2022 Kia Sportage review (inc. 0-100) New best mid-size SUV
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So the past year and a bit has been extremely busy in the medium SUV segment.
00:05Almost everything has received a refresh or a brand new model.
00:08But one of the last ones to get a full update is the Kia Sportage and that has now changed.
00:13We have the all-new Kia Sportage behind me.
00:15I have a bit of a unique perspective with this because I've spent ages with this car.
00:19I drove it from Sydney to Melbourne so that we could actually film with it.
00:22So hopefully that will come across in this review and I'll be able to give you as much detail as possible.
00:26This right here is the top specification GT-Line model.
00:30This is priced at just under $50,000.
00:33But if that's a bit too expensive, the whole range kicks off at a little over $30,000.
00:36This competes with things like the Toyota RAV4, the Hyundai Tucson, the Mazda CX-5.
00:41There are loads of competitors in this segment.
00:44Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car.
00:46So if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,
00:48you can use the time codes up on the screen there or if you're on YouTube,
00:51scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:53And if you haven't done so already,
00:54subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon
00:56so you can find out every single time we drive brand new cars.
01:01Let's talk exterior.
01:02So you've got eight external colours to pick from.
01:04All but white is a little over $500 extra.
01:08Now what about the styling?
01:09So it's received a bit of a mixed reaction.
01:12Some people love it, some people don't love it so much and some people hate it.
01:15So I think you're going to be sort of somewhere in between.
01:17I do love though the new Kia logo.
01:19I think this really just has rejuvenated the brand.
01:22It just looks so much better than the old Kia logo.
01:24So I'm glad that this is now starting to appear on all of Kia's cars.
01:28Now up the front here, you've got lashings of piano black through the centre
01:32and then body colour as you work your way down.
01:35Big radar down the bottom there with front parking sensors.
01:38You'll notice over here that the lights have this pretty striking LED setup.
01:43So this is the DRL.
01:44You've also got an indicator in there and then full LED headlights with LED fog lights as well.
01:50So let me know what you reckon about the design in the comments section.
01:53Do you like the look of it?
01:54Do you think it's a bit too much?
01:55Do you think it'll date well?
01:56Let me know your thoughts down there.
01:57Whip around to the side.
01:58Down here you've got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels
02:02and a reasonable profile tyre with cladding on the wheel arches because this is an all-wheel drive.
02:07In terms of the design, you have that diamond cut finish on the outside
02:10with piano black in the centre there.
02:12Now this has received an Australian ride and handling tune
02:15and if you have seen our Hyundai Tucson video,
02:17if you haven't you can click up here to watch it,
02:19the Tucson didn't benefit from an Aussie ride and handling tune.
02:22So I'll go through that in a bit more detail when we hit the road
02:25and what that means for you as a consumer
02:27and whether you should be looking at that over and above the Tucson in comparison.
02:31And in terms of ground clearance, yes it's no rock-hopping four-wheel drive
02:34but you have just over 180 millimetres available.
02:37Up the side here, piano black side mirror with an indicator built into there.
02:40Little camera there for the 360 camera.
02:42You get these piano black roof rails, privacy glass.
02:46Now before I go through the styling at the back, have a look at this.
02:48This kind of reminds me of the Carnival.
02:51Now the Carnival has this as a reflective finish and it really makes it stand out.
02:55I think Kia is doing a lot here on the design front
02:58to make their cars really stand out on the road
03:00and you can see here with the styling that they have gone to a lot of effort
03:03to make this look unlike any other SUV on the road.
03:06So that includes full LED taillights with that similar design theme along the side there.
03:11Got this spoiler built in and that's where the wiper is tucked in neatly under there.
03:16Shark fin aerial.
03:17Now you've got that new Kia logo on the back here as well
03:19but I love how it looks.
03:21It's kind of got like a CNC cut to it
03:23and it looks like it's sort of custom built just for this one car
03:27and I think that just looks fantastic.
03:29Sportage badge on the side there.
03:31It is pretty simple at the back.
03:32There's no GT line badge.
03:33They've moved away from telling everyone what you're driving
03:36and let the car sort of do the talking in terms of that design.
03:40Down the bottom here, this is all plastic cladding.
