2012 Kia Sportage Expert Review: Autoblog

The following review is for a 2011 Model Year. There may be minor changes to current model you are looking at. Another Korean Competitor That Beats Expectations


Kia likes to say it has the Power to Surprise. Back in the day (oh, five or so years ago...), the Korean automaker's customers were supposed to be pleasantly surprised that their new car, crossover or SUV was a better vehicle than expected. Perhaps you've heard the drill: "I bought it because it was cheap... and you know, it's really not that bad."

These days, though, being less mediocre than expected simply isn't good enough. See not-so-(inter)stellar brands Saturn and Mercury for proof thereof.

In other words, each new Kia has to be completely on-target and every bit as good as its competitors from America and Japan – and judging by the ambitions of its corporate partner, Hyundai, you might even be inclined to include Germany on that list.

And we've come to expect exactly that from Kia. If the company's first Sportage was a passable entry with a cut-rate price to make the masses take notice, and the second go-round was, you know... "not that bad..." then this crossover, the third-generation Kia Sportage, had better be good.

So, were we pleasantly unsurprised by the 2011 Kia Sportage?

Continue reading...



Photos copyright ©2010 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL

Clearly, the new-for-2011 Kia Sportage is an attractive small crossover. The currently en vogue high beltline and low-slung, sloping roofline is present and accounted for, which also means outward visibility for the driver and passengers has been compromised. In the case of the Sportage, the view out back would be acceptable only in an exotic, mid-engined supercar from Italy. We were able to see the front hoods of the cars following us from our rearview mirror, but we couldn't see the face of the driver and had no clue if there were red and blue lights atop the car. Best to get those side mirrors adjusted to your liking.

With the exception of the rear view, the interior manages to feel airy, particularly when both the front and rear sunroof shades are slid back, and even more so when the front glass is open to the elements.



We don't have any complaints about the external design of the 2011 Sportage. Kia and head designer Peter Schreyer have done a commendable job of making all of its wares identifiable through the use of a similar fascia and nicely organic, even slightly aggressive curves. As we noted in our initial drive of the latest Kia Optima, the automaker's stylistic efforts add up to a much sportier appearance than similar models from sister company Hyundai. Proof positive can be seen when comparing the Sportage with the somewhat bubblier Hyundai Tucson, which rides on the same platform.

We appreciate the look of the 18-inch alloy wheels fitted to our tester as the hoops did an exceptional job of filling the wheel wells and were complimented on by passers-by. Note, too, the twin fender and hood peaks on either side of the driver's straight-ahead sight line. The effect looks cool from the outside, but we think its best angle is actually enjoyed from behind the wheel.



Speaking of the view from the driver's seat, we commend Kia for crafting an interior that's both pleasant in appearance and functional in operation. There's plenty of space available, both for rear-seat passengers and for luggage. We managed to fit one six-foot passenger behind a six-foot driver, with no cracked knees in the process. Just over 26 cubic feet of space is available for the taking in the way back with the rear seats in their full upright position; lowering the rear bench opens up 54.6 cubic feet. Put into perspective, that ought to be enough for a couple of nights worth of luggage for the average family, if not for an entire week.

As with every other vehicle in the Sportage's segment and price bracket (more on that later), pretty much every surface is covered in some type of black or gray plastic. But at least all of it is nicely grained and non-shiny in finish. Also, all the touch points – most every spot your hard surfaces (elbows, knees, etc.) are likely to come into contact with – are covered with a thin layer of cushion to somewhat soften the blow.



Kia has done a nice job with the steering wheel, covered as it is by a rather tough-feeling leather cover with stitching at the rear, fitted with the traditional cruise and redundant radio controls on either spoke. As you'd expect, the stereo can pump the jams from AM/FM radio, satellite or CD, and USB and auxiliary ports can be used to hook up an iPod or other music player. Also standard are buttons on the bottom spoke to operate a Bluetooth phone, which functioned flawlessly when paired with our smartphone.

Other optional electronic doohickery includes an in-dash navigation system that doubles as a back-up camera, remote keyless entry and push-button start with a smart key that knows when you're in the vicinity for key-free access. Once inside, all the buttons and knobs are thoughtfully placed and well labeled, and everything is slightly canted towards the driver.

Seats, leather-clad and heated on our tester (plus a segment-exclusive cooled driver's perch), are nicely padded and somewhat firm, with bolstering that seems suitable for the mission at hand. After all, this ain't a sports car, right? Well, now that you ask, Kia actually wants its customers to think of the Sportage as "a sports car wearing a backpack." While it's definitely no Miata-beater, we'd certainly slot the Sportage in at the sportier end of the small CUV yardstick.



