Kia Stinger

[ionelmc]

So it looks like Kia might give the 280 a run for it's money? It's similarly priced and the AWD version is more powerful (370hp). They all have 8speed automatics (ZF8HP). It's rear-biased tho. Anyone checked the interior?

[penguin17]

It looks good and initial reviews are complimentary but I can't help thinking it won't sell unless offered with some hefty discounts.  The warranty is an obvious draw but people will be very dubious of spending that type of cash, as they once would have with Skoda.  The general public are fickle and badge snobbery won't help, warranted or not. 

 

Personally, I like an underdog so if it was a good drive , with a good finish, I'd have one.  It certainly looks nice.  I did the same 11 years ago with a Mk2 vRS TFSI. 

 

Give it another few years and I'm pretty sure both Kia and Hyundai will be taking a lot of sales from VAG and Ford but there's still a bit of a stigma attached to them and they aren't just quite there yet but they are making rapid improvement in quality, aesthetics and performance.   It's a scary rate of improvement too. (in a good way for us though) 

Take the newly formed 'N' arm of Hyundai; their first effort in the i30N seems to have been really well received.  I've seen reviews saying it's only just lagging behind the of a Golf GTi, as an allrounder but it actually seems a better 'drivers car'.  VW have been doing it for 43 years and admittedly made a pig of it from '97-'05 but this is a first stab from Hyundai.  If they make a good go of the i40N and release an estate then I think they could be on to a winner and would definitely take sales away from the Superb 280 and vRS estates.  

 

Some people seem happy to spend similar money on the Alfa Guilia and that pretty much has the worst interior/finish I've seen on a car since MG Rover went into administration.  They will also spend 30-40K on a Jag XE which can and will go wrong at some stage, so there's hope for the Stinger.  Both of these cars lag behind the Superb IMO but having the ability to say "I have an Alfa/Jag" seems to be more appealing for some.  

 

Anyway....I'm looking forward to seeing one in my local dealers and I'm also excited to go and look at an i30N too.   

Edited 17 November, 2017 by penguin17

[penguin17]

Oh AND....If the Stinger appeared on the Grand Tour, with an Alfa badge on it AND the fat gob 5hi7e Clarkson said "oooh look at it" - it would sell like hot cakes! 

[dg360]

I read a review somewhere that said that PCP deals for it are pitching it pretty much the same as BMW/Merc price wise.  It might be cheaper to buy, but the depreciation will be the fastest thing about it and this is what drives the PCP price.  They are going to really struggle because of this I think.

I do quite like though  It'll be a crazy performance bargain in 3 years.

[TGR]

No 4x4. 

 

No estate. 

 

No contest. 

[ionelmc]

Yes but for incomprehensible reasons not everyone is getting a Combi

 

The v6 is 4x4 (****ty on-demand, just like the 280, just that the front is on-demand).

[daveo138]

In my last job, the company bought  cars which were about a year old. 

 

There was a Hyundai or a Kia (can't remember which) in the car park one day and the chairman said, "how would you like something like this as your next car?"  "No thanks", I said. 

 

The reason being that when our cars were due for replacement - around 120k - we had a budget of '£x' plus whatever the trade-in was.  If you were trading in a Ki-undi, you were never going to get back up to Passat/Mundano level. 

 

The other concern was how it would fair doing 1000 miles per week with 300Kg in the boot. 

[skidpan]

On 11/17/2017 at 10:52, penguin17 said:

Give it another few years and I'm pretty sure both Kia and Hyundai will be taking a lot of sales from VAG and Ford but there's still a bit of a stigma attached to them and they aren't just quite there yet but they are making rapid improvement in quality, aesthetics and performance.   It's a scary rate of improvement too. (in a good way for us though) 

 

Back in 2009 the wifes Focus was up for swapping and we needed something bigger. We looked at many cars (mostly estates) but none quite met our needs or expectations, decided to have a new set of tyres instead. We did look at the Ceed SW but disliked the interior quality, have to say the space and prices were great.

 

Move on 12 months and definitely time to swap. Decided to include the Octavia estate this time but even though it was the right size, the right price and the finish and kit were good the 105 PS diesel was total carp (the 140 PS was out of our budget) and the road and wind noise on 2 examples we tried was biblically off the scale and painful. Tried a couple of 1.4 TSi's which had much better performance but unfortunately had the exact same road and wind noise.

 

We were at the point of opting for a Mondeo but since the Kia garage was on our way back from Morrisons we decided to have another look since the Ceed had been facelifted. What a change, all the kit was still there but the quality of the interior had moved up several notches and was actually a nice place to sit now. The lent us one (115 PS diesel SW) for the morning and it ticked all the boxes. The price to change was more than competitive so we ordered on which took about 12 weeks to arrive.

 

Kept the car almost 5 years. Only issue was a holed A/C condenser at 4 years but to my surprise they replaced it under warranty, I expected them blaming a stone, I would have done.

 

The wife inherited dads Nissan Micra and we found that the Ceed got very little use for the next 6 months. She had retired and a diesel with a DPF made no sense in town whereas the petrol Micra was perfect. I popped into the Kia garage to ask the salesman nicely if he would have a look on his PC at the price we should be asking, had an idea but don't trust the Parkers type of guide since they are well out of date before they hit the shelf. He had a quick look and the figures he mentioned were spot on my expectations but then he said that if I was serious they would buv it back from us there and then, the garage owners niece needed a bigger car since she had just had a baby and they had been waiting for a good Ceed SW to come in. Said yes and they transferred the money by BACS, dropped of the V5C later in the day.

 

But despite our great experience I would not even think about a Stinger or any expensive motor for that matter. Love the Superb but a 280 PS one would not get near our drive.

[ionelmc]

You posted all this just to end it with a "I won't ever get the cars being discussed in the thread"? lolwhy

[skidpan]

8 hours ago, ionelmc said:

You posted all this just to end it with a "I won't ever get the cars being discussed in the thread"? lolwhy

 

I posted it because the previous poster suggested that Kia/Hyundai are not yet up to it quality wise but my experience was contrary to this on a car bought over 7 years ago.

 

 

[linni]

Interesting piece.

We have here 200 HP diesel and 370 HP petrol, both 4x4. Fully loaded, only opyion is metallic paint.

But no estate.

[Crassus]

On 17/11/2017 at 13:43, dg360 said:

It might be cheaper to buy, but the depreciation will be the fastest thing about it and this is what drives the PCP price.

 

Thats the reason why I love my 2017 Fabia but pensive about replacing my BMW with a ŠKODA or Kia. Choose a 2 litre engine and a few must haves and you are not far from a German car that will retains its value better. Further more Mercedes, Audi and BMW at time discount previous model years by 15-20% which make a well specced Kia, VW or ŠKODA look like a laughable deal.

 

Kia could have made the Stinger more palatable if they offered a smaller but perky engine option along the 2L one.

[cyberkank]

The Kia Stinger is quite an amazing car for the money.

0-100km in 4.8s and 1/4 mile in 12.8s. 

loads of tech and looks fabulous. Definitely an alternative to the 280 Skoda.

The down side is that the boot is rather small in comparison.