By Ian Strachan.
What on earth has happened to those nice people at Kia? The company that brought us the competent but fairly conservative Ceed, Picanto and Sportage has come up with a head-turning, growling sports coupe – and it’s rear wheel drive.
Whatever Kia’s designers are on, I want some. This isn’t a car you’d expect from a Korean manufacturer. It’s an elegant, high performance grand tourer with great looks and stunning performance. No surprise that it was designed in Europe at Kia’s Frankfurt design studio.
The recently updated Stinger which I tested has a thumping 3.3 litre V6 twin-turbo engine which will propel this beast from 0-60 in just 4.7 seconds – the fastest accelerating Kia ever.
The Stinger is beautifully-styled and guaranteed to get admiring looks. It has a dramatically sloping rear screen and narrow windows, cat-like headlight clusters, a long bonnet and meaty 19 inch alloys which add to its already striking appearance.
Despite the sloping rear screen there’s still plenty of room for five adults in this car, and plenty of headroom, with low-slung leather seats. Tall backseat passengers won’t end up with a cricked neck, and front seat driver and passenger have powered seats with memory.
Standard equipment includes satnav via a 10.5-inch touchscreen, DAB radio with full connectivity, Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth, heated and ventilated front seats and heated rear seats, integrated seat, mirror and head-up display memory, electrically operated heated door mirrors, front and rear parking system with rear camera, blind-spot monitor with camera, automatic headlights with full-beam assist, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, and multi-function heated leather steering wheel . You also get keyless ignition, cruise control with speed limiter, hill start assist and powered tailgate .
So you’re getting lots of car for your money. And the car is further enhanced by high quality trim materials used throughout the interior, giving it a little more class and style.
The Stinger which I drove has a powerful but smooth 361 horsepower 3.3 litre V6 engine which is light, lively and well balanced with great power delivery. It has great mid range pulling power, always feeling as if it has more to give. Fuel consumption in mixed driving will struggle to reach 30 miles to the gallon, but this is a big, powerful car. You can’t have everything..
Handling is excellent. The car felt in total control throughout, including in wet weather. Road and wind noise are kept to a minimum and despite the low profile tyres the ride is smooth and unfussed.
My test car came with an effortless eight-speed automatic gearbox. It’s also bristling with safety features including electronic stability control, forward collision avoidance assist and intelligent speed limit assist.
The automatic Kia Stinger 3.3 T-GDi V6 GT S which I tested will cost you £43,330 on the road. Being a Kia you also get an industry-leading seven year 100,000 mile warranty, potentially meaning that even the third owner of this car could still benefit from a manufacturer’s warranty.
This is a stylish, high-performing, roomy grand tourer that sets very high standards. It’s an attractive, well specified car which doesn’t make compromises. I was sorry to see it go.
