It's one of the best selling SUVs in Australia...but is it getting old? Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the 2024 Kia Sportage to see if it's still worth spending money on.
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping 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: 00:52
Interior: 02:45
Infotainment: 04:02
Safety tech: 05:43
Practicality: 06:23
On the Road: 09:34
Driver aids: 15:11
Performance: 16:43
Verdict: 19:06
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.
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#kia #sportage #review
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping 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: 00:52
Interior: 02:45
Infotainment: 04:02
Safety tech: 05:43
Practicality: 06:23
On the Road: 09:34
Driver aids: 15:11
Performance: 16:43
Verdict: 19:06
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
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul, the Kia Sportage has been one of my favourites in the medium SUV segment
00:04 for a little while now, so I thought, you know, we haven't driven it for a while, so
00:07 let's get one back in and have a little crack.
00:09 So this is called the SX Plus diesel all-wheel drive, it's one down from the top spec, this
00:16 is priced at just over $47,000.
00:19 If that's too expensive though, the entire range kicks off at a little bit under 33 grand.
00:23 This competes with things like the Toyota RAV4, the Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, there
00:29 are lots and lots of competitors in this segment.
00:32 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car, so if you do want to skip ahead
00:35 to other parts of this review, you can use the time codes that are up on the screen,
00:39 or if you are on YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below, and if you haven't
00:44 done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out
00:48 every single time we review a car that we haven't visited in a while.
00:52 So let's talk exterior, you've got several colours to choose from, your optional colours
00:56 are pretty modest, $520.
00:59 I think this has aged well, so when we first reviewed this I thought, you know, it looks
01:02 pretty good to me, styling is subjective, but I wonder how it's going to age.
01:06 It's been a couple of years now and I think it's ageing really nicely, and I think Kias
01:10 in general, they've just really nailed the design and they just look cool.
01:14 So a new Kia logo there, a little bit of piano black here for this grille section, and then
01:19 the bottom section there has the radar.
01:21 Over here you've got a set of full LED headlights with LED daytime running lights.
01:26 Come around to the side of the car with me.
01:29 Down here you've got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels, you've got a piano black finish on
01:33 the inside there and then a machined finish up the top.
01:36 180mm of ground clearance or thereabout, so it's not exactly a rock hopper, but being
01:41 an all-wheel drive this is going to give you that extra confidence out on the road and
01:44 then has the sort of ability to do some very, very light off-roading.
01:47 A bit of wheel arch cladding there as well, so people know you're driving an all-wheel
01:51 drive.
01:52 Piano black on the wing mirror there, indicator built into there as well.
01:56 And then as we move down the side there you can see that black finish continues down the
01:59 bottom there and then this sort of brushed aluminium look as well, which I think looks
02:03 pretty good.
02:04 Privacy glass, you've got yourself a set of roof rails here as well, and then come around
02:07 to the back with me.
02:08 Now around the back here you've got LED taillights, well partial LED taillights, so easier to
02:14 spot in traffic when you're following the car.
02:16 Kia logo here, Sportage there.
02:18 You'll notice there are no badges on the back here, so I think that's a deliberate move
02:22 by a lot of manufacturers these days to, I guess, just not really highlight too much
02:26 what you're driving, so that's good news.
02:29 Black down the bottom here and then shark fin aerial up the top there, brake light built
02:33 into here, and then a wiper tucked in neatly under there.
02:37 So let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.
02:39 Do you think the styling still looks good today?
02:41 Do you think it has aged well?
02:42 I'm keen for your feedback, let me know what you think.
02:45 OK, so we are inside the Sportage.
02:47 I think the Americans call it a Sportage, which is interesting.
02:51 So this is what the key looks like.
02:53 It's a proximity sensor key, you've got Kia just there.
02:56 Lock button up the top, unlock, remote start, boot, and then blank on the back.
03:01 Once you're inside you have a push button start just here.
03:04 So basically if you don't go for the top spec version you don't get the full digital display
03:09 here ahead of the driver.
03:10 So this is actually the first time I've seen what it looks like without that big display.
