Why we ran it: To see if the Kia Sportage still holds its own in the throng of sensible crossovers
Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Specs
Life with a Kia Sportage: Month 3
Was this family-focused hybrid SUV able to take some of the stress out of being a busy journalist with a young child? - 1 March 2023
Hardly an encounter during which I said I was driving a Kia Sportage ever went by without the response: “Oh, they’re meant to be good, aren’t they?” or “Oh, we’re looking at one of those.”
Such is the power of Kia these days: its overall sales rose 10% last year and it now accounts for a not inconsiderable 6% of the market. The Sportage could be called its mainstream flagship. No car is more relevant than a decent family-sized SUV these days, right?
The Sportage isn’t an exciting car, but that’s not its modus operandi. Where it excels is in its practical everyday abilities, proving time and time again how easy it is to take on a local shop run or to munch miles on longer trips while full to the brim with passengers and their luggage.
It’s an irrelevant comparison, I know, but I was lucky enough to have some time in a Bentley Flying Spur S Hybrid recently, and while it’s every bit as brilliant as our 4.5- star road test suggests, sometimes (perhaps foolishly) I found myself opting for the Sportage. It was just easier to do the farm shop run or parallel park on the road. But yes, of course I would still love to have a Flying Spur S Hybrid…
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It's all well and good saying the 1.5kwh battery saves 20% on your fuel costs for the city driver but don't forget to handover £1,300'ish quid so as to save that £250 quid a year. Although handy for auto only drivers