Review: Kia Sportage

Kia's new Sportage is a winner on just about every front — from safety, to eco-friendliness, to looks and capability writes Sharon Walters.

Most recently it was named CarBuyer's first Car of the Year as well as Best 4x4 in the website's inaugural awards.

Citing the Sportage as a "landmark car", carbuyer.co.uk — launched by the company behind Auto Express, Dennis Publishing — said the Sportage wins "not just because it blends the best in on and off-road performance, and is loaded with kit.

It also shows that Kia's engineers and designers are capable of building a world beating car.

"With its seven-year warranty, good looks and capable diesel engine range, it's a vehicle you can choose with your head, and your heart."

And you can't say better than that!

It has also scooped Total Off Road magazine's 2011 Junior SUV of the Year, beating off competition from 18 mainstream and premium models, and Kia also won overall 4x4 Manufacturer of the Year and took SUV with its Sorento.

Alan Kidd, editor, Total Off Road magazine said: "Kia's won a string of value-for-money awards from us in the past, but the new Sportage and Sorento are about much more than just that.

"If money were no object, they'd still be really strong contenders — even the Sorento, in a category where it's up against some absurdly expensive rivals.

"Fact is, it's way more practical inside than many SUVs costing twice as much. And in the style-conscious junior SUV market, the Sportage's looks blow most of its premium opposition out of the water."

On the design front the Sportage crossover, along with the Optima saloon, won in the 2011 iF product design awards. The awards were made not just on design but also workmanship, level of innovativeness, eco-friendliness, ergonomics and safety.

And on safety Sportage, with Venga, was awarded the top five-star safety rating by leading independent European safety organisation, Euro NCAP, placing them at the top of their respective classes.

All that leads to very high expectations and in some cases expectations are not always fulfilled.

Not so with Sportage.

After a week's driving it is easy to see why.

Sportage is available with 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol engines and 1.7 and 2.0-litre diesel units.

Two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive alternatives allow customers to select the best alternative for their particular needs and prices range from £17,015 to £26,740.

All Sportages come with Kia's comprehensive and completely transferable seven-year warranty.

The 16-model range is based on Kia's familiar 1, 2 and 3 trim designations, with all-wheel-drive versions given the KX prefix.

There is also a special range-topping "Sat-Nav" grade of new Sportage 3 and KX-3, featuring a fully integrated 7in touch screen satellite navigation with built-in reversing camera and upgraded audio sound system.

All versions are extremely well specified, as buyers have come to expect from Kia, and are covered by Kia's pioneering seven-year warranty that can be transferred to subsequent owners as long as the 100,000-mile limit has not been reached. Yet even with such a high level of standard equipment and warranty, prices start from £16,645.

Even the entry-level version, comes with features more usually associated with more expensive vehicles, such as cruise control, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity and automatic rain-sensing wipers.

The car is very modern looking, no wonder it got the design award, and is up there with cars that can cost much more — often twice price.

The 2WD 114bhp 1.7 CRDi 3 Sat Nav Itested will reach a top speed of nearly 110mph and economy of about 52/53mpg, which is in no small part due to the intelligent "stop-start" system. This is a great car for most users, and even though only 2WD, is very sure footed and copes with pretty bad road conditions.

The 4WD variants go that bit further and although I haven't driven one yet, they do appear to do everything you would expect from a multi-purpose, all-traction vehicle.

With a lot of cars of this type you get a little too much noise — from road rumble to wind and especially on motorways — but this is very quiet in all driving modes.

I loved the 1.7 CRDi engine, quick to respond and loving all sorts of demands asked of it.

It rides well too, agreed by rear seat passengers on one journey, who remarked that they felt they were in a much more expensive vehicle when I told them the price. There is quick and positive steering and handling is excellent.

And speaking of passengers, there is plenty of comfort and space in front and rear for however tall or more amply proportioned they are, with useful storage compartments and supportive seating.

Up front, for the driver, visibility is good and again the seat is good and adjusts so many ways to give the perfect driving position in terms of safety and comfort.

Kia has yet another winner. And I can't wait to drive the 4x4 and see just what it can do.