03:13 It doesn't actually look that bad, which is good, and you're going to hear a lot of that
03:17 beeping, because Kias and Hyundais constantly tell you the battery is discharging, so it's
03:20 going to get a little bit annoying, but it is what it is.
03:23 There is a lot of piano black here, sort of around this tunnel section here, but outside
03:28 of that I think this is pretty sort of nicely presented.
03:31 They do try and break up a lot of the blacks with some of this sort of material in between,
03:35 which is pretty good.
03:36 In terms of your touch points, not too, oh, quite firm there, and soft on the door.
03:42 How soft are they?
03:43 Well, we've got our gyrometer, we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
03:47 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before, have a look
03:50 at the link in the description below.
03:53 Now what about your build quality?
03:54 Let's have a look.
03:55 It's not too bad.
03:56 It feels good.
03:57 That's what the door sounds like.
04:03 Let's talk about the infotainment offerings.
04:05 So you've got a 12.3-inch colour touchscreen here in the centre for the infotainment system.
04:10 Ahead of the driver it's a smaller 4-ish inch display with a couple of digital readouts
04:15 on either side of it, so pretty basic, but still looks nice and modern.
04:20 In terms of the operation of this, it is all a touchscreen, so you do have to lean in a
04:24 fair bit to change some of these settings, but I think it's something you'll probably
04:28 get used to eventually.
04:29 You have inbuilt satellite navigation, AM/FM, digital radio, and that's all plumbed through
04:35 an eight-speaker Harman Kardon branded sound system, so nice and fancy.
04:40 A couple of other cool features in here, you can record a voice memo, so if you get any
04:44 wild business ideas out on the road, you can note them down without forgetting them.
04:49 You have a manual built into the actual infotainment system as well, which is good.
04:54 Then in addition to that, on the smartphone mirroring front, you have Apple CarPlay and
04:58 Android Auto.
04:59 Both of those are wired, unfortunately, so no wireless.
05:02 This is what Apple CarPlay looks like, so big full-screen integration, nice and quick
05:08 and sharp as well, so very impressed with that.
05:11 And this is what Android Auto looks like.
05:14 So it's a split screen, and I remember someone in one of the videos we did once mentioning
05:19 there is a way to change that.
05:20 If you do know how to change that, let me know in the comments section below.
05:22 I can't see any easy way to do it, I just think it looks a bit silly only having the
05:26 split screen Android Auto on half the screen anyway.
05:29 This is kind of just redundant over here, so yeah, a little bit frustrating.
05:33 Head of the driver, though, that small display just gives you trip computer information along
05:38 with some details on where it's sending torque as well, but outside of that, it's all sort
05:42 of pretty straightforward.
05:43 Now, what about your safety tech?
05:45 You have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist and junction assist.
05:51 On the mirror front, you have an auto-dimming rear vision mirror.
05:54 You have a blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror.
05:57 You have radar cruise control with a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant,
06:01 which we will test a little bit later on.
06:04 You have front and rear parking sensors, rear cross traffic alert and then a reverse view
06:08 camera.
06:09 I'll show you what that looks like.
06:11 There it is there.
06:12 The quality of that's actually not too bad.
06:13 I can clearly see what it says there on the suitcase and then you have a couple of different
06:17 views to go with as well.
06:19 So yeah, not a bad setup.
06:21 And this is what the horn sounds like.
06:23 Moving on to practicality and we'll start off with your connectivity.
06:26 So down here, you've got a USB-A port, a USB-C port, a 12 volt outlet, no wireless phone
06:32 charging but there is plenty of room there to store your phone.
06:37 Now what about our coffee cup test?
06:39 So you've got plenty of storage space here in the middle but you can actually create
06:43 like a holder for your drinks just by pushing these buttons.
06:46 There you go, that gives you a nice little slot there for the coffee with teeth that
06:50 pop out as well.
06:52 Fit a normal bottle in there too without any dramas.
06:55 A bottle fits inside the door.
06:57 Try a big bottle inside the door as well.
07:01 No big bottles inside the door I'm afraid.
07:04 Additional storage, you've got this slot here which is quite nice in the centre console
07:08 and you have a glove box as well that's pretty reasonably sized too.
