2022 Kia Sportage review (inc. 0-100): New best mid-size SUV?

CarExpert

Has Kia managed to knock it out of the park with the 2022 Kia Sportage? Sharing a platform with the Hyundai Tucson, the Kia Sportage builds on it with a local ride and handling tune and a longer warranty. Is it worth checking out? Paul Maric tests out the top-specification 2022 Kia Sportage GT-Line to find out.  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Kia content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/kia More Kia Sportage content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/kia/sportage  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 01:01 Interior 03:58 Infotainment 05:55 Safety Tech 08:02 Practicality 09:13 On the Road 13:18 0-100 km/h 16:06 Verdict 17:51  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #kia #sportage #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So the past year and a bit has been extremely busy in the medium SUV segment.

00:04 Almost everything has received a refresh or a brand new model,

00:08 but one of the last ones to get a full update is the Kia Sportage, and that has now changed.

00:13 We have the all-new Kia Sportage behind me.

00:15 I have a bit of a unique perspective with this because I've spent ages with this car.

00:18 I drove it from Sydney to Melbourne so that we could actually film with it.

00:21 So, hopefully that will come across in this review and I'll be able to give you as much detail as possible.

00:26 This right here is the top specification GT-Line model.

00:30 This is priced at just under $50,000, but if that's a bit too expensive,

00:33 the whole range kicks off at a little over $30,000.

00:36 This competes with things like the Toyota RAV4, the Hyundai Tucson, the Mazda CX-5.

00:41 There are loads of competitors in this segment. Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car.

00:45 So if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,

00:48 you can use the time codes up on the screen there, or if you're on YouTube,

00:51 scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,

00:54 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we drive brand new cars.

01:00 Let's talk exterior.

01:02 So you've got eight external colours to pick from. All But White is a little over $500 extra.

01:07 Now, what about the styling? So it's received a bit of a mixed reaction.

01:11 Some people love it, some people don't love it so much, and some people hate it.

01:14 So I think you're going to be sort of somewhere in between. I do love though the new Kia logo.

01:19 I think this really just has rejuvenated the brand. It just looks so much better than the old Kia logo.

01:24 So I'm glad that this is now starting to appear on all of Kia's cars.

01:28 Now up the front here, you've got lashings of piano black through the centre, and then body colour as you work your way down.

01:34 Big radar down the bottom there with front parking sensors. You'll notice over here that the lights have this pretty striking

01:41 LED setup. So this is the DRL. You've also got an indicator in there, and then full LED headlights with LED fog lights as well.

01:49 So let me know what you reckon about the design in the comments section.

01:52 Do you like the look of it? You think it's a bit too much? Do you think it'll date well?

01:56 Let me know your thoughts down there. Whip around to the side. Down here,

01:59 you've got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels on a reasonable profile tyre with

02:04 cladding on the wheel arches, because this is an all-wheel drive. In terms of the design,

02:08 you have that diamond cut finish on the outside with piano black in the centre there.

02:12 Now this has received an Australian ride and handling tune, and if you have seen our Hyundai Tucson video,

02:17 if you haven't, you can click up here to watch it. The Tucson didn't benefit from an Aussie ride and handling tune.

02:22 So I'll go through that in a bit more detail when we hit the road and what that means for you as a consumer,

02:26 and whether you should be looking at that over and above the Tucson in comparison. And in terms of ground clearance,

02:32 yes, it's no rock-hopping four-wheel drive, but you have just over 180 millimeters available. Up the side here,

02:37 piano black side mirror with an indicator built into there, little camera there for the 360 camera. You get these piano black roof rails,

02:44 privacy glass. Now before I go through the styling at the back, have a look at this.

02:48 This kind of reminds me of the Carnival. Now the Carnival has this as a reflective finish and it really makes it stand out.

02:54 I think Kia is doing a lot here on the design front to make their cars really stand out on the road.

03:00 And you can see here with the styling that they have gone to a lot of effort

03:03 to make this look unlike any other SUV on the road. So that includes full LED tail lights with that similar design theme along the side

03:11 there. Got this spoiler built in and that's where the wiper is tucked in neatly under there. Shark fin aerial.

