2017 Kia Sportage

Nowadays, the Kia Sportage has a loyal base of customers in Australia, and it’s no wonder.  

Aside from being well built and carrying with good equipment levels, what really sets it apart is its seven-year warranty. 

The lengthy warranty was introduced two years ago, and it’s the strongest indication we’ve seen of a manufacturer’s confidence in its product. 

Along with that, you get a full-sized spare wheel, plus this new Sportage introduces parking assist to the Kia brand in Australia. The technology can steer the vehicle into parallel or 90-degree parking spots, but it’s only available on the top-of-the-range Platinum model.  

Standard equipment across the range includes six airbags and two ISOFIX anchor points for child seats, helping it achieve the maximum 5-star safety rating from ANCAP. 

One of the obvious downsides of the new Sportage is its appearance, which follows the brand’s ‘tiger-nose’ styling language. It works on other models in the range, but not as well in the current Sportage.

Kia has also dropped the entry level manual Si variant, which means it now costs more to get into a new Sportage because you have to get the automatic, which is $3000 more than the previous manual Si.   

Still, the Sportage is one of the leaders in the mid-sized SUV segment, and, indeed, one of the market influencers. Consider the Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai Tucson alongside this. 

The massive competition in this segment has pushed manufacturers to offer customers technology and refinements that were, only a few years ago, the preserve of prestige cars. 

Examples are autonomous braking, parking assistance and wireless phone charging. For the time being, you’ll have to shell out for the top of the range Platinum model to get these, but if past trends are any guide, this tech will eventually move down the ranks.