Kia Stinger Review (2018-present)

Kia set out to challenge perceptions with the Stinger. Throughout Europe at least, the Korean marque had a reputation for building worthy hatchbacks and family cars that were as cost-effective as they were reliable. Perhaps their strongest selling point was the industry-leading seven-year warranty. All very sensible, but not particularly desirable.

That was never likely to change with a single model in the space of a few short years. All of a sudden, the Kia logo appeared on a car with elegant proportions, eye-catching styling and, in the case of the GT S, the better part of 400bhp. This was an entirely different sort of Kia that appealed not only to the head, but also to the heart.

Its design was led by Peter Schreyer – the enormously respected German designer who penned the original Audi TT. A long bonnet, the very short front overhang, a swooping roofline and the distance between the front axle line and the base of the windscreen are clear giveaways. According to Kia, these cab-backward, rear-wheel drive proportions are vital when tackling the evergreen BMW 3 Series head-on for the first time.

The Stinger’s cabin is better-appointed than most of us would expect of a Kia, with bundles of standard equipment and acres of interior space, including a 406-litre boot which extends to 1,114 litres with the rear seats folded flat. While the Stinger’s German rivals keep their noses ahead of in terms of material quality and a sense of opulence, there’s never been so little in it.

Where the Stinger distinguishes itself from the very well-established German opposition is that, rather than taking on the form of a four-door saloon, it’s actually a five-door hatchback (although Kia refers to it as a ‘fastback’) like the Porsche Panamera. Also like the Panamera, the Kia is billed as a kind of family-sized grand tourer, with luxury, performance, and agility in one package, but not such a focus on handling that all other considerations have been thrown out the window.

The Stinger rides comfortably, is effortlessly refined on the motorway, and has spacious rear seats with plenty of legroom. When you find yourself navigating a stretch of winding B-road, it will pull its laces tight and sprint along with strong grip and good body control. Don’t expect communicative steering or the sharpest handling responses because it’s quite a heavy car, but it's nonetheless very impressive.

Now the only model available new, the Stinger GT S is powered by a fabulous 361bhp 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine. It has an eight-speed automatic gearbox and is comfortably the fastest Kia yet. It’ll reach 60mph from standstill in just 4.7 seconds before running on to a top speed of 168mph.

More than anything, the Stinger reveals the scale of Kia’s ambitions. For a long time, its cars were cheap, but they fell short of the standard set by Europe’s car makers. Kia has really closed that gap, and its cars have become genuine contenders in their various categories, but buttoned-down pragmatism only takes you so far, and it was inevitable that Kia would one day want to inject some real desirability into the mix. The Stinger plays that role very commendably indeed.

Kia has been very generous with the Stinger’s standard equipment to lure buyers away from their Audis and BMWs. Included in the list price are adaptive dampers, various safety and driver assistance systems, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a head-up display, 360-degree parking cameras, a 15-speaker Harman Kardon stereo with a sub-woofer, and wireless phone charging.

You’ll need to get busy with the options list, or otherwise buy a very high-end model, to get the same level of equipment in an A5 Sportback or BMW 3 Series.

Fuel costs vary significantly depending on the model. Kia says the twin-turbo V6 GT S will return 28mpg in mixed driving, although a real-world mpg figure of 24 is more realistic. Expect that to fall even further if you drive it hard. Meanwhile, the four-cylinder petrol should return around 32mpg in real-world driving, while the four-cylinder diesel has the best fuel economy of the bunch at 38mpg.

Insurance groups range from 32 for the diesel model to 42 out of 50 for the GT S. As well as fixed-price service plans, which spread the costs and protect against inflation, Kia offers customers the option of splitting service or repair work into three interest-free payments.

Kia has earned itself an enviable reputation for reliability, and it often outperforms the likes of BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz in owner satisfaction surveys.

However, the Stinger is an altogether different kind of Kia to what’s come before, and owners are likely to be more exacting than other Kia customers (not least because they’ve paid substantially more than, say, a Picanto driver). The Stinger is still relatively new, but the car is steadily earning itself a good reputation for durability, even though some owners are reporting excessive wear to interior trim and irritating squeaks and rattles in the cabin. Perhaps this is where the Stinger really falls short of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe or an Audi A5 Sportback.

But where the European manufacturers are left for dust is the warranty. Three-year warranties are the industry standard, but Kia covers all its cars for seven years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.