Kia's new Sportage arrives with a new chassis, a new engine line-up (including hybrid and plug-in hybrid options) and some striking styling. What's it actually like in diesel guise, though?
In the metal
Well, the new Kia Sportage certainly looks different. There is not the same level of shock involved as when the (mechanically related) Hyundai Tucson showed off its dramatic new look, but certainly the Sportage looks entirely different to the model that preceded it. At the front is where most of the drama can be found, with a full-width grille and those huge wrap-over 'arrow-head' LED running lights.
Down the sides and around the back, the Sportage looks a little less exciting. Indeed, its flanks can look awkwardly bulky from some angles, while the rear end is bland. Overall, we feel it's not as successful a styling transformation as was managed by the Tucson.
Inside, the Sportage takes a lot of cues from the brilliant Kia EV6 electric car. Most obviously, you get the same conjoined 12.3-inch digital displays as you'll find in the EV6. These are excellent - the graphics are crisp and clear, and the menu system for the central touchscreen is refreshingly easy to find your way around. It's far more logical, and easier to use, than comparable systems from Volkswagen, for example.
Below the central screen, the Sportage also adopts the EV6's clever little touch-sensitive panel that controls either shortcuts for the navigation and infotainment or, at the press of a button, the heating and ventilation controls. It's a neat idea, and it works well, and is as logical and simple to use as conventional physical controls. Certainly, it's a better solution than migrating those controls to the touchscreen.
The rest of the cabin is mostly good. Space in the front and rear seats is excellent, with plenty of room for heads and legs. The centre rear seat is, as ever, narrow, but the transmission tunnel is quite small, so the Sportage offers more room for feet in the middle of the rear cabin than most. The seats, front and rear, are very comfortable although the driving position can take a bit of fiddling and tweaking to finally get right.
Some plastics, and a few of the switches (especially those for the heated and ventilated seats) look and feel cheap, but we like the nice touches such as the integrated coat hangers on the front seat headrests, as well as the USB-C sockets for those in the rear seats, which are built into the sides of the front seats, rather than down on the floor.
Forward visibility from the driver's seat is fine, but the chunky D-pillar and the fact that the rear screen wiper only sweeps a small area means rear vision is a little tricky at times.
Less satisfactory is the boot. Yes, it's deep and square, and in this mild-hybrid diesel model stretches to 527 litres (other versions, without batteries under the floor, expand that to 587 litres), but that is the guts of 100 litres less roomy than the boot of the humble, and much more affordable, Kia Ceed SW estate. It's worth bearing in mind if you're automatically assuming that an SUV is a practical family car.
Driving it
The Sportage is a pretty smooth thing to drive, even with the diesel engine of this model. Considering the way that diesel sales are going in Ireland, it means that this specific Sportage is increasingly a niche model, with the hybrid version likely to be the best-seller. There'll be a plug-in hybrid version later in the year, using a version of the engine and battery setup found in the excellent Kia Sorento PHEV.
This diesel is a hybrid, though - a mild-hybrid at least. It combines a 48-volt electrical system with a tiny auxiliary battery that allows the stop-start system to kick in earlier, and remain active longer, around town as well as adding extra torque to the engine under full acceleration. Once the usual cold-start clatters quieten down, it's a refined engine, and one that pulls strongly through the middle section of its rev range. It's not massively economical, though - we managed 6.3 litres per 100km in mixed driving that took in motorway, city and country roads. It's not a terrible figure, but it no longer makes diesel the default option for saving money on fuel.
To drive, the Sportage is a little disappointing. It's softly sprung, which is good from a comfort perspective, and it does ride well on broken surfaces at low speeds. Up the speed, though, and the suspension becomes easily flustered, and keeping up a decent pace on a country road can become quickly tiring. It's much more suited to a steady main road or motorway cruise, really, where you're not asking too many tough questions of the springs and dampers, or the over-light steering. It's fine, but given Kia's excellent recent work on dynamics, especially for the likes of the electric EV6, we had been expecting better.
What you get for your money
Kia, as ever, offers good value and an excellent seven-year warranty, but this particular Sportage, at €43,000, feels pretty pricey for what it is. Yes, you get plenty of equipment (ventilated and heated front seats, a panoramic glass sunroof, 19-inch alloys and a powered tailgate to name a few items), but it still seems like a lot of cash for what's really a very conservative family car. And, again, there's the knowledge that the more affordable, roomier, better-to-drive (if less fashionable...) Ceed SW is sitting just across the showroom floor.
Summary
The simple fact is that the family SUV market has matured to the point where it has now, de facto, become the same as family hatchbacks and saloons once were. Models like the Sportage, once seen as highly fashionable, almost daring, are now dull and workmanlike. The new Sportage is certainly not a bad car - it's roomy, well-made, refined, comfortable and well-equipped - but it's a long way from exciting, and feels like not enough of a step forward over its predecessor.
