Kia Sportage (2016 -) Review

The Kia Sportage is rapidly becoming a household name. The Korean firm sold a massive 90,000 units of the popular third-generation car since its introduction in 2010, but it’s fair to say it was beginning to feel its age.

So here’s the fourth version of the family-focused SUV, ushering in vast improvements in a number of areas to keep it competitive with accomplished rivals in the shape of the Nissan Qashqai, Renault Kadjar, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5.

Vastly improved driving experience

We were particularly impressed with the blend of ride comfort and handling (major chassis revisions and a new steering system help here) while the engine choices offer improved efficiency for those all-important lower running costs.

There are four motors on offer – a pair each of petrols and diesels – along with six-speed manual, six-speed automatic and seven-speed twin-clutch DCT automatic gearboxes.

Sportage is well equipped

It carries Kia’s ‘Tiger Nose’ styling language, which seems to suit this size of car very well. The equipment levels are a simple 1, 2, 3 and 4 format, with a special GT-Line trim slotting into the middle and a First Edition special model available for a limited time at launch.

As ever with Kia, there’s a huge amount of equipment built into most trims. If we’re being brutal we’d say that 1 specification is a little parsimonious, but moving up to 2 nets you a huge amount of useful kit including a touchscreen sat-nav, reversing camera, cruise control, parking sensors, DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity and automatic lights and wipers. It’s this specification, plus the low-emission 1.7 diesel, that makes the Sportage work well as a company car.

Right at the top of the range is a model built to celebrate the launch of the fourth generation. Dubbed First Edition, it gets almost everything Kia can throw at a car. Highlights include automatic parking, a powered tailgate, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel and wireless smartphone charging – but only if your device supports it.

Long Kia warranty, great build quality

Of course, every Kia also gets the firm’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Not only is this transferable to a second owner if you choose to sell the car, but if you buy a used one less than 18 months old from an official Kia dealer, the seven-year warranty period is reset.

But that isn’t an indication of unreliability – far from it – because Kia has built a fantastic reputation for build quality over recent years and the new Sportage feels better in this respect than any previous car from the company.

Thanks to the warranty and build quality, Kia has managed to secure impressive predicted residual values for this car. That translates directly into low PCP payments, and at launch Kia was advertising monthly payments starting at a barely believable £139 per month with a £3,000 deposit. That’s cheap for most cars, let alone something of this size and quality.

One of our only major issues with the new Sportage is the boot, which is large but less flexible than some rivals, so make sure it fits your requirements before taking the plunge.

Should I buy one?

There are plenty of reasons to buy – or indeed lease – a new Sportage. Low CO2 emissions mean it won’t cost the earth to tax, there’s a long warranty, you get well-equipped trims and to cap it all it drives well too.

Read on to find out more about this family crossover with Parkers full 2016 Kia Sportage review.