03:17 Now you've got that new Kia logo on the back here as well, but I love how it looks.

03:21 It's kind of got like a CNC cut to it and it looks like it's sort of custom built just for this one car.

03:26 And I think that just looks fantastic.

03:28 Sportage badge on the side there. It is pretty simple at the back. There's no GT line badge.

03:33 They've moved away from telling everyone what you're driving and let the car sort of do the talking in terms of that design.

03:39 Down the bottom here, this is all plastic cladding.

03:41 So a different design to what we typically see on SUVs where that body color continues all the way down.

03:47 Yeah, let me know what you think in the comments section.

03:49 I actually quite like the design and out on the road it gets a lot of attention.

03:53 I think it's just because it's new but I'll be keen for your feedback.

03:56 Let me know what you reckon about the design down there. So we're inside the new Sportage.

03:59 Let's start off with the key. So you have lock up the top there, unlock, push and hold for start and then boot.

04:07 On the back there, there's nothing and then you have the new Kia logo on the other side.

04:11 Keep in mind the diesel also comes with the self-parking feature that's activated on the key.

04:16 The petrol doesn't. This is a proximity sensing key so just leave that in your pocket.

04:20 Once you're inside, you've got a push button start. Okay, so let's talk about the design.

04:24 There is loads of piano black here and

04:27 I don't know, I've done a long distance drive. I've touched a few of these buttons already. It's pretty dirty.

04:32 I genuinely don't know why they keep using this stuff when it is impossible to keep clean constantly,

04:38 especially if you have kids and stuff around this.

04:40 So that's the only real negative I have. I think the rest of this looks fantastic.

04:44 So the top spec here just really pops when it comes to the design. You've got this

04:48 huge sweeping set of screens up the top there.

04:51 You've got this sort of open pore wood grain along the dashboard and that follows along the doors as well.

04:57 It really is beautifully presented. Even this, love the way that you can press this to change between the different menus and that

05:03 LCD and the background lights up. This looks so high-end and premium and it's kind of unexpected from a Kia.

05:10 What about the materials? So up the top here, it's nice. That's all nice and soft.

05:13 You've got that faux stitching, but as you go further down,

05:16 it does get pretty scratchy and I did notice during my long distance drive that these panels along the side here, they're quite hard.

05:22 So your knee just sort of rests up on those and it's a little bit uncomfortable on long distance drives.

05:27 But your touch points, that is firm but soft and then on the door, it's fairly soft. How soft is it?

05:33 Well, we've got our durometer. We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

05:37 If you want to see how this car compares to others we've tested before, have a look at the link in the description.

05:41 What about build quality? So,

05:43 that's not too bad. It's a little bit wonky, but the rest of this feels really nice and solid. And finally, our door test.

05:49 Yeah, that sounds really

05:53 nice and solid. Let's talk about infotainment. So you've got two 12.3-inch displays.

05:57 They beautifully take up that space ahead of the driver.

06:00 This is what the home screen looks like and then you can select driver profiles, top left,

06:04 and then you can swipe across to get to the rest of the menu. It's nice and fast.

06:08 I love how quick that is. You've also got shortcuts down the bottom here. You can switch between those

06:12 using that little button. Now in terms of your inbuilt features, you have satellite navigation built in. You also have

06:19 the ability to stream AM, FM and DAB plus digital radio.

06:24 And the good news about that is it has a very impressive sound system.

06:28 It's an eight-speaker Harman/Kardon branded sound system. And while I did just listen to podcasts on my long drive,

06:34 down to Melbourne, I did play some music and it was actually a pretty decent setup.

06:39 You also have smartphone mirroring, both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Unfortunately, both of those are wired. Let's have a look at Apple CarPlay first.

06:46 Wow, that is impressive. So these are both 720p in terms of resolution and that is

06:52 very sharp. So you can see there, it's almost like a phone display in terms of the sharpness of it.

06:57 It is really quick as well. So yeah, love that setup. And this is what Android Auto looks like.

07:02 So it's not a full screen integration. You can see that sidebar,

07:06 but when you do go back to the home screen, you have full control over it like you normally do.

07:10 Now, let me know in the comments section below, is there a way to make that full screen?