Handling is surprisingly good, which is surely due at least in part to the sophisticated all-wheel-drive technology our Sportage was delivered with. According to Kia, the Dynamax system constantly monitors what's going on between the road and the tires and can almost instantaneously use its electronic brains to minimize wheel slippage. Best we could tell, the full-time system worked a treat, affording us a nice, secure and sure-footed vibe when pushing the Sportage hard through the bends.

We were mostly pleased with the 176-horsepower 2.4-liter four cylinder. In normal driving, there always seemed to be plenty of horses available, despite it peaking at 6,000 rpm, and passing maneuvers were dispatched without complaint – likely helped by the perfectly-matched six-speed automatic transmission. The only real area the rev-happy engine felt underpowered was when we put our foot down from a dead stop. There just isn't much low-end torque (168 pound-feet doesn't come on until 4,000 rpm), and the final drive ratio seems to have been chosen more for its fuel-sipping tendencies than for its jackrabbit starting capabilities. At least the powerplant isn't buzzy at high speeds, again helped by the abundance of gear choices and a low final drive ratio, so keeping it on the boil isn't what we'd call a chore.

It's a good thing that the Sportage feels like a class-leader when it comes to handling, because the ride certainly couldn't be described as soft. Similar to its larger brother, the Sorento, most drivers are likely to think it's tuned on the stiff side – especially those who live in areas with less-than-ideal road surfacing. In locales free of frost heaves and tar strips, you won't be as bothered, and over the course of the week we never found the ride objectionable on Arizona's smooth roads.



Which leads us to only serious demerit: steering feel... or the completely artificial sensation that's substituting for it. If you drive mindlessly for a couple of hours and stop thinking about the act of piloting the Sportage, you won't notice the constant tiny corrections needed to keep yourself on the straight and narrow. However, you'll find yourself cursing the brains behind the electronic power steering system and the continuously variable feel and effort that will have you sawing at the wheel. It's all rather frustrating, as these types of electric power steering systems are becoming commonplace and replacing the tried-and-true hydraulic units we've known and loved for years. There are better applications out there of the technology, but this isn't one of them. So why has Kia employed it on the Sportage? Fuel economy.

Hydraulic pumps are little parasites feeding off the engine that reduce precious miles per gallon. It may take a few generations for engineers to figure out the tuning required to make electric power steering units feel like a good hydraulic setup – some manufacturers are already showing adeptness at this, though not consistently. At least the 2011 Sportage delivers the efficiency goods with EPA-estimated ratings of 21 city, 28 highway (22/31 for front-wheel-drive models). We averaged a decent 23 mpg in everyday usage. That's one of the better performances managed by a small crossover, though the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain offer similar EPA ratings and are about one size class larger.



Pricing for the 2011 Sportage starts at about $19,000 for the base model with a six-speed manual transmission, an example of which you'll likely never see in real life. Our Sportage EX AWD tester was nearly loaded and carried a sticker of $29,990. Expect most models on the dealership lot to fall somewhere between those figures. What that means is the Sportage is priced right in the sweet spot of its segment. It also means Kia's smallest 'ute isn't exactly the raging bargain some might expect from a vehicle wearing a Korean badge.

But then again, we shouldn't expect Kia to craft class-leading vehicles and then price them like bottom-feeders. Considering the equipment, ten-year warranty and the price, the 2011 Kia Sportage is a very good vehicle. We noted a couple of demerits – most bothersome being a somewhat flinty ride and artificial steering feel – but the same can be said of just about any machine engineered to meet the needs and wants of a large and diverse swath of the population. And that's exactly what Kia hopes the Sportage will do. And it will. Not very surprising anymore, is it?



Photos copyright ©2010 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL

The crossover is the high-fructose corn syrup of the automotive world. Think about it: Rather than using real sugar, Pepsi opts for a cheaper, highly refined and processed sweetener. Which, according to lots of studies, is pretty bad for us. Why would they do that? Higher profits, pure and simple. Likewise, CUVs offer all of the space of a comparably long station wagon or hatchback, get inferior mileage, don't handle as well, take longer to stop and in most cases offer none of the utility of a true off-roader. But guess what? They pull in fistfuls of greenbacks for auto companies.