03:42So a different design to what we typically see on SUVs
03:45where that body colour continues all the way down.
03:48Yeah, let me know what you think in the comments section.
03:50I actually quite like the design and out on the road it gets a lot of attention.
03:53I think it's just because it's new but I'll be keen for your feedback.
03:56Let me know what you reckon about the design down there.
03:58So we're inside the new Sportage.
04:00Let's start off with the key.
04:01So you have lock up the top there, unlock, push and hold for start
04:06and then boot on the back there.
04:08There's nothing and then you have the new Kia logo on the other side.
04:12Keep in mind the diesel also comes with the self-parking feature
04:15that's activated on the key.
04:16The petrol doesn't.
04:17This is a proximity sensing key so just leave that in your pocket.
04:20Once you're inside you've got a push button start.
04:23Okay, so let's talk about the design.
04:24There is loads of piano black here and I don't know, I've done a long distance drive.
04:30I've touched a few of these buttons and already it's pretty dirty.
04:33I genuinely don't know why they keep using this stuff
04:35when it is impossible to keep clean constantly
04:38especially if you have kids and stuff around this.
04:40So that's the only real negative I have.
04:42I think the rest of this looks fantastic.
04:44So the top spec here just really pops when it comes to the design.
04:47You've got this huge sweeping set of screens up the top there.
04:52You've got this sort of open pore wood grain along the dashboard
04:55and that follows along the doors as well.
04:57Really is beautifully presented.
04:58Even this, love the way that you can press this to change between the different menus
05:02and that LCD in the background lights up.
05:05This looks so high-end and premium and it's kind of unexpected from a Kia.
05:10What about the materials?
05:11So up the top here it's nice.
05:13That's all nice and soft.
05:14You've got that faux stitching.
05:15But as you go further down it does get pretty scratchy
05:18and I did notice during my long distance drive
05:20that these panels along the side here, they're quite hard.
05:23So your knee just sort of rests up on those
05:25and it's a little bit uncomfortable on long distance drives.
05:28But your touch points, that is firm but soft
05:31and then on the door it's fairly soft.
05:33How soft is it?
05:33Well we've got our durometer.
05:35We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
05:37If you want to see how this car compares to others we've tested before,
05:39have a look at the link in the description.
05:41What about build quality?
05:42So that's not too bad.
05:44It's a little bit wonky but the rest of this feels really nice and solid.
05:48And finally our door test.
05:51Yeah that sounds really nice and solid.
05:54Let's talk about infotainment.
05:55So you've got two 12.3-inch displays.
05:58They beautifully take up that space ahead of the driver.
06:00This is what the home screen looks like
06:02and then you can select driver profiles top left
06:04and then you can swipe across to get to the rest of the menu.
06:07It's nice and fast.
06:08I love how quick that is.
06:10You've also got shortcuts down the bottom here.
06:11You can switch between those using that little button.
06:14Now in terms of your inbuilt features you have satellite navigation built in.
06:18You also have the ability to stream AM, FM and DAB plus digital radio
06:25and the good news about that is it has a very impressive sound system.
06:29It's an 8-speaker Harman Kardon branded sound system
06:32and while I did just listen to podcasts on my long drive down to Melbourne
06:36I did play some music and it was actually a pretty decent setup.
06:39You also have smartphone mirroring both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
06:42Unfortunately both of those are wired.
06:44Let's have a look at Apple CarPlay first.
06:47Wow that is impressive.
06:48So these are both 720p in terms of resolution
06:52and that is very sharp so you can see there
06:54it's almost like a phone display in terms of the sharpness of it.
06:57It is really quick as well so yeah love that setup
07:01and this is what Android Auto looks like.
07:03So it's not a full screen integration.
07:05You can see that sidebar
07:06but when you do go back to the home screen
07:08you have full control over it like you normally do.
07:10Now let me know in the comments section below
07:12is there a way to make that full screen?
07:15Is there just a setting or something that I'm doing wrong?
07:17Very keen to find out if it is.
07:20We will get rid of that and go back to the key screen.
07:22Now in here as well you have quiet mode
07:23so that is where the speakers only run at the front of the car
07:26to keep it nice and quiet in the back there for the kids.
