Kia’s talismanic European-built SUV builds on the company’s latest design direction
The Kia Sportage lived a fairly quiet life initially as a car known to few outside of Asian markets.But ever since it became one of Kia’s first European-built models in its second-generation form, and then led its company’s transformation into a design-centric brand in its third, the Sportage has taken on special status for the company that makes it.Design chief Peter Schreyer’s distinctive ‘tiger nose’ third-generation design drove the car to a level of UK- and wider European-market popularity unknown to Kia in the early 2010s, which the subsequent fourth-generation version built on.And now, with the Sportage firmly established as Kia’s best-selling car in the UK, mainland Europe and the wider world, the fifth generation has been updated to bring more tech, better efficiency and styling in line with new Kia EV models – including the Kia EV5 that will be the pure-electric counterpart to the Sportage’s hybrid and petrol offensive. Of course, you don’t need us to tell you that there’s a horde of rival SUVs on offer to compete with the Sportage, but the main competition comes in the form of the Skoda Karoq, Ford Kuga, Nissan Qashqai and the Kia’s platform-mate, the Hyundai Tucson.Kia Sportage range at a glanceEvery Sportage in the UK is powered by a 1.6-litre petrol engine with different levels of hybridisation: there’s a pure petrol version, a full hybrid and a plug-in hybrid. There used to be a 1.6-litre diesel, but that was quietly dropped in 2023. The trim level line-up has shifted over the years. For the facelift, there’s Pure, GT-Line and GT-Line S.