Like high-fructose corn syrup then, car experts ("Hi, Mom!") can scream out their lungs until they're blue about the benefits of a more sensible, safer, smarter product (again, wagons). Yet consumers simply don't listen. The fastest growing automotive segment is – of course – the small CUV. Like the Snickers bar, the Twinkie and a twenty-piece Chicken McNuggets meal with BBQ sauce (all of which is mostly corn syrup), they are here to stay, forever. Buyers just seem to like the looks and the perceived safety that a high-riding vehicle affords them. Plus, for those with infant children, not having to stoop down to strap Junior into his car seat is the most luxurious feature on earth. With all that in mind, some CUVs are better than others – and not only in terms of looks, but also handling, packaging, content and value. Is the new 2011 Kia Sportage one of them? Read on to find out.



Photos by Jonny Lieberman / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.

The Sportage is arguably the Granddaddy of the CUV craze, as it was initially launched in 1996. That may not seem like a long time ago, but consider that the little Kia trucklet showed up before the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V or Ford Escape. Of course, when the Sportage initially arrived, the diminutive softroader packed a puny, 92-horsepower engine along with an archaic body-on-frame construction. In reality, the Sportage was actually an SUV, but it was one that wasn't terribly good at the roly-poly stuff. It looked a little funny, too. However, the Sportage proved to be a huge success for Kia, allowing them to offer customers a very inexpensive entry into the late-90s SUV-craze. In fact, the Sportage remains so integral to Kia's U.S. efforts that it's the only nameplate in the company's stockpile from the 1990s that's still on sale.

But while the Kia Sportage has always been cheap, it hasn't been particularly good – especially in the aesthetics department. But as you've no doubt noticed, there's a new design sheriff in Kia-town – Peter Schreyer, the man behind the Audi TT and Volkswagen New Beetle – and he's already made taken some big strides at Kia. Specifically with the Forte, Koup and Sorento. Now comes the 2011 Sportage and it's easily the best looking of the bunch. Designed in California and featuring Kia's signature bowtie grille (no, not that one), the Sportage is instantly recognizable as a Kia – to those who know what one looks like. Obviously, the reason for such strong design language (and to hire a superstar like Schreyer) is to make the brand more recognizable. We think Kia is well on their way, and like the Forte and Koup before it, this newest vehicle is leading the way.



Kia wants consumers to think of the Sportage as "a sports car wearing a backpack." A bridge too far, perhaps, but not entirely left field. The Sportage's target demographic is young, single men, the same sort of folks that purchase sports cars. Kia figures the Sportage will slot in between the smaller, cheaper Soul and the larger, seven-passenger, more family oriented Sorento. Even though the Sportage is clearly not a sports car (backpack or not), it does offer a number of sporting and even upscale touches that might just tickle a young man's fancy. For instance, it has LED running lights below the headlamps, exactly like an Audi R8 (a fact which no doubt has Ingolstadt's brand managers spitting nails in anger). Kia's also seen fit to include LED turn-signal repeaters in the side mirrors, another cue taken from pricier machines. Other thoughtful touches abound, including rear-parking assist, back-up camera, dual-zone climate control, ionized filtration A/C, a cooled glove box, a giant panoramic sunroof and a bottom-hinged throttle pedal, just like a Porsche. That last item is particularly appreciated by us.

The interior is about on par with the rest of the segment. Plasticy but fine, though people who really care about a finely finished interior will have to save their nickels for an Acura RDX. That said, the Kia's plastics are at least the non-greasy kind and our test vehicle had the bright orange accents and door panels that greatly helped break up an otherwise totally black cockpit. And the cross-stitched leather-wrapped steering wheel is quite excellent, CUV or otherwise.



Electronically speaking, top end Sportage models get either the nav-stereo system Hyundai uses for cars like the Genesis Coupe or Kia's brand-new UVO connectivity system. Think of UVO as Kia's version of Ford's SYNC. Both systems ride atop Microsoft's Windows Embedded Automotive operating system, or WEA for short. Like Sync, UVO (which stands for "Your Voice" and is pronounced, "You-Voh") lets you connect your Bluetooth capable phone to the car's infotainment system. Then, using just "your voice" you can place calls and even respond to text messages. Sadly, like SYNC, you're forced to use canned replies – though with UVO, at least you can customize those replies.

The biggest difference between UVO and SYNC is that UVO will let you just say, "Play Led Zeppelin Black Dog," whereas SYNC currently requires an intermediary step where you must first say, "iPod," then the artist and track information. The UVO idea being that you might have "Black Dog" on your phone, a CD, your iPod, a USB stick or the Sportage's built-in hard drive. That being the case, UVO searches all of your media sources, finds the song you want then plays it. Pretty slick.



