgrades.
As a family car, practicality is pretty good up front, with two cup holders and a large
space in front of the gearstick for your wallet and keys. One slight nuisance though is that
the handbrake intrudes a little on centre cubby space – but only slightly.
Staying on the subject of family practicality, there’s wide opening rear doors, tons of
head room and leg room, a smidge more than in the previous model, and although the door
bins may struggle to fit a bottle in, these arm rest cup holders should certainly suffice.
If we are being picky though, the seats don’t slide back and forth like some rivals and
the lever to fold these seats is down here, forcing you to walk around from the boot.
While the front-end is a bit polarising, I think the rear looks amazing. Now, the boot
offers a nice low loading lip and 26 litres more storage space than the previous Sportage
at 491 litres. That’s more than the Nissan Qashqai and Renault Kadjar.
But the best thing about the boot in my opinion is its flat folding seats and accessible,
square loading surface. And with these seats down you get 1,480 litres of space.
So the previous-generation Sportage was very conservative in the way it drove – so much so that it
felt a little nervous when you threw challenging roads and bends its way. But Kia has yet again
pulled out all the stops and fixed this with a new finely-tuned chassis and electrically-assisted
steering. Basically, the ride is ever so slightly firmer
than before, although it’s better off for it in terms of composure and it’s still
comfortable. And when it comes to the steering, Kia has found a brilliant middle ground which
gives you a much more responsive and enjoyable set-up that is easy to manoeuvre around town
and yet weights up when you need it. I never actually thought I would enjoy cornering in
a Sportage – but this is pretty fun. You can choose to have a 1.6-litre petrol
or a series of 2.0-litre diesels, but this 114bhp 1.7-litre diesel mated to a six-speed
manual gearbox makes the most sense. It has enough power to dart out of junctions and
overtake on the motorway, yet it only emits 119g/km of CO2 and it comfortably returns
an average of around 40-45mpg. This diesel can be pretty throaty when revved out, but
it’s certainly no worse than its rivals. I do want to mention a few things about visibility.
It is nice and high up, giving you a definite sense of authority on the road, but the C
pillars are still quite chunky, which can give you a bit of a blind spot, although Kia
has made the rear window a bit bigger – and if you go for the parking sensors they will
obviously help you out. Similar to its competition, the Sportage starts
off very affordable but can become quite pricey. However, go for this model, which is expected
to be the Sportage’s best-seller, and you’ll pay around £22,000, and that is less than
equivalent models in the Nissan Qashqai, Renault Kadjar, Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai Tucson.
So the price may be right, but that’s certainly not the only thing the Sportage has going
for it. It’s now one of the best in class to drive, the interior has taken a big step
up and it also comes with an impressive seven-year warranty. And for those wanting to stand-out,
it’s slightly quirky looks may just be part of the appeal… it worked for the Nissan
Juke. But what do you think about the new Kia Sportage?
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