Kia ended 2021 on a excessive with a document UK market share of 5.5% earlier than getting off to a cracking begin in 2022.
The South Korean model completed January because the best-selling model (9.1% share) – a primary in its 30-year historical past.
This success was led by the Kia Sportage, which was January’s hottest automobile total, having ended 2021 because the ninth best-selling standard new automobile.
It’s exceptional that this household favorite was nonetheless flying out of the showrooms in 2021 and early 2022 as a result of these have been the final of the fourth technology Sportage (initially launched in 2016) fashions.
Which brings us to the all-new Mk 5 Sportage – one of the crucial hanging new crossovers on the street.
Rocking a daring, assured new design, hi-tech inside and a variety of petrol, diesel and hybrid (delicate, self-charging) engines (with a plug-in to comply with), the vary is priced from £26,745 to £38,445.
There are 5 trim ranges (2, GT-Line, 3, 4 and GT-Line S) and it’ll do battle the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Hyundai Tucson, Nissan Qashqai and Suzuki S-Cross.
There’s little doubt that the brand new Sportage has critical street presence, echoing a few of the futuristic styling cues of its pure electrical massive brother, the EV6.
Inside, the change is simply as radical with a sensible two-screen infotainment set-up. As normal, there’s a an 8.0-inch predominant touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and extra digital driver’s show on the precise. From GT-Line spec up there’s a bigger 12.3-inch display within the centre.
The curved console is evident, brilliant, responsive and intuitive to make use of, partly all the way down to the short-cut buttons beneath the display.
We examined three variants (all utilizing a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine) – the entry-level with no electrical help, adopted by the delicate hybrid and the self-charging (or full) hybrid.
4-wheel drive is obtainable with any of the hybridised fashions, that are solely fitted with automated gearboxes, whereas the common 1.6-litre automobile solely comes with a guide field.
Aside from the apparent kerb attraction, the very first thing you discover in regards to the new Sportage is that it’s somewhat longer, wider and taller than the outgoing automobile and there’s extra room inside.
General, it has a extra mature, sharper look, it’s nicely put collectively, has a top quality really feel and is generously geared up.
In truth, there’s loads of house for adults back and front, whereas the baggage capability is a powerful 587 litres, increasing to an enormous 1,780 litres when the 40:20:40 cut up rear seats are flipped.
On the street, the Sportage is straightforward to drive with mild steering and good all-round visibility. It will be unsuitable to say it has probably the most refined journey due to its agency suspension settings, however it does the job and stays moderately flat when pushed in tougher corners.
The one slight disappointment is the 1.6-litre T-GDi engine which isn’t probably the most participating of items and will be vocal when pushed- a disgrace as a result of the Sportage is a refined cruiser.
For the document, the standard engine’s 148bhp is nice sufficient for a 0-60mph dash time of 9.9 seconds, whereas the delicate hybrid (identical engine energy, however with 48V battery help) is barely quicker (9.4 seconds).
What’s extra, on paper the claimed gas consumption of the essential petrol turbo is 41.5mpg, in comparison with 40.4mpg for the delicate hybrid (although in actual world driving you received’t get close to 40mpg), so I’m unsure that the latter is price the additional expense.
Puzzlingly, the CO2 emissions for the all-wheel-drive delicate hybrid I drove have been greater (158g/km) than the common petrol (154g/km), so the place’s the profit?
The six-speed guide has a simple shift motion, whereas the automated choices (seven-speed dual-clutch and conventional six-speed torque-converter) are suitably easy for the delicate and full hybrids.
Clearly, if cash just isn’t the primary concern, then the total hybrid is probably the most tempting mannequin within the vary (till the plug-in hybrid model comes alongside) – particularly in case your journeys are typically longer. There’s further poke, it’s a extra relaxed drive typically and EV mode kicks in at low speeds or when manoeuvring.
The front-wheel drive model I examined delivers a mixed 226bhp, a 0-60mph time of seven.7 seconds, gas economic system of as much as 48.7mpg and emissions as little as 132g/km.
The Sportage is filled with the most recent security and driver help package together with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and, as with all Kia vehicles, it comes with a beneficiant seven-year guarantee.
Verdict: The all-new Kia Sportage goes straight to the highest of the household SUV class with its mix of hanging appears, hi-tech inside, practicality, prime security options and massive bang in your bucks.
Kia UK
