Limiting factor
The model name Sportage has been with Kia for quite some time now. While the model was a somewhat more traditional all-terrain vehicle with ladder chassis and four-wheel drive in the mid-1990s, the Sportage operates in the busy segment of the mid-range SUV in the 21st century. Does the last generation hold its own in between in terms of standard equipment?
Kia Sportage 1.6 T-GDi Mild Hybrid Comfortline
€36,995
Electrification is the magic word for the Sportage. The 1.6 T-GDi Mild Hybrid is at the bottom of the price ladder and offers a power of 150 hp. This is also the only powertrain that can be ordered in combination with the basic ComfortLine trim level. Above the mild-hybrid powertrain is the 1.6 Hybrid. As a Hybrid, the Sportage is standard equipped with an automatic transmission and the power comes out to 230 hp. Partly because the Sportage Hybrid is only available from the more expensive DynamicLine trim level, it costs at least €41,995. One step higher is the Plug-in Hybrid, which costs at least €44,495 as DynamicLine. You get 265 hp and four-wheel drive in return.
Kia has five trim levels on the price list for the Sportage. In addition to the aforementioned ComfortLine and DynamicLine, you can also order the Sportage as DynamicPlusLine, GT-Line and GT-PlusLine. Because Kia hardly offers separate options, you are bound to these trim levels in terms of equipment. That is somewhat restrictive for the Mild Hybrid: Kia only offers this version as ComfortLine or DynamicLine. A little further on, we’ll go into more detail about the extras of each trim level, first let’s take a look at what the ComfortLine has to offer.
Color palette
Although the Sportage’s configurator starts up in the color Yuka Steel Gray, that is not the standard color. That is the Casa White shown. All other paint colors have an additional cost of €795. By the way, there are a lot of them: in the configurator you can choose from twelve available colors for the Sportage. Where the choice in terms of colors is quite huge, that does not apply to the wheels. The Sportage ComfortLine is factory-fitted on 17-inch alloy wheels and that is the only option you have.
Kia Sportage
One of the Sportage’s most striking design elements is the shape of the front light units. They are equipped with LED lighting as standard, as are the rear lights. However, the LED headlights are reflector headlights, the simpler type. As a ComfortLine, the Sportage has a light sensor and a high beam assistant. When parking, you get help from a reversing camera; parking sensors are only available from the DynamicLine. If you open or close the car, you still have to do that with the key, because Keyless Entry is not on it. Electrically folding and heated exterior mirrors and an automatically dimming interior mirror are always present on the Sportage.
Blank buttons
In the interior of the Sportage you look out on a digital instrumentation with a 4.2-inch color screen. Speed ​​and RPM are also displayed digitally, but these instruments are fixed and not configurable. Furthermore, the Sportage has an 8-inch touchscreen for the multimedia system. That system does not offer integrated navigation, but does offer Bluetooth connectivity and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Below the touchscreen is the control panel for the manual air conditioning. Kia lets you somewhat notice that you are driving in the basic version, because even further down we see a whole row of blank buttons.
Kia Sportage
In terms of upholstery and moldings, there is nothing to choose from Kia. The ComfortLine furniture is upholstered in black fabric with a diamond pattern. The contrast in the black interior is formed by silver accents on the dashboard, steering wheel and doors, among other things. In terms of safety systems, Kia delivers the Sportage as standard with multi-collision braking assistance, active lane assistance, autonomous lane-following assistance, autonomous emergency braking assistance, fatigue recognition and speed sign recognition. Cruise control is standard, but it is not adaptive. Adaptive cruise control is not available at all on the Mild Hybrid because of the six-speed manual transmission. The Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid have it as DynamicLine on board as standard.
Speaking of the DynamicLine: on the Sportage Mild Hybrid, this trim level has an additional cost of €2,000. For that amount you get, among other things, a 12.3-inch infotainment system with full-map navigation and Kia Connect, a 12.3-inch digital instrumentation, two-zone climate control, a rain sensor and parking sensors front and rear. On the Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid, this trim level also includes a third zone for climate control, the aforementioned adaptive cruise control, paddle shifters and Highway Drive Assist, which allow the Sportage to drive semi-autonomously. Above that are the DynamicPlusLine (including Matrix-Led, blind spot assistant, privacy glass and panoramic roof), GT-Line (including sportier bumpers, aluminum pedals and black headliner) and GT-PlusLine (including adaptive chassis, 360-degree camera, seat ventilation and Harman Kardon audio).
Cannibalism
In terms of standard equipment, the Sportage is in line with competitors such as the Volkswagen Tiguan and Toyota RAV4. Those two are just a bit more expensive. The Tiguan is on the price list from €40,590, the RAV4 costs €38,995. For that money you also have a richer equipped Sportage DynamicLine. Whether the Sportage will do well in our country, however, remains to be seen. In the past, the Kia buyer has massively fallen for the Niro, of which the new model as a Hybrid is also cheaper than the Sportage Mild-Hybrid. The two are not very different in size either. So internal cannibalism may seem like the biggest enemy for the Sportage.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl