Kia Stinger review

If you want to get a car fan salivating, offering them rear-wheel drive, a twin-turbo V6 and a 0-62mph time of less than 5.0sec is a pretty good start. The Kia Stinger – despite not having four rings, a blue-and-white roundel or a three-pointed star on its nose – does just that.

In fact, after a light refresh, that's the only spec the Stinger does offer, coming with a 3.3-litre 361bhp slap around the chops under the bonnet (there's no dreary diesel or tax-busting hybrid option here). That simplicity continues with a single choice of gearbox and one well-stocked trim level. In fact, your only choice is what colour to have it painted.

Even if you opt for eye-searing orange, it's a surprisingly sensible purchase. For a start you get an awful lot of car for your money and a long list of standard equipment, while five doors make it pretty practical to boot. That’s right, the Stinger is a hatchback – although we’re sure Kia would prefer you to call it a coupé of some sort.

That puts it up against quite a selection of rivals. On the one hand, you’ve got the spacious VW Arteon, which has its own high-performance R version, but there are also plenty of premium-badged rivals, too. They include the smaller Audi S5 Sportback, BMW M235i Gran Coupe and Mercedes-AMG CLA 35.

With so much choice out there, is this the sensible performance coupé to go for? Read on through this Kia Stinger review to find out exactly how much fun it is to drive, what it’s like to live with, exactly how practical it is and how much it'll cost to run.

If you do decide to buy a Stinger, or indeed a new vehicle of any make and model, don’t forget to check out the free What Car? New Car Buying pages, where we can help you make big savings on all manner of new cars and SUVs. There are some great new Kia deals there.