11 August 2010
By class standards, the Sportage 2.0 CRDi does well here. We bettered Kia’s claimed 0-60mph of 10.9sec by 0.4sec, and our 30-70mph time of 11.3sec also shows that there’s plenty of mid-range pull. These figures are not the best in this class but they’re competitive with all the established rivals.
In everyday use, the Sportage never feels like a particularly rapid machine. During our on-track testing it proved that its chassis is good enough to cope with more power than the 134bhp it ...Read the full article
7 September 2008
Slightly pleasingly styled. Wouldn't ever consider owning or buying one, but I was amused by the wisp of smoke coming from the rear tyre in the third photo!
One thing bothers me though, and this applies to anything Haldex equipped, not just this "car". I do wish people would stop describing these things as 4wd, because the vast majority of the time, they ain't.
I feel that under the Trade Descriptions Act, manufacturers of such vehicles should have to put a badge with the word "Occasionally" on it above the one that says "4wd". ; )
11 May 2009
Haldex can be permanent 4wd.
7 September 2008
Permanently 5%, in the vast majority of cases.
27 July 2010
In the US the general understanding is 4WD impermanent, AWD permanent. The problem with permanent is low tolerance of varying tire wear. So if your treads have say 60% left, and you need to replace one, you have to replace all four. On the likes of a BMW, this can produce a bill that is a bit of a pants-wetter. Happened to me so I sourced a used tire with matching wear, but the reputable repairers wouldn't fit anything they hadn't supplied, so I had to find someone disreputable.
18 January 2010
"During our on-track testing it proved that its chassis is good enough to cope with more power than the 134bhp it has"
that's lucky then - in some markets (Australia for one) the Sportage has a fair bit more go than we Eurpoeans get - about the full 180bhp that the latest 'R' diesel is capable of..
12 June 2009
I never thought I would say this but, I actually think the car looks quite smart and the interior is not half bad either. Don't think I would go as far as to actually buy this car, however in saying that, it's not a bad effort at all.
20 April 2008
Didn't do badly even here!
29 December 2009
Kia must be a worry for Toyota and Nissan with product like this
10 August 2010
Didn't do badly even here!
or here: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/254824/kia_sportage_20_crdi_first_edition.html
Perhaps both those two magazines' testers knew that the Sportage had its own 4wd system - the new 'Dynamax' system, commissioned from Magna Steyr:
The four-wheel drive system effectively reduces understeer during hard driving but, from our experience with Hyundai[iX35]’s equivalent model
or at least they could be arsed to read the manufacturer's blurb, before racing to put down their pre-judgements on paper.
10 August 2010
Kia must be a worry for Toyota and Nissan with product like this
Ha ha! I think Kia(/Hyundai) - now the 4th largest producer in the world - has its sights set on the top dogs, like VW group and BMW/Merc, not the runts/mongrels with their prehistoric RAV4s and emperor's-new-clothes Cashcows and Jokes.
A company that bothers to base its design and engineering wholly in Europe, and in Europe's most ablest country, is not intent on outdoing some sad-sack Toyota or French-controlled, one-trick pony Nissan.
You don't employ the best designer, fit class-leading engines('R' diesels and soon 270PS+ 2-litre petrols), contract a world-leading transmissions outfit to do your new 4wd system, just to go up against Jap-Crap. Your ambition is to out-do the top-dog Germans - largely by hiring them and emulating them, but charging a lower price for the finished product. I'm sure, internally, Kia sees the Range Rover Evoque as no competition - a temporary, must-have, fashion, flash-in-the-pan. The Koreans are playing long-term, to beat the Germans and have the Tiguan, Yeti, Q5/up-coming Q3, fothcoming Merc BLK crossover and so on in their sights.
'Kia Motors and Magna Powertrain, an operating unit of Magna International Inc., today announced the official launch of the new Dynamax™ All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) system in the all new Kia Sportage.'
http://www.magnasteyr.com/xchg/powertrain_systems/XSL/standard.xsl/-/content/news_news.htm?action=show&EnReleaseID=01_1359&DeReleaseID=02_1359&JaReleaseID=&rdeLocaleAttr=en