07:12 Now what about your comfort?
07:13 So it's quite an interesting system.
07:15 You've got dual zone automatic climate control down the front here with seat heating as well
07:19 for the front row.
07:21 But this is like a dual purpose screen.
07:23 So right now it's set to climate but if you give that button one push then changes this
07:27 screen here to be about your infotainment system.
07:30 So I think that is a pretty cool setup.
07:33 Seats are great, they're nice and comfy, perforated there in the centre with nice bolster as well.
07:39 So electric adjustment, you can go forwards and backwards, your backrest can go forwards
07:42 and backwards, you can lift the front of the seat, the back of the seat and you have lumbar
07:46 adjustment as well.
07:48 Passenger seat is manually adjustable.
07:50 Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment and on our reach test, like I said before,
07:55 it is a little bit tricky to get to the outer edges of this screen while you're driving.
07:59 So back seats, look at this, lots of knee room there, toe room is excellent, headroom
08:05 is really good as well.
08:07 So it's a great place to be seated.
08:09 There's a couple of interesting creature comforts here.
08:11 So you've got hooks here for bags, you have map pockets, USB-C ports in the back of the
08:16 seats, air vents, a little bit of storage down there, nice affixed points on the two
08:20 outboard seats and three top tether points.
08:24 Panorama rest here with two cup holders and you can fit your bottle inside the door as
08:30 well which is good.
08:31 And now our window test, does it go all the way down?
08:35 So it's manual up and down and boom, goes all the way down, very impressive.
08:40 Now let's talk cargo space, so you've got a powered tailgate, pop that open, so you
08:45 have just under 550 litres of space here.
08:49 It is worth calling out, they actually do like a short wheelbase and a long wheelbase
08:53 version of this car and Australia gets a long wheelbase version so that's why you have
08:56 a bit more room inside the cabin and more space to play with.
09:00 Under the cargo floor as well which I think is pretty cool, you get a full size spare,
09:04 that means that you don't need to stress too much if you do get a puncture, you've got
09:07 a full size spare ready to go which is good news.
09:10 Hooks off to the side, you've got a 12 volt outlet over here.
09:13 I'll show you what it looks like with our bags in there.
09:15 So there's a laptop bag and that is the suitcase.
09:19 So yeah, plenty of room in there.
09:21 Now you can expand the space if you want to by dropping the second row out of the way
09:27 and that expands the space to a little over 1800 litres.
09:35 OK we've just hit the road in the Sportage, so what is powering this?
09:41 So under the bonnet here is a 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel, you can get a 1.6-litre petrol, turbocharged
09:49 petrol in the Sportage range, but I'm a really big fan of this because it gives you the punch
09:53 in the back that you need, especially if you do have a full vehicle, it really just complements
09:57 that whole package really nicely.
09:59 So it produces 137 kilowatts of power, just over 400 newton metres of torque and it's
10:04 all mated to an 8-speed torque converter automatic which is exactly where you want to be when
10:09 it comes to gearboxes in the Hyundai and Kia range.
10:12 Now how does all that feel?
10:13 Well if you give it a sort of punch, it actually just really pushes you in the back nicely
10:19 and I think that when you look at a vehicle in this segment, a lot of them just feel a
10:24 little underpowered and underdone and if you are driving on the freeway, overtaking that
10:29 kind of thing, you really want a vehicle that just gives you that little bit of oomph when
10:33 you need it, so I think this really ticks all of those boxes.
10:36 Now the benefit of a diesel as well is that you're getting better fuel economy, Kia claims
10:40 a combined average of just over 6 litres per 100km.
10:44 We're currently sitting on 8.1, which is actually not too bad and that's pretty much a mix of
10:51 highway, city and also some hotlaps here around the proving ground, so quite impressed with
10:55 that figure and it shows you that this really doesn't use a great deal of fuel when you
10:59 are just sort of motoring about doing your daily chores.
11:04 Now let's talk about the ride, so the ride was tuned here in Australia, Kia still runs
11:08 a program here that allows them to do ride and handling tuning locally and the benefit
11:14 of that is that it feels like it suits Australia's road conditions and look, Australia's roads
11:18 are similar to other roads in the world but we do have some unique characteristics.
