Car Review! Kia Sportage SX Turbo 2.0L FWD 2017

Instrumented Test
Every every now and then, a mainstream automaker seems an unexpected sleeper, an under-the-radar vehicle using the capability to dispatch flashier rides pulling away from a stoplight. Sleepers come in many forms, but few offer better cover than compact crossovers. The 2006–2012 Toyota RAV4 with the optional 268-hp V-6 engine was a good example, as were the stick-shift, turbocharged Subaru Forester XT and Kia’s previous-generation Sportage SX featuring its 260-hp turbo four-cylinder. Toyota’s fire-breathing RAV4 was extinguished in 2012 along with the Forester has become saddled with a CVT, but Kia’s hot turbocharged SX trim level is back plus form pursuing the Sportage’s redesign for 2017, and for the very first time we’ve tested it minus the optional all-wheel drive.
Quickie Kia

Secretly quick cars are great, but the outgoing Sportage SX had its share of shortcomings away from its rowdy engine. The suspension was downright harsh, the inside simply was there, and yes it returned middling fuel economy. For the latest SX, the sportiest Sportage within the lineup, Kia retained the hot-rod-in-disguise aspect while improving nearly everything else. The crossover’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine pushes 240 horsepower and 260 lb-ft (that’s a 59-hp and 85 lb-ft bump on the base model’s naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four) shot our front-drive SX to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds and so on for an electronically governed 135 mph. Those numbers best everything within the compact-crossover melee excepting the Subaru Forester 2.0XT, which comes only in all-wheel-drive form.

In an endeavor to boost the carryover turbo engine’s fuel efficiency and smooth the lumpy power delivery, Kia stripped it of 20 horsepower and 9 lb-ft of torque, to mixed effect. The engine still issues its might which has a strong surge at about 3000 rpm, but even indulging ourselves with all the accelerator pedal we saw 21 mpg in mixed driving, which is also the EPA city mileage rating. Something near 30 mpg seems achievable while travelling. The true vice is one shared among all high-output, front-drive vehicles: torque steer plus a penchant for spinning leading tires under hard acceleration. We’d splurge to the optional ($1500) all-wheel-drive system, eventhough it piles by using an extra 119 pounds and adds 0.2 second to the zero-to-60-mph time. We like power—see our affection to the old SX, which we subjected to a 40,000-mile long-term test—but 240 ponies greater level of to shove through the same two wheels which also handle steering duties.
Drive the Kia like a workaday compact crossover, rather than a tiny Porsche Cayenne, along with the turbo engine makes a better case for itself by yanking round the SX with relaxed aplomb. It never feels wanting for passing power, as well as the chassis is buttoned-down and stable. Critically, compared using the old SX, which came standard having a “sport suspension,” Kia tuned this new SX model’s chassis to become more compliant, like this of the regular Sportage, without having to sacrifice body control. The brakes are reassuring and returned stops from 70 mph in 173 feet, great for this class. Outside of some flutter through the big 19-inch wheels when passing over closely spaced groupings of road imperfections plus an utter not enough feel in the steering, the SX chassis performs well while riding quietly and smoothly even at highway speeds.
Kia Can-Do
While the Sportage’s fun quotient survived the redesign, its previously austere, if functional, interior was shown the door. The new cabin is well executed, for the point which it garnered from my staff several flattering comparisons to the people of Audi vehicles. The design is restrained along with the dashboard and door panels feature classy soft-touch materials and quality plastics. We especially just like the nice-to-hold tire along with the center stack’s slight cant toward the motive force. Rear-seat passengers have ample legroom, although their seat cushions are situated a tad low, with ready entry to a 12-volt power plug and a USB slot. The cargo hold is large and basically rectangular; the rear seats can fold completely flat using release buttons next on the outboard headrests. Those seats lack release handles readily accessible from the cargo bay, nevertheless the load floor back there may be fitted to one of two heights; when within the lower position, there’s a built-in ramp to supply a smooth transition for the folded seatbacks.

Similar awareness of detail is evident in Kia’s infotainment interface. As in other recent Kia products, nearly every touchscreen function may also be manipulated via well-located hard buttons. Three strips of controls sit under the center display, one with shortcuts to radio, media, phone, navigation, and setup menus (plus seek and track-selection buttons); another with climate controls; as well as a third with switches for the cooled and heated front seats and heated controls. Flanking the most notable row? Honest-to-goodness volume and tuning knobs. Knobs on each side from the climate controls set temperature to the left- and right-hand climate zones. It’s telling how varied (and frequently weird) secondary control layouts are becoming in 2016 we want to on-site visit this kind of basic ergonomic effort.

The front-end design (headlights stacked atop a grille, stacked atop an intake, stacked atop a skidplate) may not suit everyone’s taste, but in SX trim, especially, featuring its big wheels and chrome trim, the Sportage seems to look more expensive than. Kia has come a long way because the days when its products were carried solely by their long warranties and value-packed MSRPs.
This particular Kia is actually priced about the higher end of the compact-crossover segment, at $33,395, but it feels really worth the cost. The turbo’s power corrupts the motive force just as easily mainly because it vanquishes the front tires, the rest with the package can be as well ended up while you could request within this segment, and standard tools are generous. Dual-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, a Harman/Kardon sound system, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with navigation, heated and ventilated power front seats, a heated tyre, blind-spot monitoring, automatic emergency braking, LED fog lights, LED taillights, LED running lights, a (huge) panoramic sunroof, an energy liftgate, and the all-important Android Auto smartphone integration (however, not yet Apple CarPlay) are included. The SX trim level is really all-in that Kia lists no options with the exception of all-wheel drive. As we said, we’d check that box, but that option or without, the Sportage SX remains stealthy quick, whilst having improved as an everyday crossover.

May 2016
By ALEXANDER STOKLOSA
Photography By MICHAEL SIMARI

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