I had not planned to test drive the recently re-introduced Kia Sportage. I test drove and reviewed the new Hyundai Tucson last fall, and the Sportage seemed like the same vehicle, just with slightly different styling. (Hyundai owns Kia.)

Then a one-page preview in the May Automobile described the different suspension tuning on the Kia, proclaiming it the best of any Korean vehicle to date. Including the more softly sprung Tucson.

My major complaints with the Tucson were the appearance of its cloth upholstery and the less than sporting nature of its suspension. Perhaps the Kia was the solution? Only one way to find out. Had to drive one. The Sportage comes in two trim levels, LX and EX. I drove a dark silver EX with AWD and leather.

Styling

I drive by my nearest Kia dealer three times a week. So I’d seen the new Sportage a number of times already. My initial impression was that the Kia-specific cladding looked a bit odd, with the ends continuing horizontally into the front and rear lamps rather than curving down to follow the wheel opening. However, the more I looked at it the day of the test drive, the better it looked.

The Sportage does not have the Tucson’s somewhat X3-like rear side window. Instead, it has a painted C-pillar and a larger, CRV-like rear side window. When I first saw the Tucson I thought its treatment lent it a particularly sporty appearance. Yet I did not notice its absence on the Sportage until I compared the two.

A larger difference between the two is the cladding. Where the Tucson’s molded-in-color gray cladding lends it more of a conventional SUV look, the Sportage’s differently-styled body-color bits lend it a sportier, more European (specifically French or Italian) character. As with the Tucson the front overhang appears a bit excessive from some angles, but this is the case with just about any compact car-based SUV.

Inside, the Sportage has a different instrument panel design than the Tucson. With the Hyundai, the center stack flows seamlessly into a Lexus RX-like appendage upon which the shifter is located. With the Kia, the instrument panel and center console are visually separated by an uncovered storage compartment. The Tucson’s design, though less functional, appears sleeker and more upscale.

All other interior differences are to the Kia’s advantage. A cloth-trimmed LX was parked in the showroom, and the upholstery is far more attractive than the hideous stuff in the Tucson GLS I drove last fall. I’ve had some communication with Tucson owners on the Internet. When I brought up the upholstery, one responded, “When I’m sitting in the seat I can’t see it.”

In addition to the more attractive cloth, the Kia interior is available in beige and black rather than the Hyundai’s beige and gray. I drove one with black leather, and with the metal-look trim common to all Sportages it was sharp, with an upscale sporty ambiance. My Mazda Protegé5 similarly has a black leather interior, and I can attest to the color’s ability to disguise the hard plastic nature of many surfaces. As European manufacturers have long recognized, interiors simply have more visual punch in black than in gray.

This might be why I minded the heard plastic in the Hyundai, but not the Kia. However, I also notice that I especially disliked the hollow feel of the door pulls in the Tucson. The Kia has different door panels. Not only do they look better—especially with perforated black pleather—but they have different door pulls.

While I find the pattern of differences confusing—the Kia has more car-like cladding and door panels, but more SUV-like rear side windows and center console—for me the Kia is overall the more aesthetically pleasing vehicle.

Accommodations

As in the Tucson, the front seats are comfortable, provide good lateral support in turns, and manually adjust for both height and tilt. The view forward is very open, with unobtrusive A-pillars. The view to the rear is better in the Kia courtesy of the larger rear side windows.

The rear seat is fairly comfortable, with plenty of knee, leg, and head room but an overly flat shape. It helps that the seat cushion is positioned high off the floor, and thus provides good thigh support. (This makes me wonder, once again, why the rear seat in the new Grand Cherokee is low to the floor and cramped.) The rear seats manually recline in steps. They fold easily in one step; the seat cushion automatically shifts forward and downward as the seatback is folded to provide a totally flat surface.