07:29You also have voice memo as well but no sounds of nature I've noticed
07:32which is a little bit disappointing.
07:33Of course it comes with a battery discharge warning
07:35because it's a Hyundai or Kia.
07:37Now the screen ahead of the driver is pretty straightforward.
07:39You've got speed on the left, tacho on the right.
07:41The center section can then be changed.
07:44You've got a bunch of different little menus there that you can select.
07:47Everything from the trip computer through to the safety settings
07:50and the compass headings.
07:52I do also like that when you do change drive modes
07:56it will change the dials and the way that they look.
07:58So yeah just something to keep you entertained while you're out on the road.
08:02Now moving on to safety technology.
08:04You've got autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
08:08You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant.
08:11There is radar cruise control and a self-steering function
08:14but on my longer drive I did find the self-steering stuff to not really work that well.
08:19On light bends on the freeway at like 100, 110 k's an hour
08:22it would keep crossing the lines and it's like well
08:25the point of that is to work in conjunction with the lane departure stuff to not do that.
08:28So I kind of had to switch that off on occasion to just stop it from doing that.
08:32You've got a blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror
08:35but you also have blind spot cameras that show up here.
08:37I'll go into a bit more detail on those when we go for a drive.
08:40You've got rear cross traffic alert and front and rear parking sensors
08:44and I'll show you what the reverse view camera looks like.
08:46It's actually a 360 camera.
08:48Look at that.
08:49So very high resolution screen there.
08:51You've got the top down view as well.
08:53You can also then manually change the views.
08:55So that's like a trailer view.
08:57You've got a wide angle at the rear and then also a look at the rear tyres.
09:01But have a look at this.
09:02You've also got a 3D view which I reckon is pretty cool as well.
09:06While you're driving this actually moves too which I think is pretty interesting.
09:09So very impressive camera setup there and it makes parking a breeze.
09:12Let's talk about practicality and we'll start with your connectivity.
09:15So down here you've got a 12 volt outlet.
09:17You have a USB-A port.
09:19You have a USB-C port.
09:20A wireless phone charger.
09:22Where are you going to keep your phone though?
09:23So the phone can live down on the wireless phone charger
09:25or it can live here in the cup holders.
09:27There really are litany of spots and there's a little cover as well.
09:30Piano black one that covers up that front section.
09:33Now in terms of your coffee cup, I have a slightly larger one today
09:36but it gives you an idea of where it goes.
09:38You can also deploy these guys.
09:40That gives you a little guide there to hold the coffee cup in
09:42and there are teeth on the side.
09:44Standard bottle.
09:46Fits into there without any problems.
09:48Let's try the door.
09:49Fits into the door.
09:50We'll try our big bottle.
09:52No, doesn't fit in the door but I reckon if we get rid of this.
09:56There you go, fits there.
09:57So there is a spot for your big bottle which is good news.
10:00There is a centre console here which is quite reasonably sized
10:03and a glove box as well which is pretty decently sized too.
10:06That is a very small manual.
10:08And comfort.
10:08So we'll switch our menu over here to comfort.
10:12You've got dual zone automatic climate control.
10:15You've got heated and cooled seats for the front row.
10:18You've also got electric seat adjustment with memory for the driver
10:22so you can go forwards, backwards.
10:23The backrest can go forwards, backwards
10:25and then you have lumbar support as well.
10:27It's electric adjustment for the passenger seat as well
10:30and then what about the actual comfort of the seat?
10:32Well I did spend about eight hours straight in the car
10:35and can say that these are very comfortable seats.
10:38Seat design itself is cool because you've got the Alcantara up the top there
10:41and then the perforations for the cooling to come through.
10:43The steering wheel itself has tilt and reach adjustment
10:48and then on our reach test it is actually a little hard to reach some of this stuff
10:52and I did notice that while I was driving I had to kind of lean forward to press this
10:56to switch between the menus that I needed to.
10:58So yeah, this stuff could just be a little bit closer to the driver I think.
11:02Now the second row, look at how much room I've got.
11:04So loads of knee room, toe room is excellent and headroom is really good.
11:09The reason there is so much room here is the Sportage has grown in every dimension.
