Quality is king with the Kia Sportage

ROAD TEST

When it comes to designing a spacious yet razor sharp car of just about any size, few do it much better than Korean brand Kia.

With ‘the man in black’ Peter Schreyer at the helm the company has become synonymous with clean lines, low slung style and its signature tiger nose grille.

For an outfit that now has offerings in most areas of the new car arena – from city slicker the Picanto to seven-seat SUV the Sorento – its best seller in the UK, claiming around a quarter of sales, is the Sportage.

A new fourth generation variant is due next year but the design studio boys will do well to carve out a crossover model that catches the eye more effectively than the current car.

While the range is based on ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, ‘3 Sat Nav’ and ‘4’ trim grades, with all-wheel-drive versions given the KX moniker, opt for those towards the top of the chart and you get LED lighting and a shark-fin antenna mounted on the rear of the roof.

Inside, what Kia calls ‘soft nano’ paint enhances the dashboard of every model and there’s also centre console illumination and soft-touch upper door trims.

Little things, but examples of the Korean brand’s attention to quality and detail – like the door-mounted audio tweeters repositioned to improve sound quality.

The Sportage is also a car that’s easy to live with and gives off plenty of feelgood factor – light and airy with its double glass sunroof yet tough but comfortable with its leather upholstery.

There’s decent space for five, though the centre rear position is a bit perched, and you get a large boot with luggage net hooks.

As well as the 1.7-litre diesel and the 134bhp 2.0-litre unit, Kia also offers a 1.6-litre direct-injection petrol engine and a high-performance 2.0-litre diesel delivering 181bhp which is reserved for the flagship KX-4 variant.

The 1.6-litre petrol and 1.7-litre diesel models drive through the front wheels, while the 2.0-litre versions are exclusively all-wheel drive and are available with a six-speed automatic transmission as an alternative to the standard six-speed manual.

Intelligent Stop and Go, the brand’s fuel-saving engine stop/start system, is standard on 1.7-litre models and also fitted to the 1.6-litre Sportage ‘2’.

It shuts down the engine when the car is stationary in traffic and restarts it instantly as soon as the driver is ready to move off again.

The tested 2.0-litre diesel proved an engaging car to drive with reasonable acceleration and a smooth cruising speed.

Better than that though is the feeling that you’re aboard a premium model.

While this particular variant’s official average fuel figure is 39.2 miles per gallon my own largely urban return was 33.8mpg, which in the circumstances was pretty reasonable.