Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDI EX Diesel

Kia scored a major sales success with the Sorrento. It was a muscular looking 4WD powered by a Mercedes engine. U.S.P. I believe was its price tag. As you generally expect from the Korean manufacturers this is a given, but when the overall package was as good as the Sorrento you really have a winner.

The Sportage fits into the 4WD sector below the Sorrento and is pitched at the Freelander-Rav4-CRV market. You can have either 2-wheel drive versions or full-blown 4WD. Don't really understand buying a 4WD vehicle that only has 2WD - why? It has that go-anywhere look you'd expect from a 4WD and although I didn't take it off-road I did have a spin on a sand dune near Cooley in Co. Louth. It can certainly climb and felt at home on a surface that wasn't of main road quality. Not that I'd be tempted to compete in it in the Paris to Dakar rally either.

The inside is very Korean in style and taste. There's the obligatory crap radio where you need baby fingers to operate but the eyes of an eagle to see it. Why they can't find a more suitable radio from who knows where is beyond me. (Message to Kia. Give me the job of sourcing the radios and I promise this issue for me and a lot of others will go away, forever.) There was black leather in my test model and this is a must if you are intending major off-road sorties, cleaning would be a cinch. The rear seats fold flat for an impressive payload area. Ok, it's a bit harder to lift things up over the high sill at the back buy once there you'll fit most things in. It also has a real sense of chunkiness and quality so absent from these fold flat systems in other manufacturers cars. You get the sense that it wont be breaking catches or getting overly scuffed. It feels like the rear seats of my Volvo which is a great compliment indeed and I suspect they took most of their design cues from there too.

Kia has fitted a split tailgate at the back. You have the option of lifting up the rear window or dropping down the tailgate. Idiot proof signs at the back make your choice easier but shoppers who would use the lifting window still might find it a bit high to get the shopping in.

Plusses for me were the huge side mirrors. None of your wind tunnel designed ones with in-built indicators or lights to light up the ground at the door. Just a commoner garden mirror that gives excellent rear view vision from your high up position. Also, up high is nice and for whatever reason gives you an added sense of safety. Be that from the fact you might be able to see more or that you're above everyone else might mean they'll go under you in a smash. Either way you feel safer and drive that way too. You don't take as many risks as you would in a low speed laden car.

The turbodiesel engine is so-so. There seemed to be a slight delay before it registers accelerator depression but after a short while you don't notice it much. It's not the quietest engine about but not the nosiest either. It'll get you to 100km/hr in 13.8 seconds and if your patient enough it'll go all the way to a maximum of 167km/hr. Not bad for a 2.2 tonne vehicle.

With the Sorrento and Sportage Kia have 2 impressive vehicles that the car buying public want more and more of. Kia is well tuned to the market and is getting the rewards as a result.

If you have the money, and would not have considered a 4WD vehicle before, take a test drive in the RR Sport and see if you can resist its numerous, appealing charms.

www.kiamotors.ie

RRP = €34,295

St. Patrick's CU Monthly Loan Repayment per €1,000. Rate = 6.5%
Tel: 01 632 5100 or 01 632 5125
3 Years = €30.64
4 Years = €23.71
5 Years = €19.56

Manufacturers Fuel Consumption Figs.:
Urban 9.2l/100km
Extra Urban 5.91/100km

New Car Assessment Programme Rating: To be Tested
www.euroncap.com
carfeedback@esb.ie

Full reviews can be read at www.esbelectricmail.com/life/motoring.

Back to Motoring Homepage »