The fifth generation of Kia's Sportage arrived in September 2022 to much fanfare. It is a complete redesign bringing the family SUV into a new sphere and price bracket. We spent a week with the new Korean and this is what we found.
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Korean Kandy
Kia’s Sportage has been a mainstay for the Korean brand since arriving in South Africa way back in the late 90’s. Since its arrival, the marque has gone from strength to strength amassing sales over the subsequent generations. Launched in Cape Town in September 2022, the new 5th generation of the mid-size SUV or family crossover has taken on a new visage, colour pallette, and sports new interior tech.
The general consensus amongst the media was that this new Sportage seems much more grown up and premium and a worthy contender in the premium crossover SUV segment. We spent a few days becoming acquainted with this new model to see if that was still the case weeks after launch.
Styling
The new Sportage is nothing short of stunning with its new design language that features more angles, sharper lines, and smoothed-over surfaces. Upfront, the defining feature is the new grille design and boomerang-shaped LED headlights that wrap around the corners. It’s not overly aggressive but it is a very attractive aesthetic. The privacy glass darkens up the windows giving the Sportage a menacing appearance, paired with the darkened window surrounds it is another appealing style choice.
At the rear, pointed LED taillights dominate the smooth hatch lid that ends in a black panel seemingly introduced to mask the sheer size of the hatch itself. The GT Line derivative we tested came 19″ diamond-cut wheels that fill out the arches very well.
We very like the new direction that Kia’s design team has taken, when taking in the entire design it comes across as mature with an aggressive streak We must also commend Kia on their Bold choice of body colours featuring bright, eye-catching colours such as Splash Lemon, Experience Green and as we had it here, Orange Fusion. If you ever wanted to stand out in a parking lot this is the way to do it today.
Space & Interior
If you found the outside intriguing, the interior of the new Sportage is going to come as no surprise. Opening a door you will be greeted by a premium leather-trimmed interior with gloss black finishings and brushed aluminium accents. The interior is very roomy with very decent rear legroom as well as shoulder and headroom allowing the Sportage to comfortably accommodate 5 adults
The seats are a leather and soft cloth combination and give excellent support and comfort due to being heated and or cooled depending on the day as the system is connected to the climate control and automatically activates with the selected interior temp. Small touches like the seat side-mounted controls and USB-C connector allow rear passengers to control the seats from the back and charge devices with ease.
Comfort & Convenience
Dominating the dashboard is a brand new 10.4″ touchscreen infotainment system that comes complete with Apple Cra Play and Android Auto that unfortunately needs to be tethered. You do get a wireless charging pad and climate/seat controls incorporated into the centre console. A great talking point is the fact that the climate controls and the audio controls are one in the same and by selecting the toggle switch you can move between two separate systems with one set of buttons.
Performance
There is only one engine option available for the new Sportage, a 1.6 turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine that delivers 132kW and 256Nm. A seven-speed DCT auto transmission and its requisite paddle shifters transfer power to the front wheels with a 0-100km/h of 8.8 seconds and a limited top speed of 201 Km/h.
The drive is perfectly fine until the vehicle gets hot sitting in traffic and then it begins the shudder while dragging on the brakes during low-speed bumper-to-bumper crawling, a small annoyance that we are sure can be fixed with some programming. We also did manage to catch the transmission a few times while testing out the Sport mode settings but once again, some altitude programming may be the perfect solution.
Fuel Economy
Kia claims that the new Sportage should return best-case fuel consumption figures of 6.5l/100km but as our combined cycle testing showed it varied greatly between high 7’s to our worst of 10.8. This is not terrible either as recent test vehicles have brought in 13’s with a 1.4l turbo, so this bears keeping mind.
Safety
Kia definitely has not skimped on safety in the new Sportage, the new model gets a raft of equipment as standard, starting with 6 airbags, ISOFix, and a solidly built body shell. The gubbins of the electrical system also contains ABS, EBD, TSC, hill start assist, an eletcric hand brake, and land keeping assist.
Driver assistance comes in the form of front and rear PDC’s, a rear camera, adaptive cruise control, collision alert, rear cross-traffic alert, and auto headlights.
Price
While many buyers will balk at the price of the new Sportage it bears remembering that this is a completely new vehicle that is now packed with tech and has indeed stepped into a new category of vehicle.
| Model | Price (incl. VAT) |
| Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi LX | R 539 995 |
| Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi EX | R 593 995 |
| Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi GT Line | R 649 995 |
| Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi GT Line Plus | R 677 995 |
| Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi GT Line S | R 734 995 |
Competitors
This is without a doubt one of the busiest vehicle segments to compete in. In terms of direct competitors, you would easily look at its stable mate the Hyundai Tucson, but others such as the Toyota Rav4, Citroen C5 Air Cross, Mazda CX-5, and Honda CR-V can also be considered.
Verdict
We do like the refined new styling of the Sportage, putting looks and standard equipment into one basket the new Sportage deserves the price tag applied to it. We were admittedly a little disappointed in the temperamental nature of the drivetrain but outside of that, cannot fault the vehicle. If you want to be noticed in a sea of similar mid-sized SUVs then we highly advice taking the new Sportage for a spin at your local dealer.
Lawrence MinnieLawrence has been involved with motorsports for almost 30 years. Whether it's two wheels or four, if it has an engine, he will try to race it. This love of motor vehicles has led him to ride, drive, film, photograph, and write about his passion. Freelance for a while but now a permanent fixture on the AutoTrader team for over 7 years, Lawrence contributes written, photographic, and video content for AutoTrader and AutoTrader Bikes.View News & Reviews
Keyword: Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDi GT Line S (2022) Review