All Kia Sportage reviews

"The omens look good for the Sportage"

Try for a moment to remember the last Kia Sportage. Tough isn't it? I write about cars for a living and my recall is patchy. It's like trying to remember how an old song goes with a different track playing in the background. Try as I might, I keep coming up with either a Daihatsu Fourtrak or a Suzuki Vitara. The Sportage itself slips from the memory as if it were coated with so much Teflon. In a bid to make a more memorable Sportage, Kia went back ...

"This diesel engine doesn't have that elastic 'lag and surge' characteristic that afflicts so many other such units"

As a schoolboy, there were few words I dreaded more than "Get your pen, pencil and ruler out for mathematics." Maths was a definite blind spot for me, largely due to a teacher who was utterly unenthusiastic and the fact that I spent two years sitting next to the class clown. Fortunately only a very basic level of arithmetical prowess is required to figure out whether the ...

"The Sportage is modern in both execution and philosophy"

Few things are cut and dried when it comes to purchasing new cars. Here's one that is. If you want a compact 4x4, and don't want to spend a lot of money, either buy secondhand or buy a Kia Sportage 2.0-litre model. As one of the least expensive contemporary 4x4 it's possible to buy, the Sportage offers a modern and smartly styled compact sports utility that's slick enough to pass muster.

There are some less expensive 4x4s t...

After a few short years selling its Pride supermini and Mentor family car, Kia expanded its range in 1995 with the introduction of the Sportage, a compact 4x4. It undercut not only the Vauxhall Frontera and Toyota RAV4, but Suzuki's big-selling Vitara. Though the Sportage has sold steadily since, the lack of a three-door version prevented it eating into the sales of these important rivals. The other important ingredient missing from Kia's recipe has been the lack of a big promotional push an...