Kia Sportage long-term test review: final report

It worked. Everyone loved the car. It was driven by at least 15 people, amassing 17,000 miles in just seven months. It took families on holiday to France, Wales and the West Country. It helped people move house. It commuted long and short distances to our Twickenham HQ. It was an ideal photographic unit, the generous boot proving to be an ideal space from which photographers could swing on harnesses. But mainly, it amassed miles because we enjoyed driving it. In our job, you almost always have another alternative. If cars do unusually large mileages, it’s because we like ’em.

What’s good? The access, for one thing, especially rear doors of a decent size. Usually, if a car looks as good as this, the doors suffer at expense of the shape. The Kia is also decently roomy, although Jim Holder (who used the Sportage for a camping trip to Wales) notes that if you’re a family that takes lots on trips such as his, you’ll need a roof box.

Driving this mid-sized SUV at much the same time as our long-term Vauxhall Astra SRi provided a continuing comparison of the competing virtues of hatchbacks versus SUVs. The Astra always felt more agile and accurate to steer when you stepped into it, and you could feel its smaller frontal area. In the Kia, you always appreciated the head room, the more upright seating (which many find more comfortable over very long journeys) and the better view. Rural UK is covered in hedges and walls just high enough to prevent hatch and saloon drivers from appreciating its panorama, but the Sportage allows you full view of a fascinating backdrop.

It would be nice to report that when we returned the Sportage, it was in pristine condition. Sadly, we kerbed a couple of wheels and, a day or so before its return, it also collected a huge rock on its final motorway journey that meant Kia’s used car preparation people had to cope with a windscreen impact mark the size of a cricket ball. Still, at least the body was perfect, with no dents or scuffs. Some cars’ size and shape seem to protect them from blemishes, and in our experience the Sportage is one.

We encountered few real faults. A vulcanised seam of simulated stitches across the dashboard always grated, mostly because it was so at odds with the fine form and function of more important bits, especially switchgear. A Jaguar engineer told me last year how in Korea, product designers tended to create these small components in their own right, rather than car by car, which was why they were so good. The front seats were only okay, and the steering, once criticised for dullness at the straight ahead, now seemed a little oversensitive at speed. Not a long list.

We were always pleased with the KX-3 spec, which needed no extras. The white paint perfectly showed off the car’s lines. Our choice of the 134bhp 2.0-litre diesel engine turned out fine, too. At the last minute we discovered its peak torque was only 6% lower than that of the more expensive, less frugal 182bhp unit we nearly chose. The car was always flexible and as fast as we needed.