11:13It's on a longer wheelbase, it's longer in general, it's just a bigger car.
11:18This is in fact longer than the Tucson
11:19and we get the long wheelbase version of the Tucson
11:22that makes it bigger than stuff like a RAV4 and a CX-5.
11:25So you have heaps of room here, it's no longer the small compromised car.
11:29So I really am quite impressed by that and that's with my seat quite far back.
11:33In terms of other creature comforts, you've got this awesome panoramic roof here on the GT-Line,
11:38you've got map pockets in the back of the seats with hooks on the back of each seat,
11:42air vents, a little bit of storage down the bottom here,
11:44two USB-C ports for charging your devices.
11:47Over here you've got a centre armrest with two cup holders,
11:50holds the bottle without any dramas
11:53and then this will live inside the door easily as well.
11:56You've also got two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats and then three top tether points.
12:01Now I did find this interesting, can anyone tell me what this is?
12:03It's gripped on the back, maybe it's to hold devices or something,
12:06but it's in the back of each headrest, so haven't seen that before.
12:09Really interesting setup.
12:11Okay, time to look at cargo space.
12:12So you get a power tailgate here in the GT-Line.
12:16Wait for that to open.
12:18So in its standard trim you have a little over 500 litres of cargo space
12:22available there.
12:23Beneath the cargo floor, something kind of unique to this segment,
12:26you don't see it all that often, it is a full-size alloy spare wheel.
12:30So this is normally a dual-tiered boot floor,
12:33but with the full-size spare wheel you can't actually go down another level.
12:37If you were to go for a space saver instead,
12:39you can actually get yourself a little bit more room by dropping that down another tier,
12:42so just keep that in mind.
12:43If you do need more space, you can opt for a space saver instead.
12:47Off to the side you have LED lights, a 12-volt outlet,
12:51and then if you want to increase the space, you just pull these handles.
12:53I'll show you that in just a second, but first our bags.
12:55So laptop bag in there.
12:57I forgot our suitcase, so we've only got this.
13:00It's around the size of a carry-on bag that you can take onto a plane,
13:03so that gives you an idea of how much room there is there.
13:06I'll drop that second row out of the way.
13:08So pull of this, away that goes, same story on that side,
13:12and that expands the space to around 1800 litres,
13:15so it is a pretty decent and versatile space.
13:18So we've hit the road in the Sportage.
13:20Now this one here is the 1.6-litre turbo petrol.
13:24This is available with a 2-litre diesel as well,
13:26but this one here, turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine,
13:29makes 132 kilowatts of power and 265 newton metres of torque,
13:34and that's all mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
13:37Now let's talk about the transmission first,
13:39because I said in the intro that I'd done like over a thousand kilometres in this car
13:43driving down from Sydney to Melbourne for us to shoot,
13:46and one of the things I noticed at the very start was the gearbox,
13:49and it's just not very good.
13:52So it's really sort of jerky,
13:54and it feels like one of those old-school dual-clutches
13:57before they got dual-clutches right,
13:59and I'm just a bit disappointed that this gearbox is mated to this engine,
14:02because the engine itself is actually not too bad,
14:04it's just let down by the gearbox, especially at low speeds.
14:07Even when you punch it, it just takes forever to do anything,
14:11and it's the whole point of a dual-clutch,
14:13and it's the whole point of a dual-clutch,
14:15outside of fuel economy, is speed,
14:17and this just doesn't have that pace that you would expect,
14:20which is a shame, because the eight-speed automatic
14:22that comes with the diesel is a torque converter,
14:24and the diesel itself has over 400 newton metres of torque,
14:27and it feels really nice and hardy behind the wheel.
14:30So, I don't know, let's just stick with torque converters.
14:34Now what about fuel economy?
14:357.2 litres per 100 kilometres is the official number from Kia.
14:39We're currently sitting on nine.
14:41I will say, though, during my highway drive,
14:43it was down to a little over five litres per 100 kilometres,
14:46which I thought was really good,
14:48and then we've been doing a whole lot of city driving,
14:49the car's been doing a bit of idling today as well,
14:52so that's gone up a little bit there,
14:53but still a really respectable figure,
14:55especially if you are doing long-distance highway drives.
