Kia Sportage

Test drove a few cars over the weekend. One that had managed to leave a positive impression was surprisingly the Kia Sportage.

First, I state upfront that I am not sold on performance or badge - it could be a bonus but never the deal maker. I lean towards comfort, safety and practicality.

Compared to her Korean twin and a Japanese offering, I found the ride comfort and handling more suited to my liking, with surprisingly low NVH level and minimal noise from roads and surroundings. The well sorted suspension also managed to cocoon the passengers well. Power delivery was linear, which was a plus with normal aspirated engines without the abrupt shove from a turbo.

Both front and rear space was great, with a boot big enough to swallow a bicycle with its wheels attached (measured and confirmed). Feel good amenities like reclining rear seats, ventilated front seats and rear aircon vents - yes, to agents of some other car makers, you'd need this locally - were all available in the tested model.

Overall, a very pleasant experience with the car during the test drive, and one that I would place it as one of my finalists - if it comes in Mercury Blue (or any colors other than Patina Gold).

Caveat: Reliability grading has nothing to do with test driving. But I gave it a 5-star based on my 20 years of experience driving Kia's twins.

Well sorted-out suspension

Predictable handling

Linear power delivery

Comfortable cabin with good NVH insulation

Copious front, rear and boot space

High level of features

Slightly convoluted pricing and rebate scheme from C&C

Available stocks in Patina Gold only

Test drove this car twice and was quite happy with it generally. The drive was smooth and good enough as long as you're not a power-hungry cheongster.

It has most features found in all other same-class SUVs, except the sunroof, and the leg room for the second row is not as luxurious as the X-Trail.

But there other good things to more than make up for these: the ventilated seats for the front seats, the electronic seats, rear aircon, auto tailgate, etc. Are put it at/near the top of the mid-sized SUVs segment.

- The ventilated seats, not found in any other SUVs of its class

- The electronic seats for both driver and passenger

- The tail light

- The front light

- The auto tailgate

- The rear aircon

- The ability to recline the rear seats (slightly)

- The electronic/button parking brake

- Hill assist

- The many other features

- The front grille/design is a bit unconventional

- The leg space for the back can be bigger

- no sunroof

- would be better if it's more powerful

- No navigation/GPS

It's been 4 weeks since I have driven my new Sportage and I'm a extremely delighted with my purchase. I previously drove a Japanese and European car, this is my first KIA. The KIA Sportage GT line ticked all my boxes and had all the bells and whistles only luxury car makers had. I really liked the functionality of the car with the generous amount of interior space. The car also drives really well around the corners with great stability and comfort. KIA gives top quality thinkware dash cam that makes the deal sweet. My friends have been wowed of the level of detail found in the cabin as well as the drive.

Spacious and functional

Quality bulid interior

Eye catching exterior

19" rims

AHSS makes good ride quality and cornering stable

Electric tail board

Thinkware dash cam with lane departure and front collision warning

High level of standard items such as:

*Ventilated seats driver and front passenger

*8" touch screen

*Apple car play and Android auto

*front electric seats

*reclining rear seats

*rear aircon

*Tyre pressure monitoring system

*driver welcome lights

Better fuel economy (I'm getting ard 11.8km/l)

Engine performance (more fun to drive in sport mode but FC will suffer)

Test drive the Kia Sportage at C&C Kia showroom and the SE let us tested on a different route and the car took every hump and corners very well. Too bad not able to test drive the car in Malaysia old trunk road aka Federal Highway.

The car is better designed and remains in good spec compared to previous version.

The road handling characteristic over humps and corners, it will handle even better if driving along NSH and Federal Highway in Malaysia.

The engine power and best if come with 1.6l Turbo Diesel engine.

Impressive looks. Looks so muscular and well balanced. Fell in love with this car the first time I saw it. Interior wise. It looks classy and expensive. Kia has really proven themselves over the years. I am impressed.

Exterior & Interior

Pricey

Driving the Sportage is a relatively smooth affair, but when I work the engine hard, it seems to vibrate quite a bit.

That aside, the car has comfortable seats, looks great and has lots features which makes this Korean-built car very palatable.

As a mother, I especially appreciate the large luggage space, Isofix child seats and configurable cabin space.

My husband really likes the higher seating position, as it makes it easier for him to handle the car when he goes shopping with the kids.

Exterior styling

List of features and equipment

Relatively affordable price tag

Dashboard is a little plasticky

Cabin can be quite noisy

Engine rattles when pushed hard