KIA SPORTAGE

Hit SUV gets even bolder look, powertrain upgrades and revised interior

- ILLYA VERPRAET

One thousand one hundred and seventy seven Pumas: it's either a terrifyingly large pack of mountain lions or what stopped the Kia Sportage from being the bestselling new car in the UK in 2024. This is a wildly popular model in a wildly popular class. No wonder that Jaecoo, Jeep and just about everyone short of Jaguar wants in. People go mad for it.

It must be outstanding, then. Well, our three-and-a-half-star road test verdict on the hybrid in 2022 concluded it “catches the eye but won’t hold your interest to drive”, so there’s clearly room for improvement, which this facelift promises to partly deliver.

The updated Mk5 Sportage still catches the eye, with an even bigger front grille that takes after the latest Sorento. The upright headlights and wide, rectangular grille remind me a bit of the 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport. No? Just me? Naturally, there are also new wheel styles and there has been a subtle redesign of the rear bumper.

The mechanical changes look like they should address some of our complaints. No 6.9-litre V8 behind that grille, but the 1.6-litre hybrid powertrain, which we previously found a little noisy and clunky, has been upgraded with a new electric motor and different calibration.

The motor now has 64bhp instead of 60bhp, raising the system output from 226bhp to 235bhp (one plus one doesn’t always equal two with hybrids). Weirdly, that makes it 0.2sec slower to 62mph than before, according to Kia.