The 2011 Kia Sportage
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Reviewing cars for reference is one of the hobbies I like to do with Nyonyo, especially in a country where the option on buying cars are rather limited. Yesterday, while waiting for Nyonyo’s bike to complete its assembly, we went to Kia Bintaro to see if we can get a hands-on on the new Kia Sportage. It is a good thing that the only car they have on display was the Sportage, although it’s too bad that they don’t have a test drive unit (which is a problem that almost all car dealers here have), so we can’t exactly know how the car feels on the road. Now on to the pros and cons of the car.
Back in the days, Kia was not actually known for its good build quality. I like to call them crappy, in fact. Now, they’ve come a long way to improve this problem, and the Sportage is not excluded. The body structure is good and was made from first grade materials, I can say that it is better than Protons and in fact, better than some Toyotas. Body linings are well-aligned unlike the Kia Sephia, so you can truly see how far they did to enhance their quality.
Design-wise, the Sportage is probably one of the best looking cars we can have today. Sure, it shared the same platform with the Hyundai Tucson, but these two cars are good cars in different design spectrums. I really like how Kia made all their new cars in tune with the tiger-inspired grill and fascia, in this area, they excelled far than most of their Japanese competitors, which at most times, couldn’t even make two cars to appear like they come from the same brand. However, I’m not too keen on the amount of chrome-plated elements in this car, and while the 18″ rims do give a good stance for the car, I still think that a single-colored rim would look better. Our version of the Sportage doesn’t come with a panoramic roof as well, not that it is a necessity here.
Interior quality is top notch, it is covered with well-made materials, and it does feel expensive for a car in this price range. I haven’t seen how the Tucson’s interior looks like, but Nyonyo said it is better than the Sportage. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Yes, it’s probably below Volkswagen’s quality and craftsmanship, but it does give most Japanese cars a run for their money. They also managed to put a tilt-steering system that doesn’t rattle when adjusted, and a glove box that opens elegantly. Nice little touch.
Driving position is also good, although you cannot compare this with cars like the Innova, which gives you a much better view to the front end of the car. A gripe I have here is that with its sloping roof line, the size of the rear windshield must be sacrificed and therefore, hindering your view. This gets worse when the headrests of the back seats are set fully up, so buyers would really have to adjust to this.
Kia is also kind enough to provide an electrically-adjustable driver’s seat, but it’s quite disappointing that you would still have to adjust the passenger’s seat manually. Other interior equipments are also satisfactory as it includes most of what modern cars should have, including USB, AUX input, ample storage space, as well as dual airbags as a standard.
Going to the back seats, the space this car provides is also impressive. Leg room is adequate even with the front seats fully set to the back, and head room is surprisingly quite large even for a large person.
Kia is selling only two versions of the car, the automatic transmission or the manual. I can tell you that this simplifies your buying options greatly, which is a good thing. But having said that, it’s too bad that they don’t actually provide you with the option of the 2.4L engine.
To conclude the article, the 2011 Kia Sportage is highly impressive, and it certainly gives a nice alternative to Japanese cars, especially with a price that is not even 300 million. I certainly hope that we could get the chance to try the test drive unit sometime in the future.
Image credit: Wikipedia
