Kia Sportage ‘GT-Line’ 1.6 AWD road test review

Kia Sportage ‘GT-Line’ 1.6 AWD road test review: With an industry-leading warranty, DAVID HOOPER drives the Kia Sportage, the brand’s best-selling model in Europe.

The Sportage is a familiar name in the Kia line-up, now finding itself in its fifth generation, and were you to compare this latest model with the original, you would find that they are light years apart in quality and technology.
This latest iteration has been designed and developed especially for the European market and is Kia’s best-selling model in the UK and Europe. Our test car is the mild hybrid petrol model, while customers also have the options of full hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.
The range is made up of 13 different models and comes with four trim levels, 2, GT-Line, 3 and GT-Line S. There is even a choice of five alloy wheel designs and three sizes, depending on your preferred choice of specification, but perhaps one of Kia’s biggest selling points, is the peace of mind its customers get from its seven year or 100,000 mile warranty which comes as standard across the entire range. I think it’s a real testament to the manufacturer’s confidence in its products that is willing to provide what remains an industry-leading warranty.
The Kia Sportage is a smart looking car – it’s fairly boxy in its design, yet still manages to be attractively styled and carry a certain panache which is easy on the eye. It has a good sized boot, and rear seats which fold flat in a 40-20-40 configuration to provide lots of flexibility and almost van like carrying capacity.
The interior looks and feels to be of high quality, with the 12.3-inch touchscreen navigation being standard across all the trim levels and relaying much of the key information to the driver.
The gear selector is a rotary dial which is easy to operate and saves a lot of space on the centre console compared to a traditional gear selector, improving the amount of space available for cup holders and various other buttons.
On the road, the car drives very well, with the 1.6-litre engine proving a willing companion, cruising quietly and only sounding slightly harsh when worked hard. During my test it achieved an average of 33.8mpg over a distance of more than 400 miles.
There is very little wind noise inside the plush cabin and the slightly raised driving position affords a good view of the goings on outside.
The ride and handling are more than up to the job, and provide good body control through the corners, while absorbing the worst indiscretions on our appallingly bad roads which are beginning to look more like obstacle courses without the cones, as we are forced to dodge one pothole after another!
If they get much worse, the AWD system will become very handy for climbing out of the craters, and can be selected by twisting a dial to choose from Mud, Snow and Sand and comes as standard on the GT-Line S in the Hybrid AWD and PHEV versions.
The large glass area makes manoeuvring easy, and with reversing cameras and parking sensors, there can be no excuses for the damaging the paintwork – and I particularly liked the blue metallic finish on our test car which gave and Sportage a classy look.
For those of you who like to go on the pull, the Sportage in this guise can tow a braked trailer up to 1,650kg, which is about the same weight as the car, although many caravanning types would prefer the car to be a bit heavier than the trailer in most cases.
There is plenty of tech included to help you keep out of trouble too, with things like Forward Collision Avoidance Assist which helps you dodge pedestrians, cyclists and junction dangers in built-up areas, and among the many “assists” the car offers, one of the latest is Intelligent Speed Limit Assist which helps you to keep your licence in tact as speed limits fluctuate every 100 yards as they seem to do these days!
The Sportage is easy to live with and good to drive, so if you want a reliable car which won’t break the bank, it’s definitely worth a look, especially with the peace of mind that warranty provides.

Rating:

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THE VITAL STATISTICS
MODEL: Kia Sportage ‘GT-Line’ 1.6 T-GDi AWD
ENGINE: 1598cc, 148bhp four-cylinder petrol engine, driving front wheels through 7-speed DCT gearbox.
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 117 mph. 0-62mph in 9.3 secs.
ECONOMY: City: 35.8mpg.
Country: 51.4mpg.
Combined: 44.1mpg.
Wheel World test average: 33.8mpg
CO2 EMISSIONS: 146g/km.
FUEL TANK: 54 litres.
PRICE: £33,575
WARRANTY: 7 years/100,000 miles
WEBSITE: www.kia.com/uk
• All data correct at time of publication.