In theory, totally. Sadly, all the UVO-equipped cars we drove were pre-production – both the Sportages themselves and the UVO units. Out of about fifty attempts to get UVO to work using our voices, two were successful. Are we panning it? We should, but we're not – but only for one reason: As UVO shares the same operating system as SYNC, it has the potential to be an industry leader. Not only that, but the head of Kia's Connected Car unit is Henry Bzeih, a former SYNC engineer at Ford. We're therefore confident that Kia will get UVO working properly before it reaches consumers. For now, however, the jury remains unhappy – and they had better get it working, as going forward, all future Kias will have UVO as an option.

But enough gizmology. How's the Sportage drive? Solidly, like a sportier version of the Hyundai Tucson, a vehicle that impressed us with its firmly tuned suspension and near-athletic moves. This should come as no shock: The Sportage and the Tucson share the same basic architecture. Compared to the previous Sportage, however, the difference is night and day. The new model is three inches longer, two inches wider, but just over two inches closer to the ground. Amazingly, it's also 200 pounds lighter than the outgoing model, though we suspect that figure is compared to the outgoing V6, and the 2011 Sportage can only be had with a four-banger. But here's the good news: the new 2.4-liter inline-four produces more horsepower than the old 2.7-liter V6 – 176 hp compared to 173 ponies. Torque is down a bit, however, from 178 pound-feet in the V6 to just 168 lb-ft from the 2.4-liter. And to hear Kia officials tell it, the Sportage will never be available with a V6. It will, however, be offered with Hyundai's 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbo motor, which should produce somewhere around 270 hp and 270 lb-ft of twisting force. Who needs those extra cylinders?



Back to the powertrain we actually drove. The grunt is enough to move the Sportage about in a quick – if not genuinely brisk – manner. Sports car? Again, not really. But definitely quick enough to easily merge onto highways and provide good entertainment when the going gets twisty. Just don't concern yourself with top speed. Speaking of which, the Sportage's suspension is set up unusually well for curving road duties. Up front, you'll find MacPherson struts and out back there's a multi-link configuration. For reference, the much-lauded BMW 3 Series is set up much the same way. The Sportage, then, can actually live up to its name. And there's more handling to come.

Remember the turbocharged engine we mentioned? It will ship with firmer, sportier shocks called HPD (high performance dampers). As it happens, the prototypes we drove around Washington state actually had the HPD shocks installed, so like UVO we'll have to wait for a production version to get the entire story. You can also opt for an on-demand all-wheel drive system that features a center-locking differential as well as the ability to "predict" conditions (i.e. use the traction control system to notice slip) and route torque front-to-back appropriately. We drove one AWD Sportage on smooth, dry roads from Redmond to Seattle, WA and noticed no handling difference between it and its front-drive counterpart.



On the negative side of things, the examples we drove felt pretty twitchy, with a ride quality that was sometimes jarring on bumpy, truck-worn freeways. It was also hard to keep one of them pointed straight. Again, these were pre-production vehicles. Moreover, the CUVs we drove were late coming in from Korea. So not only did the cars feature the wrong dampers, but Kia wrenches were actually changing out engine mounts the night before we arrived. As a result, all three of the Sportages we drove had different behaviors. This was most noticeable in each CUV's various steering feel. One was a bit slack on center, another felt under-boosted, and still the third had even more slack on center – until we ran into/over a curb while trying to negotiate a traffic circle. Oddly, that jarring bump seemed to clear the problems up. Like the Tucson and most Kia/Hyundai products going forward, the Sportage features electronic assist power-steering, which is one reason why it manages 22 miles per gallon in the city and an impressive 31 mpg highway. However, electronic power-steering needs to be tuned to the tastes of the target market and again, we don't feel these pre-production vehicles were adequately tuned at all. Like UVO, we have faith that Kia will get everything sorted out by the time the Sportage goes on sale later this summer.

We know that a review of a not-ready-for-prime-time player isn't the most useful piece of consumer information ever written. Trust us, Kia knows this, too. However, assuming that the kinks get worked out of the production cars – and they've pledged to do just that – what we've got here is a pretty compelling, good-looking, sporty handling, inexpensive crossover. Kia isn't set on the numbers just yet, but they say that pricing should fall in line with the current Sportage. Figure a stripped-out base price of just under $17,000 with a fully-loaded AWD and UVO example going for around $25,000. Like its cousin the Hyundai Tucson, this represents great value when compared to competition like the RAV4, CR-V and Escape, especially as the Sportage looks remarkably better than all of them – including the Hyundai. While we still maintain our starting mantra against CUVs as a segment, Kia's new Sportage is pretty easy to swallow.



Photos by Jonny Lieberman / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.