Cargo volume is about average for a compact SUV. I especially like that the front passenger seat also folds flat, creating a flat surface the entire length of the passenger compartment. Excellent packaging all around. One curious difference with the Hyundai: while in the Tucson the entire rear cargo floor is hard plastic, in the Sportage only the seatbacks are hard plastic. The rear cargo floor is carpeted. The plastic should be easier to clean and make it easier to slide heavy items. But it won’t do as good a job holding said items in place.

On the Road

While the Tucson I drove was front-wheel-drive, the Sportage was 4WD and thus heavier. The salesperson was also a few stone heavier this time around. Still, the 173-horsepower 2.7-liter V6 provided adequate acceleration. If thrilling acceleration is you top priority in a compact SUV, then (and only then) a Saturn VUEs with the Honda six is probably the way to go. The Chevrolet Equinox and Ford Escape also feel quicker than the Sportage, though not by as large a margin. The Sportage's automatic has a manual shift feature, but the trucklet's character hardly encourages using it.

The all-wheel-drive Sportage has no low range. As with many car-based compact SUVs all power is routed to the front wheels until these slip, at which point some is automatically routed to the rear wheels. You can manually lock the center differential, forcing power to the rear wheels, but this is only intended for loose surfaces and automatically disengages at 20 MPH or so. While this system might prove helpful in the snow, it is not intended for heavy-duty off-roading despite the presence of skid plates and tow hooks.

The front-wheel-drive Sportage will provide plenty of traction for most people, with better performance and a lower price. The Tucson I drove was front-wheel-drive. It did not suffer from a significant amount of torque steer, removing one possible justification for AWD.

When I drove the Tucson I wished the handling had been sportier. Well, as Automobile noted the Sportage’s suspension is firmer. Handling is still not quite sporty and agile, but lean in turns is reduced and body control is very good, with no untoward rocking or bobbling over rough patches. Overall, the Sportage feels solid and composed in an almost European fashion.

Even with the firmer suspension, ride quality remains good, with no harshness over the potholes and bumps I managed to find. Noise levels are moderate, even at highway speeds.

Safety

Like the Tucson, the Sportage handles safely, with moderate understeer and none of the tippy feel possessed by some SUVs. But just in case you get in over your head, a very impressive list of safety features is standard on both SUVs, including traction control, stability control, and both seat-mounted and curtain-type side airbags. Few competitors offer all of these features even as options. Subaru, for example, only offers stability control on the priciest Outback. In ten years these features will probably be standard on everything, but it’s good to see Hyundai / Kia leading rather than following the industry.

Kia Sportage Price Comparisons and Pricing

For quick, up-to-date pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.

I’ve noted many times that the Sportage has a more upscale appearance than the Tucson. It also offers a few features unavailable on the Tucson, including fully automatic headlamps, a trip computer, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and a universal garage door opener. Most of these are part of the $1300 Luxury Package, which I highly recommend. (It also includes heated leather seats and a CD changer in this price. Definitely a better value than leather alone for $800.) Yet the Hyundai is more expensive.

Since the Sportage undercuts the already inexpensive Tucson by a sizable margin, it goes without saying that it’s far less expensive than other alternatives.

Last Words

Although I wanted sportier handling, I was still impressed with the Tucson and gave it five stars. The Sportage looks and handles better, and costs less. Not hard to figure this one out. The Sportage’s only shortcomings relative to the (much) more expensive competition are slower acceleration (especially compared to the V6 Saturn VUE) and marginally lower grade interior materials than in the Toyota and Honda. For me, its advantages easily compensate for these disadvantages. Highly recommended.

A Note on Kia Sportage V6 Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.

Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy a Sportage rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Kia Sportage reliability comparisons.

Before I can report results, I need data on all cars--not just the Sportage--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
BMW X3 review
Chevrolet Equinox review
Ford Escape review
Honda CR-V review
Hyundai Tucson review
Kia Sorento review
Mitsubishi Outlander review
Saturn VUE review
Subaru Forester review



Amount Paid (US$): 21000
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: LX AWD with Lux Pkg