07:14 Is there just a setting or something that I'm doing wrong?

07:17 I'm very keen to find out if it is.

07:19 We will get rid of that and go back to the key screen. Now in here as well, you have quiet mode.

07:23 So that is where the speakers only run at the front of the car to keep it nice and quiet in the back there

07:28 for the kids. You also have voice memo as well, but no sounds of nature,

07:31 I've noticed, which is a little bit disappointing. Of course,

07:33 it comes with a battery discharge warning because it's like Hyundai or Kia.

07:36 Now, the screen ahead of the driver is pretty straightforward.

07:39 You've got speed on the left, tacho on the right. The center section can then be changed.

07:44 You've got a bunch of different little menus there that you can select.

07:46 Everything from the trip computer through to the safety settings and the compass headings.

07:51 I do also like that when you do change drive modes,

07:55 it will change the dials and the way that they look. So

07:59 yeah, just something to keep you entertained while you're out on the road. Now moving on to safety technology,

08:04 you've got autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.

08:07 You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant. There is radar cruise control and a self-steering function,

08:13 but on my longer drive, I did find the self-steering stuff to not really work that well.

08:18 On light bends on the freeway at like 100, 110 k's an hour, it would keep crossing the lines and it's like, well,

08:24 the point of that is to work in conjunction with the lane departure stuff to not do that.

08:28 So I kind of had to switch that off on occasion to just stop it from doing that.

08:32 You've got a blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror, but you also have blind spot cameras that show up here.

08:37 I'll go into a bit more detail on those when we go for a drive.

08:40 You've got rear cross traffic alert and front and rear parking sensors.

08:44 And I'll show you what the reverse view camera looks like. It's actually a 360 camera.

08:47 Look at that. So very high resolution screen there. You've got the top down view as well.

08:52 You can also then manually change the views. So that's like a trailer view.

08:56 You've got a wide angle at the rear and then also a look at the rear tyres.

09:01 But have a look at this. You've also got a 3D view, which I reckon is pretty

09:04 cool as well. While you're driving, this actually moves too, which I think is pretty interesting.

09:08 So very impressive camera setup there and it makes parking a breeze.

09:12 Let's talk about practicality and we'll start with your connectivity. So down here, you've got a 12 volt outlet.

09:16 You have a USB-A port. You have a USB-C port, a wireless phone charger. Where are you going to keep your phone though?

09:23 So the phone can live down on the wireless phone charger or it can live here in the cup holders.

09:27 There really are litany of spots and there's a little cover as well, a piano black one that covers up that front section.

09:32 Now in terms of your coffee cup, I have a slightly larger one today, but it gives you an idea of where it goes.

09:38 You can also deploy these guys.

09:40 It gives you a little guide there to hold the coffee cup in and there are teeth on the side. Standard bottle.

09:45 Fits into there without any problems. Let's try the door. Fits into the door. We'll try our big bottle.

09:52 No, doesn't fit in the door, but I reckon if we get rid of this.

09:55 There you go. Fits there. So there is a spot for your big bottle, which is good news.

09:59 There is a center console here, which is quite reasonably sized and a glove box as well,

10:04 which is pretty decently sized too. That is a very small manual. And comfort.

10:08 So we'll switch our menu over here to comfort. You've got dual zone automatic climate control.

10:14 You've got heated and cooled seats for the front row.

10:18 You've also got electric seat adjustment with memory for the driver, so you can go forwards, backwards.

10:23 The backrest can go forwards, backwards, and then you have lumbar support as well.

10:26 It's electric adjustment for the passenger seat as well. And then what about the actual comfort of the seat?

10:31 Well, I did spend about eight hours straight in the car and can say that these are very comfortable seats.

10:37 Seat design itself is cool because you've got the Alcantara up the top there and then the perforations for the cooling to come through.

10:43 The steering wheel itself has tilt and reach adjustment.

10:48 And then on our reach test, it is actually a little hard to reach some of this stuff.

10:51 And I did notice that while I was driving, I had to kind of lean forward to press this to switch between the menus that I needed to.

10:58 So yeah, this stuff could just be a little bit closer to the driver, I think.

