In partnership with Autotrader
New Kia Sportage vs used Volvo XC40 costs
Around £30,000 will buy you a shiny new Kia Sportage family SUV, but is that money better spent on something with a prestige badge, like a used Volvo XC40?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
Taking into account the Target Price discount available through our free New Car Buying service, the Sportage comes in at £30,129. Meanwhile, a three-year-old Volvo XC40 B4 should set you back around £30,000, chopping around £5000 off its original price; for that, you can expect it to be in excellent condition and have around 30,000 miles on the clock.
Alternatively, if you'd rather buy on PCP finance, the Sportage will set you back £370 per month as part of a 36-month contract with a £1500 deposit and a 8000-mile annual limit. That makes it much cheaper than a used XC40 on the same terms (£565 per month), although if you wish to keep the car at the end of the contract, the XC40's final balloon payment will be smaller: £13,741 versus £16,305.
According to our data, the Sportage is predicted to depreciate more than the XC40 over the next three years, too, with £15,525 of the Sportage's value lost, against £13,675 for the XC40.
On the other hand, the Sportage's group 16 insurance rating saw us quoted £522 for a year's cover, whereas the best price we could get on the XC40 was £719, due to its group 26 rating.
Although the XC40 has mild hybrid tech (unlike the version of the Sportage we're testing), this doesn't lead to superior fuel economy. During our testing, it averaged 32.6mpg – 2.5mpg less than the Sportage.
It's also worth bearing in mind that a new Sportage comes with the reassurance of a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty; the XC40's original warranty will have expired.
The latest Sportage was too new to feature in our most recent What Car? Reliability Survey, but the XC40 did, and could only place 32nd out of the 39 family SUVs included. As brands, Kia placed seventh (out of 32), while Volvo was down in 17th.
During safety testing conducted by the independent experts at Euro NCAP, the Sportage and XC40 both received the maximum five-star rating, although the Sportage was tested more recently when this was harder to achieve.
Alternatives
New rivals, used rivals
The Hyundai Tucson shares its underpinnings – as well as it engine range – with the Sportage, due to Hyundai and Kia being part of the same group. That said, the Sportage has the higher quality interior, then more comfortable ride and is actually a slightly cheaper to buy new.
An Audi Q5 of a similar vintage to our XC40 goes for similar money and is just as classy inside. It belongs to a class one size up from the XC40, though, so is a bigger car – something that can be a strength or a weakness, depending on your point of view.
Page 4 of 5
Best family SUVs 2024: our favourite SUVs for kids and cargo
Want practicality, class and an elevated driving position in a relatively compact and affordable package? These are the top 10 cars you should be looking at – and the ones that are best avoided
