welcome to a brave new world now while Kia already has a large saloon on sale in the UK could the Optima multiple SUVs a family car and even a city car it hasn’t ever before had
something truly sporty to attract enthusiastic drivers like myself that is until now this is the stinger it’s a stylish rival to premium cars such as the Audi a5 Sportback BMW
4-series Grande cuvée and Volkswagen RT on and while that may sound ambitious it’s worth remembering that despite its humble origins Kia sells more cars these days than some of its premium rivals so
will the stinger proved to be too far a niche for Kia or will a Korean upstart be good enough to tempt you away from German rivals in this review we’ll find out as well as what it’s like to drive
how much bangs you can fit in it and how easy it is to live with and if at the end of this review you’re thinking about buying a Kia stinger remember you can head to what car comm check out on you
car deals section where we can save you thousands first though let’s see what it’s like to drive unlike its rivals the Keir stinger has just three engines to
choose from kicking off then is the 244 brake horsepower 2 litre petrol which gets this car from nought to 62 miles per hour in just five point eight seconds
next up is the 2.2 litre diesel which feels positively punchy but it’s a little gruff for a car this premium and the fuel economy in co2 emissions are not a patch on rivals with similar
engines the most powerful engine and our pick is the 365 brake horsepower 3.3 liter v6 it sells ferocious and is blistering liquid all engines are teamed
up with an 8-speed automatic gearbox which is smooth on the upshift and on the downshift and no matter which version you choose the steering is
precise and it flows from one corner to the next even though it’s not a hardcore sports car certainly when you’re driving quickly the rear wheel drive stinger is more fun than many of its rivals ride
quality is reasonable – you certainly feel less of the bumps than you would in an Audi s5 there’s also very little road and wind noise
the driving position for the best part is comfortable you get electrically adjusting seats and lumbar support steering wheel is standard which is gray
and then once you’ve found a comfortable driving position you can see over the sloping bonnet quite easily out the back not quite so good however you do get
front and rear parking sensors a standard and also a reversing camera and in terms of quality in here we’re not going to claim that it’s as good as Aldi
however it does feel quite premium and refined and there’s some sporty finishes in the material choice you only really need to go quite low down here where you
find the hard scratchy plastic there’s traditional dowels here which in a way is quite cool and then a central screen for displaying the most relevant
information to the driver as well as this 8-inch touchscreen which is quite good to use and the graphics are quite appealing it’s got built-in sat-nav
smartphone mirroring and various online services the stinger is a pretty spacious car so if you’re six foot even with the
optional sunroof you’ll find there’s enough space for you although I don’t need to worry about that being five foot four and a half in terms of storage
first of all this big bottle won’t fit in there oh that’s a bit of a squeeze in there yes it fits there so we’ve got two cupholders and a little bit of storage
here at the base of the dashboard will that close with the key and yes it will and underneath here there’s a large amount of storage I’ve got my phone
sunglasses banana and pen here just in case I want to make notes overall very good get into the back and it’s not quite so roomy unless you’re five foot
four and a half in which case I’m actually quite comfortable if you’re six foot there I think that Headroom is going to be a little bit of a push to a
little sitting side-by-side is okay but try and sit in the middle seat and it’s going to be a little bit too squishy it’s on a par with an Audi a5 Sportback
because the Audi’s got a little bit more Headroom but less legroom and if you go for a Volkswagen arty on it’s going to feel palatial in comparison this
hatchback style tailgate gives easy access to the boot which is a decent size and you can fit two large suitcases but if you have a particular fondness
for flat pack furniture no problem fold the seats down creates more room and it’s a virtually flat Kia has been really savvy here because while it knows
it’s not going to win badge appeal against the likes of BMW or Audi it can undercut them on price which is why the stinger cost substantially less than its
key rivals and if you go for the v6 petrol engines GTS version it’s likely to hold on so it’s value better than the 4 Series Gran Coupe A or the a5 sport
brake that’s part of the reason why we choose the v6 petrol engine over the alternatives and that engine is only offered in GT s
specification which gets you impressive performance Brembo brakes nappa leather seats and adaptive dampers it also gets plenty of safety kit including automatic
emergency braking lane keeping assistance and traffic sign recognition the stinger offers sweet handling potent acceleration and comes fully loaded with
kit despite all of that is cheaper to buy than its main rivals and for that reason we think it’s one of the best executive cars on sale.