11:01 Now the second row. Look at how much room I've got. So loads of knee room, toe room is excellent, and headroom is really good.

11:09 The reason there is so much room here is the Sportage has grown in every dimension. It's on a longer wheelbase.

11:14 It's longer in general. It's just a bigger car.

11:17 This is in fact longer than the Tucson and we get the long wheelbase version of the Tucson.

11:22 That makes it bigger than stuff like a RAV4 and a CX-5. So you have heaps of room here.

11:26 It's no longer the small compromised car.

11:29 So I really am quite impressed by that and that's with my seat quite far back. In terms of other creature comforts,

11:34 you've got this awesome panoramic roof here on the GT line.

11:37 You've got map pockets in the back of the seats with hooks on the back of each seat.

11:41 Air vents, a little bit of storage down the bottom here, two USB-C ports for charging your devices.

11:47 Over here, you've got a center armrest with two cup holders.

11:49 Holds the bottle without any dramas and then this will live inside the door easily as well.

11:55 You've also got two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats and then three top tether points.

12:00 Now, do you find this interesting? Can anyone tell me what this is? It's gripped on the back.

12:04 Maybe it's to hold devices or something, but it's in the back of each headrest.

12:08 So haven't seen that before. Really interesting setup. Okay, time to look at cargo space.

12:12 So you get a power tailgate here in the GT line.

12:16 Wait for that to open. So in its standard trim, you have a little over 500 litres of cargo space available there.

12:22 Beneath the cargo floor, something kind of unique to this segment. You don't see it all that often.

12:27 It is a full-size alloy spare wheel.

12:30 So this is normally a dual-tiered boot floor, but with the full-size spare wheel,

12:35 you can't actually go down another level. If you were to go for a space saver instead,

12:39 you can actually get yourself a little bit more room by dropping that down another tier.

12:42 So just keep that in mind. If you do need more space, you can opt for a space saver instead.

12:46 Off to the side, you have LED lights, a 12-volt outlet.

12:50 And then if you want to increase the space, you just pull these handles.

12:53 I'll show you that in just a second. But first, our bags. So laptop bag in there. I forgot our suitcase.

12:58 So we've only got this.

12:59 It's around the size of a carry-on bag that you can take onto a plane.

13:03 So it gives you an idea of how much room there is there.

13:05 I'll drop that second row out of the way. So pull this.

13:10 Away that goes. Same story on that side. And that expands the space to around 1800 litres.

13:15 So it is a pretty decent and versatile space.

13:17 So we've hit the road in the Sportage. Now, this one here is the 1.6-litre turbo petrol.

13:25 This is available with a 2-litre diesel as well.

13:28 But this one here, turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, makes 132 kilowatts of power and

13:33 265 newton metres of torque. And that's all mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

13:39 Now, let's talk about the transmission first. Because I said in the intro that I'd done

13:43 like over a thousand kilometres in this car, driving down from Sydney to Melbourne for us to shoot.

13:47 And one of the things I noticed at the very start was the gearbox. And it's just not very good.

13:54 So it's really sort of jerky. And it feels like one of those old-school dual-clutches before they got dual-clutches right.

14:00 And I'm just a bit disappointed that this gearbox is mated to this engine.

14:04 Because the engine itself is actually not too bad.

14:06 It's just let down by the gearbox, especially at low speeds. Even when you punch it,

14:10 it just takes forever to do anything. And it's the whole point of a dual-clutch

14:15 outside of fuel economy is speed. And this just doesn't have that pace that you would expect.

14:19 Which is a shame because the eight-speed automatic that comes with the diesel is a torque converter.

14:24 And the diesel itself has over 400 newton metres of torque. And it feels really nice and hardy behind the wheel. So, I don't know.

14:31 Let's just stick with torque converters.

14:34 Now, what about fuel economy? 7.2 litres per 100 k's is the official number from Kia. We're currently sitting on nine.

14:40 I will say though, during my highway drive, it was down to a little over five litres per 100 k's.

14:46 Which I thought was really good.

14:47 And then we've been doing a whole lot of city driving. The car's been doing a bit of idling today as well.

14:51 So that's gone up a little bit there. But still a really respectable figure, especially if you are doing long distance highway drives.

