All New Kia Sportage Premiered in Windhoek

•Mark MusutuKia Motors Corporation, also known as KMC, was founded in 1944. It’s Korea’s oldest motor manufacturer and is only second to Hyundai in terms of sales. KMC is now a subsidiary of Hyundai.

Before I did my homework, brands like Kia or Hyundai seemed to be very new. In my memory, they only date back to the 90s. I justify this perception by the fact that I have never seen an oldie Kia or Hyundai. They do exist, though we only got know about the brands recently in this part of the world.

Making its first appearance in 1993, the Kia Sportage has never ceased to amaze me. This car is made to be a perfect alternative in its market and Kia invested a lot into it – and it shows. At this moment in time, Kia are certainly repositioning it or scaling it up in a non-sleazy way. The new Kia Sportage was first introduced at the Frankfurt Auto Show last year.

The 2017 Kia Sportage is mainly German designed with input from Kia’s Korea and US studios, and while it has certainly gravitated toward Germany in terms engineering, it also echoes a French aura (Peugeot) and traces of some Italian shapes (Alfa Romeo).

It has cues of the Porsche Cayenne on the exterior on lights, grille and air dams, though it’s a lot smaller, but this inspiration is clear. The new flagship Sportage 1,6 T-GDi GT Line goes on to add alloy rims, quad LED ‘ice cube’ front fog-lights and bright-metal skid plates in the front and the rear.

The Kia Sportage is certainly the most solid, chunkiest and sportiest-looking car in its class, living up to its name.

Unlike its rivals such as Toyota, Ford, Mazda and BMW, the Kia brand has a small product portfolio, meaning Kia has no reserves in features for up-market models in terms of technology. Kia packs it all in the Sportage and the Sorrento, as a result, this is a very complete car, probably the most complete car in its segment.

The interior is a two-colour code theme: Firstly black, then two-tone grey; or black and beige is available on all apart from the entry level one, while the sporty new GT Line Models come with a D-shaped steering wheel and piano black trim and aluminum pedals. Its steering feels very light and small, like something borrowed from the race track. The small gear lever is similar to the one found on the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

For the love of the weekend, it has a panoramic roof speaking of its outdoor intent. At this point of the test drive, I was now convinced that the new Sportage is faultless, but I kept a trace doubt for performance, ride and handling.

The interior is for certain an elegant full house. The SX and GT Line versions have a 180mm colour touch screen with integrated satellite navigation as standard, as well as a rear-view parking camera. Top models also have a ‘smart’ key that unfolds the mirrors, and switches on the interior and door-handle lights when you bring it within 1,7 metres of the car, and opens the power-operated tailgate if you bring it close to the back of the car.

The Sportage is loaded with state-of-the-art infotainment and connectivity including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Kia also offers the third generation of its UVO system and a Harman/Kardon 320-watt eight-speaker audio system with eight gigabytes of storage. Also packaged is a five-watt wireless charging station, which activates automatically when you put a compatible mobile device in it, showing charge level in the instrument cluster and even warns you if forget it.

Other packages include two USB charging points – one up front and one in the rear standard. Other features include heated seats, heated steering and a host of other goodies.

The Kia Sportage is not an explosive sprinter and it’s not supposed to be, but it’s quite impressive at its level and it can embarrass many when it comes to pep. Flooring the accelerator, it responds rather calmly at first then leaps forward as you feel a seat hugging surge in second and third gears. The top of the range Turbo Diesel is even nippier.

The 2017 Sportage has two engine options: The base engine, found in LX and EX models, offering 181-horsepower, 2,4-litre four-cylinder.

We drove the SX Turbo which comes with a 240-hp, turbocharged 2,0-litre four-cylinder (237 hp in all-wheel-drive models). Both engines come only with a six-speed automatic transmission. It doesn’t fall short at all in terms of performance.

The Sportage is a smooth and firm runner thanks to a number of suspension upgrades and revisions. These include bushing mounts, stiffer bushings and more robust wheel bearings in front.

The rear sub-frame also gets stiffer mounting bushes while a stiffer rear cross member reduces road noise and vibration in the cabin.

GT models have a slightly firmer ride for sharper handling, while the electric power steering (across the range) now has a sliding damper on the reduction gear module for quicker responses.

There is more safety equipment than before, with automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, automatic high beams, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert swivelling lights and daytime running lights.

From the moment I first saw the new Sportage up until I got more familiar with it, one word kept coming to my mind – Completeness. It packs it all and there is no loop hole to fault it.

The Sportage is a car that you may think is average, but within minutes, you’ll know it’s way above that. With the onset of the S Class challenger Hyundai Genesis and such standards, it seems the Koreans are gunning for the top, and they are well on their way there.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.