Anyone considered buying the new Kia sportage rather than ayeti?

Must admit, I've been waiting 17 weeks now (Elegance 170hp 4x4) and I've pretty much considered everything in my price bracket - including Nissan Joke, Cashcow and even (god forbid) a BMW 320d Touring. I've still yet to find something that can offer everything that a SM can give - for the price.

Hate waiting for anything and I hope it's worth it!

:S

Oh, it's worth the wait........................trust me

You'll be VERY glad you went for the Yeti, it's an AWESOME machine

I was looking at the Kia Sportage2 1.7crdi 2wd, and was offered a very good deal, even more off than the Yeti! In the end it came to the better quality of the Yeti, plus i was put a little off by the dealership.

The sportage looks good and has some pretty good reviews, but so does the Yeti, there are more standard features on the Sportage2 than similar spec yeti's, sunroof being a big bonus. But despite being reasonable quality its not put together as well, and despite being a totally new shape, it looks very American and that look doesen't age so well I feel, my mates Dodge Calibre looked amazing when he got it, but it makes me cringe now!

The 7 year warranty is an advantage, but to maintain this, you have to stick to Kia's high service prices, there was no Kia service package that came with the car, where as when I got the yeti PCP it had 3 years free servicing as an offer. Also the Sportage only had one years European breakdown cover as standard, Skoda had 3 and we have all seen how assistance not done to manufacturers standards can cause warranty issues. Also the PCP gave a very high excess milege charge, more than double the Yeti's, this combined with a very low GFV when I first enquired about the vehicle only £4-5000 for a 3 year old car bought at over £20,000(to be fair this had got closer to £7000 when I made my decision) that doesn't make you confident about future values for a relatively new car.

The two local Kia dealers (same owners) gave completely different standards and deals, the better and cheaper priced garage were close to doing a deal, but when it came to the fine stuff they showed a lack of product knowledge, not knowing what mats, or roof bars were needed, confusion over what was available and lack of a demonstrator for that important 'lifestyle test'. This combined with letting me crawl all over a new model sitting in the fitting bay which turned out to be someones order having pre-delivery checks and the offer to get mine in early as they needed a showroom demonstrator for august really put me off.

So a nice car, but lacking the build quality and ride standard, as well as assurances over and above the 7 year warranty.

The Sportage is a nice car, the only thing that put me off is the weedy 1.6 petrol (due to my mileage, I have to go for a petrol), the bigger exterior and the lack of rear headroom, but the front passenger area is more cosy and "sports car" like.

I was very impressed with Kia- and I think the build quality was very high indeed- probably better than VAG(had lots of warranty problems with VWs ).Looks great and hundreds of toys- but too big ,too heavy and too thirsty .

The Sportage is a nice car, the only thing that put me off is the weedy 1.6 petrol (due to my mileage, I have to go for a petrol), the bigger exterior and the lack of rear headroom, but the front passenger area is more cosy and "sports car" like.

That's testament to the Yeti engine, a 1.2 owner saying he was put off by a "weedy 1.6" in comparison

My Dad owned a Sorento (old shape) in between his second Superb I and current Superb II, he's thinking about the Sportage as his next motor. Must say the Sorento was an impressive piece of kit, very well built and a proper off-roader unlike it's replacement.

TP

I like the looks and have seen some favourable reviews, 7 year warranty a bonus and I'm not sure KIA dealers are any more for servicing than some Vag garages.

I guess 1 yr breakdown is a bit tight but sure can be extended. For the model I would consider though it's still a fair whack of cash and could be a tough choice as I think Sportage is slightly more ££ for my spec

Kia Sportage KX3 2.0d 4x4 Auto - £26,400 with metallic paint

Yeti Elegance 2.0 4x4 DSG - £25,220 with metallic paint, tpm, front sensors, heated screen and spare wheel.

Based on those prices Yeti is cheaper but doesn't have sunroof or as long a warranty as the Sportage. It may also prove to be that a good discount could be had on the Kia but I'm not looking to buy anyway for a further 18 months anyway.

have a look at this posting about the test in Sweeden.

The Yeti won with 61 points the Kia came 5.th with 53 points.

This is one of the toughest tests in Europe, based on one week with the cars,

tested on racetrack and offroad tracks, and on all sorts of roads, tarmac, gravel and so on.

I have a friend who has a Kia and he has been " bragging" :-) about the car for a year, so

I let him have my Yeti for a weekend trip og ca 600 kms up into the mountains, first about

150 kms of very good tarmac mototrway and then som narrow tarmac with lots of curves,

and lastly a long strech of really worn out gravel roads.

He still thinks the Kia is a good car, but he has signed up for a new Yeti to be delivered

sometime next spring. :-)

His only real complaint about the Yeti is that he could use more space for luggage.

Oh well.......