14:57 It's worth noting as well, this is kind of a full-time all-wheel drive system.

15:01 So while it's predominantly sending torque to the front axle, it is sending it to the rear

15:05 most of the time. And then in certain conditions, it can actually send more to the rear as well to help with traction.

15:11 What about the drive modes? So using this little selector here, you can go between normal, sport, smart and eco.

15:17 There's also a lock mode for the four-wheel drive system.

15:20 So pushing this allows you to send 50% of torque to the front and rear axles.

15:23 You're not really going to be doing any off-road driving.

15:25 But it is handy if you're going to the snow or something like that.

15:28 The diesel model also comes with off-road driving modes too that tailor the stability control to the type of condition that you're in.

15:34 So let's pop this into sport mode. The display changes a little bit. We'll see what it's like through the corner here.

15:40 Turn in.

15:43 That's not too bad. It sits kind of flat through there.

15:45 And the gearbox eventually sort of winds up and gives you what you want. It's actually much better in sport mode. At low speed,

15:52 it's far more responsive.

15:54 It still is a little bit sort of stunted, but it actually gets up and moves a whole lot quicker when you do dial it into sport mode.

15:59 Kia doesn't have an official 0-100 time for the Sportage, but we've put it up against our stopwatch and this is how it went.

16:06 I mentioned as well in the intro that this has an Australian ride and handling tune.

16:21 And I've got to say, given this shares so much with the Tucson,

16:24 they really are almost chalk and cheese in terms of the ride. I thought the ride in the Tucson was actually pretty good.

16:29 This just takes it up another level.

16:30 It is so well-rounded and they've managed to really make it shine on country roads. On the highway,

16:36 it's kind of much of a muchness because the highway is fairly smooth, but out here in the country,

16:39 it really just deals well with these continuous undulations.

16:43 It just has that compliance that you kind of don't expect from a family SUV like this.

16:49 So yeah, big tick on Australian ride and handling tune and I think that it really

16:53 gives you more of a reason to buy this over a Tucson.

16:56 And then in terms of the noise while you're driving, it is a really quiet place to be seated.

17:01 I noticed as well that on the long distance drive, when we're doing 110 k's an hour, even on course chip roads,

17:06 it's nice and quiet. I was able to listen to my crying podcasts and just enjoy the drive.

17:11 Being a mid-sized SUV, visibility is good. I can see down the fronts of the car there. Visibility out the rear is great.

17:17 The envelope's big enough. The wing mirrors are big enough. You have blind spot monitors built into them.

17:21 But when you put the indicator on, you actually get the camera come up there as well.

17:25 This is one of my favourite features in cars today.

17:28 I think it is just a really good backup to that blind spot monitor.

17:32 I know you should be keeping an eye on the road, but this kind of has all bases covered. Righto, turning circle.

17:36 12.2 metres, which is pretty reasonable and about expected for an SUV this size.

17:43 It means you should be able to get away with u-turns most of the time, and the steering is nice and light as well,

17:49 in just the standard drive mode.

17:51 Okay, so the Kia Sportage. I think this is an excellent family SUV.

17:56 It is so big now, and certainly compared to the last Sportage, that you're getting heaps of room inside, and

18:02 it really just fits the bill in terms of a growing family.

18:05 You're able to fit everything in without really having to compromise in terms of size.

18:09 It is let down by this engine though, the 1.6, and more so the gearbox.

18:13 The gearbox just really isn't very good, and I think that if you are buying this, just invest in the diesel.

18:18 The diesel is fantastic. It ticks all the boxes in terms of torque and efficiency, and it's made it to a gearbox

18:24 that's just a standard torque converter instead of the dual clutch setup.

18:27 So yeah, it is the Achilles heel of this car, which is otherwise really good.

18:31 So let me know in the comments section below, have you ordered one of these?

18:34 And has it been delivered? Are you in the 1.6 and are you happy with it? Or have you gone for the diesel instead?

18:40 Let me know in the comments section below. If you did enjoy this video,

18:43 please make sure you share it with your mates, and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

18:48 That way you can find out every single time we do a new car review, but until next time, drive safely.

Category

Transcript

Recommended