Overview

The fifth-generation Kia Sportage provides a compelling choice of trim levels and driveline options, wrapped in some of the medium SUV segment’s most progressive body styling.

Inside, the modern theme continues throughout the spacious cabin, where the dashboard is dominated by a curved panel housing a pair of crisp digital displays.

So, it’s packed with showroom and street appeal, but how does the Sportage stand up to the everyday grind of commuting, school runs and – if you’re really lucky – a weekend away?

We grab the keys to a Sportage in second-from-top SX+ trim with the 2.0-litre petrol engine – occupying seventh place among the 11 available Sportage variants – and spend a fortnight finding out.

Our Opinion

First impressions of our test Sportage, supplied in $520 worth of Dawning Red premium paint, were that it turned a lot of heads.

This line of work requires us to regularly take the wheel of head-turning cars but the ones that get noticed are rarely medium SUVs, let alone those priced at $41,500 before on-road costs as is the case with this Sportage SX+. If you’re an introvert, scratch this car off your shopping list.

Soon bringing us crashing back to reality was the school run. Happily, the fitment of child seats was straightforward due to the Kia’s wide rear door apertures making it easy to get these bulky items loaded in and the spacious cabin providing plenty of room in which to wrestle the various clips and straps.

Children collected, they are amazed at how far they can sling their school bags into the Sportage’s boot. It’s pretty epic for the segment at 543 litres.

On the way home, those glance-over-the-shoulder conversations at traffic light stops put into perspective just how roomy this car is.

Despite being placed higher and further forwards relative to the rear seats due to the chunky child restraints, acres of legroom remained, and the kids were visibly more distant than in most cars.

But given this Sportage is 175mm longer and 10mm wider than its predecessor, with an 85mm-longer wheelbase, all that extra space is hardly a result of miraculous packaging.

Put it this way, if it grows as much again for the next generation, it will be bigger than a Hyundai Santa Fe from the next segment up.

Kia has managed to keep weight under control and model-for-model, there is little to separate the fourth- and fifth-generation Sportage over the weighbridge. Which is a good job as the 2.0-litre petrol engine in our test car hasn’t moved the game on either.

Developing its 115kW power peak at 6200rpm and 192Nm of torque at 4500rpm, it is a whole kilowatt ahead of its predecessor and carries on with a six-speed torque converter automatic transmission driving the front wheels only.

Perhaps that all head-turning was due to the sound of us having to wring its neck everywhere we went?

Worse, the transmission was dreadfully snoozy around town. In an underpowered car you need to get your toe down hard and early to survive the cut and thrust of suburban traffic but in this Sportage, the hesitation was a confidence crusher.

Perhaps it gets better with age; Kia provided the car with just 600km on the clock and we have found that in some cars, the engine and transmission don’t quite gel until a few thousand clicks have passed under their tyres.

Another factor could be the hilly area in which this two-week test took place. The Sportage cruises along happily and quietly enough, provided the terrain is flat.

Our weekend away with the Sportage, then, was right out of its comfort zone. A long, steep climb was accompanied by much thrashing from under the bonnet. That said, the Sportage didn’t bog down or go hunting for gears. It howled its way up the mountain, just not in a good way.

If you are petrol-oriented, you can pay $2000 more for a more powerful 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine with all-wheel drive and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that also uses less fuel as you’re less likely to be redlining it everywhere.

Another three and a half grand on top of that gets you even more power from a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with eight-speed auto and all-wheel drive. It’ll save you yet more on fuel but beware the dramas that afflict diesel particulate filters on cars that rarely venture out of suburbia.

In the perpetual rush that is family life, to save time we only removed one child seat in order to sling a bike into the Sportage’s boot. Folding the larger portion of the 60:40 split rear bench flat was sufficient to get our two-wheeled transport in.

You wouldn’t really want anyone to occupy the remaining seat beside the bike but it is achievable.

Said perpetual rush also left us relying on Bluetooth for phone connectivity as we forgot to pack a USB cable for the trip.

Despite its hi-tech looks and wall-to-wall screens, the Sportage SX+ has no wireless smartphone mirroring. That is exclusive to the base model, while wireless phone charging is exclusive to the top-spec model. Such is the weird world of chip shortages.

And you know what? We survived. All Sportages from SX trim upward have in-built satellite navigation and Bluetooth audio streaming has come a long way since we started depending on smartphone mirroring.

We didn’t get lost, and we filled our boots with music, podcasts and audiobooks through the excellent eight-speaker Harman Kardon premium speaker system. Until the phone ran out of battery because we forgot the wire.

Enforced silence (there was nothing on the radio apart from blanket coverage about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II) enabled us to appreciate the Sportage’s refined cruising experience, once the engine quietens down that is.

Those head-turning exterior looks must be aerodynamic as wind noise is minimal unless driving into a headwind on the motorway and not much road roar was perceptible from the 19-inch Nexen Roadian tyres, even on coarse-chip country roads.

We didn’t trouble the front Nexens with such modest outputs passing their way and they provided adequate grip – even in a downpour – for the type of driving most people will subject their mid-$40K medium SUV to.

Even if you do get a hustle on – as much as is possible with that gutless 2.0L petrol – the Sportage has excellent body control that should keep your passengers from getting green around the gills, while remaining unperturbed by weird mid-corner surface changes and the generally unkempt state of many Australian roads.

There’s a little firmness about the ride – almost European in feel – but occupants don’t suffer for it and the Sportage keeps its wheels firmly planted over rough surfaces without skittering about.

At higher speeds on twisty roads, the transmission gets its act together too, generally finding the right ratio at the right time and quickly rectifying matters on the rare occasion that it doesn’t.

Oddly, this is less the case when trying to overtake; kickdown is a bit hesitant so you really do have to plan ahead when passing farm machinery (let’s face it, you’d be brave to try passing a B-double with this engine).

It’s best not to hurry this car along. When you don’t it’s a pleasant car to travel in; well-equipped, comfortable, quiet, logically laid out and easy to use.

The artificial leather seats aren’t sweaty and look convincingly premium, the driving position is excellent with plenty of adjustment and the leather-trimmed steering wheel and T-bar style gear selector feel good to hold.

A dual-purpose bar that switches between the (excellent and full-featured) media system shortcuts and climate control settings is clever, although we wish Kia had considered right-hand drive markets more with the location of the button that toggles between the two. 

But that, perhaps along with the undersized door bins, is our only ergonomic gripe. For practical, usable daily transport the Sportage ticks a lot of boxes.

On the topic of ticking boxes, SX+ trim does seem to have everything you need and lots of what you want.

It’s a fairly big price jump to the top-spec GT-Line, which we’d be tempted to instead spend on one of the better engines and that head-turning red premium paintwork.