11:22 We have mixes of gravel, you've got off-canvas sections, mountainous sections, it really
11:27 is just a huge variety of roads, it's not just the one type and they tune for all of
11:32 that so it means that you're getting a nice and comfortable ride in and around the city
11:36 but when you're hitting things like tram tracks, potholes, cobblestones and that sort of thing,
11:41 it still feels really nice and comfortable.
11:43 And same story with the steering feel, that's something else that they've had a bit of input
11:47 on tuning.
11:48 It's sort of on the heavier side of comfortable but still not over the top so I'm sort of
11:52 quite happy with how that feels.
11:54 Okay, time for our sine wave test, let's dial up the revs, get up to 130km/h.
12:00 The sine wave test is just a really good gauge of how this feels when it comes to hitting
12:06 a set of continuous undulations on a country road when you're overtaking or something like
12:10 that.
12:11 Do it at 130km/h which is the maximum speed in Australia.
12:16 Nice, feels good, very nicely dialed and I think it just shows you that the effort they
12:20 go to with the local ride and handling and tuning actually makes a difference.
12:24 Now time for the bumpiest road in Australia, we do this one at 90km/h, it's just an incredibly
12:30 bad road.
12:31 We've got a condensed sine wave here as well that just gives us an idea of what this is
12:35 like under these conditions.
12:37 Here it is.
12:39 Doesn't feel too bad, it does sort of float over them a little bit so I think that just
12:46 shows you that the suspension doesn't have enough time to settle and it's really just
12:50 skating along the tops of those corrugations.
12:52 Not the end of the world but just one of those compromises they make to make the ride feel
12:57 the way that it does right now.
13:01 Now you're not going to be doing any off-road driving because it's not really an off-road
13:04 vehicle but you do have some off-road modes here, snow, mud and sand.
13:08 You just push this button here, it allows you to switch between them.
13:11 Then your on-road modes are eco, normal, sport and smart.
13:15 You've got a little bit of everything there and some paddle shifters here on the steering
13:19 wheel as well.
13:20 I also like this view here that tells you where the torque's being split because it
13:24 is kind of an on-demand system.
13:25 You can see it's just front wheel drive there and I do more throttle and then it sends a
13:28 bit more to the front and the rear.
13:30 But let's pop it into sport mode, we'll go for a punt around our track and just see what
13:35 it feels like with a bit more speed.
13:46 That's a good thing about this diesel, it actually has a really nice amount of punch.
13:49 There is a bit of body roll there but it's really not the end of the world.
13:54 Just laying into the throttle here, it just gives you a nice bit of acceleration there
13:59 with not too much of a fuss.
14:02 It's actually quite impressive that they've managed to make this feel as sporty as it
14:08 is right now.
14:09 I think they've done a really good job with that.
14:10 I'm curious to see what it's like under braking here over our tram tracks because I did notice
14:16 before the pedal was, yeah see that's not very good.
14:19 So when you are on the brakes and you hit a bump into a corner, the pedal goes a little
14:24 bit numb while it tries to figure itself out.
14:28 It's not a good feeling and it's something that probably just needs a little bit more
14:34 calibration but look, you're probably never going to be driving like this but yeah if
14:38 you do that's probably just something that needs just a little bit of work.
14:43 In terms of road noise, look it's not terrible, it's not amazing, it's sort of right in the
14:47 middle there.
14:48 We've used our calibrated sound meter to get a better idea of how this sounds out on the
14:53 road and if you do want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before,
14:57 have a look at the link in the description below.
14:58 Now if you're doing any towing, you've got a 1900kg brake towing capacity but keep in
15:03 mind you've got 100kg max downpour weight so effectively you really only want to be
15:07 towing about 1000kg with a trailer.
15:11 Okay so time to test the lane support systems here.
15:15 So we do that on our bowl and we use the three Adelains to see how it performs when it comes
15:20 to keeping the vehicle within its lane.
15:23 So I'll set the cruise control to 70km/h.
15:29 Look around our GoPro here.
15:32 There it is just there and then we'll get our self-steering set up as well.
15:39 So you can see that's active because the steering wheel is green and the lines are green there
15:43 as well.
15:44 So it's doing a great job here in the first lane, sort of staying within our lane which
15:49 is good.
15:50 We'll jump over to the next lane.
15:51 Wait for it to all go green.
15:55 Alright there it is there.
15:57 Green, green.
15:58 It is getting close to that line.
16:02 That's not too bad, it's actually keeping fairly centred.
16:06 Obviously with this stuff you're meant to keep your hand on the wheel so if you were
16:09 driving you would just bring it back in a little bit, that was okay.
16:12 Alright we'll jump over to the outer lane and see how it performs up here.
16:17 That's going green.
16:20 Slightly let go of that wheel.
16:26 So it's not willing to apply enough torque there to actually hold it within its lane
16:32 on the outer side and that kind of gives you an idea of how it's going to perform when
16:35 it's going around a bend as well.
16:36 So yeah look it's good but I think it probably just needs a little bit more ability to hold
16:41 the vehicle within its lane.
16:43 Okay time to do a little bit of performance testing.
16:46 Before we get stuck into that I wanted to tell you about Help Me Car Expert inspired
16:50 by our friends at CarWow.
16:52 So CarExpert, it's a big company, we have like 50 full time employees.
16:56 We also have a network of vetted dealers and that means that we have dealers we trust that
17:01 can get you a deal on a car that is in stock or soon to arrive like the Sportage.
17:07 So if you do want to take advantage of that, if you are interested in buying a car regardless
17:09 whether it's a Kia or not, just go to Google and type in Help Me Car Expert.
17:13 It'll take you to a page that explains exactly how it all works and yeah good luck with your
17:18 car purchase.
17:19 But let's get cracking here.
17:20 So what we're going to do is accelerate through to 120 kilometres an hour and then I'll also
17:26 get an idea of 0 to 100 and then the 80 to 120 for overtaking.
17:29 We'll come back around and do a brake.
17:31 So it's in sport mode.
17:33 Actually I'll turn traction control off as well.
17:35 Here we go.
17:36 So nice and strong off the line there.
17:40 All right.
17:41 Here we go.
17:42 There's 100.
17:43 And 120.
17:44 Okey dokey.
17:45 We'll stop now.
17:46 0 to 100, 8.5 seconds flat which is good and then 80 to 120, 6.29 seconds.
18:01 So not too bad as well.
18:03 Let's go back and we'll do a stop from 100.
18:06 Okey.
18:07 Accelerate up to 100.
18:10 All right.
18:11 100 to 0, 2.9 seconds and 40.29 metres.
18:26 So okay but not amazing.
18:29 I think it could be potentially slightly better but it is what it is.
18:34 Now if you do want to see how the Sportage compares to other cars that we've tested before,
18:38 have a look at the link in the description below where we compare all of the results
18:41 to vehicles in its segment as well.
18:47 Now a reverse acceleration test.
18:50 Let's see how we go.
18:56 Nice.
18:57 62 kilometres an hour.
19:07 So the Kia Sportage.
19:08 Look, I reckon this spec is where you want to be.
19:11 SX Plus gives you all the features you need inside.
19:14 Doesn't look like a poverty packed model and the diesel is my pick as well because it's
19:18 got a great transmission, plenty of punch and really efficient too.
19:22 Just in general, do you need all-wheel drive if you're going for the Sportage?
19:25 Look, if you can afford it, I would go the all-wheel drive.
19:27 It just gives you a bit more surety if you're ever driving to the snow or something like
19:30 that.
19:31 You've just got that extra bit of confidence, gravel roads, that type of thing.
19:34 So I think that is all worth keeping in mind.
19:36 Now let me know, have you bought a Sportage?
19:38 I know there's like huge waiting lists for some specs but if you do, use the Help Me
19:43 Car Expert service.
19:44 We will try and secure you one that's in stock or one that's about to come out.
19:48 Let me know what it's like to own.
19:50 Are you enjoying it?
19:51 Has it been fun?
19:52 I'm keen for your feedback.
19:53 If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like this video and share it with your
19:58 mates.
19:59 And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
20:02 But until next time, take it easy.