KIA SPORTAGE CROSSOVER REVIEW

My car

Owned a Kia Sportage kx-3 1.7 diesel since Jan 2011, wanted to give it a good run in before leaving any review. We now at 10k miles on the clock, and so far so good. Few little niggles with electrics from time to time nothing major - faulty heated seat. Other than that, its been a star. we opted for the KX-3 with Sat-Nav, as we wanted all the toys and they've came in very useful. Particularly like the media center (radio), usb dongle can be plugged in upto 16gb, I know easily pleased. The drive itself is very good, I always write a review based on what I paid for the item. Its no BMW x5 3.0d xdrive setup, but its a joy to drive and guilt free with the strong mpg. We live urban, very urban and we return 43mpg easily and that's with a lead foot. I tow a jet ski all over the county with it, jet ski weighs in around 400kg, and it pulls a dream. I personally bought this car for my growing family. We have the car full of people all the time, it manages very well with weight (roof box, 4 adults, boot full and jet ski). The stop start technology in the car, I'm still on the fence about. It's identical to most others, and behaves the same. Cuts the engine out at traffics lights etc, for a brief period and then re-starts itself but benefits me very little. Save the planet it wont. Like I say owned this car for a year, and its normally about the time I start to look around for something new, Am I going to change it. I think not, love it, friends, family, passers by - all love it.

My car

I bought this car after looking at several very different options from many different manufactures. As I receive the cash allowance in place of a company car I required something that offered good value and high standard specification… optional extras add large sums to the lease payments.

The Sportage offered much more than most as standard, it is cheap to buy, tax & fuel. It is better looking than the other crossover cars & it is less expensive than most. It is much better to drive than I expected, after the Lexus and the BMW I previously owned, and after 5 months I still like driving it. I was concerned that the 1.7d would not be enough, it is, it's no sports car but I can get 48mpg around town!

It offers much more space than the Lexus IS that it replaced, the quality of the plastics is not as good as BMW or Lexus but it is at least as good as VW group/Ford/GM/Renault/etc. and less expensive than all of them. If you try to spec up the competition to anything close to the Kia (stop/start, hill decent, voice control, Bluetooth, USB, iPod connection (cable included), 17'' alloy wheels(x5!), aircon, half leather, glass roof with tilt/slide sunroof, front fog lights etc.) you will find that it adds a great deal to the overall cost.

To sum up I would say that if you want a good looking car with a top specification, good to drive, cheap to run, space for four adults & room for the dog or luggage, then you should try one of these.

My car

So far so good, previously I would never have thought about buying a Kia, but the new Sportage has to be one of the best looking cars ever (of its type). We've had it a week now and I think it's lovely to drive, the kit and gadgets are great - the Bluetooth voice reg. a little tricky, but I think it's a better drive than some of the test drive blogs indicate. Surprised at how much bigger it feels though, moved from a Grand Scenic and it feels, even though it isn't much bigger. Rear view reversing camera on the mirror is a very handy extra. First experiences of Kia are fantastic, sales process was very good, just hope the servicing and warranty (if we ever need it) live up to the current experience, but so far the cars cool, just hope the reliability for a car with more kit but priced significantly lower than rivals is as good, otherwise this very complimentary comment will change. If you are waiting for one of the first Ed's then you won't be disappointed, you'll get some interesting looks as we've not seen another one on the road yet, and the techno orange colour certainly attracts attention.