Kia Sportage 2017 Review

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Exterior

Winner of the Red Dot Design Award, the Kia Sportage is a masterpiece created by world-renowned designer Peter Schreyer and features contours that lend it a pleasant persona. While there are distinct elements that prove the Sportage has borrowed bits and pieces from other vehicles in the brand’s line-up, the Korean crossover bears a friendly persona.

Sat on a set of 19-inch alloys that get wrapped in 245/45 width rubber, the Sportage dons a purposeful stance that is further enhanced with a modest use of chrome along the boot deck lid and fog lamp housings. Protruding wheel arches and a prominent diffuser aid in connoting the crossover’s off-road pretentions.

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Interior

Swathed in a soothing beige hue, the cabin’s color scheme perfectly complements that of the white exterior. The black grained plastics come together with an abundance of smooth and perforated leather to give the impression of a significantly pricier offering.

Cocooning the driver, the driver-oriented dashboard offers a more engaging experience behind the wheel, one that is heightened with a flat-bottomed steering wheel, a set of alloy pedals, and numerous drive modes to choose from. For those in the back, the 2017 Kia Sportage offers remarkable amounts of head-and-leg-room, improved with a set of reclining rear seats, and a whopping 503-liters of cargo space behind the second-row.

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Safety & Features

Being Korean, the Sportage follows the feature-heavy mantra of the Kia marque quite closely. Equipped with a plethora of value add-ons, including Bluetooth telephony, a JBL audio system, a panoramic roof, Blind Spot Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, parking sensors, a touchscreen infotainment system, ventilated seats and the like, the Sportage truly sits in a class of its own.

What isn’t worth writing home about, however, is the faulty Tire Pressure Monitoring System that constantly displayed an error message even though the tires were inflated and re-inflated to the correct PSI time and again. A small issue indeed, but one that speaks volumes about the quality since the vehicle had just over 2,000 kilometers on its odometer.

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Drive

Housing a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine under the hood, the Kia Sportage 2017 directs its 184 horsepower and 237 Nm of torque, through a 6-speed automatic transmission to an all-wheel-drive layout; figures that see it accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h in an impressive 8.8-seconds.

Fitted with an electronic differential lock, the Sportage offers buyers the option to tackle the roads less travelled with absolute aplomb. Although taking on the dunes of the UAE remains off the cards, majorly due its low ground clearance, the Sportage is more than comfortable with zooming down patches of gravel with total ease.

Hitting the right balance with the suspension set-up, the engineers have managed to deliver a drive that is extremely comfortable in the city while remaining stiff enough to curb body roll when driven enthusiastically. Adapting the transmission, ECU, and steering heft as per the drive mode selected, the Sportage offers three drive modes to choose from: Normal, Eco, and Sport.

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Verdict

A phenomenal all-rounder, the Kia Sportage is a vehicle that is worthy of all the praise it receives. Delivering on its value proposition, the Korean crossover is a great contender in the trendy and affordable crossover segment. For AED 107,000, the Sportage is damn near perfect.

Pros:

- Exceptional quality of materials used within the cabin

- Filled to the brim with technology

Cons:

- Faulty Tire Pressure Monitoring System speaks volumes about the quality of the vehicle

- Painstakingly slow gear shifts

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