Owner Review: Love and hate collides - My 2019 Kia-Sportage EX-Petrol

Basic information

2019 Face lift 4th Generation Kia-Sportage EX-Petrol

Reason why I bought this car

There are few reason why I ended up this car. I used to owned a Nissan  Shyply year 2011. It is time for me to change a car. At that time SUVs/ Crossovers is trending on the market. From a driver or my point of view , It is much better to be seat at higher position and have a better command over the driving view, thus I believed this is the main reason SUVs/ Crossovers are popular on the market. Other reasons like flash floods are common in Malaysia especially you are travelling within the city center. Reason like crusing on a highway next to a big lorry so your car can be seen/noticable  by them. No doubt, SUVs/ Crossovers are popular now.
I had tested Maxda CX5, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CRV, Kia Sportage  and our own Proton X70. Among all the car tested here is my comment:

• Mazda CX5:  Loved it
• Nissan X Trail: Not sure if there is a problem with the test car, but everything seems not right, eg quality, drive experince handing and etc. 
• Honda CRV:- Nothing wrong with it but it do reminds of the CVT rubbery responds an it is also a bit pricy. 
• Proton X70:  Neutral and big bang for the buck! The look i a little like UNCLE look .
• Kia Sportage: Neutral, I quite like the design and it also look abit like porche and also i find nothing wrong with this car.

When come to selection my choice are CX 5- CKD, X70 CBU and Sportage SKD. The reason I end up with Kia Sportage because they have an promotion & ex -stocks while CX5, need to que about 2 to 3 month , X70 about 3-4 weeks. At the promotion time that i bought, It was around 118 K comes with 5 years warranty and 3 years free service on labour and parts. It is about 10 K more than x70 executive spec and it is 32K cheaper than CX5 mid specs. 

Car selection process

• I have a budget of RM：120-150K.
• Models I have considered include: Cx-5, X-trial , X70, CRV

The reason why I choose this car

From the reason  that i mention above, I pay middle price between X70 and CX5 the executive spec. The good thing about this deal I can get the car in 3 Days! after I paid my booking and loan approval. This time that i bought the car, it has only 2 specs, either you take the high spec which is a diesel or the low spec which is the petrol. I driven both, Indeed the diesel is more powerful and punchcy torque. While the petrol is still powerful enough. I am not so fancy about the functions or gadgets that it has. However the salesman told me, It had 7 features extra from the previous Sportage, the features are electronic parking brake, autobeam, rear dim mirror, automatic wiper and some part of the front and back lamp had change to LED. The rest i do not remember. I guess for an C segment SUVs, that is an bonus with the price of 118K. Or may be is an new industry standard. 

User experience

I have already done 30000 km.

After owning it for about 2 year now with the milage about 30K (due to MCO ) , I been to many places. Went up Genting Highland 3 times, went to Penang also 3 times, Malacca 2 times and the rest mostly in Klang Valley. 
This car to me is like : When Love and hate collides .

Power: To me is enough 150 HP & 192 Nm Torque, the small expection from me the torque it will better if it is above 200Nm. The 150Hp is enough for the car of this weight.

ECU Mapping: In this area Kia execute well on this where it has ECO , Normal & Sport mode like many cars. The behavoiur of makes the driving more fun. It is like follows your mood depending what mood you are on that day. Like my self, I put on eco mode most of the time, Not only it save fuel on this mode but the power deliver on town is good enought. I put to normal when i need to carry more passangers and going up the hill , like going to Genting Highland. Sports mode when I need to speed to catch up with the time or in a hurry. It also allows you to overtake cars better. Like I mention earlier , i depends what mood or what mode that you want on that day? Unlike the Japanese cars, the eco mode shows up when you really behave. Those modes are your choices.

Fuel Consumption:  On this, I would say the fuel consumption is normal for and 2.0 NA engine. In average I get 10KM/L in town with 80% urban driving and proberly about 20% or less on highways. The sweet spots on this car is driving between 70- 90 Kmh on an eco mode, you will get around 13KM/L . However, when during ideling/ not moving, The fuel comsumption is on the high side. Thus I would say the consumption is quite OK, It is just like my old Nissan Shyply.

Handling: Never that i could imagine that a SUV/Crossover can handle as good as a sedan car. I manage to take a coner almost 90KMH on a meter and the car and the sportage can handle it. I drove once over 160Kmh in the highway, it still feels stable.

Conclusion: This is why i said when love and hate collides, for me there is more love than hate. So far it works for me and also there are not many on the road. This the the last batch of the 4th generation Sportage and It is now no longer on sales because, Kia is welcoming the 5th genaration Sportage. Thus this make it unique and it will be rare later. Do share your experince if you do own it.

Ratings

Total Score: 4
Performance: 4
Quality & Features: 5
Space: 4
Ride Comfort: 5
Fuel Economy: 4
Price & Cost: 5

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The car handaling is good, Never that i can imagine Sportage drives like a C segment sedan car. This may due to wide body of the car. this car is 1855 mm in width same like toyota Rav4. Most SUVs are in 1800 +- in width.
• NCAP 5 with 6 air bags. NCAP not Asean NCAP
• Agian the looks, is either you love it or hate it. 
• Fit and finnishing is good. The door is solid, the internal plastics, no complains. to be honourest, go and try the body quality of an CRV and Sportage and you know what i mean. Not that CRV is not good but this one better.

Cons

• The looks- subjective to the person
• Front passanger seat cannot adjust height
• The engine was noisy during cold start. The noise is like an diesel engine but will go away after the engine warmed up. The noise can be hear only outside the car not from inside of the car.
• No leather seats cause i like leather seats
• Service network of Kia is small compare to others like Honda, Toyota, Perodua and etc..
• Resale value, as a korean car the resale value sucks, then agian you buy a car to enjoy not to worry about how much it can be sell later. 
• No moon/sun roof, other countries has it. Not even the top spec has it.

Summary

Not matter how Sportage is for the people who loves it or hates it .