Swedish test

Thanks for the feedback, thinking about a Yeti next but I like the look of the sportage,also concerned about wind noise levels in the yeti as it is more brick like.Kia7 year warrenty is a plus on the face of it anyway,but engine choice is more limited on the Sportage.If the 180 bhp verson in the hyundai Ix35 auto was available it would have a bit more oomph.A bit more thinking to do!!

Personally I do not find the Yeti creates wind noise so I would not worry about that. Take a test drive and get the car up to 70mph and make a judgement for yourself.

Must admit, I've been waiting 17 weeks now (Elegance 170hp 4x4) and I've pretty much considered everything in my price bracket - including Nissan Joke, Cashcow and even (god forbid) a BMW 320d Touring. I've still yet to find something that can offer everything that a SM can give - for the price.

Hate waiting for anything and I hope it's worth it!

:S

I actually drove a Sportage and quite liked it. Then I went next door and drove a Yeti and that was that. Found no comparison in the drive (though can't remember what models they were)then driving position and visibility seemed superior. Still think the Sportage and the Hyundai iX35 are good vehicles and definitely on the right track, but the overall drive of the YETI easily persuaded me to tolerate the 6 month wait. No regrets yet but still no Yeti (being built this week). The offered me a good deal on a Sportage which they had in stock too!

As for your thinking about a BMW 320d tourer.... my wife drives the saloon. A lovely car, a great drive, very good performance and economy...... BUT off road for 3-4 months of the year! I have managed to reverse off the drive three times over the last 2 years and every time was totally stuck sideways across the road, yes I had bags of sand etc in the boot... but no traction at all. I was amazed at James' comments about the 1 series with winter tyres driving up a ski slope!!

I still haven't decided about winters on the 4x4 Yeti, but I'm sure I'll get off my drive!!

I test drove the new Sportage when I was shopping for a new car last autumn. It was probably the "best of the rest" out of the ones we looked at, apart from one deal-breaking issue for which see later. We didn't like the styling much, it looked rather "gangsterish" to us, although I realise that's down to personal taste. Having seen a few on the road since then hasn't changed my opinion on that aspect of the car. We thought the rear accommodation was a bit dingy and claustophobic to the Yeti. It did have lots of bells and whistles like the rear view camera (though you need it much more in a Sportage then you do in the Yeti IMO) and the 7 year warranty does appeal.

The thing that completely ruled it out, for me, was that there was some kind of obstruction in the driver's footwell which I kept catching my right foot on going from the accelerator to the brake. The Hyundai iX35 had the same issue so I assume it's something fairly fundamental to the common design. I had a brief look to see if I could see what it was but nothing was obvious. So if you have size 10+ plates and want a Sportage, I think you might need to learn left-foot braking!

What's the lead time like on the new Sportage? I've seen fewer of them about than I have Yetis (which I'm seeing on daily basis round here these days) which leads me to suspect the lead time might be quite long. The dealer was certainly talking in terms of months not weeks when we were looking.

Tested a new Sportage last year at the same time as considering a Yeti. Major issue with Sportage was the very very light steering at low speeds which I felt would be a disadvantage on frozen surfaces. Also a bit too bling inside and poor threequarter rear vision. Also tested Kuga (clutch pedal too high), Honda CRV (very good but price far too high for what you got), X5(17mpg around town..no thanks) and X1(logic of rear driven variable 4WD defeated me).

Yeti won hands down after testing 1.2, 110 and 140 (final choice).

Edited 22 November, 201114 yr by Wendizz

The thing that put me off was the fact that the most powerful engine in the Sportage (diesel) is 136 bhp ... the ix35 offers a more powerful one but only in auto format and giving 'just' 39mpg.

To me the Yeti is the only one that gives me the power I need, with a good spec and a reasonable price (The Tiguan can match the power but not the other two!).

Must say the Sorento was an impressive piece of kit, very well built and a proper off-roader unlike it's replacement.

I owned a 2006 Sorento XE 2.5 CRD and it was Great.. until the steering rack leaked at 52k miles, and there is no seal kit (£1500 for a new rack) and the GearBox collapsed at just shy of 60k miles (£3000) all i can say, is thank god for the extended warranty!

But, we do own a Cee'd for the wife (57 plate CRD 115) and an Old-Shape Sportage for the old's (2L CRD Titan) and they cant be faulted - both have 7 year warranty, and we'll prob keep them until that's up and they are worthless... (just for numbers, the Cee'd 1.6 CRDi returns circa 51mpg on a "normal" drive - and the Sportage 2L 4x4 CRDi returns around 40mpg - which, we can not complain about!)

That being said, i bought a Superb 4x4 estate to replace my Sorento, and i dont think, with the prices the way they are, i would go back to the build quality of the Kia. (or up this way, the poor dealerships)

Al.