The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 37: June/July 2018 | Page 30

REVVED UP
A week with the Kia Stinger
Car manufacturers these days tend
to play safe by staying in the shallow
waters of mainstream popularity and
rarely venturing out into the rapids
where one wrong move could spell
disaster. Occasionally though some
more adventurous company will
decide to explore the deeper waters
of performance and come up with a
motor that satisfies the demon driver
within us all. Herewith, we give you,
with a big round of applause, the
brilliant Kia Stinger.
PERFORMANCE
The Stinger is a four door, rear-wheel drive
fastback saloon and it looks fabulous, so
that’s automotive beauty ticked off the list;
but the good news doesn’t stop there. With
all model variants driving through a sweet
eight-speed automatic gearbox, the GT-Line
and GT-Line S models offer a choice of either
a 244bhp 2.0L petrol engine or a 197bhp
turbo-diesel with emissions of 181g/km and
154g/km respectively.
The diesel especially will suit business users
without losing any of the cachet. Both offer
plenty of performance, but the star car has to
be the GT-S (pictured), under the bonnet of
which buyers will find a lusty 365bhp (225g/
km) available to the right foot thanks to a
3.3L twin-turbo V6 power plant.
The Kia Stinger hurtles from rest to 60mph
in a brisk 4.7 seconds and on to 168mph,
but that’s not the whole story. The real action
comes with general driving. There are paddle
shifts to facilitate manual gear changes but
we soon noted that the quick-witted gearbox
was up to the task, shifting swiftly and
smoothly through the ratios on demand.
On the motorway or on the country lane
this car does not disappoint. We selected
‘eco’ mode for a long motorway run and
watched the miles per gallon climb to
a fuel-sipping 32. ‘Comfort’ mode suits
traffic-crawls and ‘smart’ lets the car choose,
depending upon driver input. Having tried all
these modes we switched to ‘Sport’ which
tightens everything up, improves the cars’
responses whilst adding a subtle V6 growl.
‘Sport+’ is probably best saved for the track.
ON THE INSIDE
Front seat passengers are properly cosseted.
The Nappa leather seats are big and
well contoured for comfort, support and
adjustment. The smart and well designed
centre console has an aluminium finish to
it and chrome highlights lift the interior
ambiance, topped off with a nice sunroof.
Ideally, rear passengers should number two,
although three will fit at a pinch. The back
seats are limited by that fastback shape and,
usefully, a cavernous boot.
The front seats do of course have a
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01249 819 419
heating option, as does the steering wheel
but many cars do that these days. So we
were delighted to find a cooling option too!
We switched them on and within a couple of
minutes our combined rear-ends were frostier
than frozen penguins. In a Kia Stinger you
can truly chill out.
The big touchscreen rises up upon starting
and offers the usual technology included
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s a
clear heads-up display showing speed and
navigation (when in use).
The best thing about options like this are
many of them are in fact not options but
standard. The car as tested costs just £40,495
on the road and it comes fully loaded. That’s
impressive and it is our belief that this vehicle
outdoes the prestige German regulars. You
would have to have a serious case of badge
envy to overlook the Kia Stinger, especially
with the long seven-year warranty offered
along with the new ‘Kia Promise’.
www.allboxed.co.uk
01249 471777
SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?
Absolutely. Build and interior quality is
excellent. The GT-S as tested is maybe a tad
thirsty though. Kia reckon that 28mpg should
be a fair average and that is indeed what
we saw at the end of the week. It is very
easy, very easy indeed, to knock that back
to 20/24mpg by being boisterous but why
else would you buy this version of the car?
The other models in the range will be less
expensive to run while still offering most of
the benefits of the range-topper.
The plain fact is that if you like to drive
and we mean really, properly drive, then this
car for all the reasons given is a must-have.
Kia deserve the highest praise for producing
this great car.
@DriveWrite
www.britanniaquickmove.co.uk
01249 813430
The Space Centre, Porte Marsh Road, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 9BW
30
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018
Written by
Geoff Maxted
www.drivewrite.co.uk