Sportage crossover ticks all the boxes

By Gerry Murphy

By some strange peculiarity in the planning, Ireland is the first country in Europe to take delivery of the new Kia Sportage. And, with the roaring start that the new Hyundai Tucson has had already in 2016, it is no surprise that bosses at Kia Ireland are full of optimism for their new SUV/Crossover.

At the launch this week in Dublin – the cars are already at the dealers – we were introduced to a package that is now slightly bigger and looks better than the hugely successful outgoing car. It has a new-look interior too that adds more quality, better materials and a whole new atmosphere.

This is now a massively competitive market and this new Kia is right up there with the best with a range of technologies to improve comfort, convenience, connectivity and safety. Of course you get the practical layout that most of these cars offer plus Kia are offering updated engines and transmissions that they claim enhance efficiency and performance, while ride, handling and refinement are all improved.

The 2016 version of the Sportage is now available with a choice of two engines – 1.7D for 2WD and 2.0D for AWD. The 1.7 engine has been refined for extra efficiency and with the addition of Idle Stop and Go technology the new Sportage moves from Band B2 to A4 with annual road tax now at €200 pa.

The car will come in three trim levels, LX with a startin price of €27,995, EX at €29,995 and GSe with a price tag of €34,495. The volume model will be the mid trim EX model which comes with a host of comfort and safety features including: 17” alloys, sat nav and reversing camera, driver’s power seat, half leather seats, speed limit info, high beam assist, and lane keep assist. The top of the range GSe adds 19” alloys, sunroof, full leather, heated seats, power passenger seat, smart key and xenon lights.

GT Line models develop the exterior look further, featuring new ‘ice-cube’ LED fog lamps, inspired by those found on the high-powered cee’d GT, and aluminium-effect skid plates.

The focus for the design team behind the new interior was to create a cabin which offered a wide, driver-oriented dashboard, with a simple, modern design. The interior blends metalwork with soft-touch materials and clearly defined horizontal lines, portraying a high level of mechanical precision.

The Sportage’s all-new cabin is where you can see the real changes boasting a high standard of material quality, with a far greater proportion of soft-touch materials and the use of cloth, leather and stitching creating a more luxurious ambience.

The result is an interior that majors on refinement and modern sophistication. Kia has also improved the soundproofing with a number of measures adopted to reduce significantly the intrusion of exterior noise.

As before, the Sportage continues to be offered with a choice of front- and all-wheel drive, with the revisions to suspension and steering, and the latest electronic driver aids, providing stable handling and high levels of grip in all conditions.