14:57It's worth noting as well, this is kind of a full-time all-wheel drive system,
15:01so while it's predominantly sending torque to the front axle,
15:04it is sending it to the rear most of the time,
15:07and then in certain conditions,
15:08it can actually send more to the rear as well to help with traction.
15:12What about the drive modes?
15:13So, using this little selector here,
15:14you can go between normal, sport, smart and eco.
15:17There's also a lock mode for the four-wheel drive system,
15:20so pushing this allows you to send 50% of torque to the front and rear axles.
15:24You're not really going to be doing any off-road driving,
15:25but it is handy if you're going to the snow or something like that.
15:28The diesel model also comes with off-road driving modes too
15:31that tailor the stability control to the type of condition that you're in.
15:35So, let's pop this into sport mode.
15:36The display changes a little bit.
15:38We'll see what it's like through the corner here.
15:41Turn in.
15:43That's not too bad.
15:44It sits kind of flat through there.
15:46The gearbox eventually sort of winds up and gives you what you want.
15:50It's actually much better in sport mode.
15:52At low speed, it's far more responsive.
15:54It still is a little bit sort of stunted,
15:56but it actually gets up and moves a whole lot quicker
15:58when you do dial it into sport mode.
16:00Kia doesn't have an official 0-100 time for the Sportage,
16:03but we've put it up against our stopwatch and this is how it went.
16:07I mentioned as well in the intro that this has an Australian ride and handling tune,
16:21and I've got to say, given this shares so much with the Tucson,
16:24they really are almost chalk and cheese in terms of the ride.
16:27I thought the ride in the Tucson was actually pretty good.
16:29This just takes it up another level.
16:31It is so well-rounded and they've managed to really make it shine on country roads.
16:36On the highway, it's kind of much of a muchness because the highway is fairly smooth,
16:38but out here in the country, it really just deals well with these continuous undulations.
16:44It just has that compliance that you kind of don't expect from a family SUV like this.
16:50So yeah, big tick on Australian ride and handling tune,
16:52and I think that it really gives you more of a reason to buy this over a Tucson.
16:57And then in terms of the noise while you're driving,
16:59it is a really quiet place to be seated.
17:01I noticed as well that on the long distance drive,
17:03when we're doing 110 k's an hour, even on course chip roads,
17:06it's nice and quiet.
17:07I was able to listen to my crime podcasts and just enjoy the drive.
17:12Being a midsize SUV, visibility is good.
17:14I can see down the front of the car there.
17:16Visibility out the rear is great.
17:18The envelope's big enough.
17:19The wing mirrors are big enough.
17:20You have blind spot monitors built into them,
17:22but when you put the indicator on, you actually get the camera come up there as well.
17:26This is one of my favourite features in cars today.
17:29I think it is just a really good backup to that blind spot monitor.
17:32I know you should be keeping an eye on the road, but this kind of has all bases covered.
17:35Righto, turning circle 12.2 metres, which is pretty reasonable
17:40and about expected for an SUV this size.
17:44It means you should be able to get away with U-turns most of the time,
17:47and the steering is nice and light as well in just the standard drive mode.
17:51Okay, so the Kia Sportage.
17:54I think this is an excellent family SUV.
17:57It is so big now, and certainly compared to the last Sportage,
18:00that you're getting heaps of room inside,
18:02and it really just fits the bill in terms of a growing family.
18:06You're able to fit everything in without really having to compromise in terms of size.
18:09It is let down by this engine, though.
18:11The 1.6 and more so the gearbox.
18:13The gearbox just really isn't very good,
18:15and I think that if you are buying this, just invest in the diesel.
18:19The diesel is fantastic.
18:20It ticks all the boxes in terms of torque and efficiency,
18:23and it's made it to a gearbox that's just a standard torque converter
18:26instead of the dual-clutch setup.
18:27So yeah, it is the Achilles heel of this car, which is otherwise really good.
18:31So let me know in the comments section below, have you ordered one of these,
18:35and has it been delivered?
18:36Are you in the 1.6 and are you happy with it, or have you gone for the diesel instead?
18:41Let me know in the comments section below.
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18:52but until next time, drive safely.