Find out more about the new Kia Sportage and it’s hybrid car options in our short video review.
Kia sportage asks more searching questions of its family suv rivals in this more dynamic looking fifth generation form there’s a more upmarket look and feel more electrified engine technology more of everything really well except full electric power and real off-road ability anyway perhaps a touch ironically given the model name this sportage isn’t particularly
Sporty to drive there’s something that hasn’t changed but if you’re a typical prospective customer you won’t be too bothered about that you sit quite high the ride’s a fraction on the firm side and body rolls quite well controlled though not to the point where you might be encouraged to test out the car’s handling limits the budget in this case has instead primarily
Been devoted to bringing sportage customers a really impressive array of engine choice that will determine just how serious you are about electrification in this kind of crossover kia can’t appeal here to folk completely evangelical about evs because no full battery version of this car is being offered but just about every other conceivable form of powertrain
Is available petrol diesel mild hybrid full hybrid and plug-in hybrid take your pick kia has chosen to use its 1.6 liter tgdi petrol turbo direct injection smartstream unit as the base starting point for most of the engine permutations at the bottom of the range this engine comes in 148 bhp unelectrified form with manual transmission or with the company’s 48
Volt mild hybrid tech if you decide you want the seven speed dct auto gearbox with plusher trim that 48 volt auto petrol model can also be had with all-wheel drive which is the sportage variant we’ve chosen to try here a convection which delivers up to 40.4 mpg on the combined cycle and up to 158 grams per kilometer of co2 further up the range that 1.6 litre
T gdi petrol engine is partnered with a somewhat greater degree of electrification the hev full hybrid sportage offered with two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive makes it with a 60 bhp electric motor powered by a 1.49 kilowatt-hour battery which provides sufficient extra urge to up the combined power output to 220c horsepower the alternative phev plug-in hybrid
All-wheel drive only model makes the engine with a somewhat gutsier 90 bhp electric motor powered by a considerably bigger 13.8 kilowatt hour battery pack which is supposed to be able to provide for up to 43 miles of all electric driving still not satisfied well your final option is a diesel yes kia still offers one on this car it’s the company’s familiar 1.6
Liter crdi unit offered in 113 bhp with manual transmission or with 134 bhp 48 volt mild hybrid tech and the option of all-wheel drive if you go for the dct automatic the front of cabin experience this time round shares nothing at all with this model’s predecessor whether you’ll like it will depend on how much you appreciate more futuristic design the fascia
Dominated at the top of the range by these two high-definition 12.3 inch displays bonded together behind a curved screen and bracketed at either end by these unusual fin-shaped vertical vents there’s also lots else that’s new this little central panel whose functions alternate between shortcut infotainment buttons and climate controls at the flip of a switch
Cup holder states that appear at the press of another button and this tiny shift by wire auto transmission dial it’s all the kind of bold design ingenuity you’d want to have needed a premium brand for now you can get it on a kia the practical stuff works too comfortable seats and plenty of storage space plus decent build quality too time to take a look in the
Rear certainly the back seat now has a slightly more spacious area feel that’s backed up by a measurement suggesting that passengers back here will now enjoy up to 996 millimeters of legroom with lots of space to slide your feet beneath the now slimmer front seats there’s near class leading headroom too with both attributes unaffected should you opt for either
A full hybrid or a plug-in drivetrain though headspace will be slightly affected if you choose a top version like this one fitted with a panoramic glass roof we’ll finish with a look in the boot which unless you’ve splashed out on a top trim level like this one you’ll have to raise yourself the space you’ll get once the tailgate’s raised will depend a lot on the
Powertrain you’ve chosen for your sportage the korean brand says that there’s about 10 more room in the back here than there was with the previous generation model but it’s difficult to accurately verify that because the capacity figures vary quite a lot due to the fact that kia hasn’t been able to find a way of packaging powertrain electricals without affecting
Luggage base the best you’ll do is 591 liters which is what you’ll get with a conventional unelectrified 1.6 t gdi petrol model but that figure falls to 562 liters if you choose a mild hybrid 48 volt petrol model like this one the unelectrified diesel model offers a 571 liter boot a capacity figure that falls to 526 liters if you choose the more powerful diesel
Variant with 48 volt mild hybrid tech you might expect to get a little less cargo capacity in the hev and p8 ev versions of this car actually with the hev4 hybrid you do a bit better and with most of the ordinary combustion sportage versions there’s 587 liters of space with either two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive variants that falls to 540 litres if you choose
The phev plug-in model handy levers positioned just inside the tailgate opening allow you to retract the rear bench completely which folds almost flat and releases up to 1780 litres of space in the unelectrified 1.6 t gdi model or 1751 in this 48 volt petrol variant it’s 1760 with the base on electrified crdi diesel a figure that falls to 1 715 liters if you
Have that engine with the 48 volt tech the hev full hybrid petrol model offers up to 1 716 litres with all the seats folded and with the phev plug-in version the figure is up to 1715 liters got all that good
Transcribed from video
Kia Sportage Review 2022 | Hybrid Car Test Drive | Forces Cars Direct By ForcesCarsDirect
