Kia Stinger review

The driving position is largely spot-on. Adjustments are numerous, thanks to the standard electrically operated driver’s seat – including lumbar adjustment – and steering wheel, and you feel cocooned sportily by the high window line and centre console. That’s better than the incongruously high driving position in the Audi S5.

Your view out past the slim windscreen pillars and over the long bonnet makes it feel sporty, too, without making life difficult in tight situations. In fact, with standard front and rear parking sensors, plus a rear-view camera (or a 360deg camera for GT-Line S and GT S), parking the Stinger is a cinch.

Watch the next video

While not a match for the beautifully made Audi A5 Sportback inside, material quality on the Stinger’s upper interior surfaces still looks and feels pretty good; faux-leather covers the dashboard and there are brushed aluminium highlights on the top of the doors and centre console. You’ll find increasing levels of cheaper-looking, scratchy plastics as you move lower down, though.

The ritzy digital instruments used to sell the latest German executive cars are absent in the Stinger; instead, it has conventional analogue dials that are nonetheless attractive and clear. There's a 7.0in TFT screen in between them for showing driving data, along with a standard head-up display that projects important information onto the windscreen.

Then there’s the floating 8.0in infotainment screen in the middle of the dashboard. It’s a touchscreen, which is more distracting to use on the move than the rotary dial interfaces used by BMW and Audi, but the graphics are okay and the screen switches promptly between menus. It’s also well equipped, with sat-nav, a DAB radio, smartphone mirroring and various online services all included.

A nine-speaker stereo with a subwoofer is standard on the GT-Line model, while music lovers will appreciate the Harman Kardon premium sound system that comes on GT-Line S and GT S trims. That stereo has an external amplifier and a centre speaker for surround-sound listening, and both sound clarity and volume are impressive.